It's about trying to give this kind of story stakes within a wacky superhero setting, sure It's because he's aware that this IS a setting where God objectively exists and doesn't want that to be the resolution to the story ("It can't be THAT bad, God's up there in Heaven")
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Replying to @arthur_affect @chrysopoetics and
See I don't even think that sort of contorted-ass logic follows. Y'don't need to up the stakes to cosmic level "annihilation of all goodness" to be "this is a horrendous thing that destroys a person's ability to live a functional healthy life."
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Replying to @loudpenitent @chrysopoetics and
But the Hulk's angst isn't just about SELF-loathing Or it doesn't have to be, that's not the darkest framing (a therapist would say acknowledging it really is only about himself would be the first step to Bruce healing)
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Replying to @arthur_affect @loudpenitent and
The Hulk's existence is a statement about the nature of the world Everything is a mask, everything is a surface, and whenever you peel that surface back you find something a lot uglier
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Replying to @arthur_affect @loudpenitent and
The trauma of child abuse isn't really just trauma over knowing your dad, in particular, was an asshole It's how your parents are your model for how you think the world as a whole behaves, for what God is like Those lessons once learned are not easily unlearned
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Replying to @arthur_affect @loudpenitent and
It's the whole thing where religion comes in in Heart of Darkness Kurtz's fiancée, the Beloved (a very Biblical term, from the Song of Solomon), who is more or less completely defined by her faith, and the contrast she paints to both Marlow and Kurtz
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Replying to @arthur_affect @loudpenitent and
Her whole conversation with Marlow is just her insisting that whatever happened to Kurtz and however painful his death was in his last moments God must've been there, God must've comforted him, he must have left the world bathed in the warm light of his faith
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Replying to @arthur_affect @loudpenitent and
And Marlow just silently agrees, even though he and we know that what Kurtz really saw on his deathbed could only be described as "The horror... the horror"
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Replying to @arthur_affect @loudpenitent and
I've always loved the Hulk precisely because what he's about is this very classic very highfalutin very literary theme about the duality and depravity of man But he's also the most cartoony wacky dumb superhero The power of comics to make metaphor literal
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Replying to @arthur_affect @chrysopoetics and
I mean that's NOT a universal constant of the Hulk, is the thing. "The Hulk as the malicious tiger-force at the heart of all things" to blasphemously mix my metaphors here, is a specific thing *currently* popular right now, as opposed to older stuff encouraging synthesis.
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I mean I like the good Hulk too, who was in vogue less than ten years ago, when "I'm always angry" was everyone's favorite line in The Avengers
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Replying to @arthur_affect @loudpenitent and
The appeal of the Hulk is that it's a horror story AND an inspiring story of survival AND a goofy cartoon, depending on how you squint at it But if you completely lose any one of those elements you lose a lot of the power of the archetype
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Replying to @arthur_affect @loudpenitent and
The sheer power of the Wolfman/Jekyll and Hyde thing isn't there unless you really truly establish that for Bruce becoming the Hulk is the worst thing in the world
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