First let’s define our terms:
Bathos — Google’s dictionary defines it as “(especially in a work of literature) an effect of anticlimax created by an unintentional lapse in mood from the sublime to the trivial or ridiculous.”
I first heard this term in a video on the YouTube channel “Just Write”. The creator of the video was speaking about Marvel’s unfortunate habit of deflating the impact of powerful scenes in super hero movies by inserting a joke that seemed to parody the seriousness of the moment. The video I saw was talking about how the movie Black Panther fixed that problem. Implying that hopefully, future super hero movies can learn from how it was done in this movie.
Then, I saw another video on the same channel. This video was made earlier than the one about Black Panther. It seems that this was the first place in which this channel mentions “Bathos” and he talks about how Wonder Woman was done well BECAUSE of it’s lack of “Bathos”.
It was in the middle of watching this breakdown of the Wonder Woman film that a thought occurred to me. I think that White, male superheroes are making fun of themselves ON PURPOSE (consciously, or unconsciously). That purpose being that they don’t want to (or feel they should not) take themselves too seriously any more.
My reasoning can (somewhat) be explained in the comment I left on his video which I will quote below:
I just had a thought. “Art imitates life”, and if you think of films as a reflection of the time and cultural lens that they were made in, you have to ask yourselves, why are all the “White man” Marvel superhero movies dripping in Bathos, yet Wonder Woman and Black Panther took very serious tones. I do not think it has to do with the demographic of the heroes in question. I think it has a lot to do with the place the World is culturally. For a long time, our world was telling a particular story. Of the “White man’s burden”. We reconciled this story within ourselves through media. Depending on the story being told, and who was telling it, there was a certain “voice” that was needed. Now, the world in on an inevitable journey towards globalization. THE CONVERSATION, it’s tone and message are changing. Though, there are very good White men in this world. There are very bad ones who abused their power when faced with Peter Parker’s choice. Wonder Woman could have poked fun at what happens when a female hero is faced with misogyny by having some construction worker say “hey toots!” (which, I don’t know if they did cuz I didn’t see the movie), but if they did that and did a whole bunch of jokes about that, it would have been a slap in the face to the painful realities of what is happening in the world right now. During World War II, a lot of super hero movies features villains that were a reflection of the opposing country. Because that is what the people needed. Good movies do that, i.e. speak directly to a universal truth. Great movies speak directly to a universal truth while inspiring optimism or consideration about a real world problem. I feel like a lot of white boy movies these days make a lot of jokes. I think they do this primarily because there are bad people taking “white power” too seriously, and not take themselves too seriously. It’s not to make minority people and women feel better about themselves or even to “empower” them. It’s a real statement about the current state of the world.
I don’t know if my point is clear, but I just want to say lastly that his video about the Black Panther film “fixing” the problem of Bathos in the MCU films, might be an erroneous statement. I’m not sure simply setting a precedent in that industry in that context can “fix” the problem any more than painting the Sistine chapel fixed all the problem of blank ceilings in Italy. The Black Panther and Wonder Woman films were appropriate and appreciated in their contexts, because of their necessity. Those were stories that needed telling. They do not give permission to do the same thing in the same way to everyone who would like to do so.
I am not saying this is the death of White-man superhero movies. I think there is still a place for those. However, consider making them in the appropriate context, with a sincere and appropriate story line. Remove the “token minority character,” because right now that is culturally inappropriate. Out of necessity and natural impulse, women and people of all races are contributing to the global community in very significant ways. So, the lesson is that we have to start telling stories that reflect this truth.
I’ve seen a few articles popping up pointing out that March was extremely lackluster in the box office, and the Black Panther film stood out in an incomprehensible way. Some even blamed Black Panther for causing other films to do poorly in bringing moviegoers to the theaters.
The sad thing is that I don’t think people are learning the lesson (at least not as quickly as they could). I think what might happen now will be a bunch of insincere copycats trying to ride the wave of the film’s success scrambling to cast Black people in inauthentic leading roles. There may even be some whitelash* as a result of these films whereby films are made that attempt to glorify White men and bring back the illusion of “normalcy.”
However, the world today is exactly what it has been leading up to. Pandora’s box has been open and you can’t put all this stuff that’s going on back in there. Art is social commentary. If the movie industry tries to go back to telling stories the way they used to be told, their conversation will be deemed irrelevant. So, time truly is ‘Up” for the old way of doing things. There is a new normal. The question is not “who is going to ‘fix’ it so people go back to doing things the way they used to. The question is, “what are you going to do about it?”
*The term whitelash was used after the 2016 elections to explain what appeared to be White people’s stance against the election of a Black president via the incomprehensible election of a politically inexperienced and unusual candidate who appeared to stand for White supremacy.