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abigailnussbaum:

sarah531:

“Guardians of the Galaxy is, to me, more than anything else, about adults who were abused as children starting to heal, uneasily and in fits and starts, by building relationships with other adults who were abused as children.“ – James Gunn

I saw this quote a few days ago, and I’ve been worrying at it ever since.  Because on the one hand, you can definitely see where Gunn is coming from.  The Nebula/Gamora reconciliation, Rocket realizing that he doesn’t need to keep testing his friends, Quill figuring out who his real father was, these are all successful subplots about damaged people finding a family in each other.

But on the other hand, Guardians of the Galaxy 2 is such a mean-spirited movie. The further I get away from it, the nastier it feels, whether it’s Drax’s unpleasant sense of humor, or the way he keeps tearing Mantis down, or the fact that the middle act of the movie is basically two long scenes of photogenic slaughter, as first Yondu’s loyalists are spaced, and then he kills the mutineers one by one.  And it’s not just that the characters are assholes – you can write a story about assholes who are mean to one another but are also learning how to be better people.  It’s that the movie is mean, and expects us to take pleasure in clearly mean-spirited humor.

I don’t know.  Maybe a better writer would have been able to strike a balance between nasty humor and real heart.  Or maybe a writer who isn’t burdened with Marvel’s need to create a four-quarter blockbuster could have managed it.  But what lingers with me about GOTG2 isn’t the connections between the characters, but the way the movie expected me to laugh at them being mean to one another.

I can’t think of much to write here beyond “I didn’t feel that way at all.” I get that the Drax/Mantis stuff is a dealbreaker for a lot of people, but –

– I know I’m opening a can of worms here, but I still see Drax as being basically autistic, which is an idea that’s been passed around a lot, so I see their interactions through that prism I guess. He clearly adores her and is willing to give his life for her even, he just doesn’t understand that calling someone ugly, however logically he means it, might not be the best foundation on which to build a relationship. (Fortunately Gamora is on hand to reassure Mantis she’s not in fact ugly, but Mantis doesn’t.. actually seem to mind how she’s perceived in those terms.)

And I definitely don’t see the scene where Yondu’s loyalists are killed as being photogenic, I find that bit quite horrifying in fact. Especially seeing the Ravagers laughing and mocking as they kill Tullk, and Yondu sitting there too utterly broken and injured to do anything about it.

I know you could get a whole thesis out of why audiences (including me) find the arrow slaughter scene totally badass instead of totally horrifying, and I get that, but I think some of it comes from the catharsis of seeing such horrible people, who murder their crewmates and torment a toddler for fun, getting their just desserts.

Basically I think a key part of the movie is Peter being presented with the perfect thing he’s always wanted – a father who seems to love him and who is powerful and wealthy and amazing – and finding out it’s all literally built on bones. But the Guardians are the other way around: on the surface they’re mean to each other and bicker the way siblings do, but under that it’s all love and respect. Drax actually seems to get that first. “All you do is argue, you’re not even friends.” “No, we’re family.” They’re all really messed-up people with a terrifying load of trauma between them, but they can make it work, and they do.

(”I can’t think of much to write here” *writes four paragraphs*)