Everyone has their thoughts on the superhero genre. Many of our favorite directors find these franchise blockbuster films to be “boring as shit,” or are deeply afraid of toxic fans turning their backs on the director for making a superhero film. Despite how tired we are of superhero movies, we go to the theatre and enjoy those same stories over and over again for the sake of the spectacle, but Steven Soderbergh might have found a way to spice up these regurgitated superhero stories.
While sitting down with The Daily Beastto talk about his new film KIMI, Soderbergh revealed why he doesn’t think he would ever make a superhero film.
Soderbergh is a filmmaker who relishes stories that are being told in the film’s real universe. He prefers to tell stories that are grounded and examine a character rather than a cataclysmic event happening in space. “I’m just too earthbound to really release myself to a universe in which Newtonian physics don’t exist.”
The pursuit of a character drama that seeps its way into different genres is what makes Soderbergh’s projects captivating. Although he believes he could create a film that focuses on a character’s journey that could fit into a superhero franchise, there is still one major problem that Soderbergh couldn’t overcome.
“[F]or me to understand the world and how to write or supervise the writing of the story and the characters—apart from the fact that I can bend time and defy gravity and shoot beams out of my fingers—there’s no fucking. Nobody’s fucking! Like, I don’t know how to tell people how to behave in a world in which that is not a thing.”
Although Marvel’s Eternalsfeatures the MCU’s first sex scene, many of the iconic characters in the MCU and DCU are sexless beings who occasionally share a passionate yet lustless kiss with their significant others.
Sure, there are moments where fans can sense moments of sexual tension between characters (I see you, Stucky shippers), but you have to look into the subtext of the film to notice any of this.
'WandaVision'Credit: Disney Platform Distribution
For the MCU, having sexless characters is due to Disney’s desire to provide wholesome, fun, family entertainment that doesn’t suggest anything taboo like sex. Little does Disney realize that it is creating characters who mystify sex for the young people watching the movies.
Sex can be a revealing and exciting storytelling device. Not only can it examine a character’s sexual identity, but can also add complexity to a character’s relationships with others and themselves. For actors who are modeling their bodies into the ideal Western standard of beauty and heroism to make them look desirable, there isn’t a lot of action taking place behind those closed doors.
Although we are constantly coming back to watch superhero films and TV shows, we will always find ourselves becoming frustrated by the flat image of sexiness that leaves the audience wanting just a single moment of satisfaction.
'Eternals' had Marvel's first sex sceneCredit: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Maybe one day, the superhero genre will take a note from Watchmenand Soderberghand add a little more intimacy in the superheroes’ lives. It might be what the genre needs to escape the funk that it has fallen into.
Should superheroes be allowed to have sex in their stories? Let us know what you think in the comments below!
Source: The Daily Beast
