By Sue Murphy
Tis the season for monsters. The Hallmark Channel would have you believe that Santa has skipped all that nonsense and is packing his sleigh as we speak, but ask any 5-year-old and he will tell you that it is actually Monster O’Clock.
A lot of kids want to dress up as monsters on Halloween. Psychologists say they are subconsciously trying to overcome their inborn fear. My guess is that after having to do as you’re told day after day, it’s fun to let loose and be the bad guy.
Dracula, Frankenstein, The Werewolf – these are the monsters of my childhood. They only came out at night, couldn’t see you if you hid under the covers and could be taken out by any stalwart human being with a silver bullet or wooden stake.
Today’s movie monsters come out in broad daylight and want nothing less than world domination. Their extermination can only be accomplished by a team of superheroes, while the rest of humanity screams and runs in the opposite direction.
I’m currently making my way through the Marvel superhero movie line up in the order the studio suggested, mostly because I watched “End Game” before I had seen all the preliminaries and was completely lost. I saw the movie back when you could actually go to the theater and sit close to complete strangers without knowing their vaccination status. It seems like a dream to me now.
I must say, the Marvel movies are brilliantly done. I don’t mean Oscar-worthy, but the studio cleverly inserted one little piece of the “End Game” puzzle into each movie. It’s like giving you a jigsaw puzzle one piece at a time. If you get hooked early on, you must continue and collect them all. Absolutely brilliant.
I’m only eight movies in right now, mostly because it is difficult for me to watch that much battle action in one gulp. I watch one movie, then retreat to the safety of “The British Baking Show,” where the only drama that takes place is when one of the “sponges” is a bit dry.
I’ve watched all three Iron Man movies and the Guardians of the Galaxy duo. I’ve been introduced to all of the Avengers and, so far, the guy that intrigues me the most is The Hulk, a gentle human being who only goes Hulk when he’s morally outraged.
I don’t know about you, but there have been days lately when I felt myself hulking up just a bit. I get disgruntled (can you just be gruntled before you get ‘dissed?”) and start grousing about some misdirection in the world’s trajectory. Thankfully, I haven’t reached actual Hulk stage, but I’ve spent many an evening frothing at the mouth like those purple transformed Minions in “Despicable Me 2.” Like me, the Minions are eventually brought back to their original cuteness by a group of faithful friends.
I’m going to get angry. That can’t be completely avoided, but I’d like to be more like Grover. Most days, he is Super Grover, but even on Sesame Street, there are frustrations. Grover will scream and flail his arms, but then he takes a deep breath and says, “I am just a monster who is trying.”
We are all just monsters who are trying – trying every day to save our little corner of the world, hopefully with as little wailing and gnashing of teeth as possible. It’s a good plan. If there is a little piece of the real-life End Game puzzle embedded in each day, we can’t afford to miss it.