Me, banging pots and pans: “THIS SINGLE LINE IS SUPPOSED TO CONVEY TO THE VIEWER THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN REPUTATION AND ACTUAL CHARACTER. HOW WE, THE VIEWER, WATCHED THE ENTIRE MOVIE FULLY AWARE THAT NARCISSISM IS THE FURTHEST MOTIVATOR FOR HIS ACTIONS AND THAT THAT PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT WAS UNFAIR, A VERY OBVIOUS AND DELIBERATE MOVE TO HIGHLIGHT THE THEME OF THE MOVIE WHICH WAS WHAT PEOPLE PERCEIVE OF THE CHARACTER VS WHAT WE, THE OMNIPOTENT AUDIENCE SEE OF THE CHARACTER. IF YOU THINK TONY STARK IS A NARCISSIST THEN YOU DIDNT WATCH THE MOVIE, OR HAVE THE GIANT ASS BLINDERS ON THAT MAKES VERY OBVIOUS PLOT POINTS MISS YOU FOR A MILE
thank you for coming to my TEDtalk
I think people have trouble with different layers of text. Subtext, dramatic irony, irony in general, implied authorial attitude toward events depicted (hint: not always approval)…
full offense, but does it ever hit you in the god damn gut that tony stark, protector, knight in shining armor tony stark –
mister “i saw young americans killed by the very weapons i created to defend them and protect them,” mister “i’m trying to protect the people i put in harm’s way,” mister “i hope i can protect the one thing i can’t live without,” mister “i see a suit of armor around the world,”
the guy who answers for his most paternalistic acts (like wanting to keep pepper and wanda locked in a mansion) with “i can’t protect you out there” and “i did it to protect you,”
tony stark, whose gradually worsening mental conditions show in his progressively more backwards, desperate attempts to protect people, tony stark who’s been trying to protect people to the point of harmful consequences,
that tony stark
is the single character
in the entire mcu
who has been accused
– by friends, enemies, and civilians alike
in every movie he’s been in –
of FIGHTING ONLY FOR HIMSELF
SIMILARLY
THIS TONY STARK
tony “i shouldn’t be alive” stark, tony “i’m not the hero type” stark, mister “you deserve better,” “you’re right, i don’t deserve her,” “it’s me, you’ll think of something [to complain about],” “you’re in a relationship with me, everything will never be okay,” “i saw them all dead, felt it, because of me,”
tony stark, who shoots his reflection and views himself as a “monster” and openly resents himself during his speech about charles spencer, THIS TONY STARK
IS THE SINGLE CHARACTER WHO’S CONSISTENTLY PERCEIVED, IN-UNIVERSE AND IN A META LEVEL BY MOST OF THE FANDOM,
Let’s talk
about this line. In Avengers, Steve tells Tony he wouldn’t “lay down on a wire” to let somebody else crawl over him. In
other words, he accuses him of not being able to sacrifice himself (btw what
kind of insult is that, Steve?? It’s not something to accuse somebody of?? But that’s
a different subject). We all know it’s not true, as Tony himself proved many
times. Carrying the nuke through the wormhole is probably the clearest evidence
of that – and a direct contradiction of Steve’s accusation. Maybe the dialogue
itself was put there just to emphasize Tony’s sacrifice later in the movie. To
me, though, it’s something more. “I think I would just cut the wire.” It’s Tony’s
way of looking at problems.
It’s what he did in Iron Man 3 when Rhodey said “We gotta make a decision. We
can either save the president, or
Pepper. We can’t do both.” The choice was to save someone very important to
Tony or someone very important to the country. Which option did he choose? Both. He sent a remote suit to the
president’s plane, all the while being on a boat, heading towards Pepper’s
direction. He cut the wire.
It’s what he did when one of
those living-bomb-guys caught Harley. Tony could either give the man the
information he wanted or sacrifice the boy. Which option did he choose? Neither. He gave Harley a hint to use
that anti-bullies device which helped him escape. He cut the wire.
It’s exactly what he did when he
created the first suit in that cave! He could either build a weapon for the
terrorists or die. What option did he choose? Neither. He used his brilliant mind to escape. He cut the wire.
Heck, even Tony’s response to
Steve’s insult is cutting the wire in a way. Steve probably didn’t even expect
a response at all. I mean, neither “no, I would do that” or “you’re right, I wouldn’t”
was a good thing to say in that moment. Without hesitation, Tony chose a third option.
Of
course, when he cannot find
his own solution, when he is unable to cut the wire, he is more than ready to
lay down on it. We’ve seen that, I’ve already mentioned it. The point is, the
sacrifice is not always necessary and he knows it. Presented with a choice to
save someone and save himself, he’d rather find a way for them all to survive.
Laying down on the wire may be noble, but cutting it is just freaking smart. He
uses his mind, his technology, to create a third option when there are only two.
His mind is his superpower.
It’s
not really surprising,
then, that he worked so hard to create Ultron. Can you see? The world ending,
all of them dying? Steve had a simple solution: we’ll lose together. Well,
thank you, Captain, I’d rather not. Tony didn’t agree to just sit there and let
that happen. He used his brilliant mind, his superpower, to try to protect the Earth and everybody he loved.
This time, like we all know, it didn’t turn out well. But I hope you see the
pattern here.
The
guy just won’t give up. Bless
his
heart.
Reblogging again because it’s so true and so good
Of course, “cut the wire” is meant to evoke the expression “cut the Gordian knot”: to solve an apparently unsolvable problem by getting around it (which is what Alexander the Great did, according the legend: he cut through the knot with his sword rather than attempting to untie it). I like the implied comparison between Tony and Alexander the Great 🙂
RDJ: Toughest part in being Iron Man are the close-up shots.
In an exclusive interview with Yahoo! Movies, in preparation for the release of the second Iron Man 3 trailer, Robert Downey Jr. says the toughest part of playing Iron Man is filming scenes with the “Heads Up Display” view, which allows viewers to see Downey’s face up close whenever Tony Stark dons the metal suit.
From Yahoo:
“When you do the HUD work, usually it’s kind of the last thing in the schedule,” Downey said. “And you’re going back and essentially living the movie again in close-up, tired.”
Basically, Downey has to relive all of the action scenes in the movie they already shot and deliver the same level of intensity even though he’s standing still and there’s nothing for him to actually react to. That includes performing some of his most emotional scenes, like in The Avengers when he is unable to contact Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow) while he is flying to what he believes will be his death.
Downey explained it this way: “I don’t like, [as himself] ‘All right. What’s happening now?’ [as the director] ‘Oh, the most important woman in your life is falling off crane into a fiery pit. Okay? So, let’s just rehearse once and then we’ll do it about 10 or 12 times until the camera is right and you’ve given enough.’ They’re just screaming direction at you… I like the scenes. I like the action.”
Sometimes a family is you, an airforce colonel, the CEO of your company, your driver/forehead of security, spiderman, and some kid from Tennessee you accidentally adopted when you broke into his garage.
Wait wait wait where is this from? Also, why does it look like they’re in the Upside Down from Stranger Things?
Loki is the Philosopher King 