'Superhero Fatigue': Lazy thinking by inane writers
With every superhero movie that is released, there’s this thing that movie reviewers and box office watchers like to talk about called “superhero fatigue.” The idea is that with so many superhero movies being released in so short of time, audiences will grow tired of the genre and stop going to those types of movie. For movie critics and entertainment columnists to continue to talk about “superhero fatigue” is ludicrous stupidity in the sheep dung of idiocy. It is lazy, and it has no place in the real or imagined world of cinema.
Comic books have been around for decades. They appeal to children and adults. They have taken on all kinds of social issues at all kinds of levels, and they have even garnered their own section in the library called “Graphic Novels.” They have weathered the Great Depression, World War II, the economic downturn of the 1980s and the electronic revolution that was to eliminate all paper products. Comic books continue to survive because they tell stories, not about superheroes but about people who also happen to be superheroes.
Superhero films will survive for as long as they tell good stories with characters that people can relate to and enjoy following. They will survive precisely because every type of story can be set in the superhero world, and every movie can have a different feel to it. Already Marvel has released films that have been classified as a political thriller, a comedy heist and a space opera. DC offers a darker universe and will be exploring the depths if its villains in Suicide Squad. Even 20th Century Fox and its X-Men series offers something between DC and Marvel.
No one complains about horror fatigue, rom-com fatigue, high school comedy fatigue, buddy cop fatigue, animation fatigue... To postulate superhero fatigue is utter nonsense perpetrated by those who want to sound intelligent at the expense of the fan base that loves comics. A bad superhero film will tank, just like any other film, but it won’t be due to superhero fatigue.
The next time you hear someone talk about “superhero fatigue,” don’t drink the Kool-Aid. Instead, smile, nod and know that the person is a lazy writer and thinker who doesn’t understand the genre or the source material that he or she is dealing with. Then, refuse to read any other articles that person writes because that type of thinking isn’t worth your time or energy.
Comic books have been around for decades. They appeal to children and adults. They have taken on all kinds of social issues at all kinds of levels, and they have even garnered their own section in the library called “Graphic Novels.” They have weathered the Great Depression, World War II, the economic downturn of the 1980s and the electronic revolution that was to eliminate all paper products. Comic books continue to survive because they tell stories, not about superheroes but about people who also happen to be superheroes.
Superhero films will survive for as long as they tell good stories with characters that people can relate to and enjoy following. They will survive precisely because every type of story can be set in the superhero world, and every movie can have a different feel to it. Already Marvel has released films that have been classified as a political thriller, a comedy heist and a space opera. DC offers a darker universe and will be exploring the depths if its villains in Suicide Squad. Even 20th Century Fox and its X-Men series offers something between DC and Marvel.
No one complains about horror fatigue, rom-com fatigue, high school comedy fatigue, buddy cop fatigue, animation fatigue... To postulate superhero fatigue is utter nonsense perpetrated by those who want to sound intelligent at the expense of the fan base that loves comics. A bad superhero film will tank, just like any other film, but it won’t be due to superhero fatigue.
The next time you hear someone talk about “superhero fatigue,” don’t drink the Kool-Aid. Instead, smile, nod and know that the person is a lazy writer and thinker who doesn’t understand the genre or the source material that he or she is dealing with. Then, refuse to read any other articles that person writes because that type of thinking isn’t worth your time or energy.