The Russo
brothers must have had a good time building up to the great philosophical
question that is Thanos’ mission in the Avengers: Infinity War. The big
philosophical question is that of sacrificing lives to save the species.
We have
all heard of the saying “cut off the arm to save the head”, Thanos’ mission is
similar but on a Universal scale. Beyond the philosophical conundrum of killing
some to save the whole, goes a lot of philosophical and psychological
literature about wars and destruction and being part of human psyche and even
necessary for continuity of life on this planet.
In the
early 1930s, seeing the horrors of the First World War, Albert Einstein wrote
to the father of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud to ask his thoughts on how
further war might be prevented. Freud wrote that Thanatos “is at work in every
living creature and striving to bring it to ruin and reduce life to its original
condition of inanimate matter”.
The way I
see this in The Avengers Infinity War and Endgame movies is the real way
Thanatos presents itself to those that carry it out. Not as destruction, but as
salvation like the way Thanos sees it. This destructive drive convinces its perpetrators
that it is the right way of preventing something even more catastrophic. Adolf
Hitler wanted to fix the world from his own perspective.
Same way
Thanos uses the space stone, Thanatos can be everywhere. Thanatos is the unconscious
psychological urges towards self-destruction, manifested in the kinds of
inexplicable behaviour.
Bottom-line,
even though the avengers movies are fiction, their creators have come up with
real ideas from deep psychological and philosophical basis and may be, just
may-be, this is why Infinity War resonates with our reality as humans and the
audience.
In
fictional story telling, there is a lot more meaning to the audience when it
comes from the basis of the nature of reality. People’s Imagination is
stretched but they still find a way of understanding, even though not agreeing
with the villain’s point of view. The audience is forced to consider either
side of the fight and know why each side is fighting with full resolve.
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Watch the Avengers Endgame Trailer here:
