Not Your Ordinary Death in the Middle

Avengers: Infinity War

First of all, what is the Death in the Middle (DM) and why is it so important? The DM holds up the middle of the story. It's something that happens to keep the story moving forward. But it's so much more than that. 

• It happens smack in the middle of the second act. In my research, most movies have a DM at the exact middle. (I.e., 90 mins divided by 2 = 45.) Some happen a few minutes before or after, but often it's right at that mid-point.
• The DM should also signal a paradigm shift. It doesn't always, but it's so cool when it does. 
• In The Beauty and the Beast, the beast sacrifices himself while protecting Belle from the wolves. Her opinion of him shifts as she sees he's not the monster she had thought he was. (Death of a belief.) 
• In Hidden Figures, Katherine has a much needed outburst as she explains why she takes long breaks. The Colored Only bathroom is across the complex. This prompts her boss to tear down the sign and declare that everyone pees the same color at NASA. (Death of segregation, at least at NASA.)
• It should speak to the theme. 
• The basic theme in The Beauty and the Beast is Things Aren't What They Seem.
• The basic theme of Hidden Figures is Racism.
• It signals a death of some kind. The death of segregation; the death of a perceived notion; a literal promise of death as in Avengers: Infinity War. Read on...

To determine the DM, it's best to know whose character arc we're following. There are a plethora of characters in Avengers: Infinity War. So we must look closer. Who has the most to lose in this story? Is it the Avengers, both collectively and personally? Maybe. I mean it's pretty devastating when all you've worked for dissolves before your eyes--literally. But who do we see going through the most struggle internally?

Thanos. The thick jawed villain with a serious stone-collecting obsession.

Yes, hard to admit, but this is his story. Or should I say, a continuation of his story? This movie is #4 out of five showing the Titan war lord's character. He's featured in the infamous credit scenes in The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron. He is also a principle character in Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers: Infinity War.

What does Thanos have to lose? The ability to restore order (albeit his order) through the full collection of infinity stones. How does he do this? By using their full power to annihilate half the universe's population.

The scene in the middle of the movie is that of Thor, Rocket, and Groot on the planet Nidavellir where Thor's original hammer (now disintegrated thanks to his sister with ridiculous anger issues) was formed by the giant dwarf Eitri. At first, I thought the death had to do with the complications of forming another hammer. These complications are: Devastation of the planet by Thanos; machinery destroyed; no way to reactivate the forge except through extreme sacrifice on Thor's part...all deaths in one way or another. But they didn't meet all the criteria. This movie isn't just about Thor. There's a whole ensemble here laying their lives on the line. So I looked closer, and at the exact middle, the camera pans to a mold of Thanos's gauntlet.

Let that sink in. The middle of Act II pans to the mold in which the metal glove--that will ultimately destroy the universe--was forged by Eitri. If we're following Thanos's arc, we are learning at this point how he attained this weapon of mass destruction. Even though this scene is not an immediate threat of death, as we're learning of the backstory, it still helps us see what lengths Thanos will go to achieve his end. The Death in the Middle is seeing the mold of the gauntlet that will cause the worse destruction ever in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It's what these movies have been leading up to.

But, if this is movie #4 out of five, how is this a death in the middle? Shouldn't the middle movie #3, Avengers: Age of Ultron, show Thanos's paradigm shift? It does, in a mid-credits scene. Thanos has the gauntlet and is very dissatisfied with his minions who have failed to retrieve the stones. In his shift of thought, he decides to go after them himself.

You can't make this stuff up. Okay, someone made this stuff up, but they did it brilliantly!

So, does the DM in Avengers: Infinity Wars meet the criteria?

• If Thanos is our main character, we see here the beginning of his evil plan in the gauntlet mold and Eitri's telling of it's origin. Thus, the DM is the promise of the death of the universe as we know it.
• Does it reflect the theme? As I see it, the theme is Order Out of Chaos. This is what Thanos believes. His inner desire is to bring order to the universe. And the gauntlet is the means to that end.

It's at this point that I ask "Why?" Yes, Thanos wants to balance the universe, but where did that desire come from? After researching, I found that the Marvel creators cut 30 minutes of Thanos's backstory from this film. True to everything Marvel, they must drag the whole thing out, so speculation is that we'll learn more in the fifth movie, Avengers 4. I did learn, however, that in the comic, something happened on his planet of Titan that became the catalyst for his beliefs.

➤Bonus lesson: The villain/antagonist should always have a good reason, at least to him, why he does what he does. Old school Disney villains are out, now they must have "the feels" for something. For further reading on this subject, please check out my list of articles on villains.

This one was complex. It doesn't help to know that we haven't gotten all of Thanos's backstory. This is why I struggled with finding the DM. But, I think I've got it now, and I hope I've broken it down sufficiently. It will be interesting to fill in all of the blanks on Thanos and see what really makes him tick.

Here's a breakdown of Thanos's character arc thus far:

• Outer Goal/Inner Need (Using GMC – Goal, Motivation, and Conflict) 
• Character wants Infinity Stones, because they will restore balance, but the Avengers get in the way.
• Character needs balance, because of something that happened on his home planet (?).
• Inciting Incident
• Not sure yet, thanks to the missing 30 minutes in the film. ERK!
• Whatever it is, pushed him through a door of no return to wreak havoc on the universe.
• Tent Pole
• He decides to have a gauntlet made to bring the Infinity Stones to their full power.
• This signals the death of half the universe.
• Not knowing his backstory, we might conclude that his paradigm shift is that upon realizing this weapon is at his disposal through Eitri, the giant dwarf, he now knows his desire can be fulfilled. (Again, the DM is the promise of the death of the universe as we know it. 
• Bleakest Moment
• He learns he must sacrifice something he loves the most in order for the stones to work.
• After briefly struggling with this, knowing all will be lost if he's not strong enough to go through with it, he pushes Gamora, the step-daughter he loves, to her death.
• Lesson/Decision
• He decides to snap his fingers, which will activate the stones and wipe out half of the universe's population.
• He's apparently at peace with this decision as the final scene shows him looking out over a serene countryside with a hint of a smile on his stony face.

BUT, we have one more movie to fully round out Thanos's character. Wish I could snap my fingers and make it happen sooner! Then again...maybe not.


Here are the movies that tell Thanos's story:

1. The Avengers
2. Guardians of the Galaxy
3. Avengers: Age of Ultron
4. Avengers: Infinity War
5. Avengers 4 (Untitled, coming out 2019.)

Justifiably Villainous

Joss Whedon (writer, producer, director) has said, “Every great villain is the hero of his own story.” I also submit that every great villain is the victim of his own story. While the protagonist works to overcome his victimization, the antagonist grovels in it. It becomes his excuse for everything thing he’s doing.

Think of all the famous villains we’ve seen in movies over the years.

• In Falling Down, Michael Douglas just wants to see his daughter on her birthday. He laments: "I'm the bad guy? How’d that happen?"
• In The Wizard of OZ, the Wicked Witch of the West is the victim of sibling rivalry. Rather than let the “good” sister get the shoes the Wicked Witch always wanted, she vows to kill the little girl wearing them. She is further justified because this same little girl just killed her favorite sister with a house.
• King Kong is kidnapped from his home, thrust into an unfamiliar environment and put on display.
• In Star Wars, Darth Vader’s backstory is revealed in episodes I, II, and III. Born a slave and separated from his mother at the age of nine, young Anakin Skywalker trains under Jedi masters, but eventually falls into the wrong crowd. 
• I hate to admit it, but Thor’s foster brother, Loki is dear to my mother-heart. Found by Odin, he was raised alongside Odin’s son, Thor, but was an outcast because of his small stature. He didn’t have the strength and size of his brother, but he had the gift of sorcery. Because he never felt he belonged, he began to “act out.” And when gods act out, it can have major repercussions!
• In The Lord of the Rings, Gollum is the original owner of The One Ring, named so because it is the one ring to rule them all. When he lost it, he went mad.

My inspiration for this villainous article came when I recently watched the newest Superman movie, Man of Steel. The character Zod intrigued me in this version of the Superman story. He seemed to have more purpose than a vigilante, still frightening, but I saw depth to him. In an interview with Port-Magazine.com, Michael Shannon, the actor who plays Zod, said, “Terence Stamp [Zod who played against Christopher Reeve] was like the Robert Plant [lead singer of the rock group, Led Zeppelin] version of General Zod. He’s like: I’m sexy, I’m badass, I’m gonna yell at you and tell you what to do. I’m more like the Woody Allen version of Zod: I’m worried, I’m upset, there’s bad things happening, what am I going to do? I’m trying to be threatening, but inside I have my doubts.” I saw this clearly as he battled the man of steel.

We must remember that Zod was, at one time, Krypton’s most dedicated and honored warrior. He was a programmed soldier, his only loyalty lying with his planet. And he became who he was because of this power. Toward the end of the movie, and the end of Zod’s time on earth, he has a heartfelt and painful monologue directed toward Kal-El (Superman, played by Henry Cavill.)

Zod: Look at this. [He holds out his hand letting earth’s dust slip through his fingers after all the destruction.] We could have built a new Krypton in this squalor. But you chose the humans over us. I exist only to protect Krypton. That was the sole purpose for which I was born. And every action I take, no matter how violent, or how cruel, is for the greater good of my people. And now, I have no people. My soul—that is what you have taken from me!

After pouring out his vulnerability, he briefly rallies and vows to make the people of earth suffer, taking them all from Kal-El one by one, as punishment.

This is how to portray a good villain. Give him purpose, give him identity, make him a victim, then allow him to implode on himself.

Cut Loose That Footloose Villain!

Don your legwarmers! Fluff your hair! Turn up your radio! It's 80's Dance Party!

Or not.

At least not in the small Midwestern town to where teen aged Ren (Kevin Bacon) has relocated from Chicago. Dancing has been banned by the one and only pastor (John Lithgow) who has taken it upon himself to be the moral voice of reason for every family in his flock. [Kathy’s note:  I've seen the updated version since writing this article. I like how the writers fixed the problem of having only one “man of God” in the entire town. That always bothered me that the original pastor (Lithgow) had so much influence. In the 2011 version, Reverend Shaw Moore (Dennis Quaid)  is still a leader, but he’s not a tyrant.]

We're talking about the movie Footloose. I watched the 1984 rerun for the first time in at least twenty years the other night. The music had my feet stompin' and had I not been in my mother's tiny senior apartment, I may have cut loose. Now, if I can silence the title song from my head long enough to write this article, I'll continue.

While much of this movie is silly, the writers did do something right with the characters. They gave them depth, which in our world translates to believability.

We believe that Ren is tired of being labeled the "bad boy" simply because of where he's from. We believe the PK (preacher's kid) Ariel, played by Lori Singer, is a deeply troubled young woman because of her strict upbringing. And we believe that Reverend Shaw Moore wants to save the rebellious youth in his town. And why? Because his son was killed after a night of drinking and dancing.

Rev. Moore is the major antagonist in this story. The writers didn't do the typical thing and made him strict because of his religious beliefs alone. They upped his conflict in the back story. Rev. Moore lost a child due to the very thing he now opposes. And that gives his character depth.

When we create our villains, it is so important not to make them Disney cartoons. That worked for Walt but it won't work for us. All of our characters need a reason to do the things they do. A good reason. Not just because they're inherently wicked, but because something has happened in their past to make them that way. And even more importantly, they need to think that what they're doing is the right thing. Rev. Moore sincerely thought it was his calling, no, his duty to protect the young people in his town and keep each and every one of them from suffering the same fate as his son. This made his cause noble, if not a little misplaced.

So, to recap, give your antagonists depth by giving them a reason for what they do, and give them a noble cause that is only noble in their own minds. That will make them believable and entertaining enough for the readers to keep turning those pages.

EVERYBODY SING!

Tonight we're gonna cut loose

Footloose

Kick off your Sunday shoes

Please, Louise

pull me off a my knees

Jack, get back

C'mon before we crack

Lose your blues

Everybody cut footloose