The Shakespearean Marvel

When it comes to Bob Chipman, I find myself of two mindsets. The first is the “bad hot-takes” Bob Chipman, riddled with racism and ableism disguised in progressive rhetoric. I see that frequently in his Tweets, hence why I don’t Follow him on Twitter. The other’s the “insightful analyst” Bob Chipman, which has only grown stronger with time. Both of these come into conflict regularly, leaving me with mixed feelings.

As uncomfortable as Bob can be, and I’ve criticized him before, I find his insights into general culture are pretty spot-on. Case in point: last week he put out an episode of The Big Picture that touched on a particular moment in The Avengers: Endgame, Captain America wielding Mjolnir for the first time, and the reaction it received at a live-screening of the film. It seems so weird that such a trivial detail would warrant that reaction, but he argued that it was inevitable. To paraphrase, Marvel movies are the modern-day equivalent of Greek theatre/Shakespearean theatre on the big-screen. Fancy that.

Bob made his case, and succeeded, but it got me thinking about how true that was. I’ve heard plenty of comparisons about The MCU on both sides of the fence, but never one to Shakespeare. I’ve heard “action serials”, “popcorn fluff” and, in the worst-case scenario, “brainless, trashy garbage” uttered in the same breath as them, but Shakespeare? Well…yes. I think that’s apt.

Let me explain.

William Shakespeare is held in high-regard now by academia, sometimes for the wrong reasons, but he wasn’t always considered “high art”; in fact, to paraphrase Bob again, in Shakespeare’s day you’d be hard-pressed to make that case. He was commoner’s trash! Schmaltzy slop for the everyday man! A maestro of bodily sounds, sexual depravity, and other traits that, by today’s standards, would be pretty juvenile! Sure, he wrote his plays with royalty in mind, one of his works centred around an ancestor of Queen Elizabeth I, but he was pretty “lowest common denominator” when compared to his peers. Doctor Faustus, by Christopher Marlowe, was more-sophisticated than anything Shakespeare wrote!

Even as a Shakespeare fan, I take issue with many facets of his work: Hamlet has too many existential quandaries. King Lear has a famous scene that’s uncharacteristic of his prose. The Two Gentlemen of Verona’s a lot of build-up to an awful pay-off, hence why I don’t like it. Coriolanus has his hardest protagonist to care about, as he’s not even likeable in an unlikeable way, and it ends on an anticlimactic note. And while I understand its appeal with younger audiences, I think Romeo and Juliet’s over-exposed.

But you know what? It doesn’t matter. Enough people resonate with Shakespeare that, even if not everything he’s written lands with me, I can overlook his shortcomings and appreciate the spectacle. Because it’s definitely spectacle. You don’t study Shakespeare, you experience him. His plays aren’t meant to be read, though reading them is definitely worthwhile, they’re meant to be seen. Whether on-stage or the big-screen, Shakespeare’s best-enjoyed in the presence of an audience.

And give him credit: centuries later, Shakespeare’s stood the test of time! Whereas works like Doctor Faustus are niche now, Shakespeare’s graduated to high-art (for some reason). He’s also become the basis for many great adaptations, including West Side Story. He’s endured, for better or worse.

All the more reason why Marvel films, which take inspiration from Greek and Shakespearean theatre, have such a lasting influence on the culture of our times. They’re, quite literally, the Hamlets or Julius Caesars of today. They also share many of the shortcomings of Shakespeare’s work, a complete lack of subtlety the big one. And while there are far better movies in the comic superhero format, at the same time you’ll never top the euphoria of seeing Captain America wield Thor’s hammer for the first time, or the crushing low of Tony Stark’s death, without the history that The MCU was building up to for 11 years.

So yes, I think that Bob was spot-on here. I also agree that, 50 years from now, The MCU could potentially acquire the “elitist” status that Shakespeare has in the centuries since his passing, even if the intricacies of canon get lost to time. But if that’s not convincing enough, think about it this way: you watch Stanley Kubrick, since he’s so brilliant, but you live Steven Spielberg, since he’s so populist in nature. Kubrick might technically be the better filmmaker, but Spielberg’s the more-accessible one. And if the two could still be friends and respect one another’s craft, then I think that says it all.

Look, I don’t always agree with Bob Chipman. I don’t always like Bob Chipman, either! He can be grating, insensitive and ableist, and sometimes all at once. But the fact that he can also nail down the cultural zeitgeist of a particular subject speaks volumes. He doesn’t always get it, but when he does? *Chef’s kiss*

Ultimately, you have a choice: you can recognize that Bob Chipman’s a troubling figure with occasional bouts of wisdom, or you can look at his Tweets and not care because he’s ableist. Or you can take the ableist route yourself and fat-shame him, which many people do. It’s up to you.