RE’S SUPER PROBLEM WILL THE ABUNDANCE OF SUPERHERO FILMS BE THE GENRE’S KRYPTONITE?
announced or in production. Our culture has always been obsessed with the idea of heroes in one form or another, but recently the entertainment industry has been has been flooded with costumed crime fighters lifted straight from comic book pages. What’s more, the trend is expanding with every passing year. 2016 will mark a huge turning point as both of Marvel’s rivals, DC and Fox, will unleash their own shared cinematic universes to match Marvel’s monstrous success. It’s a move meant to rake in big bagfuls of cash, but with the superhero
trend running so hot, it’s only a matter of time before the whole thing implodes . Although Hollywood seems set on beating the superhero genre into the ground like the Hulk did to Loki in The Avengers, this should come as no surprise. Hollywood has always taken the trendy and let it run its course, going back to the early 1940s when westerns dominated the filmscape. Back then, westerns were basically superhero films with smaller budgets. They involved larger-than-life heroes facing down dastardly villains, and they dominated the box office for years.
The genre grew from the sense of helplessness and monotony that ran rampant in the United States after World War II, but as audiences settled into their new domestic roles, the harshness of the wild frontier lost its appeal. Studio execs forced the cowboys to ride off into the sunset one final time where they presumably laid down and died. When the 80s rolled around, the new trend was highlighting young adults. It sparked the rise of teen angst films and coming-of-age stories (thanks, John Hughes), but that trend ended when DECEMBER 2015
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