If one were thinking up metamodern advertising angles, the tagline ‘once more with feeling’ would fit the bill. This was one of the promotional hooks that was featured on posters for Marvel Studios’ final (as of now) installment of the Guardians of the Galaxy series. The Guardians are probably the most explicitly metamodern creation within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Oscillating between overly sincere feeling and aggressively sardonic humor, the eclectic group of outcasts endeared themselves to popular audiences. A running joke among comic book movie observers was that the mastermind behind the Guardians (James Gunn) was able to make a talking raccoon (Rocket Raccoon), and a talking tree (Groot) more interesting than the movie versions of iconic comic book characters like Superman and Batman. Ironically, now that Gunn is done with his Marvel commitments, he will oversee the likes of Superman and Batman as the new head of DC Studios.
I’ve written before about how Marvel Studios’ success was due in part to the metamodern nature of its storytelling and construction. Yet many of its titles had built in advantages due to well known performers like Robert Downey Jr., or Scarlett Johansson. Widely known Marvel characters such as Spider Man or Captain America also came with natural advantages for success. Yet for James Gunn, and his initial 2014 conception of the Guardians, he had neither a bankable A-list movie star (at the time), or a group of widely known comic book characters to draw from. What Gunn did seem to have though, was an intuitive knowledge of what kind of character treatment and storytelling would connect with popular audiences in this age of metamodernism.
The first movie in the Guardians trilogy saw the group coming together not out of pure goodwill and harmony. Most of the crew of damaged outcasts first came together after getting arrested for participating in a public melee. Initially, each Guardian had a cynical reason to either steal from, kidnap, or even kill another member. They each had been living lives defined by trauma and a kind of inner emptiness (the existential vacuum). There were no traditions or transcendent structures to guide them. The only true meaning they had in life was either in the past, or it never existed at all. This metaphysical positioning of the characters by Gunn mirrored the positioning of many modern individuals in the real world. No doubt this played a part in how these unknown characters were able to connect with audiences. For many moviegoers, the existential angst of the Guardians was like a reflection in a mirror.
Each of the Guardians yearned for earnest connection, and they found it with one another. Towards the end of the first film, the group shares a moment of kinship and authentic feeling. They are moved by a small, passing instance of beauty and wonder as their teammate Groot lights a path down a darkened hallway. As a sentient tree, Groot produces radiant orbs resembling seeds from his hand, which gracefully float around and above the group. The team of jaded individuals pause for a moment, and become lost in the pure beauty of the scene around them. Their actions almost serve as a metaphor for individuals who escape a rut of depression for a brief moment of pure appreciation and gratitude. As the team begins to move down the hallway towards the film’s climax, the character Drax (played by Dave Bautista) says, ‘I want you all to know that I am grateful for your acceptance after my blunders, it is pleasing to once again have friends’.
This metamodern act of building authentic connection and meaning amid a well of cynicism is a thread that runs throughout all of the Guardians films. This thread of ‘cynical yearning’ is personified by the CGI created, Bradley Cooper voiced Guardians character, Rocket Raccoon. The small, mechanically gifted, short tempered, large gun carrying, wise cracking, yet big hearted talking raccoon became the soul of the Guardians franchise. James Gunn called Rocket the ‘secret protagonist’ of the Guardians films. He saw Rocket as the ‘saddest creature in the universe’. A ‘little animal who was taken and turned into something he shouldn’t be’. Which in turn left the intelligent raccoon feeling ‘ostracized, alienated, and angry’ because of the cards fate had dealt him.
Most importantly Gunn saw Rocket’s story as an extension of his own real life experiences. He would tell Marvel.com that Rocket was him, ‘in so many ways’. Rocket’s existential journey over the three Guardians films consisted of a deep inner sadness interrupted by moments of true meaning, purpose, and transcendence. He realized the joy of having loyal friends and the love of having a real family. He even had a moment of non religious, ‘divine’ inspiration in the wake of a friend’s death. Rocket’s story ended in a place of self realization and contentment. He had gone through the darkness, constructed structures of meaning, and come out the other side whole. This metaphysical transition touched upon metamodern descriptions of postmodern cynicism and modernist sentiment. While Gunn’s treatment of Rocket’s story reflected his own real world feelings surrounding his personal journey through the metaphysical waters that led to the current metamodern age.
One of the primary ways Gunn sought to evoke sincere feeling in the Guardians franchise was through the use of music. For Gunn, the soundtrack for each of the three Guardians films wasn’t a simple compilation. The inspiration for each of the ‘mixtapes’ drew from the feelings of nostalgia the leader of the Guardians (Starlord) had for his time as a child on Earth. Gunn used the songs throughout the films not simply as cool backdrops for action sequences. But rather as emotional vectors that either expanded on an emotion in a scene, or spurred emotions in the characters as they listened. The music throughout the Guardians films became its own character or narrative element. This combination of nostalgia, music compilation, and sincere feeling seems very metamodern in its treatment.
At the end of the first Guardians film, Starlord discovers a new mixtape left to him by his late mother. As he plays the tape, the film's ending montage of scenes plays out amid the tune of ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’, by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. The song mirrors the feeling of new found family connection the team has discovered with one another. At the end of the second Guardians film, Starlord cues up ‘Father and Son’ by Yusef / Cat Stevens. The song elicits strong feelings as the film's final scenes show the characters dealing with issues of fatherhood, grief, friendship, meaning, and spiritual reflection.
But it was the end of the third Guardians film, the end of the trilogy, that saw Gunn's use of music reach its emotional climax. By the end of the third film, each member of the Guardians has arrived at a point of personal fulfillment. They have each moved from places of disarray, anger, and confusion to a place where they can live meaningful, or even happy lives. Rocket Raccoon cues up the song ‘Dog Days Are Over’ by Florence and The Machine amid a crowd of kids the Guardians have saved, and inhabitants of a settlement they have created. As the euphoric song plays from the loudspeakers, everyone begins to dance; even those who have seemingly never danced before. The weight of all their past traumas seems to melt away as the Guardians let out cathartic yells to the heavens. This overly sentimental ending to the Guardians trilogy resonated with audiences because it tapped into something fundamentally human. The yearning for true happiness amid a modern world that seems arranged to prevent happiness at every turn. This fundamental yearning is integral to the nature of metamodernism.
Adding an even deeper layer of emotion to the final scene in the Guardians trilogy was the fact that two of the CGI characters in the dancing scene were played by James Gunn and his brother Sean Gunn. Sean Gunn played the live action character ‘Kraglin’ in the Guardians films, but he also did the CGI motion capture for Rocket Raccoon. In the final scene, as Groot and Rocket dance towards each other, it’s actually James Gunn and his brother Sean dancing together. Of the scene, James Gunn told the New York Times, that it ‘was the high point of his life’, and that it was ‘surreal and beautiful and wonderful’. ‘Everybody was crying as it was happening - it was a really powerful moment’, he would say.
James Gunn poured his emotional self into the Guardians franchise, and layered each film with an overly earnest treatment of feelings and connection. If that doesn’t fall into the bin of metamodernism, I’m not sure what does.