Hulk Smash

So here are my completely unasked for thoughts on the Avengers movie.

There isn't much left to say at this point.  Just about everyone loves it and it made over a bajillion dollars at the box office.

So I am going to talk about the Hulk.  Everyone loves him and he is being touted as the breakout star of the film.  Some are noting that Marvel finally got the Hulk right.  I don't think it is so much about finally getting the Hulk "right" but about getting the Hulk into a third act.

By my count there are three (modern) Hulk movies Hulk (2003-with Eric Bana and directed by Ang Lee) The 2008 Ed Norton The Incredible Hulk, and this year's Avengers.  I agree that Hulk was awesome in the Avengers.  What I disagree with is that Marvel finally got it right.  My thesis is that we needed the other two films to get to the satisfying portrayal of Hulk in the Avengers.

In high school I had a history teacher that boiled philosophy down to three questions: Who am I?  Why am I here? and Where am I going?  I believe that (well done) superhero movies answer these three questions.

Most superhero films start with the origin:  Mild manner so and so, runs into some kinda accident, montage designing a costume and learning how to control their powers, fight with minor villain to show competence (or minor fight with the major villain), then big knock down drag out fight with the big bad.  Victory, big musical score, action pose, credits role.

The main draw back to these types of films is that most want to see the fighting and not so much the becoming.  Spider-Man works because Sam Rami made the becoming fun to watch.  Iron Man works because Tony Stark is fun to watch even when he isn't in the flying suit.  Hulk (2003) suffered because no one wanted to watch Bruce struggle with inner demons, they just wanted to see HULK SMASH!  Most heroes become better people after the transformation and revel in the joy of flying through the sky or swinging from buildings.  Bruce doesn't like being the other guy, so to be true to the character you gotta keep the Hulk at bay.  And that ain't any fun.

So the origin film answers the question: Who am I?  In the case of the Hulk the answer was a conflicted guy who no one wants to watch wine about his childhood.  And yes there are other problems with the Ang Lee Hulk film, but I still contend you have to establish the before and after of the character.  You have to answer the Who before you answer the Why.

The Incredible Hulk (2008) had the advantage that all superhero sequels have.  We know who is behind the mask, so now we can just get on with the story.  However, like all story there needs to be conflict.  Most second superhero outings ask the question "Why am I here?"

Sure the first film ends on a heroic note and the do gooder wishes to, well, do good.  But doing good comes with a price.  Usually for the cape and tight crowds it means giving up a normal life.  The "Why am I here?" question becomes "Am I here for them or me?"  I have this great power, do I really need to live into the great responsibility?  Superman II, Spider-Man II, and The Dark Knight all touch on this theme (Hellboy II takes this question and flips it on its head).  Hulk II aka The Incredible Hulk asks this question as well.

In the Ed Norton film, Banner wants to get rid of the Hulk because he wants a normal life.  And what happens at the end?  He makes a sacrifice for the greater good.  He gives up the normal life for our greater good.  That final scene where "The Days Without Incident" clicks down to Zero and Banner smirks as his eyes go green sets up the appearance of Hulk in the Avengers.  Now that we have answered the first two questions (Who and Why) the Hulk is a rounded character and we can get to the third question.

The third question "Where am I going?"  is a bit of a stretch in this analogy, but bear with me.  The third Super-Hero film often puts the protagonist up against the question, "Whose side am I on?"  that is to say "Where am I going?"  The hero has the powers and a normal life is out of the question, but the question that remains is "Do I have to be selfless or can I be selfish"?  Granted that sounds a little like question two, but there is a nuance between the two.

Most comic films have the hero face an "evil version" of themselves in their third chapter.  Sadly, this has rarely been done well.  But with the Hulk this is a tailor made story line.  The evil version is the Hulk himself.  Note that throughout the Avengers Banner refers to the Hulk as "the other guy."

That is why the  big reveal with the line (SPOILERS)"I am always angry."(END SPOILERS) is so great.  The Hulk owns up to who he is.  He owns his flaws, he owns his strengths, and he saves the day.

Yes having Joss Whedon write and direct helped.  Yes having better CGI now than in 2003 helped.  Yes having the Hulk play off other characters helped.  Yes the Hulk taking control was brilliant and hadn't been done before in the other films, but I believe without the other two stories as foundation this revelation wouldn't mean as much.  It wouldn't have been earned.  It wouldn't have been as satisfying to finally see the Hulk stop running from himself, if we hadn't been on that journey thus far with him.

And yes Hulk dogs are still the dumbest thing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

 

--Serving Him alongside all of you, just from further away

 --Jesse Letourneau

There is a an object lesson here somewhere

 We will start on May 3.  There was a 15 min or so thunderstorm/hail storm.  Not much to report other than at one point I thought the windows were gunna break.  However, I did decide to go out and stand in the rain for a little while.  (Funny the things you miss when leave them behind.)  Now being moderately wet I decided to enter the apartment through the back door by the kitchen.

Well the door knob on the inside of said back door had become loose so there was no way to turn the knob and open the door.  So I did what any normal person would do.  I turned around and "mule kick"ed the door open.  No harm no foul. (or so I thought).

Just about then it was time to get ready for the night's activity: Avengers-opening night-midnight showing-IMAX-in 3-D.  After getting out of the theater my leg felt sore.  And I wasn't sure why.  (Then I remembered that I had kicked the door some five hours earlier).  The mystery solved I went to the diner with my assembled friends and then home to bed.


The following morning I thought that maybe I had pulled a muscle in my leg (the right one, for those of you who want the details).  However there were two items on my to do list.  One was meet at the library to work on a group project (the only assignment left for the semester outside of studying for finals) and pack for the Church Family Retreat.

So I walked to and from the library, came home and packed.  My leg was still a little sore and I thought could probably use some rest, however I was on my way to camp and was in charge of the lessons for the children (ages 3-4th grade).  (i.e. I knew that this weekend the leg wasn't going to get any rest.)

Friday night was just hanging out (plenty of snacks and board games-I love this church more and more) so I did stay off the leg as much as I could (you know 24 hours after the injury, and not resting it before that).

Saturday morning and the leg is still pretty sore.  It hadn't swollen yet, but it only hurt when I would walk on it, particularity uphill.  I thought one of two things was true.  Either I had broken a bone and was going to be one of those stories about the guy who breaks his leg and doesn't know it for a week.  Or it was just a minor injury that needed rest that I wasn't giving it.  The solution?

Play in the basketball tournament that afternoon.  There were only three teams (four if you count the team of kids) and the leg wasn't swollen.  What is the worst that could happen?

My leg, which gave me no pain during the hour and half I played on it.  Swelled 50% of its normal size.  The solution?  Take full advantage of camp and pretend like the leg was fine.

By Saturday night there was some swelling that appeared to be caused by popped blood vessel or some such.  By Sunday, it hurt to walk, and I even had a doctor (a great guy who is a member of the church) look at it.  There were two little bumps as well.  He said they were just little blood collections, and to take care of the leg.  (You know rest, elevation, heat, the things I hadn't done the last three days.)

Sunday was a kicked back day, and when I got home I spent the afternoon/evening with my leg up with heat on it.  Monday I got a ride to campus for my one class and spent the night at a friend's house.  More rest and more heat.  Tuesday I was on campus and went to classes but took it easy.  I did make it out to Wheaton for counseling on Tuesday night.  By now the little bumps were bigger.  Well one was still tiny, the other was about 2/3 of a quarter and had hardened considerably due to the heat that I had placed on it.  The solution?

Skip down to the next paragraph if you are squeamish.  I decided to pop and drain the suckers.  (The little one had already "sprung a leak.")  It left a nice open gap in my leg, but the pressure of the blood was now gone (leg didn't feel 100% yet, but I could walk on it if I needed to).

So Tuesday night I returned the car I had borrowed to get out to Wheaton to campus and walked home, (with a stop at a friend's house to catch up on Castle via Hulu).  Wednesday I walked down to campus to help a friend cram for our OT final the following day.

Walked home (by this time the wound is covered with band-aids and I can walk just fine, but standing is painful and/or makes the wound itchy), slept, woke up, got dressed, walked back to campus for the OT final.

So I had this plan.  I have never worn my hair really long before, so I spent the majority of this semester without getting a hair cut.  I wasn't a fan of the look and since summer is coming my plan was to go to the salon a block from school and get my hair cut nice and short right after my final on Thursday (last thing I had for the semester).

So I hobbled on over to the salon but it was closed.  I took that as a sign and went to the student health center to set up a doctor's appointment.

Took the bus over to the hospital at 2pm and by 4pm I had bandages, anti-biotics, and a appointment to come back in a week.

That was a long week.  I watched all of my DVDs including all of the special features.  (More rest and elevation for the leg).  The leg wasn't getting better.  On Tuesday I was actually concerned and thought about going in early to the doctor.  Wednesday morning there was finally clear and obvious healing visible on the wound.  Thursday I went into the doctor who cleaned the wound, recieved some more bandages and was sent home.  The leg was still a little swollen.

The leg seems to be normal sized now, the wound is still open, but it has decreased in size by half since Thursday and looks healthy.  You know as far as flesh wounds go.

So yeah that is May thus far.


--Serving Him alongside all of you, just from further away
 --Jesse Letourneau