Superheroes essay

Superheroes essay

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  SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE,BUILDING AND DESIGN THE DESIGN SCHOOL FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT NAME: LIM CHIN YI STUDENT ID NO: 0315627 FILMS SELECTED: SUPERHERO (THE DARK KNIGHT & THE AVENGERS) WORD COUNT: 986 ENGLISH 2 (ENGL 0205) WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT 1: COMPARE – CONTRAST ESSAY LECTURER: CASSANDRA WIJESURIA SUBMISSION DATE: 18th APRIL 2014
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  The superhero filmsthat I would like to contrast is the Dark Knight and The Avengers. They are both high grossing movies that had received positive reviews from the viewers. The Dark Knight is a superhero action film based on the DC Comics, the Batman. There are a lot of fantastic action scenes in the movie where the hero fights with the villains. On the other hand, the Avengers is a science fiction action film that was released on 2012 based on the Marvel Comics, the Avengers. The film was directed by Joss Whedon, starring Robert Downey, Jr, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson and Jeremy Renner as the superheroes. The differences between both movies can be compared from three aspects, the heroes, the villains and the focus of storylines. In the Dark Knight, Batman works with Lieutenant Jim Gordon and the District Attorney, Harvey Dent to wipe out the criminal organizations in Gotham City. Their plans went successfully at first but they soon find themselves becoming preys to a mad criminal mastermind known as the Joker (The Dark Knight, 2008). The Joker then turns Gotham City into chaos and Batman as the silent guardian of Gotham has to fight his enemies to protect the city. However, the Avengers is a movie about six superheroes which consist of Ironman, Captain America, the Incredible Hulk, Thor, Black Widow and Hawkeyes who have their own special abilities. They have to team up to defend the Earth from Loki and the Chitauri Army from outer space who plan to invade the Earth. It is obvious that there will be heroes saving lives in the Dark Knight and the Avengers since they are superhero films. However, there are some differences between the superheroes in term of their working structures and styles. In the Dark Knight, the ability of Batman to play his role as the hero of Gotham is depended on technology most of the time. He uses advanced technology to create his suit, vehicles, weapon and other gadgets that are essential for Batman. Without those items, he is no longer a hero but an ordinary human, except for the fact that he is a billionaire industrialist. Moreover, Batman is a solo hero, which means that he does not work with the other superheroes. Since he does not work for any legal institutions or agencies, Batman is considered as a vigilante by the authorities and he is chased by the police. In short, the citizens are not really pleased by the existence of Batman despite what he has done for the city. Unlike the Dark Knight, the superheroes in the Avengers work in a team under the ‘’S.H.I.E.L.D ‘’ Agency. The abilities of the superheroes are more unrealistic because they contain the elements of futuristic technologies, superpowers, living creatures from outer space and God. For an example, one of the Marvel’s superheroes, Thor, actually comes from other planet called Asgard. He possesses the power of lightning that enable him to project powerful blast of lightning towards his enemies and he is basically known as a God and protector of the Earth (Mjolnir, n.d.). The existence of superheroes will be pointless if there are no villains in the movies. The Joker is the main anti-hero in the Dark Knight. In fact, he is one of the most famous villains among the Batman series. He is feared by most due to his craziness while committing crimes. The Joker emphasizes on psychological attack that will create chaos in mind of his victim.
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  Besides, he doesnot really stick to a specific method while carrying out his well-planned crime. For example, he uses all sorts of weapons like dagger, knife, gun or even explosives to kill his target. What makes the Joker unique is that he does not commit crime for money or power, he just simply enjoys watching the whole world falls (Synopsis for the Dark Knight, 2008). On the other hand, the main antagonist in the Avengers, Loki has different ways to achieve his wild ambition. Due to his dissatisfaction for always living under the shadow of his brother, Thor, Loki’s greed for power grows greater day by day. Therefore, he plans to attack and conquer the Earth with the help of Chitauri Army. Furthermore, Loki does not have much variations in his weapon. Most of the time, he uses his sceptre that channel destructive energy blast that could cause catastrophic damage to the object that comes into contact. Apart from that, the Dark Knight and the Avengers have different focus of the storylines. In the Dark Knight, the love triangle between the main characters is highlighted. Racheal as the female protagonist is in dilemma between Batman and Harvey and this has led to the further development of the story. The death of Racheal in an explosion set up by the Joker has hit Batman and Harvey real hard. Following the death of Racheal, Harvey turns mad and decides to revenge Racheal by killing people. Hence, Batman now has to fight Harvey who was once his ally from committing further sins. Unlike the Dark Knight, the Avengers emphasizes on the teamwork among the superheroes. After realizing the world crisis caused by Loki that might create mass destruction to humanity, Nick Fury, the director of “S.H.I.E.L.D” immediately assembles the Avengers from great heroes around the world. In the beginning, the team members do not work well with each other thus causing disagreement and dissatisfaction among the team. The situation gets better eventually when the members start to co-operate and tolerate with each other for greater cause. In conclusion, the Dark Knight and the Avengers have quite a lot of differences in their heroes, villains and focus of storylines. However, these differences are the factors that contribute in the success of these movies. If all superheroes movies are having the similar style, there will be no uniqueness in the movies any more.
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  References Mjolnir. (n.d.). RetrievedApril 13, 2014, from Comic Vine: http://www.comicvine.com/mjolnir/4055-40971/ Synopsis for the Dark Knight. (2008). Retrieved April 13, 2014, from IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0468569/synopsis?ref_=ttpl_pl_syn The Dark Knight. (2008). Retrieved April 13, 2014, from DC Comics: http://www.dccomics.com/movies/the-dark-knight-2008