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The-Suicide-Squad-Harley-Quinn.jpeg

James Gunn Disputes Steven Soderbergh's Characterization of Superhero Movies (Sort of)

By Dustin Rowles | Film | February 8, 2022 |

By Dustin Rowles | Film | February 8, 2022 |


The-Suicide-Squad-Harley-Quinn.jpeg

Yesterday, when asked his opinions of superhero movies and whether he’d be interested in directing one, Steven Soderbergh gave The Daily Beast what I thought was a pretty great/funny response, whether it’s entirely accurate or not.

[I’m not really interested in directing a superhero movie.] I’m not a snob; it’s not that I feel it’s some lower tier in any way. It really becomes about what universe you occupy as a storyteller. I’m just too earthbound to really release myself to a universe in which Newtonian physics don’t exist [laughs]. I just have a lack of imagination in that regard, which is why the one foray I had into pure science-fiction [2002’s Solaris] was essentially a character drama that happened to be set on a spaceship. Also, for a lot of these, for me to understand the world and how to write or supervise the writing of the story and the characters—apart from the fact that I can bend time and defy gravity and shoot beams out of my fingers—there’s no f**king. Nobody’s f**king! Like, I don’t know how to tell people how to behave in a world in which that is not a thing.

Is it a good point? Yes. Is it completely accurate? Maybe not, as James Gunn points out:

Quippy and also pedantic. Well done, Gunn! His follow-up, however, largely concedes Soderbergh’s overall point.

The MCU is weirdly sexless, and not just in the sense that they don’t have sex (save for a scene in The Eternals), but in the sense that all these characters feel vaguely asexual. I’ve become a bigger fan of the DCEU lately, thanks to James Gunn’s contributions and Birds of Prey, and it’s not because of the occasional sex scene. It’s because these characters feel sexual, as in, capable of and desiring physical intimacy, which is not something I sense much among the Marvel couples (Tony/Pepper, Steve/Peggy, or even Quill/Gamora).

Hell, even Gunn largely comes to Soderbergh’s defense when someone suggests that sex isn’t necessary.

I think there’s a lesson in all of this: There should be more sex. Across the board. There’s no f*king in the Pixar movies, either. Rectify this!