Deeper Storytelling: Guardians of the galaxy vol 3, ending all thing
All things must
I was a fan of the Disney/Marvel comics and movies. As a young man who (like many) took a lot longer to grow up than previous generations I enjoyed seeing the stories that I read as a pre-teen come to the big screen. The hero’s in the comics were a simple format. I liked Spiderman the most, he reminded me (and perhaps many without them knowing it) of Anansi the spider. Ia also liked the fantastic 4, X-men and Hulk. I also loved the Infinity Gauntlet saga too. Guardians was new to me and probably one of the best parts of the Marvel “universe”. I found the storytelling to be rich and surprising and surprisingly rich. It wasn’t just about a human and some weird aliens. It was about a racoon and some good friends.
The final movie was a full unveiling of James Gunn’s favourite character: A creature that had its innocence taken away and given sentience and how it came to find friends and a place at the centre of a group of outcasts. And each outcast had a story arc including the love story of Gamora and Quill.
Quill lost Gamora and there is a little scene where Drax and mantis bring Quills story arc to a close. He had to come back down to earth, stop hoping from lily pad to lily pad. (Quill mom was called river lily.) and face his mother’s death and his family.
Gamorah found life after the end of her relationships with her father and Quill. She found her own family in her own savage way.
Drax also learned to be a father again. He let go of revenge. He let go of his stupidity and found his role as a protector of children. He learns to dance again.
Groot literally grows up on screen, from twig to tree.
Nebula grew up. In the absence of Peter and Gamora she developed a relationship with Rocket, and when she burst into tears after Rocket wakes up you know that she has matured as a character.
Friends help you to grow and even after Rocket tries to frees his friends and watches them die you appreciate that this is why his character is instinctively friend oriented. When he saw Peter he instinctively took him in and made him, Gamora and Drax a part of his story.
Rocket’s nemesis is of course the High Evolutionary. Unlike Rocket’s team it’s clear who the leader is. You can tell that the High Evolutionary has created and warped everything around him because as he said:
“There is no God! That’s why I stepped in!”
Rocket’s team and the high evolutionary teams are two easy tropes to play off each other. On one hand Rocket and the team, accept the way things are and focus on protecting each other. On the other hand the high evolutionary doesn’t accept the ways things are and destroys his own creations in the search for his idea of perfection.
The movie ends with all the innocents being freed from the High Evolutionary’s maniacal imploding ship. Even the ‘lower lifeforms’ are worth saving, the scary Abalisks are saved.
Even Peter is saved. The runaway boy who went off to play space pirates. Every movie has a bit of this. Peter being saved is pretty much the theme. Peter gets saved by Rocket and becomes a part of the team even thinking that he’s the leader. Peter’s friends save him from being consumed by (the) Power (stone). Peter’s adopted dad saves him from his own dad(Ego) and his ego. Peter is saved by Adam Warlock.
Everything including Adam has been created in the image of God so it all needs saving. Peter is saved so that he can do what is right, return home to be an adult, grieve and have breakfast with his grandfather and so that the two discuss Peter's neighbor asking him to mow the lawn. I take from this another good trope which is the homecoming/ prodigal son vibe.
Rocket and the Guardians continue to have space pirate adventures because that’s what space pirates do but as for Peter and us, reading about the adventures of Kevin Bacon… is what reality is all about.
Comics, books, movies, games, music and social media are great temporary escapes. But in order for those escapes to be meaningful they have to teach you something. If you’re constantly escaping into escapism, self indulgence, revenge fantasies, egotism or perfectionism then you’re not making the best use of your life. If you’re telling a story and you aren’t teaching people what’s right and what’s wrong then you’re part of the problem. Guardian’s teaches you about friends and sacrifice. You’re the Peter Quill and it’s this scrappy movie takes you in and teaches you some valuable lessons about yourself and about life and that even though you were so wrong about so many things, you too can be saved. So Safe to say, I thoroughly enjoyed and learned a lot from the Guardians Trilogy.
I have a feeling that next week I’ll either talk a little bit about statistics or try to tell you about other alien concepts. :)
Bless.