Suicide Squad: The Hara-Kiri of the Superhero Genre
Overly-priced popcorn and jumbo drink in hand, you try to find a seat in the crowded theater. As the lights start to dim, the screen lights up and the trailers begin to play. You watch in amazement as a frenzy of all new stories come to life on the big screen – action, adventure, comedy, drama, and the genre of today, the superhero movie. With the explosion of superhero movies in almost the last decade, these films have become a genre of their own. Superhero films have become a dish with their own unique flavor, and their trailers give the audience a taste of what’s to come. Communication associate professor Carmen Maier states in her article “Visual Evaluation in Film Trailers” that “the …show more content…
The “good versus evil” theme is more prevalent than any other when it comes to movie making. With the introduction of Iron Man (2008) came the rise of the empire Marvel Studios, and simultaneously, the rise of the superhero genre. Since then, the industry has been bombarded with film after film of good guy versus bad guy plotlines, and Marvel has been at the head of the pack. DC realizes this and has hopped on the superhero train as well with movies like The Dark Knight and Man of Steel, but they have not come close to reaching the successes that Marvel has. In order to be hip with the kids, they have got to do something fresh. Not only has Suicide Squad been released in the primetime for superheroes, it has also got an element that sets it apart from the rest. Plot twist: the villains are actually the heroes. DC may just be onto something here. Today’s society is so obsessed with the “anti-hero” archetype. Look to the media for examples, such Walter White from Breaking Bad, Dexter Morgan from the HBO series Dexter, and the upcoming release of the DC film Deadpool. Lately, audiences tend to favor antiheroes more than they would regular superheroes. Jonathan Michael of Relevant magazine says that it is because “brokenness is a part of humanity, and we can more easily relate to the choices that a character makes …show more content…
DC is trying to show the audience a side of them never before seen, and it is marvelously (get it?) effective. The musicality not only adds an energy to the tone of the trailer, it also draws in a different audience altogether, making for a more successful end result. The trailer is kairotic and with the times because it keeps up with the fads of our culture, as well as flips the script to something new that we have never seen from them before. In the end, the trailer is wholly effective in persuading the audience of its entertaining values. It is more entertaining because it is more relatable. “Examining a film can give us clues about the meanings and assumptions shared by the members of a culture,” (Smith, 132). Our society today values the characteristics of the anti-hero much more than that of the morally pure, righteous superhero. The world is not black and white, there are always shades of gray, and these heroes fit into those shades perfectly. We identify more with anti-heroes because inside us all is a bit of gray. The trailer reflects a part of our culture that we relate to heavily. The superhero genre as we know it is dying, and it was its own hand that turned the knife on
Overly-priced popcorn and jumbo drink in hand, you try to find a seat in the crowded theater. As the lights start to dim, the screen lights up and the trailers begin to play. You watch in amazement as a frenzy of all new stories come to life on the big screen – action, adventure, comedy, drama, and the genre of today, the superhero movie. With the explosion of superhero movies in almost the last decade, these films have become a genre of their own. Superhero films have become a dish with their own unique flavor, and their trailers give the audience a taste of what’s to come. Communication associate professor Carmen Maier states in her article “Visual Evaluation in Film Trailers” that “the …show more content…
The “good versus evil” theme is more prevalent than any other when it comes to movie making. With the introduction of Iron Man (2008) came the rise of the empire Marvel Studios, and simultaneously, the rise of the superhero genre. Since then, the industry has been bombarded with film after film of good guy versus bad guy plotlines, and Marvel has been at the head of the pack. DC realizes this and has hopped on the superhero train as well with movies like The Dark Knight and Man of Steel, but they have not come close to reaching the successes that Marvel has. In order to be hip with the kids, they have got to do something fresh. Not only has Suicide Squad been released in the primetime for superheroes, it has also got an element that sets it apart from the rest. Plot twist: the villains are actually the heroes. DC may just be onto something here. Today’s society is so obsessed with the “anti-hero” archetype. Look to the media for examples, such Walter White from Breaking Bad, Dexter Morgan from the HBO series Dexter, and the upcoming release of the DC film Deadpool. Lately, audiences tend to favor antiheroes more than they would regular superheroes. Jonathan Michael of Relevant magazine says that it is because “brokenness is a part of humanity, and we can more easily relate to the choices that a character makes …show more content…
DC is trying to show the audience a side of them never before seen, and it is marvelously (get it?) effective. The musicality not only adds an energy to the tone of the trailer, it also draws in a different audience altogether, making for a more successful end result. The trailer is kairotic and with the times because it keeps up with the fads of our culture, as well as flips the script to something new that we have never seen from them before. In the end, the trailer is wholly effective in persuading the audience of its entertaining values. It is more entertaining because it is more relatable. “Examining a film can give us clues about the meanings and assumptions shared by the members of a culture,” (Smith, 132). Our society today values the characteristics of the anti-hero much more than that of the morally pure, righteous superhero. The world is not black and white, there are always shades of gray, and these heroes fit into those shades perfectly. We identify more with anti-heroes because inside us all is a bit of gray. The trailer reflects a part of our culture that we relate to heavily. The superhero genre as we know it is dying, and it was its own hand that turned the knife on