The Culture Club (Film: Iron Man) November 16, 2008

This is the next study session in a series of culture studies where something from the media (e.g. a book, a film, a music album) is discussed from a Christian perspective but the session is for people of all faiths and people of no faith at all who want to explore the message behind the media.

The session will start at 5:30 pm when we will watch the film on the big screen and the discussion starts at 7:30 pm.

There is no charge for this event and is open to all including those 12 and under accompanied by an adult.

FILM INFO
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(taken from the Damaris web site @ http://www.damaris.org/content/content.php?type=5&id=681)

"Iron Man is Marvel’s latest shot at scoring an all-important Summer blockbuster hit that laughs all the way to the bank. Let’s see now, does it have all the ingredients?

* Big explosions? Check.
* Super-powered hero? Uh-huh.
* Snappy dialogue? Yep.
* Moral dilemmas based on hidden origins? Tick.
* Bad guys who respond well to being thumped? Of course.
* Good guy who turns out to be bad guy? Naturally.

However, clichés apart, this fantasy film does score surprisingly well as a ‘thinking’ entertainment for several reasons.

Firstly, it’s based much more on the original comic books than some other recent offerings. Modern ‘graphic novels’ often carry a great deal more moral complexity and psychological depth than is often assumed. At the start of the film, the millionaire protagonist Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) proclaims his brutal philosophy as an arms manufacturer at the top of his game:

"They say the best weapon is one you never have to fire. I respectfully disagree. I prefer the weapon you only need to fire once. That's how Dad did it, that's how America does it, and it's worked out pretty well so far."

Iron Man’s updated storyline features the contemporary conflict in Afghanistan rather than the Vietnam War of the original, but this works well due to the parallels between both these situations, and the (unmentioned) war in Iraq. The first part of the film is rooted only too realistically in a place where armed conflict oppresses the weak and benefits the rich and powerful. Later, with more than a hint of Nicolas Cage’s arms dealer in Lord of War, Stark finds himself trapped in the consequences of his profiteering. After being kidnapped from a sales demonstration in Afghanistan, he begins to see the true fruits of his trade, and is shocked into uttering new thoughts at a press conference:

"Stark: I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I created to defend them and protect them. And I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero-accountability.
Reporter: Mr. Stark, what happened over there?
Stark: I had my eyes opened. I came to realize that I had more to offer this world than just making things that blow up. And that is why, effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark Industries."

As he sees the fruits of his industry menacing both the soldiers of his own country and the lives of innocent villagers, he tries to make amends, but finds it all to be much more complicated since there are others who stand to profit from the conflict, as he himself had done. As techno-fantasies go, this one, thankfully, doesn’t proclaim any easy answers.

Secondly, this film scores because of some cracking dialogue:

"Stark: My old man had a philosophy. Peace means having a bigger stick than the other guy.
Christine Everheart (Leslie Bibb): That's a great line, coming from a guy selling the sticks Stark: My father helped defeat Nazis. He worked on the Manhattan Project. A lot of people, including your professors at Brown, would call that being a hero.
Everheart: And a lot of people would also call that war-profiteering."

"Stark: Why are you trying to hustle me out of here?
'Pepper' Potts (Gwynneth Paltrow): Your flight was scheduled to leave an hour and a half ago.
Stark: That's funny. I thought, with it being my plane and all, that it would just wait for me to get there. I mean, doesn't it kind of defeat the purpose of having your own plane if it departs before you arrive?"

Thirdly, in the spirit of Wile E. Coyote, there are genuine laughs to be had at Stark’s painful attempts to create a working exo-suit that doesn’t send him smacking into walls and ceilings (were the legendary Acme ‘Earthquake pills’ sitting on a shelf, just off-camera?). ‘Dummy’, his robot helper, is especially keen to use a fire extinguisher whenever possible."

Trailer:



Previous Sessions
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This series continues to be popular. Previous evenings have looked at "The Lives of Others" (film), "Pan's Labyrinth" (film), "Utopian Dreams" (book), "Breaking and Entering" (film), "Little Miss Sunshine" (film), "Evan Almighty" (film), "Babel" (film), "The Zahir" (book), "Paradise Now" (film), "Life on Mars" (TV series), "Collateral" (film), "Arthur and George" (book), "Moulin Rouge" (film), the Robbie Williams album "Intensive Care", "Lost in Translation" (film), "Whale Rider" (film), "The Incredibles" (film), "The Da Vinci Code" (book), the U2 album "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" and "Chocolat" (film).