![]() ![]() ![]() The purpose of a satire is to mimic the subject being satirized, and then simultaneously criticize it. “Satire” is sometimes a misunderstood term. Predator is everything you could possibly want from a 1980s action movie. It features scenes of male bonding, heroically photographed biceps, and screaming men unloading all their weaponry into the forest. On the surface it’s a film about a bunch of cocky macho heroes who wander into the jungle and fight off an alien monster. It’s a subversive approach that McTiernan first used in his 1987 sci-fi/action/horror classic Predator. John McTiernan cast a TV actor best known for comedic roles in Die Hard, and that movie upended every action movie trope in the book, and invented a bunch of new ones that we still use today. John Carpenter made the traditonal, handsome, musclebound American hunk into the comic relief sidekick for Chinese action heroes in Big Trouble in Little China. Muscles, guns, violence and hero worship were commonplace, Commando and Rambo: First Blood Part II saw to that, and audiences around the world appreciated this genre of cinema unapologetically, unironically, for many, many years.īut there were some filmmakers who saw through the shallow (albeit enjoyable) façade of so-called “bada$$ cinema.” Paul Verhoeven viewed American violence and capitalism through a distinctly European lens, and used films like RoboCop to subvert traditional action movie expectations. Movie stars like Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger ruled the box office, and filmmakers were eager to exalt their macho personae for fun and profit. The 1980s were an era of unparalleled cinematic machismo. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |