Assignment 1-4-3: Rituals

Being a superhero and constantly saving the world from destruction, requires a ritual or two.  One is the need to be in shape. Many moments of The Avengers show these characters in a ritual of being in top form. In one scene Captain America is hitting the heavy bag to maintain his fitness. In another Tony Stark and Bruce Banner are working their minds in the lab, staying in peak mental condition. Bruce Banner is also seen throughout the movie, simply having a moment of slow breathing. This is his ritual needed to control the rampaging Hulk within him. These heroes are working constantly to stay one step above the villains, in both ritualistic preparation of their body and mind.  

One other ritual that each hero has is getting their uniforms and costumes on. Like a football player, or figure skater with all the spandex, these heroes suit up when ready for action. Tony Stark’s Iron Man, with his shiny metallic suit, is one example of a ritual involving a superheroes uniform. When Iron Man lands at Stark Tower, his suit is methodically taken off by a robot. While this might frighten you or me, his calm demeanor shows that this robotic removal is a regular occurrence when he lands.  While not shown in the film, looking at the level of shininess from the suit, I am sure Tony Stark has a ritual of sitting around his mansion going through bottles of turtle wax. Another ritual was with Hawkeye and his arrows. As a former member of the military, he is seen throughout the movie making sure those arrows are with him, in good shape and his gear is working.

Some say four coats is overkill, but look at that sheen.

Being a superhero movie, there are just a few stereotypes in The Avengers. One is with the Shield agents. These FBI/CIA style individuals are the normal good soldiers. These nameless, faceless troops are used as fodder for large explosions and adding to a death tally. Another stereotype is simply the basis of good versus evil. Comic book movies use the myth of good versus evil at its core. The evil individual wants to take over the world, while the good heroes do all that is needed to defeat them and save the world. This stereotype is shown towards the second half of the film, but The Avengers does a good job going against type by having these heroes not want to join together. Their self-interests are at first more important than saving the world. 

The insight I gained from applying these theories is that many times there are rituals that even heroes follow. While these individuals can fly while shooting lasers from their hands, or do front flips over skyscrapers, they too have daily routines needed to get them through the day. These rituals, while small, help us relate to these super humans that we watch on the screen. Even if not all of us are able to shoot lasers out of our hands.