SENA KAYASÜ (ARCH/III)
sena.kayasu@ug.bilkent.edu.tr

I had planned for this week’s topic (the last of the semester, in fact) to be very different. I had not planned for it to be about “Avengers: Age of Ultron.” Alas, I didn’t know the film was going to be released so soon. After a very sudden decision, I found myself in a packed movie theater. So here we are.

The movie was quite funny. Marvel has lots and lots of money, so the action sequences are of very high quality. Still, there may have been more comedy than action (although someone dies, so there’s also a bit of tragedy). Marvel movies are, by and large, funny. There seems to be a very specific comedic vein that the company has hit upon through the synergy of the actors, but a lot of it is probably in the script. The thing is, those moments are completely unnecessary. They relieve tension. Tension caused by the action—action most of the audience paid to see.

This came up when we talked about “The Iliad” in my HUM111 class. The epic is so interminably long that, in order to get people to sit through it, scenes of comic relief had to be placed at intervals. When there were too many successive war scenes, for instance, a typical moment between Zeus and Hera was inserted. The bickering of the gods unwound the audience a bit so that they could endure the rest. What we’re talking about with “The Iliad” is a war that has been going on for nine years and will continue for yet another year.

“Avengers 2” isn’t quite so brutal. It actually has fewer action sequences than I expected. Marvel employs a brilliant strategy to make its movies memorable. Little idiosyncrasies are what make things memorable, for the most part. That is why they are so important for actors. Every person is unique. We all have a slightly different way of moving and/or talking to the others around us. Certain phrases, a certain type of joke, the particular way your friend wiggles their fingers when telling you something juicy are things that you remember without realizing it. At the time, you may not notice the wiggle, but if someone else does it, you will definitely identify it as that friend’s signature gesture.

In my humble opinion, that is what most pumped-up Hollywood actors get wrong nowadays. Just because an actor is in an action movie, s/he should not ignore the need to give character to her/his character. There was a time in films, back in the sixties or before, when most characters were pretty stereotypical. They were more archetypes than characters, actually. This may be forgiven. But in an age where we see actors who are inventors, the ones who aren’t seem considerably dim, as far as “stars” go. An actor who doesn’t contribute to his character doesn’t have a place in the same world as Meryl Streep, Al Pacino and (you guessed it) Robert Downey Jr. These artists are considered great for the very specific reason that their characters have character. Especially Streep and Downey, who, when they can’t create character-specific idiosyncrasies, supply their own. Those who have seen both movies will probably agree that Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes (as played by Downey) are pretty similar. They probably bud from the actor’s character. The world forgives him, though, because the characters are still very interesting.

Marvel has built an empire upon its characters. It casts web after web of plots and entities. The webs interlace and interact beautifully to form one very large universe. This cosmos is so large that anything can happen. There can be titans born on Jupiter’s moon, Titan. There can be men who can turn green with rage, literally. There can be irrevocable love and unforgivable loss. The universe is large enough for all of us.

Speaking of universes, I’d like to pay tribute to an awesome moment from Stephen Hawking. While giving a speech in Australia last week on the mysteries of the universe (as a hologram, because, why not?), Stephen Hawking got asked a strange question. Someone in the audience asked, “What do you think is the cosmological effect of Zayn leaving One Direction and consequently breaking the hearts of millions of teenage girls across the world?”

Zayn Malik was, until quite recently, one-fifth of a British boy band called One Direction that a lot of people get very excited over. Very excited as in obsessed. They are basically the British edition of Justin Bieber, in terms of music and popularity. A lot of people got very upset over Malik leaving, apparently. Enough to ask Stephen Hawking for the meaning that lies behind this cosmic choice.

The scientist’s response was amazing. “Finally, a question about something important,” he said. “My advice to any heartbroken young girl is to pay close attention to the study of theoretical physics.” Way to turn the tables, Stephen. “Because one day there may well be proof of multiple universes. It would not be beyond the realm of possibility that somewhere outside of our own universe lies another, different universe. And in that universe, Zayn is still in One Direction. This girl may like to know that in another possible universe, she and Zayn are happily married.” Genius.

I don’t know how many One Direction fans he managed to steer toward studying theoretical physics, but Hawking’s way of looking at things is certainly intriguing. I believe that there are parallel universes out there. At least, I believe that the evidence shows there’s a good chance that there may be (this, unfortunately, is as certain as science can get sometimes). However, I don’t like this idea of living for another world. The universe is huge and forever expanding. Whatever I choose to do, there is space enough for me in this one. I don’t need to escape.

That being said, I’d like to add a note to this, my last piece before the summer. Because I betrayed my previous department and transferred after a year, I now have a lot of friends from there (as well as from my high school) who are graduating. Most of them are flying away, and that’s sad, because the world is huge. But, as was stated in the “Avengers,” “It’s time to start making it smaller.” Graduation candidates: you may fly away, but don’t forget what you had here. Don’t forget a second of it.