Most action and superhero films can be a little behind the times. Super muscled men saving frail women from monsters and super curvy women walking around in skin tight costumes while the men do all the work is both sexist and not actually true to the comic book stories. But that is what we expect when we watch an action film. I don’t think anyone expects to be educated or challenged by it.
But “The Avengers” shows us that action and superhero films can be entertaining and empowering at the same time. And here is how they do it (Hollywood take note!):
1. The woman isn’t the weakest, most useless character.
Point one: how many action films are there where the weakest hero or member of the team is a woman? Like, seriously, what’s with that? Sure, women aren’t perfect, so we’ll be the weakest person in a group sometimes and we can’t always be the strongest. But why is it that in universes where aliens defend the planet and super armors exist, women are almost always still the weakest?
“The Avengers” breaks the mold and decides that no, the weakest member of the team doesn’t have to be the girl. Instead, Hawkeye is arguably weaker and less useful than Black Widow is. Go Black Widow!
2.- Mental illness and trauma are not demonized.
In almost every superhero film, either the villain is mad or the hero overcomes a mental or emotional trauma to become perfect again. Everyone who is evil is crazy and everyone who is good is sane. But over a year, a quarter of the world will experience some sort of mental health problem. And that’s not always the same quarter. It’s possible that half of us will experience mental illness at some point in our lives. And we’re not evil.
Likewise, “The Avengers” count with Hulk, a guy with serious anger and volatility issues who retreated to another country to escape his previous life. But he isn’t magically “cured” or “saved” and he isn’t evil either. He’s a normal guy living with mental illness. Respect, Bruce.
3.- Blended families are still families.
Films are getting better with this, but there is a common trope of disrespecting blended families. Either they are bad for each other, the adopted child is actually a monster or the parents don’t really love the children the same.
“The Avengers” doesn’t do this. I mean, if anyone had a free pass to disown a relative, that relative would be Loki. But they don’t. Thor jokes about his brother’s adoption and they do all they can to stop Loki’s megalomaniac violence, but the family bonds are clearly there and they obviously love Loki dearly, as any parent or brother would. Isn’t that beautiful?
4.- Even a nobody can be a somebody.
In a world where anything is possible, it’s easy to make all the heroes super-powered. Aliens, experiments gone wrong, super suits, mutants, gods… These guys are usually the heroes while the rest of us look on and cower in fear.
“The Avengers” counts with not just one, but two normal humans fighting side by side with the more over the top heroes. Both Black Widow and Hawkeye are just people. No super suit, no transformation, no super strength, no mutation, no flight. Just people in spandex who are really good at their job. I mean, sure, they’re the weakest characters. But that they can fight against aliens side by side with a mecha suit and a god and still come out alive is amazing.
5.- There is a place for everyone.
A lot of scriptwriters for superhero films seem to like the idea of the solitary genius or the lonely soldier. The person who does their job like some sort of a machine and when they have saved the world, they will retire to some empty place. Maybe they’ll have a pet or an understanding partner or a mother if they’re lucky, but normally they’re alone.
Again, the writers of “The Avengers” clearly didn’t like this trope. Here we have a team of heroes that include a narcissistic genius, a mutant with mental illness, a god from another dimension, a resuscitated mutant soldier and two super soldiers. And they all have something to return to and they all have each other. How many other action films could end with a scene of the heroes sharing shawarma after a hard days work?
So if “The Avengers” can be educational, inspirational and empowering and still be awesome, what’s stopping other action and superhero films?