I’m not a huge comic-book person or a comic-book movie person. I’m not judging those who are, but it’s not my cup of tea. I never even saw the third Iron Man movie. I saw The Avengers when it came out on DVD. I have no desire to see another GD Spider-man franchise reboot. I think Batman vs. Superman is going to be a gigantic mess (a mess that will earn a billion dollars, but a mess nonetheless). So, I’m okay with people involved in this year’s awards cycle throwing a little shade at comic-book movies. But you know who got a little bit prickly about it? James Gunn, director of the wildly successful Guardians of the Galaxy. He wrote a little essay on his Facebook:

I didn’t really find the Jack Black superhero jokes offensive, did you guys? It was, like, a joke. I’m not sure if you guys noticed, but the writing on the Oscars didn’t seem to be all that well thought out.

As far as Dan Gilroy saying that attendees of the Independent Spirit Awards have survived against a “tsunami of superhero films” – well it seems a bit weird coming from a guy whose wife has acted in two Thor films – really, that seems like you’ve drowned horribly in that tsunami. But I know I just kind of make up stuff as I go along on these awards shows, so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.

Whatever the case, the truth is, popular fare in any medium has always been snubbed by the self-appointed elite. I’ve already won more awards than I ever expected for Guardians. What bothers me slightly is that many people assume because you make big films that you put less love, care, and thought into them then people do who make independent films or who make what are considered more serious Hollywood films.

I’ve made B-movies, independent films, children’s movies, horror films, and gigantic spectacles. I find there are plenty of people everywhere making movies for a buck or to feed their own vanity. And then there are people who do what they do because they love story-telling, they love cinema, and they want to add back to the world some of the same magic they’ve taken from the works of others. In all honesty, I do no find a strikingly different percentage of those with integrity and those without working within any of these fields of film.

If you think people who make superhero movies are dumb, come out and say we’re dumb. But if you, as an independent filmmaker or a “serious” filmmaker, think you put more love into your characters than the Russo Brothers do Captain America, or Joss Whedon does the Hulk, or I do a talking raccoon, you are simply mistaken.

[From Facebook]

I think he makes a good point – and let’s be fair, many of nominated actors have had parts in major comic-book franchises. Michael Keaton was Batman, Benedict Cumberbatch will be Doctor Strange, Bradley Cooper was a talking raccoon, Mark Ruffalo is The Hulk (Ed Norton too). And the reason the studios have the money to wage Oscar campaigns for their small, “important” films is because they have cash-cow franchises and comic-book movies. Variety has a write-up/analysis piece about whether people should lay off the comic book movie jokes. It does seem like it’s sort of biting the hand that feeds, you know?

Now, all that being said, there IS a tsunami of comic-book movies and I have to think that this too shall pass. This is a market trend, only it just happens to be a HUGE market trend that will probably last another decade. I came of age, as a film lover, during the heyday of the 1990s independent film movement. That was a trend too, as “indie” became profitable and commercialized and those films lost a lot of their street cred. With comic book movies, I just have to think that… all it takes is one major flop, one huge box office bomb, and then suddenly that particular model will be harshly reassessed.

Photos courtesy of WENN.