Superhero sequel movie plot: The public turns against the hero(es), believing he/she/they have done something wrong. The hero(es) must prove his/her/their innocence.
Is this Hollywood at its most unoriginal, or is there something more archetypal about this plot device?
There is a scene in the film Rocky Balboa where Rocky’s son, Robert, tries to convince Rocky, in his 60’s, to not box a young heavyweight. Robert goes on to say, “You gotta face reality, okay? It’s a different world now”. Rocky replies, “Only the clothes is different”.
Humans always want to believe that what they are going through is utterly unique in history. “Kids these days, they got no respect,” we repeat. We believe that the next generation will bring down civilization.
But did the Romans have their Greatest Generation?
Boys and girls willing to serve their country, because they believed it served a higher cause.
Did the Mayans have their Baby Boomers?
Children rebelling against the authority of their society, becoming consumeristic later in life.
Did the Mongols have their Millennials?
We’ll probably never know things so historically microcosmic.
But I have my money on history being as cyclical as it’s always been.
One thing I depend on more and more, humans will always be human.
3 years old, Empire Strikes Back re-release. An elderly lady was smoking during the Hoth battle scene. Yes, I’ve found out that people were actually allowed to do this even in the 80’s at certain theaters. The 1980’s! That means that some person could have smoked an entire pack of Pall Mall at the Care Bares Movie with a school trip sitting there.
I’ve lived a lifetime. Meaning that I’m on a different planet from the one that I started on. The language has changed. Standards have changed. Expectations have changed. I have changed. I’m not saying that it’s good or bad. I’m just saying that it’s unreal. In middle school, students said that males can’t wear two earrings. Now they think you’re just broke if you have only one.
Nevermind standing on the shoulders of giants. We stand on front of the wind of history’s momentum. Reacting to the world around us, setting off chains of events.
Are we built for an exponential change of pace? Can the same technology that induces the anxiety, anesthetize us from it? (That burn of heat rub that turns to a cooling sensation.)
I’m just glad that I found meditation last year.
But then again, I would have never found that group if it weren’t for technology.
Mavthewriter 