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The Big Damn Thor Megapost, continued
Feb. 19th, 2014 10:45 amLoki as culturally-conditioned villain
If you think about it, it's actually highly problematic that the traditionally masculine, belligerent, macho guy is the hero, while the quiet, sensitive, thoughtful, emotional, slight/androgynous character is the villain.
Obviously you can argue there's a bit more complexity there (at least by the end of the first film, Thor has learned to become more empathetic and caring while Loki becomes more aggressive), but the fact remains that basically from the moment we see them, we're supposed to believe Thor is the hero and Loki the villain.
It's interesting how many other cinematic/visual cues we're given to cement Loki's status as the villain. He's dressed in green—yes, a holdover from the comics, but (at least in the West, and not in Green Lantern-landia) green is the color of envy, therefore Loki must be envious of his brother and therefore prone to evil. He's also associated with snakes (in the deleted scene), which are also evil in Western mythology. And there are a number of times when the camera shows his shadow before panning to Loki himself, because shadow = darkness = evil.
I found it interesting that in the scene where Thor ragetableflips, Loki is shown appearing from behind a column and walking toward Thor, but there's a delay between when we see him appear and when we see his face. That definitely seemed like another screaming "This guy is suspicious!" sign when I first watched the movie. I do have to wonder, though, that if the movie relied so much on visual/cinematic cues to tell the audience Loki is evil, did that mean there was too much danger of the audience viewing Loki as being sympathetic?
The climax in THOR
The more I watch the climax, the more tragic it becomes to me.
This is what Thor is probably thinking as he confronts Loki:
"Loki, no, stop this genocide! It's wrong! I know because I spent three days on Midgard! I know I tried it before, but I was wrong then!"
"Why are you saying we aren't brothers? What's gotten into you?"
"Why are you so angry at me? Why are you threatening Jane? Oh, you've crossed the line, now I'm going to pound some sense into you!"
In other words, he has absolutely no clue what's wrong with Loki and so he has to throw his hands in the air and conclude that Loki's just gone bonkers for no reason.
Meanwhile, Loki is still trying to deal with the fact that he's a Frost Giant and therefore inherently unworthy/unlovable, as well as being completely confused and angry that Thor is trying to stop him from destroying the Frost Giants, when Thor and Odin and all of Asgard condemns them as lesser beings.
It's also hard not to see Loki as just having a complete breakdown at this point. His plan, which was actually very good and goes off with barely a hitch, fails at the last moment thanks to Thor. But it's not just any plan; in his mind, it's his only way to resolve the crisis which is finding out he's a jötunn. Thor, meanwhile, is completely powerless to help resolve Loki's identity crisis any other way, because he doesn't know, he has no clue what's going on with Loki.
I also read a bit of jealousy into that argument. In over a thousand years, Loki has failed to make Thor more empathetic through their supposedly loving bond, yet three days in Midgard is enough to change Thor forever. In Loki's emotionally volatile state—with Odin stuck in the Odinsleep, and Loki mentally pushing Odin and Frigga away—it must have seemed to him that he was losing his last relationship and best friend. (After all, Loki is basically crying during his argument with Thor.)
If you think about it, it's actually highly problematic that the traditionally masculine, belligerent, macho guy is the hero, while the quiet, sensitive, thoughtful, emotional, slight/androgynous character is the villain.
Obviously you can argue there's a bit more complexity there (at least by the end of the first film, Thor has learned to become more empathetic and caring while Loki becomes more aggressive), but the fact remains that basically from the moment we see them, we're supposed to believe Thor is the hero and Loki the villain.
It's interesting how many other cinematic/visual cues we're given to cement Loki's status as the villain. He's dressed in green—yes, a holdover from the comics, but (at least in the West, and not in Green Lantern-landia) green is the color of envy, therefore Loki must be envious of his brother and therefore prone to evil. He's also associated with snakes (in the deleted scene), which are also evil in Western mythology. And there are a number of times when the camera shows his shadow before panning to Loki himself, because shadow = darkness = evil.
I found it interesting that in the scene where Thor ragetableflips, Loki is shown appearing from behind a column and walking toward Thor, but there's a delay between when we see him appear and when we see his face. That definitely seemed like another screaming "This guy is suspicious!" sign when I first watched the movie. I do have to wonder, though, that if the movie relied so much on visual/cinematic cues to tell the audience Loki is evil, did that mean there was too much danger of the audience viewing Loki as being sympathetic?
The climax in THOR
The more I watch the climax, the more tragic it becomes to me.
This is what Thor is probably thinking as he confronts Loki:
"Loki, no, stop this genocide! It's wrong! I know because I spent three days on Midgard! I know I tried it before, but I was wrong then!"
"Why are you saying we aren't brothers? What's gotten into you?"
"Why are you so angry at me? Why are you threatening Jane? Oh, you've crossed the line, now I'm going to pound some sense into you!"
In other words, he has absolutely no clue what's wrong with Loki and so he has to throw his hands in the air and conclude that Loki's just gone bonkers for no reason.
Meanwhile, Loki is still trying to deal with the fact that he's a Frost Giant and therefore inherently unworthy/unlovable, as well as being completely confused and angry that Thor is trying to stop him from destroying the Frost Giants, when Thor and Odin and all of Asgard condemns them as lesser beings.
It's also hard not to see Loki as just having a complete breakdown at this point. His plan, which was actually very good and goes off with barely a hitch, fails at the last moment thanks to Thor. But it's not just any plan; in his mind, it's his only way to resolve the crisis which is finding out he's a jötunn. Thor, meanwhile, is completely powerless to help resolve Loki's identity crisis any other way, because he doesn't know, he has no clue what's going on with Loki.
I also read a bit of jealousy into that argument. In over a thousand years, Loki has failed to make Thor more empathetic through their supposedly loving bond, yet three days in Midgard is enough to change Thor forever. In Loki's emotionally volatile state—with Odin stuck in the Odinsleep, and Loki mentally pushing Odin and Frigga away—it must have seemed to him that he was losing his last relationship and best friend. (After all, Loki is basically crying during his argument with Thor.)
