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With the launch of The Avengers 3: Infinite War, the Marvel Movie Universe entered the final phase of the third phase. From the “Iron Man 1” released in 2008, to the upcoming “Ant Man 2: The Hornets”, in the past ten years, Marvel and Disney have produced a total of 20 superhero movies. Successfully swayed the “American-made” pop culture whirlwind of superheroes to all corners of the globe. .

The 20 films of Marvel are featuring different cartoon characters or teams, each independently and connected to each other, creating a “parallel world” on the big screen with great creativity, and also bringing the audience to the cinema. Come a kind of drama-like look and feel. This kind of operation can be said to be the pen of the history of the new century movie. On the other hand, the superhero movies produced by Marvel are all costly and produce extremely fine works. Although the overall quality is high and low, every film of Marvel maintains above the average of excellent commercial blockbusters. In short, excellent artistic quality and excellent business operations are the two cornerstones of the success of the Marvel Mode. .

Marvel’s 10th Anniversary Photo.

The discussion of “Marvel Mode” has always been a topic that is constantly going on. There will be a rush in the release of almost every new film of Marvel, especially about the business model. At present, various media organizations have made a fairly complete and comprehensive summary of the analysis of “IP” operations and so on. Today, I want to talk about Marvel from another angle. Why is it that the superhero movies created by it are suitable for young and old, and can cross the huge gap between the country, race, politics and economy, and barrier-free for the people of the world? Appreciate your love? .

After reading today’s content, maybe you will find some answers. “This world needs heroes.” Let us first recall the “pre-Marvel era” blockbusters featuring “heroic epics”, such as “Star Wars” series, “Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” series, “Harry Potter series and so on. .

“The Hobbit” “Harry Potter” “Star Wars”.

These series of films have achieved great success on a global scale. On the surface, they are very different in style, the background of the story is either reality or fiction, or ancient or modern. It can be described as irrelevant, but if you carefully examine the plot of these stories and the driving force of the characters, you will find that in essence Look, they are extremely similar. This kind of narrative similarity runs through all the literary and artistic works with heroes as the main theme and adventure as the theme. This is certainly not a coincidence. The motif behind it is a myth that has never been absent from all human cultures. .

In a broad sense, mythology can refer to the ancient legends of stories that are circulated by any nation. It can reflect the human cognition of the world in the early stage of civilization. It can also be regarded as the earliest prototype of literature. Therefore, mythology has Great value. In the 1940s and 1950s, an American archetype scholar, Joseph Campbell, conducted many comparative analysis and refinement of mythological texts around the world. In these myths, he discovered a set of “hero adventure stories” with high repetitiveness and wide applicability. He also systematically discussed this discovery in “The Heroes of Thousand Faces” published in 1949. .

A classic that lays the theoretical foundation of Campbell’s mythology

In Joseph Campbell’s pen, a standard mythological hero story generally has two relatively independent worlds, the ordinary world and the adventure country. The main plot of the story revolves around the protagonist from the known ordinary world into the adventure country, and enlightenment. The adventure country starts the adventure, and after completing the mission, it returns to the four stages of the ordinary world to start a new life. It can be briefly summarized as “departure-enlightenment-test-return”. .

And in the four stages of the story, there are various subtle turning points, Campbell sums it up into seventeen transitions: for example, the hero’s resistance to ignorance or fear when accepting the adventure call, the hero in the adventure process A cycle of “try-fail-learn-improve” for a certain purpose. These specific twists may appear in different forms in different myths, but the “normal world” – the “double world of the adventure kingdom”, the “departure – enlightenment – test – return” plot setting, almost become the story of all heroes Standard. .

The most typical example is the series of stories of the British writer Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” (also known as the movie “The Lord of the Rings”): The happy Hobbit Frodo lives in his hometown of Hobbit (Ordinary world); without knowing, he inherited a ring with powerful power, the wizard Gandalf told him that this ring is the key to the war of the Middle-earth, Frodo must escort this ring into the enemy Camp, destroying it in the Doomsday volcano, can maintain peace in the world. Frodo is therefore on the road to adventure (departure). Then in the course of the adventure, Frodo gradually learned the power of this ring and the secret behind the Middle-earth war (enlightenment). Also encountered a variety of powerful enemies and temptations from the ring (test). I finally completed the task and returned to my hometown (returned). .

“The Lord of the Rings 1: The Rebellion of the Lord of the Rings” stills.

Campbell’s theory quickly gained favor among Hollywood’s big directors and screenwriters. The director of Star Wars, George Lucas himself, was Campbell’s loyal fan. It is said that when George Lucas was in the bottleneck of his creation, he repeatedly invited Campbell to come to his home for a long talk, and finally made the classic “Star Wars” series. Even if the “Star Wars 7: The Force Awakens” of the work after the restart of the new century is almost a replica of the story decades ago, it is nothing more than changing the protagonist into a girl and a black warrior. .

The movie “Star Wars 7: The Force Awakens” stills.

And Campbell’s influence in Hollywood is far more than Lucas. Known as the Hollywood scriptwriter’s Bible, “The Journey of Writers” is based on “Thousand Faces Heroes”, which consolidates Campbell’s seventeen adventures into twelve. The impact of this “The Journey of Writers” in the Hollywood screenwriter circle is unimaginable. The immediate consequence is that after this book, almost all Hollywood commercial films can find their own shadows. .

“The Writer’s Journey”.

This is an attempt not to make a mistake. Because people need heroes. The reason why Campbell can sum up a specific narrative mode from the myths of various countries and civilizations in China and abroad is precisely because “calling heroes” is the call of human beings from the depths of the soul. The word “hero” comes from the Greek word for “protection and service.” Our ancestors are always fighting against the harsh natural environment. By enriching their imagination, they create an image with superhuman abilities and give them a brave and loyal character. They are named heroes and hope for them. Heroes can overcome nature and danger and ensure that we can have a stable life. It is true that contemporary humans are no longer annoyed by eating and drinking, but our desire for heroes is still deeply engraved in cultural genes. .

Whenever there is a huge market for hero stories, this is the “implicit condition” for a superhero movie to succeed. Marvel: The myth of building “anti-myth” is as Neil Gaiman described in “The American Gods”. As a country composed of immigrants, the United States does not have its own myth. The people of the United States come from all regions, belong to all races, and have different beliefs. In this context, the story of “superheroes” has become a “hero adventure story” unique to the American nation. .

Neil Gaiman

The “American Gods” began with “Superman”, and American cartoonists created a huge number of superheroes, which quickly became an important part of American pop culture. The TV series, movies, games and other cultural products created with these superhero comics have become the most important cultural products exported by the United States to the world. Although everyone’s language and culture are different, everyone’s understanding of heroes is always similar. .

However, unlike the public’s understanding, despite the big screen’s Marvel’s dedication to creating a super hero with different abilities and personality, we portrayed them to fight side by side or create a gap, like a pair. The visualized contemporary “Greek mythology”-like epic sensation is “anti-myth”. .

This view may seem unbelievable. After all, characters like Thor Sol are directly drawn from Norse mythology, and the image of Hulk also vividly shows the strength and bravery of Hercules. How can they say that they are “reverse? What about myth? .

The problem lies in the kernel of the story. The “hero story” that we discussed in the above section is only a type of mythology, a form of superficial story in mythology, and the real core of a certain myth is “a more powerful force”, that is, “the creation myth” “. Christian mythology is God, Greek mythology is the ancestors of Olympus, Gaia and Uranus, while Norse mythology is the ancestor of the Frost Giant, Yumier, their direct descendants are “God”, God There is an insurmountable gap between people and people. .

Mythology, in essence, is a legend about “God” in which humans only play the role of “chess” or “puppets”. Even a traditional heroic epic with a human hero as the main character can hardly escape from the will of God. These gods can be figurative. For example, behind the Trojan war, there is a boring gamble of the three goddesses; it can also be abstract, such as the Skywalker family in Star Wars, which cannot escape the fate of the uncle. The “superhero universe” built by Marvel is an atheistic, world of people’s myth. .

Let’s take a look at Thor, Captain America, Hulk, Iron Man, Star Jue, the star of Marvel:

Thor Sol: Aliens, have a stronger body than humans and the ability to manipulate lightning;

Captain America: After the transformation of the warrior, has a strong physical quality and excellent leadership skills;

The Hulk: Scientists, after the mutation, have the ability to transform into a strong giant;

Iron Man: Scientists, created a set of fighters for themselves;

星爵: Cosmic pirates, mercenaries, semi-god pedigree (after giving up), no special ability. .

Everyone is a human or an enhanced version of human beings with flesh and blood. Except for the tall and beautiful Thor, the buddies are essentially different from us. All have love and hate, and they all want to eat and drink Lazarus. They all have their own ideas and beliefs that cannot be compromised. But they will bravely stand up and be heroes when their loved ones and compatriots are in danger. .

“Avengers 3: Infinite War” poster.

The story of “Galaxy Guard 2” is actually the most direct manifestation of Marvel’s “anti-myth” narrative. In the setting of the Marvel movie universe, Star’s father “Ego” is a planet that has evolved wisdom and has tremendous power. It can be said that it is the closest to the “God” in the traditional sense of the Marvel universe. One of the images. As the only descendant who might inherit his lineage, Star Jue did not act according to his will. For his own lover and partner, in order to die on the mother of the earth, in order to protect his growing father, openly resisting his biological father, a god’s will. At the end of the story, the “humanity” of Star Jue defeated “divineness”. He gave up his potential “God” power, and his father’s rebellion was completed in the process of his father. .

Movie “Galaxy Guard 2” stills.

This is probably the most prominent work in the commercial blockbuster we have seen. I think that the character of Star Jue is very successful. He reflects the purest humanity and a real charm. This is also the charm of the Marvel hero story, the hero does not have to be with the fate of fate and pain, the hero can also be a hero because of his choice. .

Source: Painting

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