Dr. Stange: stop. The two moments we just watched are almost exactly the same aren't they.
They take place at roughly the same time in their respective movies and are about
the same thing: the main character stops struggling with
their dueling identities and embraces their heroic side. So why did I love one
and hate the other? Well because one is honest and emotional, while the other
undercuts its own dramatic purpose with a joke. This is what's called bathos.
First coined by Alexander Pope back in 1727, in an essay called Peri Bathous; Or
The Art Of Sinking In Poetry, it describes moments in poems where the
tone suddenly switches between serious to trivial for comedic effect.
Rocket: Now I'm standing. Y'all happy? We're all standing up now. Bunch a jacka**
The juxtaposition of the two moments creates a laugh, but it destroys whatever drama
the piece was going for. If you take a look at the most popular movies produced
by Hollywood today, particularly with the Marvel movies, I think you'll find that
we have become a culture adrift in bathos. Now like any literary device
there are correct ways to use bathos, and one of them is parody. It's used
constantly in movies like Deadpool and the Lego Batman to great effect, because
there is an expectation in those films that they are going to cut down the
known tropes of superhero movies.
[Uplifting Music]
[Thump]
[Comedic Whistle]
But now we have allegedly serious versions of the genre that are actually,
secretly, parodies. That moment in Doctor Strange is a parody of the moment in
Spider-man whether it meant to be or not. The same way this...
...is later parodied by this...
Drax: look out! What moments like these signal to me is that the creators don't have
confidence in their own stories. They're using the joke to distract from the
film's dramatic shortcomings. [Curtains] The dramatic question at the heart of most
superhero stories is who is this character? Are they selfish or
altruistic? Will they accept the enormous responsibilities that their enormous
power has given them? This moment is the answer to that question. It's supposed to
energize the audience, propelling them into the final action of the climax. If
you're telling an honest story, then at no other point in the movie should a
filmmaker feel more confident that the audience is invested in the drama. Now
you can argue that these jokes are funny, but that's not really what I'm disputing.
The point is that there is a dramatic cost that has to be paid whenever bathos
is used at the wrong time. And these aren't just singular moments but a
pervasive tonal choice. Dramatic kneecapping happens constantly.
Ant-man can't even say his own name without giggling. It sort of works better in the
Guardians of the Galaxy movies because those are, you know, actually comedies,
but then there's the airport scene in Civil War, which should be one of the most
dramatic scenes in the film but instead it's tone is haphazard. Tony starts the
scene quipping constantly. Tony: Wow it's so weird how you run into people at the airport. Don't you think that's weird?
Rhodes: definitely weird. Then suddenly become super serious. Captain America: you've been busy.
Tony: And you've been a complete idiot. Dragging in Clint, rescuing Wanda from a place she doesn't want to
leave, a safe place. I'm trying to keep... I'm trying to keep you from tearing the
Avengers apart. Then it's back to humor even while he's literally fighting his
best friends to the maybe death Tony: Wanda I think you hurt Vision's feelings
Wanda: You locked me in my room. Tony: Okay, first, that's an exaggeration.
only for the scene to end on a suddenly dark note.
The audience might laugh at every one of the jokes along the way, but the scene is
dramatically nonsensical. So why do moments like this happen? Okay so this is
Joss Whedon, the writer-director of the two Avengers movies, and the
script-doctor of many of the early Marvel films.
He's probably one of the two men most responsible for the general tone of the Marvel franchise and one of his most
famous quotes is: Make it dark, make a grim, make it tough, but then for the love
of God, tell a joke. Tony: you ever try shwarma? Whedon is advocating for a certain kind
of bathos, but like all advice on writing, the merit of this line is situational.
When running away from an overly serious tone, you can definitely go too far and
end up in self-parody. Because you actually have to make things gritty or
dark or at least tough for this quote to help you. Otherwise you're just replacing
the drama with jokes, and in the process, you make the story toothless and
meaningless. While Joss Whedon himself doesn't mistake comedy for a character
it's since his departure from the franchise and in their attempts to mimic
his brand of quippy dialogue, that Marvel's storytelling philosophy has become:
"all jokes, all the time, no matter the cost." It's a pretty cynical approach in my
opinion. The idea is that you can string together enough jokes to keep the
audience vaguely entertained all the way to the credits, but it's not a recipe for
lasting storytelling. There are ways to mix comedy and drama without sacrificing
one for the other. Jack: Equanimity. The quality of being calm and even-tempered. He accepted
her betrayal
with equanimity. Girlfriend: Jack, I'm ******* your dad. But there is another element at play
here. The fact that these jokes happen during scenes that would otherwise be
emotional, makes me feel like these movies are actually afraid of emotions,
because they're afraid that they will be the butt of the joke, that they'll be
seen as cheesy. And now is when I finally get to talk about Wonder Woman, because
Wonder Woman made me feel...like...actual...emotions? And that's no accident it's by
design. In an interview with the New York Times,
Patty Jenkins, the director of the film, said: "Cheesy is one of the words banned
in my world. I'm tired of sincerity being something we have to be afraid of doing.
It's been 20 years that the entertainment and art world has shied
away from sincerity, real sincerity, because they feel they have to wink at
the audience, because that's what the kids like." I think patty Jenkins is right.
We're in an oversaturated media environment, and yet we're starved for
stories that really connect emotionally. Whatever flaws you want to ascribe to
Wonder Woman, a lack of sincerity cannot be one of them. Wonder Woman is a
genuinely inspiring character who actually stands for something. She stands
for truth, honor, courage, and self-sacrifice, and that is demonstrated
dramatically throughout the movie. She acts with total conviction and the film
never pulls the rug out from under her. The cinematography and music does
everything it can to make sure you are 100% behind her. The point of all my
videos is ultimately for me and you to become better writers by studying the
successes and missteps of other stories. To that end, the most important exercise
a writer can do is to absorb a story while being emotionally self-aware. By
that I mean, don't just watch a movie or pick apart the plot-holes of the story,
but continually ask yourself in every scene, "how is this making me feel?" and "why
is it making me feel that way?" When you can do this, your radar for
insincerity becomes infallible, and you're able to see through the kinds of
manipulations many films attempt to pull. I challenge you to do this while you're
watching Wonder Woman, and I think you'll find that every scene builds up to a
singular emotion that is real, not pantomimed. And that
nothing in the scene invalidates anything that comes before. There is real
substance beneath the surface level amusements, and that is what makes the
movie more than the sum of its jokes, and its evidence why movies shouldn't be
embarrassed by their own heart. Using bathos can get a laugh, but it
doesn't just destroy the meaning in your story. It destroys the idea that stories
can even be meaningful. We need stories to take risks in the emotions that they
portray and not second-guess themselves with winks to the audience. I mean do you
know how many universally beloved movies there are that have some of the
cheesiest scenes you can possibly imagine? And succeed precisely because we
enjoy the cheese. ET ends with a spaceship cutting a rainbow across the
sky, and my favorite movie in the world ends with two people screaming "I love
you" at each other for five minutes straight.
Adrian: I love you. Rocky: I love YOU.
If your story is sincere enough,
then nothing is cheesy
[Rocky End Theme Song]