Our recent summer season revealed a few things to us, particularly with the abundance of Superhero movies released in the last few months.  First thing we know is that the genre still has power at the box office, with 4 of the 5 Superhero movies this year meeting or exceeding their projected grosses.  But, what we’ve also seen this year is a much more mixed reception from both critics and fans towards the genre.  There are a variety of factors for this, though it mostly comes down to some movies just being better than the rest.  But, the other underlying factor that is also starting to develop in response to these movies is a feeling of fatigue.  It may not be a dominant factor, but it’s there and it’s growing.  Some people are just sick and tired of hearing about what’s going on in the Marvel universe and the DC universe, or have just stopped caring.  And while it’s a feeling that hasn’t hit me just yet, it’s one that I do understand.  Hollywood goes through many cycles, with audiences taking interest in one type of genre of movies before eventually losing interest and finding something else to watch.  Superhero movies has been surprisingly resilient in the last decade; staying strong long after many industry predictions would have guessed it would die down.  But, by being on top for so long, the Superhero genre also runs the risks of eventually having a bigger collapse, one that could leave it fractured and dormant for a long time.  It may seem alarmist to think of this now after the success that we’re still seeing this year with movies like Deadpool, Captain America, and Suicide Squad, but as Murphy’s Law states, what goes up will always come down, and it depends on the genre itself to determine how far it may fall.

To see where there may be signs of a downfall on the horizon, we should look at the results of this year’s slate of Superhero movies.  The year started off strong with surprise showing from Deadpool, a film that took an irreverent look at the genre as a whole.  Then came Batman v. Superman, which rode a hype train towards a strong box office, but was savaged by critics and ultimately also by disappointed fans.  Then Captain America: Civil War continued Marvel Studios hot streak and grossed a billion worldwide.  After that, Fox released their eighth X-Men film Apocalypse to an underwhelming reception, becoming the lowest grossing film of the series in over a decade.  And then finally, there was Suicide Squad; probably the most divisive film released this year overall.  Looking at all of these, it’s really hard to say if the genre has hit a turning point yet, but the signs of fatigue are certainly there.  The mild reception of the new X-Men movie probably is the biggest indicator of the bunch that following the same formula may not be working out as well as it used to.  But, at the same time, it’s also the only real failure of the movies I named.  So, where is the problem?  I think it has more to do with than just the box office numbers.  The highly negative reception towards DC comics two big blockbusters this year also indicates a growing level of distrust towards the people making these movies.  Customers can only be sold a bad bill of goods so long before they turn against the merchant, and DC right now is dangling on the edge.  The ability to reach it’s base audience has managed to keep DC afloat in this year’s box office, but their problematic movies are not winning them over any new fans either.  Audience apathy is what ultimately kills a genre’s staying power, and given the long life span this genre has had, a significant shift can be expected if this kind of reception gets any stronger.

One only has to look at how other genres have fared over the years to see what the future might mean for the superhero genre.  Fantasy films were for the longest time a long marginalized genre, even with a brief upswing in the mid-eighties with movies like Labyrinth (1986) and The Neverending Story (1987).  Then in 2001, we got the double-whammy of the first adaptations of J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels and J.R.R. Tolkein’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy; both juggernaut box office hits.  Suddenly, a long dead genre saw new life and many other Hollywood studios quickly tried to cash in on other properties.  There was a brief window of time where it did seem like this was a genre with lasting power, as Disney’s adaptation of C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe also became a hit.  But probably more quickly than many expected, the genre lost steam fast.  The Narnia franchise lost it’s mojo by the second film, and other would-be franchises like The Golden Compass (2007), The Spiderwick Chronicles (2008) and The Seeker: The Dark is Rising (2007) barely took off at all.  More recently, we have seen the sad fall of Hunger Games (2012) clones in the last year, with The Maze Runner (2014) being put on an indeterminate hiatus and the Divergent (2013) series being reduced to having it’s last film made for TV instead of theatrical.  Not to mention other genres like the Western which have stayed in hibernation for ages now.  Superheroes movies have the benefit of broader appeal and more diversity of the stories that can be told than some of these other genres, but it is not immune to changes in the tastes of it’s audience like them.

The Superhero genre has gone through peaks and valleys before, and in one case, you could say that had crashed.  It’s also a genre that took a long time to come into it’s own.  It was Richard Donner’s Superman (1980) that really marked the beginning of the genre, but the series took a dive once Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987) came out.  A couple years after, the genre hit a high point again with Tim Burton’s Batman (1989), but like Superman, that franchise lost steam and resulted in a movie that many claim could have been a genre killer with the campy mess that was Batman & Robin (1997).  Yet, the genre endured with highs and lows as Marvel started entering the fray with their adaptations of X-Men (2000) and Spiderman (2002), which of course led to the less beloved X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) and Spiderman 3 (2007).  But, then Marvel began their ambitious plan for a Cinematic Universe where all their movies would be interconnected and aimed towards culminating in huge crossover productions.  This is what ultimately ended the up and down trajectory of the genre and instead brought Superhero movies to full dominance in Hollywood.  That’s why it’s hard to say whether or not the genre is due for a downfall or not, because Marvel’s Cinematic Universe is something that we’ve never seen accomplished so well in Hollywood before.  Marvel has found it’s Midas touch and it hasn’t let them down yet.  The same can not quite be said for their rival DC comics.  While their movies do see huge opening weekends, they can’t quite match Marvel’s numbers and their movies are far less beloved.  The perception that DC is just in the game to capitalize on the success of what their rivals have built is another sign of weakness in the genre that could lead to a downfall later on.  When you start to do what’s best for your bottom line instead of what’s best for the material and characters in question, then you begin to lose the goodwill with the audience that could help you sustain success in the long run.

Despite the fact that Marvel’s done things right so far, even they may not be immune to a dramatic shift in attitude towards the genre.  And that shift in attitude may have found it’s origins this year within a product from the genre itself.  The success of Deadpool indicated several things about the genre as it stands right now and they are things that should give the big studios pause and concern right now.  For one thing, Deadpool found it’s best laughs by openly mocking the state of the Superhero genre; with it’s formulaic origin stories and often obnoxious self-importance.  Though most of his jabs were aimed at the increasingly stale X-Men franchise, Deadpool did brutally critique the Marvel and DC formulas as well; including a hilarious spin on Marvel’s predictable post-credits scenes.  And secondly, Deadpool managed to become a success without any meddling from the studios.  This makes it an anomaly in a genre that’s increasingly micro-managed by studio executives; much to the detriment of DC’s recent movies in particular.  The fact that this upstart, irreverent little movie was able to laugh right in the face of it’s bigger adversaries and become a hit because of this shows that audiences are ready to embrace something that is able to skewer the genre as a whole.  And for a genre that currently is caught up with trying to make their grand plans bigger and more meaningful, this sudden shift in perspective could undermine what they are trying to build.  Not that it’s Deadpool‘s intent to destroy it’s competitors and change the genre to suit it’s needs.  Like the character himself, the movie is more or less there to be a silly diversion for the comic book world; never taking itself seriously, while still embracing the genre cliches it’s also trying to critique.  But, given that the response to the movie was so big, it’s irreverent tone may have more of a lasting impact on the genre than it’s creators had originally intended, and set a tide against the genre that could shift how well the ongoing story-lines evolve from here out.

This has already affected DC’s plans for it’s cinematic universe.  When they first embarked on building their franchises, the idea was to take a far more serious, dark tone, inspired mostly by Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy.  This, however, changed in the wake of Deadpool’s record breaking success.  Released on a month before Batman v. Superman, Deadpool managed to still out-gross the more high profile release; making a $363 million gross on a $50 million budget, while BvS settled at $330 million against a $250 million budget.  DC and their parent studio Warner Brothers sensed something was amiss and they quickly reshuffled their creative team behind their future films, including giving star Ben Affleck more of a role and director Zack Snyder less of one.  This also led to costly re-shoots for Suicide Squad and a re-edit to make it more comical that many believe made that movie much more of a mess that it would have been.  So, one unexpected hit that deconstructs the genre has already caused cracks to form at one of the major comic book empires already.  But, is the mighty Marvel vulnerable as well.  Well there has been no sign of fatigue just yet, but by climbing so high they may ultimately be the bringers of their own doom.  You see, what Marvel has done is put a lot of investment on the end game of their grand master plan of a Cinematic Universe, and that end game is coming up soon with the release of Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War in the summer of 2018.  For the whole plan to be worth the time we’ve spent watching all of it, Infinity War needs to be a outright masterpiece, otherwise we’re going to look at the whole build-up as worthless in the end.  It’s been a fun ride to be sure, but Marvel has to know that they need to deliver on this, otherwise the genre itself may never be able to reach the same highs ever again, because we would have been put through the biggest of letdowns.  That’s the risk associated with being on top for much longer than you were expected to be.  The inevitable fall could be not just damaging, but crippling as well.

So, when will such a downfall eventually happen to the Superhero genre.  Well, that’s ultimately up to the filmmakers and studios behind the movies.  The thing that can kill a genre over time is a growing disconnect between what the audience wants and what the studios think the audience wants.  Marvel, at this moment, has been very good at anticipating the desires of it’s audience and delivering them to us on screen.  The successful relaunch of Spiderman into the Marvel Universe is an example of how they’ve managed to deliver on such a promise, making us once again eager to see the webslinger on the big screen again by actually focusing on his character and personality rather than his abilities.  DC on the other hand seemed to be doing things the way they wanted to, and once it became apparent that they needed to change direction, it became too late.  And X-Men faulted when they decided to just coast on formula and perhaps spread themselves too thin with a way too big cast of characters in Apocalypse.  But, when you’ve been on top for so long, it becomes tempting to just follow the rules instead of take a gamble.  That’s why the last thing that the Superhero genre needed right now was a game-changer like Deadpool.  Because of Deadpool, now both Marvel and DC are second guessing themselves after investing so much effort in building their respective cinematic universes.  Do they stubbornly stay the course, or do they alter things just enough to stay relevant.  I think what has benefited them up to now is that the worst that the genre has produced over the last few years has been marked as disappoints rather than outright disasters.  We have yet to see this generation’s Batman & Robin.  Last year’s Fantastic Four could have been that tipping point, but there was no legacy for that film to ruin, so it ended up just being a forgotten failure that didn’t effect the industry in any way.  But, if second-guessing their plans and using unnecessary last minute fixes become the norm for both Marvel and DC in the years ahead, then we may end up seeing a point where the Superhero genre comes crashing down.

So, the Superhero genre remains fine for now, but the seeds are planted for an eventual downturn.  It remains to be seen how the genre will fare in the years ahead.  We know now that an overabundance of genre entries can wear down and overwhelm an audience and that tastes can wane over time, diverting towards something else.  At least for now, that something else is another representative of the same genre with Deadpool, but at the same time it’s a movie that deconstructs the foundations that the genre is built upon.  The release of Marvel’s Infinity War in a couple years will tell us if the genre has hit it’s apex yet, and if there will be a future ahead of it still.  But even before then, are we going to see a backlash develop all of a sudden towards Superhero movies?  If there are a string of disappointments, or if DC continues to alienate it’s base by continually trying to meddle with their movies before they’re ready, than that day may come sooner than expected.  The truth of it all is that the Superhero movie genre has enjoyed a very good run, but it’s time will come eventually too.  Just like how Hollywood has abandoned fantasy and western films in the past, despite some worthwhile releases, so too will audiences tastes change towards something new and fresh that’s not in the Superhero genre.  As of right now, Superhero movies are the mainstream, and there is a constant trend in the film industry to renew itself every several years by subverting the mainstream and finding that fresh new thing.  My hope is that while the industry will eventually move away from the superhero genre, that it will be a gentle fall for them and that the whole thing won’t be brought down by one particularly wretched failure.  The best we can hope from Marvel and DC now (and also Fox with their Marvel licenced characters) is that they still create entertaining movies that don’t ruin the characters we love.  Their own bad judgement can be their kryptonite, and it’s a walk along the edge that none of them would like to take right now.

In the midst of all the big summer season blockbusters that are released this time of year, there are also a handful of small independent films that make it into theaters.  Usually the independent film industry tries to aim for year end releases, if they feel that their movie is award worthy, but oftentimes there are some films that are released earlier in the year, purely because of audience curiosity hitting a high pitch on which the filmmakers wish to capitalize, or because the studios didn’t know where else to put them in their schedule.  This latter camp could be for two reasons; one, because the movie in question is so strange that the studio is unsure how the audience will react to it, or that it’s just plain unwatchable and the studio dumps it into theaters.  Whatever the movie turns out to be, the audience ultimately decides.  There is a part of the indie film audience that craves for the weird and unpredictable, but this is also an audience with discerning tastes.  For the most part, art house audiences want to see something challenging and provocative; something different from the norm of the average studio output.  But, like with all art-forms, there stands a fine line between making something that’s provocative, and something that rings hollow.  Filmmakers must never forget that cinema is an art-form with the clear purpose of entertainment.  You need to make something that can grab and hold your audiences attention for two hours at a time, and to do that, concessions to the audiences tastes must be accounted for.  That’s not to mean that a filmmakers artistic expression needs to be watered down to appeal to the public; it just means that the filmmaker must examine whether or not their vision can hold weight within the medium of cinema.

This was the thought that ran through my head over the last couple weeks as I experienced two of this summer’s most talked about independent films.  The first one I saw was a bizarre, dryly dark comedy called The Lobster, which stars Colin Ferrell as a lonely man who is mandated to find his true love at a resort, or else he will be transformed into the animal of his choice; the titular lobster.  The second film that I saw was Swiss Army Man, a buddy comedy about a marooned castaway played by Paul Dano who finds his way home thanks to the many talents of his resourceful friend; a farting corpse played by Daniel Radcliffe.  Both films commit to their ridiculous premises and even manage to find a surprising profoundness within their narratives, mostly pertaining to human relationships and the pressures that society puts on the individual.  But, after seeing both, I’m surprised how different my reaction was to both movies.  I found Swiss Army Man to be the far more effective of the two, ,mainly because of it’s charm, and the very noticeable lack of charm in The Lobster.  Even still, I can understand completely how some people might have the opposite opinion and prefer The Lobster as the better film, or find them both equally charming.  I can also completely understand if someone ends up hating both as well.  It’s clear that indie films like Swiss Army Man and The Lobster are not for anyone, and their target audience may be minuscule at best.  But, if one keeps an open mind, they may find the appeal of movies like these in unexpected ways, and that sense of discovery is what really helps to drive the independent market.  Indie films tend to be a crap shoot for the industry, because oftentimes you’ll find movies within it that have limited appeal and then other times you’ll find the next big thing.

I think the reason why I responded so strongly to something like Swiss Army Man was because there was a sense that came through that the filmmakers knew what kind of movie they were making.  The directors, Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (credited as The Daniels), have even stated in interviews that the movie sort of started as a bet, seeing whether or not they could make a movie centered around a flatulent corpse.  The fact that they made it work, and even found a surprisingly humane narrative about companionship with it, is something rather remarkable and it shows the real power of creative storytelling.  But, what the movie also does well is to not take itself too seriously, while at the same time keeping it relentlessly absurd.  I think this was helped immensely by the performances of the two leads, Dano and Radcliffe.  If you don’t buy into their performances, then the absurdity of the premise rings hollow.  Radcliffe in particular takes command of the film, making the film’s sentient corpse feel authentic and not at all farcical; like an artsy Weekend at Bernie’s (1989).  The humor is overall balanced, and that’s a large part of why it works.  The gags come naturally out of the situation and support the narrative of these two characters.  By doing that, it avoids a pitfall that too many other quirky independent films fall into called pretentiousness.

The Lobster is unfortunately the kind of movie that I feel earns the label of pretentious; but at the same time, it is also far from being the most pretentious thing I’ve ever seen on the big screen.  The Lobster’s main fault is that it takes what should be absurdly funny within it’s premise and strips it down into a cold, sterile presentation.    It’s clinical, when it should be farcical.  I recognize where the humor should be, but the staging undermines what humor could have been there.  The director, Yorgos Lanthimos, crafted a pretty looking movie around this premise, with beautiful cinematography, but he did so in detriment to the humor.  The film has a languid pace to it, making the ridiculousness feel like a chore, and that ultimately is what makes the movie fail.  It becomes pretentious because it never quite earns the huge artistic leaps that it attempts to take.  If the movie stuck with a cohesive tone either underlined the message of the film, or the artistic ambitions of the director, or the desire to cultivate an absurd world in which this story takes place, there might have been something here; and yet, nothing comes out of all that ambition.  But, maybe pretentious could be too strong a word to label this movie.  I don’t know what the director’s ultimate intent was, but the result feels too much like art for arts-sake.  But, it could have just been because this movie didn’t connect with me like Swiss Army Man did.  Swiss Army Man has it’s pretentious moments too (including existential soliloquies by it’s characters, and rhythmic montages that don’t really add anything, and a completely baffling finale) but they didn’t spoil the experience for me.  Man balances it’s art with story, while Lobster let’s the art overwhelm everything else.

It’s an occurrence you see a lot within the artistic community; where there becomes a disconnect between the artist and the viewer.  Sometimes it’ll take a while for a piece of art to connect with it’s audience, and then there are other times when no connection will be made at all.  The most dangerous thing for an artist to do is think that what they make is for their own indulgence.  Movies should have a broad appeal, because it’s the only thing that justifies their creation in the end.  You take an audience’s reaction for granted and you open yourself up to failure.  But, pretentious film-making isn’t usually characteristic of most independent film-making; if anything, pretension more often comes from established, mainstream artists.  The Wachowskis for instance have made what I consider some of the most pretentious films in recent memory; and they accomplished this through big studio backing.  The Matrix (1999) managed to be that rare box office hit that kept it’s philosophical musings and crowd pleasing action sequences in a nice balance, because both were delivered with an earnestness that kept everything interesting.  But the novelty wore off in the sequels, and The Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions (both 2003) collapsed under the lack of cohesion, and both the action and philosophical elements lost their power due to the Wachowskis desire to show off instead of reinvent their franchise.  They have continued down this road with muddled messes like Speed Racer (2008) and Jupiter Ascending (2015), movies that never become as profound or as thrilling as the Wachowskis seem to think they’ll be.  The films of M. Night Shaymalan also come to mind, where it seems like the filmmaker is holding the audience at a distance while trying to make his narrative hit the mark that he believes it should make.  And action filmmakers Roland Emmerich and Zack Snyder are achieving new levels of pretentiousness as they make films that believe they are provocative, but are really just stupid.

But, should a filmmaker compromise their vision in order to avoid appearing pretentious and find broader appeal.  Not at all.  The thing that will help a filmmaker out the most in the industry is to find their own unique voice.  Some audiences will accept something odd and unique at their local theater if they already are familiar with the person or people that make it.  Some independent filmmakers luck out whenever their unique style clicks with an audience, and it helps them gain a little more ease when attempting to make films their own way.  A really unique voice to rise and mature out of the independent field would be someone like Wes Anderson.  Anderson’s style is unlike any other in film-making, and easy to define, and has changed little since his early days.  And still, it’s understandable if his style doesn’t click with everyone, but the man has earned enough trust with his audience to where he has a sizable fan base that will allow him to make whatever he wants to.  His confidence in his art has allowed his movies to avoid the pitfalls of pretension, even though his overly artistic style could easily fall that way if he ever took it for granted and choose to just repeat himself over and over again.  A fundamental understanding of a person’s own artistic limits and their skills to tell a story are essential for becoming a success.  I think that’s one of the things that separates the amateurs from the professionals, and why a good film education is needed.  I had my own film school experience, and it showed me how knowledge of the medium would give my fellow students the much needed balance that they would need to make movies that would work.  Any person can point and shoot a camera, but a film education teaches you how to pace, compose, and edit a scene, making what you shoot all the more potent in the end.

But what a filmmaker must also realize is that their artistic style is also prone to evolving into pretension if not experimented with.  The best filmmakers have their own style, but they also change their styles slightly to fit with the times.  Picking the right subjects for your future projects makes all the difference.  Some filmmakers make the mistake of relying too heavily on their styles, forcing them into story-lines where it doesn’t fit.  This is a problem that I see with someone like Terrence Malick.  He famously took a nearly 30 year break from film-making, only to return in the late 90’s with the war epic, The Thin Red Line (1998).  Since then, he has been consistently turning out ambitious, but overly poetic dramas, each one more dense than the last.  His style basically involves a free flowing narrative with his characters expressing their emotions in dubbed over narration that often sounds like their reading poetry.  Interesting enough, his style works best when it’s put into unexpected places, like a World War II setting in The Thin Red Line, or pre-colonial America in The New World (2005).  But since these epics, he’s focused his style on examinations of American life, whether it’s post-War suburbia in The Tree of Life (2011), the contemporary American Midwest in To the Wonder (2013) or the glitziness of Hollywood in Knight of Cups (2016) and his style has lost much of it’s appeal in the process.  While before he was reinventing different genres with his unique voice, now he is repeating himself with too many similar narratives, and his style now feels minimized as a result.  His last three films are pretentious, because they say noting that Malick hasn’t already said before and are just are for the sake of art; beautiful as they may be.  Filmmakers of the same ilk as Malick, like David Lynch or Stanley Kubrick have similar uncompromising styles, but they made them work over longer periods by applying them to different things; whether it be different genres or narrative structures.  It’s how they’ve avoided the pitfalls of pretension that Malick has sadly found himself within.

Overall, we as an audience must decide what is deemed pretentious and what is not, and ultimately, we probably will never find a full consensus of what that actually means.  We do know pretentious when we see it, but sometimes a pretentious piece of art may actually be something we appreciate, while for others it will remain garbage.  I certainly responded the former way to Swiss Army Man, even though I do acknowledge that it will not be for everyone.  Hell, the movie rubbed some people the wrong way right from the moment it premiered at Sundance Film Festival, where audience members at the prestigious event even walked out; probably put off by the seemingly sophomoric flatulence humor.  But, there were others like me that responded well enough and it got the buzz that it deserves to receive a big enough release (no pun intended).  The Lobster on the other hand left me underwhelmed because it was quirky without the emotional drive needed for me to care.  That being said, many other critics have praised the film for it’s uniqueness, and I can understand that response as well.  Surreal movies that defy easy explanation are necessary for the film industry, because they allow for new ideas and techniques to take hold in the medium.  It takes earnestness in the project itself and a willingness to make it appealing that ultimately decides whether or not it will connect with it’s audience.  Also, trust the intelligence of your audience.  If you go too far artistically, or make your themes too heavy or not heavy enough for the narrative to carry, than the audience will reject your work.  It’s the story that ultimately matters most in the end, and a commitment to that can allow for any of the insane things that you attach onto it.  Believe me, I’ve seen some weird things on the movie screen over the years.  Some of it may drive people away, but if you commit to seeing it through to the end, then you’ll know for sure if it escapes the pitfall of pretension and achieves what it’s maker wanted, and it could be the movie that can possibly change cinema forever.