Hollywood Now Fully Caters to Nerds

Remember when superhero stories were fun to watch? Happy Heroes is here to remind you.

Some say we live in the golden age of superheroes, a time when brooding men (and, like, three women) traverse color-drained Gothic landscapes, screaming out for their respective Marthas. Legions of spandex-clad superbeings team up to duke it out in cacophonous galaxies, trading quips while also brooding, but not for Marthas. Hollywood now fully caters to nerds.

But some say the glory days were the brighter ones, the era when heroes seldom brooded, but rather ran from Roy to G. to Biv across colorful landscapes. That is the world on display at Happy Heroes, a showcase of 1960s comic-book TV shows that hits the Hollywood next week. It features an onslaught of '60s takes on the likes of Thor, Batman and a particularly friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.

Let's make no mistake, these shows are cheesy. The animation for Spider-Man and The Mighty Thor makes Hanna-Barbera's heroes look like Pixar movies. And Adam West's Batman makes George Clooney's look like Laurence Olivier with bigger nipples. Comparatively speaking, Tim Burton's loose take on the Batman mythos is downright reverent next to a dancing West.

But these shows are one thing that most modern spandex blockbusters simply are not: They're squeaky-clean fun. Go figure the cartoon Mighty Thor is breezy: It's a comic about a fucking Norse god riding a rainbow road back and forth between space and Earth. And while the current films find much fun in the character, they are also saddled with considerably weightier, Shakespearean issues of self-seriousness amid intergalactic battles. Fun, yes, but also so, so self-serious.

The era of the happy hero is, for many, a dark patch purely because of its cheery disposition. Because Spidey saves cats from trees instead of emo-dancing around Manhattan. Because Thor's helmet has its trademark wings. Because Adam West can't stop dancing. If you can just put down your Christopher Nolan fanfic and take it for what it is, it is a delight.

Not that it is all doom and gloom right now. Marvel is having a ball when it's not building its universe or getting all introspective, and DC…um, well, DC is still terrible, but at least Suicide Squad has jokes. Still, there is something that modern superhero culture can learn from the kind of throwaway entertainment of our parents' childhood: Maybe, just maybe, if modern Batman registered for the occasional surfing contest, his view of Gotham might be a brighter one.

SEE IT: Happy Heroes is at the Hollywood Theatre. 7:30 pm Tuesday, Aug. 30.

APFilmStudies_2015_KryzaAlso Showing:

There seems to be a recurring theme of the dangers of Hollywood lately, with Valley of the Dolls hitting theaters after a series of showbiz tales. Maybe local theaters are trying to give our stand-ups a hint to stay? Mission Theater. Opens Wednesday, Aug. 24.

Church of Film returns to the Clinton for a screening of the 1962 freakout The Doll, a Swedish psychological about a watchman whose love for a mannequin has horrifying implications. Clinton Street Theater. 9 pm Wednesday, Aug. 24.

Wes Craven's pioneering A Nightmare on Elm Street hits Pix's Movies at Dusk, a wise choice considering they have great coffee. Pix Patisserie. Dusk Wednesday, Aug. 24.

Baz Luhrmann's take on Romeo + Juliet gave us many things, among them the arrival of Leonardo DiCaprio in the dreams of every teenage girl in America. More importantly, it gave us Sixpence None the Richer. Mission Theater. Opens Wednesday, Aug. 24.

Legendary Talking Heads frontman David Byrne distilled his obsession with the weirdness lurking in mundane 1980s Texas into True Stories, an oddball cult classic with one of the greatest soundtracks of the era. Hotel deLuxe. 7 pm Thursday, Aug. 25.

The NW Film Center's Joan Crawford and Bette Davis retrospective comes to a close with its most logical conclusion, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (Sun), the eerie horror flick in which the aging actress' real-life rivalry has helped fuel nightmares for decades. The final weekend also includes the Crawford-starring Nicholas Ray anti-western Johnny Guitar (Saturday) and the nourish Crawford joint Sudden Fear (Friday). NW Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium. See NWFilm.org for full listings.

Cult director Penelope Spheeris hits the Hollywood to screen a collection of short films, followed by a screening of her weird, little-seen 1987 cult films Dudes, an odd, feel-good punk-rock road trip revenge tale. Hollywood Theatre. 8:30 pm Thursday-Friday- Aug. 25-26.

With Ben Hur currently belly-flopping at the box office, the prospects of a remake of Jason and the Argonauts goes way down. That's a good thing, considering the 1963 classic is already pretty perfect. Academy Theater. Friday-Thursday, Aug. 26-Sept. 1.

Calling Georges Méliès's landmark 1902 silent film A Trip to the Moon a landmark in like calling cro-magnon an influential man. It's the first sci-fi film. The first special effects film that favored whimsy rather than making unknowing audiences think they were going to be bowled over by a train. To this day, that image of the moon with a rocket in its eye remains a constant in pop culture. Hell, maybe it even inspired Kubrick to fake the moon landing. Hollywood Theatre. 2 pm Saturday. Aug. 27

Willamette Week

Willamette Week’s reporting has concrete impacts that change laws, force action from civic leaders, and drive compromised politicians from public office. Support WW's journalism today.