Disappointment…is my response to Marvel’s latest superhero release, Deadpool. If you don’t know by now, I’m a huge superhero fan. I have been ever since I was a kid and I’ve enjoyed reading my favorite comics and watching Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, and The Hulk over the years. There are comic book writers, inkers, and pencillers I really enjoy, and there are others that simply a cross a line I find inappropriate. Though I’m a huge superhero fan, I am also consistently researching writers and their crew and where they take these heroes. The originators were very intentional when they created their hero and I spend time reading about them to, wanting to understand the heart and passion of the heroes I have grown to enjoy.
Kids are excited to see this movie because they consider Deadpool to be an awesome hero. I am curious how the movie promotional commercials will be presented on television. YouTube, in cooperation with 20th Century FOX, provides the green band cut as well as the red band cut. But the question is what will be shown on the silver screen. Here’s the obvious hint: BOTH! Even though they make it a green band in the previews, it is a false advertisement. So, if you’re planning to take your kids, you may want to research the reality of what they’ll be seeing first, and then decide whether or not you want to subject them to such content. And considering the amount of money we pay to go to the movies today, that’s a small fortune to invest in something you’ll need to have a big discussion about.
For explicit language, much of it being the “F” word repeated constantly, and the sexual references, Captain America would respond as he did in The Avengers 2, “Language.” Referencing that people look like body parts or sexual acts is simply inappropriate, and it’s not funny. If you do think it’s funny, I ask you to really consider why you think it’s so funny. Is that the kind of language you want your kids to use with their friends and classmates, and is that how you talk to your friends, family, and coworkers? What is sarcasm and how far do we take it? If we use today’s language, it’s considering bullying. It is a jab at others that crosses the line, revealing your disdain for that other person and it is often done publicly, revealing your true nature.
Articles are giving the movie and its producers praise for providing an R-rated superhero movie where the “Merc with a Mouth” can explicitly express himself unhindered. Not just in words and graphic action, but one also gets to see graphic nudity and sexual content. Many will say that if you can’t handle an R-rated movie, you shouldn’t watch it, or that they watched movies like this growing up and they haven’t been affected by its content. If this is the avenue that blazes a trail for upcoming superhero movies, count me out.
Other articles are opposing the movie, asking Marvel to create a PG-13 rating so that parents can take their kids. China has banned the movie because of the explicit content. Perhaps using one’s imagination, even if being led, no longer produces an individual thought or idea? How much does one need to “see” before they have an actual thought on their own?
Heroes are important; they are whom we look up to and believe in, encouraging us to keep moving forward. To quote Nick Fury in The Avengers, “Marvel, do better.”