The Avengers Stands Up for America
A scene from "The Avengers," as superheroes Hamlet Guy and Skeleton Man team up to save the world.
The Avengers is a film of shattering emotional impact that will make you rethink the way you view the world and keep you pondering and discussing its insights for days. Oh, all right, I’m joking. But after the first kind of boring ten minutes or so, it was plenty of fun. Best part: the bickering among superheroes with egos as big as their musk-els, culminating in a hilariously random bit of physical business between the Hulk and Thor.
But just because the picture is dopey fun doesn’t mean it’s dopey altogether. In fact, it’s one of the most purposely pro-American, pro-liberty and pro-market films to have come down the pike in years. The villain Loki has come to Earth to enslave humanity, and goes about telling people that slavery is natural and that they will live more happily on their knees. In a clear reversal of the famous paraphrase of Galatians (A book of the Bible. A special Book. Where Jesus lives.), he tells them they will be “freed from freedom.”
When Loki launches an attack on Stuttgart, Germany, the comparison to Hitler is made obvious. “The last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing,” says Captain America, the reawakened throwback to American ideals of the forties. When a female officer tells Captain A that Thor and Loki are gods, he responds, “There’s only one God, ma’am, and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t dress like that.”
But Captain America needs some help from Iron Man, the delightfully cynical and ironic representative of free market capitalism. Iron Man is selfish and egotistical but also brilliant and ultimately good-hearted. The tension between him (the free market) and the Captain (American ideals) and the resolution of that tension in self-sacrifice and heroism are the emotional heart of the picture and constitute whatever message it has.
Add to that the fact that the representatives of government are idiots and their decisions have to be countermanded at every turn and, yeah, it’s good liberty-loving stuff. And of course, it ends with the earth being destroyed, all the super heroes being wiped out, and no possibility of a sequel ever. Right, right: joking.
That line about God was an interesting one and it made me think, how did that get into a hollywood movie, especially a big commercial, summer movie? I enjoyed that scene when Captain America said that line. I thought, finally, they are at least giving a nod to the other half of their audience, and they aren’t making fun of them.
– comics The Avengers, Cap and Iron Man were close friends. But the film works. Also, looks like “Larry Trainor” of the DC Doom Patrol with Larry Olivier in the photo above.
billc, I agree with you on that “God” line, I thought the same thing. My favorite Cap line, though, was one Andrew didn’t mention: When he and Tony Stark square off and Cap asks him, “take away the suit and what are you?” Stark responds with a real crowd-pleaser: “Billionaire, playboy, genius, philanthropist,” It got a lot of laughs. But my favorite was actually Cap’s response to Stark’s: “I know plenty of guys don’t have ANY of that who’re worth TEN of you.” Great sentiment about what really makes a man. And great to see it in a Hollywood blockbuster.
My favorite part was the Hulk slamming Loki after Loki proclaimed himself a god and Hulk said “puny god”. I think this was a great message that again, there is only 1 God.
Dear Klavan on the Culture:
I’m glad you reviewed this movie. But realize that the greatest good that can come from the enormous success of Avengers is what it may lead to. It may give Joss Whedon a window of opportunity to do another Firely movie. And of course there can be no greater cultural or societal good than that.
Wow. I can’t spell Firefly.
“…but she don’t like Firefly. She didn’t even cry when Wash died.”
Wash isn’t dead. He just has a very serious thoracic injury. That video is so funny.
Regards
John
The message I got after watching the movie twice was that the man from 1930′s had to work with the scientist and the playboy philantropist to achieve victory.