What is wrong with the super hero kinda movies is that they show that the whole world is under attack, and no one else gives a damn about it except for, of course, Americans. They have the best technology, the best character and the best people and they have super heroes (people who are mutants and have super powers and are holier than the rest of the world, who only care about the well being of others and would sacrifice their lives- they don’t die though- and will save the world). Anyway, so only Americans can and will be able to take the rest of the world out of this misery and chaos and whatever. And the rest of the world looks up to them as if they are gods and are only hope.
When you read classics, you get the idea that dark skinned men are all touched by devil and it’s a white man’s burden to ‘de-calibanize” them, to teach them the way of life as the white race is the supreme and chosen race and the rest needs to be their slaves in order to be a part of the civilized world. I mean remember how Macaulay thought the Eastern Education system is all rotten and therefore, education (the English style) should be implemented in the East which resulted in the first ever department of English in Calcutta. The whole idea of making us more civilized by teaching us their literature and language as if whatever the Indians were doing before that was killing flies.
Anyway, back to where I was. So, this team of English/American people with white skin (one was black, maybe just to ensure that the film wont give rise to racist riots), will save the day! White man’s burden all over again!
The book, Umpire of Illusion, draws upon all these factors that have been fed the general population that the world needs US to solve the issues of the rest of the world. Having all the technology and warfare equipment, when they meet the enemy in the front lines, they realize how courage does not come from the movies that they have seen. And when they come face to face with reality, they get all roughed up and surpass the boundaries of humanity and ironically adopting cannibal ways, such as raping them (unarmed civilians), keeping part of their bodies as trophies, killing for no reason and not even sparing children and women when they move from town to town. And when these stories come to light, one wonders if they really are civilized and if they themselves are not right in the heads, how are they supposed to do things right for the country that they have bombed and destroyed?
As Edward Said argues in Orientalism that now the imperialists use power as the last resort, one might understand the need for the movies like The Avengers. Because these movies are watched by the educated class of the Orient and are a very good way of spreading the message of how the world will always need the Americans (superior race) for saving the world and all that crap. And since the brand culture has taken it’s roots in the East and now is a huge tree, and everything American and European is ‘the best’, even if the tag says, ‘made in china’, the brand ‘Marks and Spencer’ makes it all classy and amazing.
And by the way, I haven’t watched the movie but I bet it’s just as stupid as any other super hero movie. 😀
Reflections... 