(easygoing music)
- What's up, guys?
Michael here.
So, a fun thing happened this month.
Lionsgate approached us and asked if we could spare
a little of our philosophical insight
and matinee idol good looks
to help them celebrate
the DVD and Blu-ray release of
"The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard" on August 17th.
And we thought that this was the perfect opportunity
to discuss one of our favorite types of entertainment,
escapist films.
Featuring truly all-in, gonzo performances
from Samuel L. Jackson, Salma Hayek, and Ryan Reynolds,
the sequel to 2017's "The Hitman's Bodyguard"
is pure escapist fare.
Filled with big explosions,
(explosion booms)
ridiculous gags...
- Are you people (beeps) insane!
- [Michael] And absurd plot twists.
- Last time I saw something like this,
Bruce Willis was drilling a hole in an asteroid.
- But is there something more going on beneath the surface
of this brand of big-budget crowd-pleaser?
And could it actually be way better
at exploring societal issues than you might realize?
We think so, and we'll explain how
in this Wisecrack Edition
on "How Popcorn Films Roast Reality."
Oh, and fair warning, there will be spoilers.
So, what is an escapist film, anyway?
According 1980 "New York Times" film critic Vincent Canby,
"An effectively escapist film occupies the imagination
and transports us into other worlds.
We escape through our commitment to the film."
Now, based in part on their setting in an other world,
escapist movies are often dismissed
as not having the same cultural value
as more realist, serious, or message-oriented films.
Even the people who enjoy them
describe how you can just turn your brain off
and enjoy a brief respite from reality.
And indeed, cinema has been a reliable coping mechanism
for American audiences for almost a century,
with the Great Depression producing some of the greatest,
glitziest works of escapism Hollywood has ever seen.
Because when you're struggling through the middle
of the greatest economic catastrophe of all time,
Getting to spend a few hours
watching Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
glide across the silver screen
could be just enough to keep your soul intact.
Though "The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard"
doesn't feature any tap dancing,
it also hit theaters during a bleak time.
You know, the literal once-in-a-century, we hope, plague.
And just like the razzle-dazzle classics of the 1930s,
this film is stacked full
of gorgeous, wildly charismatic people
who are at times also mildly terrifying.
- Finally Darius isn't haunting my dreams.
- If you don't help me, I am going to put my strapon
and I am going to (bleep) your dreams
until they wish they were your nightmares.
- [Michael] Anyway, the film's action scenes
are also delightfully ridiculous, letting us know
we're in an almost Looney Tunes-esque reality
where we don't have to worry
about all the terrible things happening
to our beloved Deadpool.
The point is to sit back and laugh
at how spectacularly violent it all is.
Especially when the characters are going out of their way
to make each fight scene as silly as possible.
- Are you using pepper spray?
- I'm on sabbatical.
And I'm trying to find my spiritual awakening.
- [Michael] But beyond the over-the-top action,
filthy one-liners and all star charisma,
is there something deeper to be read into this movie?
We think so.
And this is where the "Birmingham School" of film theory
enters the conversation.
Founded by Richard Hoggart
at Birmingham Center for Cultural Studies in 1964,
this school of thought basically argues
that there is genuine cultural value in every form of art
because it all reveals
something about the time it was made in.
This is pretty much a theoretical clap-back
to the commonly accepted distinction
amongst critics and scholars which separated highbrow art,
that was intellectually nourishing and worthy of analysis,
from lowbrow art, that was just good solid fun designed
to keep regular people
from thinking too hard about the world.
And spend their hard earned money, of course.
The Birmingham School, for it's part,
argues that every piece of cultural work
will necessarily reflect some aspects
of the cultural unconscious of it's time.
That's simply because art's never made in a vacuum,
but by, and for, human beings
with fears, affections and expectations
that can't help but filter into the final product.
Essentially, art is the way
society talks to itself about itself.
And that's true even when that art is saying fun
and patently absurd things, like-
- I'm going to be such a good mother.
(cocks rifle)
- I can't imagine anyone gooder.
- To see this theory in action,
you just need to take a quick flip
through any of Hollywood's most popular films
from past decades.
For example, Sylvester Stallone spent years
as the poster boy for muscle-headed action flicks.
But the original Rambo and Rocky, at their heart,
were both simple stories about regular guys
who found themselves under society's heel.
Either because they were traumatized military vets
or just blue-collar dudes
with limited economic opportunities.
The former evokes the very real way veterans
are neglected by society.
While the latter evokes the dedication and strength
of working class people, struggling to get by
in an unfair world.
And, even as their sequels got bigger,
bloodier and a bit more brainless,
they still retained a clear sense
of the nations' fears and preoccupations.
So if Cold War anxiety is in the air,
this happens.
(explosive boom)
And the same is true
of pretty much every successful blockbuster.
While Stallone was slugging it out
with Soviet-engineered supermen,
his fellow muscleman, Arnold Schwarzenegger,
was tapping into our growing fears
about the rise of computer technology.
Fast-forward a few decades,
and James Cameron would top the box office again
with "Avatar", which dabbled in some rather heavy-handed,
but undeniably prescient messages about environmentalism,
corporate greed and colonialism.
- And we will show the sky people
that they cannot take whatever they want.
And that this
this is our land.
- [Michael] And "The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard"
is absolutely no exception.
Full of wild antics and Hollywood charm,
but still clearly touching on some major real world issues.
Mistrust of institutions is a big one.
The films' plot is set in motion
by the Greek financial crisis,
which was partially caused by the EU.
The villains' dastardly plan
is then to cause more institutional failure
by shutting down the European electrical grid.
And throughout the movie,
we see how incapable institutions like Interpol are
of keeping people safe.
In short, every institution we see
is either corrupt or incompetent.
So it falls to our three unlikely heroes
to save the day.
- Do not (bleep) this up.
- Oh, we're definitely going to (bleep) this up.
- [Michael] This sort of rugged individualism
is a time-honored theme for action movies.
The idea that the only way to really get results
is to forgo the bureaucracy and political infighting
of the powers that be, and strike out on your own,
relying solely upon your wits, fists and firearms
to get the job done.
I mean, that's literally Die Hard to a T.
- Asshole. I'm not the one
who just got butt (bleep) on national TV, Dwayne.
(laughs) Now you listen to me, jerkoff.
If you're not part of the solution,
you're part of the problem.
Quit being part of the (bleep) problem
and put the other guy back on.
- [Michael] And "The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard"
reaffirms this theme in a really comprehensive way.
Morgan Freeman's character, Michael Bryce, Sr.,
is a picture of conventional institutionalized success.
With all the awards, trophies and commemorative plaques,
from his days as a world class bodyguard, to prove it.
But even though he's the embodiment
of how the system is supposed to work,
and even though he is also Michael's stepfather,
he ultimately turns out to be just as morally bankrupt
as every other member of the establishment.
And ultimately, a not so great dad.
- You are the dumbest mother (bleep) I have ever met.
- Wow, that, uh-
- I handle Aristotle's security detail
while he's in Italy, you moron.
- You, you work for the bad guys?
- A triple A puts his clients ahead of God, family
and certainly a pantywaist such as yourself.
- [Michael] It's worth noting that here,
one of organized society's most sacred institutions,
the family, also fails.
And it's no coincidence
that our three unlikely heroes legally, if coercively,
form a family unit at the end of the film.
- My baby Cucaracha, you just signed the adoption papers.
- [Michael] But beyond broken families, even Interpol agents
like Frank Grillo's character, learn
that they can't get things done working within the system,
forcing him to call upon two known criminals
and one disgraced bodyguard, to do the job instead.
And the fact that they are ultimately able
to succeed where everyone fails,
underlines the idea that sometimes if you want a job done,
you can't really rely on institutional protocol.
You have to do it yourself.
- Let me do what we do in Boston, okay?
We work with the bad guys to get the worse guys.
- But what happens
when we take popcorn friendly fare more seriously?
Some pretty interesting things.
See, the Birmingham School of film theory
was revolutionary in this way.
And arguably, it offers a more productive way
of looking at the world than it's predecessors
by acknowledging that even cultural products
which seem firmly rooted in unreality
can tell us something important about ourselves.
And, like Michael,
we're all just striving for a better sense of who we are.
Right?
- Hey there, future Michael.
It's today Michael.
I'm not great at first impressions.
I just want to say that I think
you'd be proud to know that I graduated therapy.
- [Michael] What's more,
films like "The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard"
can help us to deal with problems in the real world
via the catharsis of escape.
We weren't ready to talk
about the serious societal neglect
of Vietnam veterans returning from war.
So, we talked about Rambo instead.
- It's over, Johnny.
It's over!
- Nothing is over! Nothing!
You just don't turn it off.
It wasn't my war!
You asked me, I didn't ask you!
And I did what I had to do to win.
- [Michael] We weren't, and apparently still aren't,
ready to talk about colonialism and it's modern day legacy,
so we talked about the movie Black Panther.
- I've served for as long as I could.
But leaders have been assassinated.
Communities flooded with drugs and weapons.
They are overly policed and incarcerated.
- And these movies can create a separate world
for us to escape to.
Allowing us to view contemporary issues
from a slightly more comfortable,
and less painful, vantage point.
Similarly, we might not wanna spend
one of our precious summer nights
watching a darkly realistic movie
about the economic collapse of Greece,
or the failure of the institutions we trust to keep us safe.
Because, without wanting to be callous, it's a huge bummer.
And we're already dealing with enough.
So, The "Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard" takes those issues
and works them into a wacky, action-packed story
full of hilarious, beautiful people.
And that lets us take them in cathartically,
while still enjoying
a good old-fashioned night at the movies.
This catharsis occurs when these films
invoke real world problems
and offer some amount of resolution for them.
Or, at least, a victorious outcome in the face of them.
Rocky Balboa can't end the Cold War.
Nor the prejudices and anxiety it fueled.
Nor the massive geopolitical fallout it left in it's wake.
But our guy can offer
a clear, heart-warming onscreen conclusion
to this violent dysfunction.
- What I'm trying to say, is that if I can change,
then you can change.
Everybody can change!
- [Michael] Similarly, Black Panther doesn't pretend
to offer a solution for racism and colonialism.
But it does offer a vision of a world
in which the dispersal of guns, germs and steel
wasn't quite so unequal.
A world where an African utopia can flourish.
And during a mid-credits scene, it also provides us
with the inspiring image of what that could mean
for the real world.
- I am the sovereign ruler of the nation of Wakanda.
And for the first time in our history,
we will be sharing our knowledge and resources
with the outside world.
- [Michael] There is an immense amount of catharsis
to be found in this kind of resolution,
giving us the chance to engage with serious issues
in a slightly less serious, more optimistic, way.
There may be no clear-cut solution for the issues posed
by political corruption, institutional failure
and broken economic systems.
But we can gladly watch
Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson and Salma Hayek
succeed in the face of these problems
via elaborate schemes, half-baked ideas
and a ton of firepower.
So, what do you guys think?
Are movies like "The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard"
just a straightforward good time?
Or can they reveal something more
about us and the society we live in?
Let us know what you think in the comments.
Be sure to catch the movie when it lands
on DVD, 4KHD and Blu-ray on August 17th.
Thanks as always to our patrons for all your support.
Batter that subscribe button
like you're driving a boat into a barrel of explosives
and don't forget to ring that bell.
And, as always, thanks for watching. Later.
(rock music plays)