Alejandro González Iñárritu, director of the upcoming “Birdman” — a film that will join the pantheon of other González Iñárritu films no one but bubbled critics watch — has decided that American superhero films represent a form of “right wing cultural suicide.” This is my nomination for the longest non sequitur in history:
“The problem is that sometimes they purport to be profound, based on some Greek mythological kind of thing. And they are honestly very right wing,” challenged Iñárritu. “I always see them as killing people because they do not believe in what you believe, or they are not being who you want them to be. I hate that, and don’t respond to those characters. They have been poison, this cultural genocide, because the audience is so overexposed to plot and explosions and shit that doesn’t mean nothing about the experience of being human.”
He added: “Superheroes…just the word hero bothers me. What the fuck does that mean? It’s a false, misleading conception, the superhero. Then, the way they apply violence to it, it’s absolutely right wing. If you observe the mentality of most of those films, it’s really about people who are rich, who have power, who will do the good, who will kill the bad. Philosophically, I just don’t like them.”
González Iñárritu also sees superhero films as the bourgeoisie oppressor of the proletariat, or something…
I would be terrible. I think there’s nothing wrong with being fixated on superheroes when you are 7 years old, but I think there’s a disease in not growing up. The corporation and the hedge funds have a hold on Hollywood and they all want to make money on anything that signifies cinema. When you put $100 million and you get $800 million or $1 billion, it is very hard to convince people. You tell them, you will put in $20 million and you will get $80 million. Now, that is a [frick]ing amazing business, but they say, “$80 million? I want $800 million.” Basically, the room to exhibit good nice films is over.
According to Box Office Mojo, González Iñárritu’s highest grossing film was a pail of pretentious crap from 2006 called “Babel.” The total haul was $34 million.
On average, González Iñárritu’s films have grossed $15 million.
So when he tells investors and studios if “you will put in $20 million and you will get $80 million,” what really happens is they laugh in his lying face.
John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC
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