Movie poster courtesy of Marvel and impawards.com.
Wanda Maximoff (Scarlet Witch): “Everybody is afraid of something”.
In the movie, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Scarlet Witch gives an insight on what to expect from her most dreadful power, mind control; and she does it best by using that power to controland put fear into people’s minds and make them feel and see their worst fears turn to reality. That fear is what is being portrayed in the Marvel’s heroes Avenger’s faces in this movie poster. This fear is not being brought by Scarlet’s witch power but, by something that can only come close to it and that is, an artificial intelligent being that is fully aware of his surroundings and can make life altering decisions all on his own. Why world renown physicist Stephen Hawkings, Microsoft inventor Bill Gates and Tesla CEO Elon Musk are scared of artificial intelligence. Also this fear of the unknown virtual world can sometimes mess with our own realities, “Our connection to the real world is very thin, and our connection with the artificial world is going to be more intimate and satisfying than anything that’s come before” –Marvin Minsky, MIT scientist, 1989 (Signs of Life, 2012, p.487). Fears and artificial intelligence go hand in hand like Zack Waggoner said in his essay Videogames, Avatars and Identity about how we can lose ourselves in video games that most of the interaction is with the artificial intelligence of the game, “I believe it is more complicated (for other videogamers as well as myself) and will take some explaining, as videogame technologies offer users interactive and immersive experiences that convey verisimilitude and beyond more with each passing year” (Signs of Life, 2012, p.489).
We can clearly see that this movie is being brought to the big screen by Marvel’s Studios. They made an excellent choice of portraying the movie title in big, bold red letters; this helps to catch the eye of movie goers and get excited about watching the latest and greatest Marvel movie. It can be observed that all of the main hero characters (both old and new) of the movie are present in the poster; giving an awe reaction to those who have followed the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as well as the hundreds of comic books that these movies are based from and have become fan favorites. The actors are depicted with a mood that resembles that of fear and losing a battle that could mean the end of the world as we know it.
The color and lighting of this poster is perfect for what the plot of the movie represents. In the poster the main heroes are being attacked by a plethora of robots that their main mission is to destroy the Avengers and humanity. But under all of this gloominess, it can be observed that one shiny bright light can be the savior of our beloved heroes. That can be seen as a light of hope under all of the destruction that is happening around the main heroes. Not only are they going to fight something that could possibly mean the end of them but, even with fear present on their faces, a glimmer of hope can be observed and a new way of attacking this menacing situation can be born.
Visually this poster is very attractive and seems to show all kinds of feelings. The main heroes body language is telling the viewer that, they are getting ready to confront a very delicate and extreme situation; even with fear and an apocalyptic situation upon them, they are ready to give all for those of whom they swore to protect from all evil, domestic or alien, humankind. Destruction and a sense of defeat can also be seen by the special effects that surrounds the poster. These feelings, gives the audience a clear picture that what they are about to watch is an adventure that the beloved heroes have never encountered in their existence.
Avengers: Age of Ultron can be seen as a way of opening the eyes of the audience, by giving them a sense into how our world is becoming a place where we are to interconnected and our fears are driving us to create things that we haven’t totally understood yet.
The Vision: “Human beings are fearful and in need of protection. But then, that fear can inspire them to do great things”.
And this poster demonstrates that even when having super powers or even the enlighten mind of beings like The Vision fear can still instill in us a sense of total uncontrollable situations that can only be fought by perseverance and coming together as a unit to destroy all of the known and unknown.
References:
Sonia, M., & Jack, S. Signs of Life in the USA, 7th Edition. [VitalSource Bookshelf version]. Retrieved from http://online.vitalsource.com/books/9781457605741/page/487
Barrant, J., (2015). Why Stephen Hawking and Bill Gates Are Terrified of Artificial Intelligence. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-barrat/hawking-gates-artificial-intelligence_b_7008706.html
rottentomatoes.com, (2015). Avengers: Age of Ultron Quotes. Retrieved from http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/avengers_age_of_ultron/quotes/
impawards.com, (2015). Avengers: Age of Ultron. Retrieved from http://www.impawards.com/2015/avengers_age_of_ultron_ver11_xlg.html
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