Ironman, the Modernist

Courtney and I watched Ironman last night. Fun action movie. It also got me thinking about our own sense of identity as Americans and how this is constantly reflected in our comic heros.

Americans have always perceived themselves as that lone vigilante for justice. The myth of the cowboy or Batman or Mr. Smith in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington pervades our psyche. We are suspicious of totalitarian power and the injustice perpetuated on masses of people by the "evil" ones of the world. Interestingly, in the movie Ironman the protagonist realizes that his weapon-making business has been falling into the wrong hands and as he witnesses his own weapons being used against innocent civilians, he undergoes a sort of conversion. He decides to stop producing weapons, much to the dismay of the Powers.

But then the movie takes an interesting (and expected) turn. Our protagonist decides that he can no longer trust justice to be done by anyone... except for himself. So he creates a flying, missile-shooting, invincible metal suit for himself and, in good American fashion, goes out and kicks some arse.

This is the modernist illusion. We are the good guys; they are the bad guys. It's our moral duty to kill the bad guys so that they don't do bad things anymore. We do not trust others with power so we reluctantly take up power upon ourselves so that the "evil" ones won't rule over the "good." Such dualism, says postmodernism, is an illusion and I happen to agree. None of us are the good guys and none of us are the bad guys. And we are certainly not trustworthy with our Iron Suit. Soon we, the powerful ones, become corrupted and before we know it, we're the ones killing the women and children and calling it "collateral damage."

It wouldn't make a very good movie, but if the Ironman had been a postmodernist instead of a modernist and had allowed himself to be suspicious of all controlling metanarratives, including his own, then he wouldn't have made an Iron Suit. He would have, as Jesus said, "Put down his sword."

Ironman, a fun movie I must admit, perpetuates the myth of our own self-righteousness. When will we stop seeing everyone else as infected by power's corrupting influence except ourselves? When will we stop playing the executioner? When will we learn to trust the One who knows everyone's story perfectly and who is able to mete out justice flawlessly? When will we set aside our one-man, iron-suited vigilante ways and instead start bearing the cross?