The Four Color Media Monitor

A writer at the Daily Caller discussed Hollywood's loss of morale and heroism for men, and this has hurt superhero films as well:

What makes a great superhero film?

Although filmmakers have lost sight of it, it’s not so hard to tell: a moral compass rooted in masculine virtue.

America invented the superhero in 1938 with the first Superman comic, but its legacy has been lost in a matrix of franchise fatigue. With “hero” now flippantly used to describe anyone supporting the cause du jour, Americans have forgotten what true heroism is.

The traditional superhero grew out of a distinctly American moment. Like America itself, Superman was larger than life, achieving feats unimaginable to the average human. His mild-mannered disguise concealed the constant tension between his extraordinary power and upright morality; he spoke softly, but carried a big stick.

But the superhero ethos was not limited to those with preternatural abilities. It also permeated another film genre: the great American Western.

[...] Skip forward six and a half decades, long after Shane’s classic status had been cemented, and we find his superhuman descendant slashing through the ossified caricatures of heroism in American film. Perhaps the best superhero movie in decades, “Logan“ (2017) — Hugh Jackman’s farewell to the X-men Wolverine character — pays explicit tribute to “Shane” as it navigates the same themes in a now-hostile culture.

Logan learns of his genetically-engineered daughter, Laura, who shares his trademark claws and aptitude for violence. She is being hunted by the laboratory that made her, and Logan sets out to transport her across the American West to safety in Canada. Despite his aversion to having fatherhood thrust upon him, he accepts his duty.

While I do agree it's a regrettable shame the best of masculinity's being destroyed in culture, what dampened the impact of this argument was when I realized Logan builds upon elements that came up after the early 2000s, like a daughter or a clone who in the comics I think is called X-23, and has 2 claws on both her hands rather than Logan's own 3 on both. IMO, there's no point to basing these films off of material like that, which was done very half-heartedly by that time, and has gotten worse in comicdom since.

That said, the points regarding heroism and masculinity are well taken, and it's terrible that they're being trashed and thrown away for the sake of soulless, morally bankrupt entertainment that doesn't even respect femininity, and superhero fare's been quickly reduced to a far-left political platform that makes even the most questionable comics of the past century with liberal perspectives look tame by comparison. The Big Two should be retired as publishers already, but even the movies would be better off stopping production for many of the same reasons.

Labels: dc comics, history, marvel comics