The Return to origins of Superhero Films and the Children Refuse to Grow Up

The Return to origins of Superhero Films and the Children Refuse to Grow Up

What do we think of when we hear the word "superhero"? In the past, some outstanding male directors such as Christophe Nolan or Zack Snyder have tried to give superhero films a big, deep and serious core, complete with a character development arc：by depicting a group of superheroes pursued by a conspiracy, Watchmen (2009) attempts to explore human nature and so-called "anti-hero" narratives within the framework of commercial cinema: in Batman Begins (2005), Nolan tries to make us realise that Batman is nothing more than an ordinary man living in the shadow of his parents' murder, like a Hamlet searching for his father, rather than a weirdo with superpowers. Even in The Dark Knight, Nolan doesn't content himself with letting the Joker create uncaused evil, but tries to provide causes and symptomatic analyses for his madness. Superhero films are increasingly becoming a kind of serious and profound Shakespearean drama, doing their best to shed the label of childishness.

But when we watch We Can Be Heroes, which was released on Netflix on 25 December 2020 to mixed reviews, and which is aimed at children's audiences and the first of Rodriguez's films to be released on Netflix, it's as if we're back to square one. The film's plot structure is also simple enough to be compressed into a single thread: aliens attack Earth, the children's parents are captured, the children take on the responsibility of saving the world and eventually succeed in doing so (of course, the "plot reversal" at the end tells us that it's all about the alien children helping the human children "grow up" to take over the world), and the two storylines, one light and one dark, fit together in a very formulaic way. (Of course, the final "plot reversal" tells us that it's all about the alien children helping the human children "grow up" to take over the world). The two storylines, one above and one below, are very formulaic and seem to be a formula that Hollywood scriptwriters have already learnt by heart. Decorated with cheap, Snapchat-level special effects and exaggerated, poor performances, I think there is nothing more like a bad movie than this.

But if we adults put aside our resistance to "childishness" and think of ourselves as a child audience, and compare our past experience of watching superhero films and children's adventure films, it is easy to see their extraordinary qualities: Rodriguez presents the CG special effects here as toys that can be moulded by children, like plasticine, with infinite plasticity, becoming a carrier of a very basic childhood creativity. The superpowers here are not only the setting of the film, but also exist as a means of controlling the speed of the film, the direction of the plot, the will of the lens editing and the means of scheduling. It is also a tool for the soundtrack and the basis for make-up and modelling. It is almost a pure, genuine children's film without any impurities.

In Rodriguez's previous children's films, such as Spy Kids (2001) and the Sharkboy and Lavagirl spin-off (2005), he still strives to give the scripts some kind of allegorical and educational value.Take the ending of Spy Kids as a typical example: the FBI tried to assign a spy mission to two children instead of their parents, but the two children asked to bring their parents along. There are two clues here. One is the growth of the two children, and the other is that the family is still a driving force, the latter meaning that there is still a very typical American family concept at work. A Sharkboy and Lavagirl spin-off (2005) is more of a commemoration and praise of children's imagination from an adult perspective, and Rodriguez has indeed claimed that this film was inspired by his son.

What is different about We Can Be Heroes compared to those two films? In my opinion, first of all, it avoids the kind of condescending teachings that are often inevitable in children's films, and quietly replaces the theme of enlightenment with the theme of anti-enlightenment. By the end, we know that the only growth the child heroes need is not to grow up. The logic of the traditional superhero film's opposition of good and evil is also naturally transformed into games, role-playing and simulation (the exaggerated performances of adults like talk-show comedians confirm this, which reminds us of last year's "Riddle of Fire", the adults seem like the NPC in AVG) - this is not at all "childish", but exactly faithful to the concept of "children" and faithful to the new possibilities of the world. Accordingly, it has gained an unprecedented freedom. For the superpowers with which they are unfamiliar, children use all sorts of whims to manipulate them, so that adults can't predict how they will solve the difficulties ahead of them next, so that the film has a very pure, like playing a game to watch fun (of course he doesn't need us to do it ourselves). This is a work that can be created by real children - Rodriguez seems to deliberately mobilise the creativity of the actors. He replaces the experience of commercial types with the pure intuition of children, and also proves that the latter is still a viable and unconstraining empty framework. You can reject it for being naive, but you have to admit that it has a kind of self-contained beauty that expands freely into infinite possibilities.

As a strong proponent of B-movie production and digital filmmaking. Robert Rodriguez's virtues remind us of the playful 80s B-movie auteur-directors such as Wes Craven, Joe Dante, Tobe Hooper and, of course, his good friend Quentin Tarantino. Through his children's adventure films, he reminds us what the simplest and most effective form of genre film should be.

wirtten by TouMingCabinet