Comic Book Movies are Dumbing Us Down?

Bairstow

Bairstow

Well-Known Member
“Before Star Wars, the films that were box office hits were The Godfather, Taxi Driver, Bonnie and Clyde and The French Connection – gritty, amoral art movies. Then suddenly the onus switched over to spectacle and everything changed.
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doctornick

Well-Known Member
I've got to think that this is from some bitterness over Pegg's buddy Edgar Wright not directing the Ant Man project any more.

Anyway, I like Pegg as an actor and, if he wants to take his career in a more serious direction, that's great. But his films haven't exactly been the paragon of intellectual discourse.

Also, not only is he in Star Trek, but he's also doing Mission Impossible. Talk about "spectacle".
 
NMBC1993

NMBC1993

Well-Known Member
I knew there was a reason I liked Simon Pegg so much. Sounds to me like he's growing out of all the geeky trends and is starting to look at the world around us, as something we adults SHOULD focus on. It seems like he's trying to convey the same message my father tried to explain to me when it came to the topic of Disney which was "Your an ADULT, so stop living in a fantasy world and prepare yourself for the real world".

Also, I dare say that Pegg's statements (to me) seems more directed to the younger adults out there, which I'm actually all for. Maybe they should focus less on a TV sitcom with superheroes in it aka Avengers and focus more on current events such as foreign policies (you know, things that effect the world we are currently living in). Now I'm not saying superhero popcorn flicks are solely to blame, but I personally believe this message could cover a larger range of topics (tweeting a selfie of a slice of pizza you had for lunch, for example).

*Edit* Just thought of something...maybe Simon caught himself on TV the other day and realized we have to change the future from becoming a race of people like this..

 
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imagineer boy

imagineer boy

Well-Known Member
While I wouldn't say comic book movies are making us dumb, I'm getting really sick to death of them. They all feel the same now. You have the origin story followed by a big CGI battle at the end. I feel that while the films have substance (which is good of course) I feel they lack style or artistry. The new mad max movie is the first movie in a while that has a style that's all its own.
 
Frankie The Beer

Frankie The Beer

Well-Known Member
Disney, and the other studios making them, for a while were churning out incredible films based of comic books. The first two Spider-Man films, the original X-Men trilogy, the Christopher Nolan Batman films and the first batch of Disney made Marvel films were outstanding projects worthy of mass audiences. I never go to the movies looking for mind expanding experiences, I went to college for 8 years for that, when I go to the movies, I want to sit on my rear end and be entertained, and specifically in terms of comic book films, I want a comic book style story with action, explosions and half naked women with big running around. That's what comic books were for me when I was younger, that's what I expect.
 
216bruce

216bruce

Well-Known Member
two cents worth...Nothing wrong with comic-book movies at all. They are really just our mythology. Not reading them or watching movies made of them is akin to not reading Homer or Greek/Roman mythology, Arthurian tales, Tolkien, etc. for folks in pre-comic book times. Exceptional individuals, often with a fatal flaw, go on a quest...battle other exceptional beings...etc. Mayhem ensues.

And the whole "grow up" thing....um, you can live in an adult world and visit the kid world. If you look at the adult world, it's pretty bleak and I don't blame anyone for wanting to escape it for a while.
 
216bruce

216bruce

Well-Known Member
Frankie The Beer said:
Disney, and the other studios making them, for a while were churning out incredible films based of comic books. The first two Spider-Man films, the original X-Men trilogy, the Christopher Nolan Batman films and the first batch of Disney made Marvel films were outstanding projects worthy of mass audiences. I never go to the movies looking for mind expanding experiences, I went to college for 8 years for that, when I go to the movies, I want to sit on my rear end and be entertained, and specifically in terms of comic book films, I want a comic book style story with action, explosions and half naked women with big ***** running around. That's what comic books were for me when I was younger, that's what I expect.
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Wow, look at the asterisks on her!
 
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Arthur Wellesley

Well-Known Member
In a way it's kinda unfair for Simon to throw comic book films under the bus as being one of the sole factors of society that "dumbs us down". Entertainment in general for western civilization is practically a distractor to the "big picture" of more serious global issues. What if all of us only went to WDW or any vacation destination once every 5-6 years, and put the $$$ we saved in off years toward shelters, food, & other necessities for the impoverished? What if young adults were more interested in foreign policy, medical advances, or science than they are in trending celebrities or fads?

Comic book movies are only a drop in the barrel when it comes to western civ. luxuries which take our mind off of more serious issues at hand. But that's the society we live in. We are among the small percentage of the world who live in abundance. So naturally we're going to have venues of entertainment which may seem "childish" by comparison to what takes place on the majority of this planet we live on. If Simon wants to talk about how these superheroes & superheroines are distracting us from deeper issues, he may want to take a good hard look at all other entertainment outlets as well.
 
Disneyhead'71

Disneyhead'71

Well-Known Member
In times of war, patriotic superheroes are popular. In times of economic hardship, comedy is king. We are just now coming out of a time of both. So our desire for deeper fare will come around.
 
Matt_Black

Matt_Black

Well-Known Member
Disneyhead'71 said:
In times of war, patriotic superheroes are popular. In times of economic hardship, comedy is king. We are just now coming out of a time of both. So our desire for deeper fare will come around.
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That's a good point. You'll notice that many, if not most, of the most successful superhero movies have dealt with the War on Terror in some fashion. Nolan's Bat-films and most of the Marvel Studios films (you'll note that even Guardians of the Galaxy could be viewed that way; Ronan the Accuser was a terrorist who was officially denounced by the Kree government, but they didn't seem to concerned in doing anything about him).
 
Bairstow

Bairstow

Well-Known Member
Matt_Black said:
That's a good point. You'll notice that many, if not most, of the most successful superhero movies have dealt with the War on Terror in some fashion. Nolan's Bat-films and most of the Marvel Studios films (you'll note that even Guardians of the Galaxy could be viewed that way; Ronan the Accuser was a terrorist who was officially denounced by the Kree government, but they didn't seem to concerned in doing anything about him).
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That's not necessarily a good thing, though.
Shoehorning all the "War on Terror" motifs into V For Vendetta ruined that movie.
 
Matt_Black

Matt_Black

Well-Known Member
On the other hand, you'll note it hasn't hurt the Dark Knight Trilogy, the Iron Man films, Cap 2, or GoTG. It's the execution, not necessarily the subject material.
 
Dead2009

Dead2009

Horror Movie Guru
This is coming from a guy who was in a comedy about zombies, lol. I wouldnt say that theyre dumbing anyone down, theyre oversaturating the market more than anything.
 

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