Does Hollywood Hate Super Hero Movies?

            A week ago, Sunday February 22, 2015, Birdman took home the Oscar for best picture at the Academy Awards. The award was well deserved, the film stood out for its ambitious style and the number of comments it made toward the film industry as a whole made Birdman a deep experience. It’s interesting to note that the film is about an actor known for playing a popular super hero from the late 80’s early 90’s is trying to reestablish himself in the media world of today. This mirror’s the life of the film’s main star, Michael Keaton, as he’s very much in the same boat of the character he plays.

            Although Birdman does not speak ill of the superhero movie genre, it does feature a man trying to break free from the fictional super hero he’s become synonymous with. In reality, super hero movies have been the butt of many jokes in recent months. It appears with recent major award shows, super hero movies are just not a respected type of film. Jack Black made some jokes about super hero films during an Oscar musical number. A series of fake names for super heroes like, Sequel Man, and Remake Man, were the focus of this particular jab.

            Although it does all appear to have been in good fun, this series of jokes begs the question, does Hollywood hate super hero films? Ii just recently became considered a film genre, even then you hear critics and movies goers alike talk about how the genre is dying nearly every summer. And although Birdman has nothing to do with this subject, it is noteworthy that the main focus of said film is about an actor escaping his celebrity persona to prove himself a true actor. The way Keaton’s character plans to do this is by putting on a Broadway play, theater being a form of acting that many tend to hold above screen acting.

            Though this film is not by any means meant to really represent the idea that super hero movies are thought less of, one can find it interesting that it was this nominee above all others that won the show. Super hero films have earned their place in Hollywood, if the genre has not cemented itself in as an official type of film, it’s only a matter of time before proper respect is delivered to what most of today’s “Seasoned Critics,” consider popcorn entertainment.

            Does Hollywood hate super hero films? No. Looking at it from a realistic point of view, it’s difficult for a business industry to hate its biggest money maker. Does the film genre get more exposure then it deserves? Maybe, but if you want any product to be successful, you need to market it properly, and at times, popularity can set in. Does the popularity of a certain type of movie hurt the box office of a film of another kind? Not at all, people go to see quality, or at least they should, (I WANT THIS PLANET TO FORGET FIFTY SHADES OF GREY EVER EXISTED!) and if a film genre suffers, it’s not going to die out, it’s going to make filmmakers more creative. In the end everyone wins.