BAGUIA
Even Hollywood, in spite of its obsession with youth and novelty and stars at the moment of their birth, cannot resist the lure of contemplating the end of days of meditations on death.
Motion pictures were recently released based on Marvel superhero Thor and some of his Avenger friends and DC Comics’ Justice League that carried storylines situating mankind on the edge of extinction.
In the Marvel universe, idyllic Asgard, home of the Norse deities were in the thrones of Ragnarok, the realm’s version of the apocalypse that as the fire demon Surtur foretold was to come to pass once his crown touches one of King Odin’s treasures, the eternal fire.
Similarly in the DC universe, cities of the world, not least Batman’s very own Gotham, were threatened by the possible reuniting of three Mother Boxes that comprise power in the hands of the supervillain Steppenwolf. The linking of the three boxes would supposedly set off the meltdown of the planet.
In both “Thor: Ragnarok” and “Justice League” the fate of humanity and civilization rested on teamwork among superheroes.
Both Thor and his friends as well as the members of the Justice League had to try to overcome personal demons and move past issues of the past to stand a chance of staving off the obliteration of life as their peoples know it.
The protagonists in either movie also had to step up to the challenge of mending their relationships with one another to begin working together at all.
The two movies may be read as parables for our time if a viewer so chooses.
The excellence or obnoxiousness of the cinematic elements, from plot and script to acting and special effects can always be debated but whether we like it or not, the grim scenarios in the two stories do prompt anyone to contemplate his or himself in the context of reality’s finitude.
King Odin, the Norse god of gods faces death. Superman is six feet underground.
Warrior Valkyrior perish under the terrifying Hela, Odin’s first-born. War-like Amazonians risk life and limb under Steppenwolf and the Parademons’ siege.
Skurge vacillates between being an executioner or self-sacrificing savior. Cyborg journeys from habitual brooding to vulnerability to being physically ripped apart as a consequence of exposure in mission.
As with myth, so with reality. Like Odin, the bigwigs of polities across the planet will one day breathe their last.
Donald Trump, Rodrigo Duterte, Vladimir Putin, Aung San Suu Kyi, Queen Elizabeth, Theresa May, Emmanuel Macron, Uhuru Kenyatta are not eternal. Will our memories of them reverberate in the world they leave behind the way Odin from an afterlife still empowered Thor as a force for good?
We, in the spheres where we are princes or kings will not be there forever. How will we affect tomorrow’s here and now when we will have — to borrow from Christina Rossetti — gone far away into the silent land?
As in fantastic worlds, so in the real. For all their flaws as well as perfections, the Marvel and DC superheroes had a commitment to restraint rather than muscle-flexing and found reason and wisdom in keeping objects of immense power, be the Infinity Stones, Odin’s collectibles or Mother Boxes out of general reach and away from the sinister.
Our world is littered with death-dealing instruments — guns, nuclear warheads, knives, biochemical weapons, haughty looks, caustic words, malicious thoughts, acts of bullying. Do we plan on getting rid of them or do we behave like a scythe in the the right hand of Death?
What goes for superheroes goes for men and women. Thor and Loki have regular fraternal spats. The Flash is socially awkward. Hulk wrestles with the capital sin of anger. Wonder Woman is slow in embracing her vocation.
Superman has volatile moments. Batman hides behind wealth and technology. Aquaman shields himself with swagger and insularity. Cyborg has daddy issues. Valkyrie nurses the pain of having seen comdrades fall.
But at one point they had to choose whether to die in self-centeredness or die to their torments and insecurities so that others may live.
Life is a pilgrimage towards November’s door of all souls. How do we get there? How do we die? What do we die to so that others may flourish and bloom and bear fruit?
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