Interesting point, yov. My response would go as follows:yovargas wrote:Beutlin wrote:While I understand this line of thinking, I disagree with him at a very, very fundamental level. It reminds me of people who roll their eyes at people who think that LOTR can explore meaningful, important ideas. Plenty of people dismiss it as "just" fantasy, much like he is dismissing these as "just" superhero movies.
There are many criticisms that can be leveled against Tolkien; some of those contain a kernel of truth, some of them certainly merit closer inspection; but the often-voiced opinion to which you allude to – that the “Lord of the Rings” is merely adolescent escapist nonsense void of any intellectual underpinnings – is simply wrong and anyone who holds that opinion has either not read LOTR or simply has not read any meaningful literature. I agree that all criticism must approach its subject in detail. I am, for example, not a fan of Edward Gibbon as an historian, but it would be ludicrous for me to argue that Gibbon could not write. Same goes for Tolkien: You can argue that he wrote bad prose, that he did not succeed in what he set out to create, etc. (I would disagree with these statements) but to argue that his writing is "just" fantasy, well, that is moronic.
On the other hand, when it comes to superhero movies, I indeed follow the notion that these movies, by and large, are “just” superhero movies (maybe with the exception of Nolan’s Batman flics, and surely 2004’s Catwoman ^^). In their contemporary iteration, they are often great popcorn-movies, smoothly designed products for a global adolescent audience. There is much to enjoy on a superficial level, but hardly anything to think (and dare I say, move). I realize, of course, that several of these films (most prominently the aforementioned X-Men films) try to convey some sort of watered-down 21st century liberal message, succeeding only on a very superficial level, while not even realizing the, some-would-say, inherent crypto-fascist aesthetics and ideals of the genre.
Mind you, over the years I spent quite some money to watch several of these films in the cinema and I would say that I did not regret the experience (that said, the last superhero film I watched was Deadpool ). But I simply do not regard these films as fine art.