The Superhero Movie

You’re the woman that I've always dreamed of. Well, not really. But you're good enough for now.
~Weird Al Yankovic 

There is a basic formula to the superhero movie.  You’ve absorbed it through repetition if not from actually being schooled in it.  And to be clear, the true superhero movie is not the ones about caped crusaders smashing the bad guys and defeating the mad scientist before his gematria ray launches the world into chaos.  If you haven’t figured it out from the opening quote here, the ACTUAL superhero movie is -

- the romantic comedy.

In what is officially titled a superhero movie, there’s an abnormal reason and/or event that changes an ordinary person into a superhero.  Radioactive spider, born as a mutant, arrived from a distant planet.  Some plot excuse that makes the person different than others.  And they inevitably have problems dealing with ordinary Earth mortals.  Their boss thinks they are a criminal that should be arrested.  They get into a civil war with their teammates over ordinary human issues.  They need to hide the superhero identity from their ordinary mortal girlfriend.  But getting along with people.  Finding that one special person you click with and can happily spend the rest of your life with, now that my friends, is a true super power.

Biologically we are wired to appreciate physical beauty as it helps a lot with hooking up to propagate the species.  This doesn’t help a whole lot with the getting along after the courtship is over.  The bills start piling up because kids are expensive and at times a huge pain in the ass.  More people that may end up on the not getting along with list.  So much time together with a single mate, struggling to stay out of the sky high divorce rate statistics.

Just as what is labeled a superhero movie has a conclusion where good wins over evil, there is a sudden end to the romcom, the guy and girl hook up and it’s assumed they will live happily ever after.  The romcom superpower of getting along with someone will last forever.

And how did they get this super power?  Instead of a sudden event opening up the eyes all at once, they learn to get along over…time.  Now my intent is not to insult anyone by discussing gender and racial roles and such, but to reinforce this narrative by the common romcom format, which has proven to be economically feasible.  If money can be made off something, if there is a way it continues to be marketable, it’s not going away.  Society as a whole can be reflected in the movies they watch, at least to some degree.

A typical romcom is a guy who is, basically an asshole.  But there’s a girl that is way out of his league he takes a fancy to.  There’s something different about this girl.  She has her romcom superpower.  Hiding behind a plot point there is a lingering long term super power.  She might be a different race that is shunned.  She might be from the other side of the tracks in degree of wealth or social status.  To appeal to the baser instincts she is usually just simply Jennifer Aniston style drop dead gorgeous.  But that lingering superpower - beneath it all

She’s a genuinely nice person.

And if our guy is going to hook up with her he’s going to need to figure it out in about two hours when the movie ends.

Back in the real world, nothing is a worse substitute for being genuinely nice than the common chosen substitute, the root of all evil.  Money.  Too often people idolize influential people who are wealthy just for the wealth.  Smart may be falsely equated with wealth, but regardless of whether there is both being actually smart and being wealthy the superpower of being genuinely nice is missing.  This is reflected in the ugliness of the work and political environments across the globe.  (Sorry flat earthers, you don’t get a pass on that…ever.)

The constant use of money to make more money for the sake of making money.  And look at how many of these idols that are worshipped on social media.  The lack of empathy is boldly on display.  If you haven’t figured out by this stage that people do not like you because you’re an asshole and aren’t jealous of you, as you claim, you’re never going to score with movie Jennifer Aniston (or Jenna Coleman.)

Real world religious institutions are at their best when they foster cooperation.  Maybe some of the rules seem a bit silly in their presentation.  But economically it makes all kinds of sense to partner up with someone else.  Even if it starts as “good enough for now”, over…time it may turn into “holy shit- you’re my Jennifer Aniston!” Conspiracy grifters operate in the opposite manner..  Psychologically astute, they’ve utilized available resources (social media) to figure out the current crop of people who have given up on spending…time…to even remotely take steps to becoming a better person.  The dead end street of being presented a quick fix (money), combined with a scheme that’s actually designed to take your money instead of giving it to you.

Social media in its current form promotes fake people.  Sock puppet accounts, people spouting utter rubbish because, hey free speech, ya know, all designed to keep the status quo of turmoil and train people to stay not getting along with each other.  Go right for the big issues, guns, racism, homophobia, religion.  Keep people talking about all the petty side effects and prevent progress on the systemic problems.  No wonder advertisers left Twitter in droves.  They are marketing their romantic comedy to a wider audience instead of a minority of loud mouthed bigots.  Today’s group of cognitively biased con artist marks are not growing over…time…and are becoming tomorrow’s believers that the next new scam that comes along sounds like a great idea.

Our romcom hero, he has learned over…time…how he needs to change.  Generally the format has him overcompensating in some amusing fashion to try and win over his Jennifer.  When in reality he only proves even more that no actual change has been made, and he’s still an asshole.  Then, to fit the material into a time slot that an average person’s attention span can handle, he learns the error of his ways, effects actual change, buys her a puppy, they kiss and the screen fades to the credits.  The conspiracy grifter leaders encourage constant overcompensation as the solution.  No puppies were bought in the making of this post.

And with the Fourth of July coming up, soon will be a good time to talk more about overcompensation.