7/24/2011 - movie adaptation of some superhero. . .

Because I live with and love a man who read comic books as a kid and still somehow maintains an impressive database of knowledge on the various comic universes (yet he struggles with remembering my exact birthday), not a single movie adaptation of some superhero or another goes by without us sitting in the audience.

Generally, I find them tedious, a perfunctory take on the tried and true "hero's journey" template, where the hero is called to adventure, goes through a series of trials before emerging triumphant against his (or her) greatest enemy and then using all that was learned during this journey to make a critical last decision, often resulting in some sort of sacrifice.

Captain America was no different, and outside of a 15-second scene where a once short and skinny Chris Evans emerges from some laboratory chamber shirtless and with newfound height and muscles, I was bored and more interested in finding a way to integrate the whole experience into this blog somehow.  (And here it is.)

For those who have been spared the details of Captain America, a brief recap: A little guy with a myriad of health issues and who often finds himself getting his ass kicked in alleyways wants to enlist in the military to kill some bad guys in World War II.  After participating in a government experiment that turned him from a David into a Goliath (if Goliath was tanned, waxed, and modeled part-time), he did just that.

Captain America was originally released as propaganda during this exact time period, boosting the morale of the country during an otherwise dark time of the world.  Captain America, along with his alter ego Steve Rogers, gave America someone to cheer for, someone unequivocally good, stalwart and righteous, who emerged a winner--a runt with the heart of a fighter.  Much like America, then, a relatively new country but stood as a pillar in the war.

I don't think anyone would question the role that America played during World War II.  I don't think anyone would dismiss the struggles of the underdog, especially in light of recent tragedies due to bullying.  I thought this movie stood alongside a great opportunity to address these issues: bullying on a mass scale, good and evil in their purest and most unquestionable forms, and what it means to fight and fight back.

But in the end, it was just an action movie, another prequel in a series of prequels in anticipation of next year's Avengers, the veritable casserole of a movie where Marvel superheroes all come together to ward off Earth's impending doom.  Or something.  What a shame, though, because Captain America reminded me of a time when war was viewed as necessary, a tragic but essential component to freedom, when soldiers who risked their lives in war were welcomed home like the heroes they were.  Captain America was about bullying, interpersonal and international, and the need for us to address this problem with the attention it requires.

So in the end, I guess I got more out of the movie than just a display of Chris Evans' body; I didn't feel like I spent two hours of my life with absolutely nothing to show for it.  But still, I thought it could have been so much more.