Why Thanos is So Terrifying

the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a triumph in every possible way 20 films all generally well-received over the course of a decade a proposition that if it were presented to studios back in 2006 would seem as improbable as world peace in our lifetime the stories the characters the action the special effects all evolving with each passing year leaving us with a new technical marvel to feast our eyes upon though nothing is perfect prior to 2017 there was one major criticism of the MCU that seemed to echo from the major entertainment outlets to the fan forums even among hardcore fans like myself if you were to ask them to find one weakness in beloved films like guardians of the galaxy or civil war they would all point to the portrayal of the villains with the exception of Loki and maybe one or two others depending on preference a series of all-time classic villains from the comics were constantly underdeveloped from a narrative perspective this is a criticism that Marvel Studios leader Kevin Feige acknowledged back in early 2017 yet validly rebutted saying that sometimes what serves the overall story the most is focusing less on the villains given the success of these films who could disagree with this prevailing formula then as 2017 rolled around I gratefully noticed along with my fellow fans that the villains seem to be receiving more narrative care bad guys like vulture hella and kill monger became increasingly three-dimensional more than mere props to advance the story and then I saw Avengers infinity war the character of fan OHS seemed to be instantly embraced by myself and the wider movie-going public as not just did the greatest MCU villain but one of the greatest villains to grace a silver screen a long time I found it absolutely fascinating that a movie already filled to the brim with heroes needing screen time managed to portray such a complex personality as intimidating in his physical presence as he is with his twisted psychological makeup a villain with an almost Shakespearean level of inner conflict as thousands of videos and forum posts poured forward on the character of questions arose in my mind one of which was a simple musing what is it about Thanos that makes the wider world want to put him amongst the great cinematic villains but before I could answer that question it broke off into several other questions with much more disturbing implications though he is Jenna Seidel why do we somehow understand though he is violent and cruel why do we somehow empathize by investigating these uncomfortable queries I believe I have found an explanation for Tennessee's terror but be warned you might not like the answer not because I'm wrong but because I just might be right to best understand Thanos is allure I figured it might be useful to find similarities between his character and pre-existing figures be they fictional or non-fictional I figure the best place to start would be with the actor who portrayed Thanos Josh Brolin while doing my research for this video I came upon a couple of interviews Brolin had done regarding his approach to portraying Thanos to my delight I found that the one character he took heavy amounts of inspiration from was the character of Colonel Kurtz from Apocalypse Now I say it was to my delight because when I learned Kurtz was a huge inspiration for Thanos what followed for me was an emphatic of course he was Apocalypse Now is one of my top 10 favorite movies of all time and Colonel Kurtz might be my favorite movie villain of all time no other piece of cinema has ever thoroughly investigated the motivations of human evil specifically what might drive ordinary human beings to commit murderous atrocity in the case of Colonel Kurtz the film traces how a once decorated Army official noted for his intellectual genius and physical aptitude slowly degenerates as he confronts the wars twisted face not just that but the hypocrisy z' of those who perpetuate the bloodshed discontent with the reality of the Vietnam War particularly with the liberal use of violence and how the powers-that-be justify it Kurtz created his own reality he took full command of an outpost deep in the jungles of Cambodia where the indigenous peoples treated him as a demigod disillusioned by his surroundings by the injustice by the moral relativism he chose to enact his own command using increasingly vile methodology to the point where his superiors determined he had gone insane what makes Kurtz so unsettling is that even though his actions are obviously morally reprehensible his perceptions and statements are arguably correct every ward spoken by Kurtz in this movie comes from a place of deep introspection and rationality for instance though he will decapitate somebody merely for taking his picture his peers cannot judge him because they have all committed equally immoral acts during their stay in Vietnam acts that are justified by a seemingly moral end in this miasma of moral uncertainty Kurtz embraces the savage side of human nature and seeks to remake reality via his will to power it is through his will justified by his record of physical and mental brilliance and the success in his brutality that he finds so many followers and not just to the Vietnamese but defected American soldiers it is Kurtz's conclusion about the moral relativism of the American military that makes him so terrifying even though he's committing murderous atrocity there is logic in his madness if the military can use unsoundmethods in the pursuit of an ideal why can't he after all the horror and evil that surrounds him is enough to corrupt the most penitent man so is it so wrong to pity Kurtz when his surroundings corrupt him why should we believe that if we were in his place we would do any better the probability that we would is staggeringly low Thanos's motivations have striking similarities to Kurtz his home planet of Titan was irreversibly corroded by governmental mismanagement as a results he struggled to survive under the harshest of conditions put yourself in his shoes if your home planet imploded due to overpopulation lack of resources and the warring over these and other political issues do you think you might feel resentful would it be wrong to feel resentful would that resentment maybe lead you to believe that it's not just tighten that was corrupted but reality itself what kind of universe would permit this level of seemingly pointless tragedy without a clear answer to this question is it all that illogical to seek some form any form of revenge even though I would say no it does not justify revenge these are nonetheless powerful questions that don't have universally accepted answers it is exactly the lack of sufficient answers to these questions that motivate the greatest of villains it motivates them to seek revenge against the structure of reality because trying to live morally in a broken universe has not only become intolerable but seemingly untenable therefore any means justify the end of rebuilding the universe this is not just the essence of Thanos motivation but the essence of evil itself it is here that evil can find justification for the most horrible of actions it is a timeless motivation that extends over millennia and it is those who embrace that mindset to the greatest extent that elevate them amongst the highest ranks of villainy but this poses an intriguing question who embraces that mindset the most is it Thanos maybe not afterall it's a bit too early to tell if you might humor me I would like to propose one character in particular the Christian concept of the devil put aside your religious convictions or lack thereof regarding whether or not the devil quote-unquote exists the figure of the devil is globally recognized and has been recognized by billions for thousands of years at the very least the image of the devil the symbolism of the devil holds sway over us as the hypothesis of the human spirit distilled down to its essence for centuries theologians and fiction writers have tried to distill the devil's motivation into an accessible and sometimes entertaining form arguably the pinnacle example of this distillation is a reinterpretation of an old German legend called Faust a play by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe the story of Faust - might sound familiar to you as it has been adapted so many times in fiction that it has been accepted as a sort of literary archetype great stories about confronting human evil might be described as Faustian and Faust the titular character makes a bargain with a character named mephistopheles who personifies the devil Faust signs over his salt of the devil in exchange for knowledge that exceeds human capability however because the devil is involved naturally this bargain goes horribly sideways what is truly poetic about Faust is that during the course of the story Goethe manages to summarize the complexities of the devil's motivation into just a few sentences when Faust asks mephistopheles who he is he replies with the following I am the spirit that negates and rightly so for all that comes to be deserves to perish wretchedly twere better nothing would begin thus everything that your terms sin destruction evil represent that is my proper element unlike Thanos who seeks to keep some form of reality intact the devil takes it one step further mephistopheles essentially says that reality is so full of heart-wrenching tragedy that it would be better if it had never existed much like Thanos the devil speaks succinctly eloquently and rationally about the nature of reality even if their ultimate conclusions are evil the depths of their perception command a certain level of authority the pain they feel lends them some form of legitimacy despite their genocide Alain's I do not misunderstand I am NOT justifying evil but merely explaining it so one may avoid its allure at all costs it is after all alluring if one were to believe that reality is good that life is good that moral systems are desirable only to have these beliefs so effectively challenged it may cause moments of weakness where we forget our humanity where we forget the sovereignity and divinity of each individual born into this world and crush them out of spite and it is the power in that temptation that vanos astutely exploits in his opening monologue I know what it's like to lose she'll so desperately that you're right yet to fail nonetheless

Channel: Max Derrat

Views: 281,352

Keywords: max derrat, max derrat thanos, thanos, avengers infinity war, avengers: infinity war, why thanos is so terrifying, the devil, mephistopheles, faust, goethe, jeffrey burton russell, devil, avengers, the avengers, what motivates evil

Id: 2wFhcGbe4tQ

Length: 10min 51sec (651 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 20 2018