Heroes and the Creation of Myth: Guardians of the Galaxy

in #movies6 years ago

Superheroes occupy a nearly-unique position in the history of human character creation. They are creatures of myth, but at the same time people with the concerns of human beings, even when they are themselves alien. This puts them in a position to not only be the subjects of myth, but to interact with and in some cases control the creation of the mythology which surrounds them.

In this series I set out to analyze the different ways heroes participate in the creation of their own mythology. I've decided to begin with the largest single continuity ever attempted in film, the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In the time leading up to the release of The Avengers: Infinity War I'm going to watch or rewatch the eighteen existing MCU films in order to look at them specifically from this perspective. Today I'm looking at one of my favorite films in the series, Guardians of the Galaxy (2014).

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Although it's the tenth film in the continuity, Guardians was the first to have a personal impact for me. Growing up, comics was my mom's thing, and she was a heavy partisan of DC, and particularly Superman. So where a lot of my fellow nerds have substantial attachments to the Marvel comics, I really didn't have an opportunity to make that connection. Most of my relationship with Marvel has been through the media properties, and that was pretty casual until recently. Before Guardians I had seen the first two Iron Man movies and the first Avengers, and while I loved Banner's plot in The Avengers I wasn't all that excited about anything else. One of my few strong opinions about the Marvel comics was an intense dislike for Thor, and I hadn't bothered with Captain America either in comics or movies.

But Guardians was different. This style was something new and exciting. It wasn't quite a superhero movie, and it wasn't quite a space move. It was something in between, and I found that something compelling. In large part that was due to its relationship to music, something that I adore in non-speculative movies, but which hadn't really made its way into the realm of superheroes and science fiction. (We are not counting Battlestar Galactica.) And of course, how can you not love Groot?

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Peter Quill isn't a superhero, but he desperately wants to be a myth. He seems to have left Earth before superheroes were really a thing, and has modeled his self-image on America's great outlaws instead. But he can't get anyone else's perception of him to match. He's putting effort into the myth of Star-Lord, but getting nowhere. People are either confused by it or derisive.

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Yet at the key moment, it's Quill's myth-making talents that make all the difference. His "we're all losers" speech weaves together the narrative threads of the five characters who will become the Guardians, creating a self-perception within each of them that they truly belong as part of this team, even though they believe that it is only for a short period before their inevitable deaths at the hands of Ronan. Quill's ability to convince them of his narrative is the core of his leadership.

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And because this is a movie, Quill gets immediate payback on a personal level when they board Ronan's ship and Ronan's henchman Korath reacts to him not as some pathetic, annoying human but as Star-Lord, a threat worth taking seriously. Despite the precarious situation for all life in the universe, despite all else that has happened in the movie, this is the moment when Peter is most delighted. The myth that he has always wanted has finally become real.

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Would Peter Quill, orphan, vagabond, and outlaw, have had the courage to seize the Infinity Stone when it was demanded of him? I don't know. What I do know is that Star-Lord had that courage, and Star-Lord discovered that he was, in fact, a superhero after all.

Previous entries in this series:
Part 1: Iron Man (2008)
Part 2: The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Part 3: Iron Man 2 (2010)
Part 4: Thor (2011)
Part 5: Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
Part 6: The Avengers (2012)
Part 7: Iron Man 3 (2013)
Part 8: Thor: The Dark World (2013)
Part 9: Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

All images in this post are from Guardians of the Galaxy, copyright 2014 Marvel, used in this post under Fair Use: Criticism. Provided courtesy of Movie-Screencaps.com

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You know, it's really interesting how people grow up siding with DC or Marvel because of what they were exposed to as kids. Like, I also grew up favoring DC just because a lot of the Batman movies were what I was first exposed to. It's strange and kinda silly how that sticks with us as we age.

Anyway, you are undergoing a huge project here it seems like, but well done so far.

I don't think of it as "siding with," really, it's just that I had a ton of Superman comics available to me because my mom is a collector but not the sort who wouldn't let her kid read them, so those are what I read, and that's the series of continuities that I attached to. Inasmuch as I ever approached comic super-nerddom on my own, it was in newspaper dailies rather than books. I've always been open to Marvel, it just wasn't convenient to read them. So it's nice to get this view of the characters with something that's some of the best movie work going on, especially when most of what DC's doing in that form since the Nolan Batman movies I'm finding subpar. (Except The Lego Batman Movie, which was great.)

FYI there are a lot of people around here who really dislike when people upvote their own comments. You might also benefit from learning about the Dust Threshold and why your votes aren't getting you any payout: https://steemit.com/blog/@maverickinvictus/you-are-a-zero-or-the-dust-threshold I gave you an upvote because I think your comment is good and I don't really care about self-voting, but you'll almost certainly find you do better overall by leaving that vote off.

I enjoyed reading this so much! Good thing I followed so now I can catch up with the series :) I like the connection you make between the hero and the myth elements in characterization.

There's something about characters that do not really fit in a label that I just find incredibly attractive. Perhaps it's because I see a little of myself in them, because I do not think I fit any label completely, but mostly because they reflect complexity, and I like complex things.

Sometimes heroes are not what you think but greatness is perfection, indeed you have more to offer, I adore you boss..

Wow very amazing post @tcpolymath
I love this post
That how is wonderful film.all of that my favorit film
Bravo !!!

Hoping always success for you @tcpolymath

Amazing work.

Great movie

This is an important post

great info.....upvote and resteem :)

Superhero movies draw attention to our kids and sometimes they imitate and follow what their fav superhero did. It somehow affects the behavior of our children esp those superheroes who are violent in their role. Our kids really need parental guidance when watching these kinds of movies or better prohibit them to watch it and divert their attention to other more profitable things.

This is not an appropriate forum for your proselytizing or your self-upvote.

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