With its off-beat tone, self-referential humour and quirky
cast of characters, Guardians of the
Galaxy sticks out from the rest of the Marvel cannon as a bit of an oddity.
In fact, whereas most films from the popular comic book studio feel like
natural cousins of one another – and even merged to form The Avengers - Guardians of
the Galaxy has a wider frame of reference and seems to be influenced from
sources outside of the insular world of Marvel.
In particular, the added humour suggest an influence
of sit-coms. Sure, all recent Marvel films have used humour to take the edge of
their sometimes overblown premises, but to date none have been as self-effacing
as Guardians. Take the Drax the
Destroyer revenge plot line, which in other Marvel films might have been played
straight, but here is mocked for its over-seriousness.
The presence of Chris Pratt as the protagonist
reinforces this comedic tone - but rather than his show Parks and Recreation, it is Community
that Guardians brings to mind the
most. The recently resurrected show has
become renowned for its knowing humour and elaborate pop culture jokes, and
often operates at a meta-level to both use and comment on six-com tropes.
Guardians
may not quite so audacious, but it does share a similar tone and love of pop
culture. From the mix-tape of classic songs that Peter Quill (Pratt) carries
around to mentions of other films like Footloose,
there’s plenty here to suggest that director James Gunn may be a fan of Community, and it’s easy to envision
Abed from Community saying Gamora’s
line, ‘We’re just like Kevin Bacon’.
But what really underscores the familiarity between
show and film are the characters. Like the study group in Community, the so-called ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ are a mismatched
bunch of outsiders brought together through chance. The film is at its most
enjoyable when they’re all together and jokes are flying back and forth, much
like Community gets the biggest
laughs when the characters are all gathered round the study room table. And although
The Avengers also excelled in similar
ensemble scenes, the Guardians are,
as Quill says proclaims in one particularly Jeff Winger-esque motivational speech
– ‘losers’. It’s hard to imagine Tony Stark ever saying as much.
Then there’s the underpinning
theme of absent families. Quill is burdened by the sadness of losing his mother
as a toddler, Gamora was used as a weapon by her father, Drax’s wife and
daughter were murdered and Rocket the Racoon has a few existential moments
berating his own genetically-modified creation; just as, in Community, Jeff, Abed and Pierce all
suffer from strained relationships with their fathers, and Shirley struggles to
adapt after divorcing her husband.
Again, this is hardly a
novelty in the superhero genre, but what sets the characters of Guardians apart, and evokes the damaged
individuals in Community, is that
they form their own family as a group. Whereas Batman responds to his orphaning
by becoming an isolated vigilante, and the egos of The Avengers never allow
them to work seamlessly together, the characters in Guardians flourish and become whole again in each other’s company.
With a sequel coming up, it might be too much to ask
for such a mega-studio money spinner to take the same audacious risks that made
the second season of Community such a
classic. But as far as Marvel films go, this band of weirdos have great
potential, and it will be fascinating to see where they go next.
SP
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