Film: How the Marvel Cinematic Universe Exploits Comic Artists

Film & Documentary

May 13, 2022 • View in browser

How the Marvel Cinematic Universe Exploits Comic Book Artists

Films based on Marvel Comics superheroes have made billions. Yet the artists and writers who created these characters get a pittance, if that. | Kambole Campbell

Too often, the creators who forged the foundations of the Marvel Cinematic Universe are given a “special thanks” credit and little else, and that’s being thrown into sharper relief as these films double down on lifting imagery from page to screen.

STORIES TOLD THROUGH ANIMATION

Panda! Go Panda! Classics Make a Delightful Comeback

You don’t have to be an anime-head to appreciate these early-career shorts by the founders of Studio Ghibli. | Dan Schindel

The Animated Biopic of Charlotte Salomon Is a Missed Opportunity

Charlotte fails to truly depict the famed artist’s work and pain. It may just be that no other artist can tell Salomon’s story better than she already did. | Dan Schindel

LATEST IN DOCUMENTARY

Prismatic Ground Tries to Change the Conversation on Experimental Documentary

Film programmer Inney Prakash talks to Hyperallergic about what it takes to start a new film festival solo during a pandemic. | Dan Schindel

At the height of the COVID-19 quarantine, when movie theaters and film festivals could only offer their selections online, programmer and curator Inney Prakash had an idea for a new kind of festival.

In an email conversation with Hyperallergic, he explains, “I saw an opportunity to do something unique without a lot of resources and to serve the passionate, rapidly growing community around experimental documentary — nonfiction work that’s more interested in form than narrative and sensory experience than information.”

A Bruce Mau Documentary Can’t Explain What the Man Does

MAU is too charmed by its subject to nail down what he has achieved, or why people should even care about him in the first place. | Sophia Stewart

THOUGHT-PROVOKING FEATURES

An All-Female Gang Sells Black-Market Oil in Dry Ground Burning

A meticulous blend of fact and fiction, this film surveys the overlooked fringe of Brazilian society under President Bolsonaro. | Ben R. Nicholson

A Body Horror Tale With an Avian Twist

Hanna Bergholm’s stunningly original debut film Hatching embraces the experience of female adolescence as the monster that it is, and then gives that monster literal wings. | Eileen G'Sell

Pleasure Dispels Male Fantasies of Porn

Ninja Thyberg’s film replicates a common plot structure for classic porn as it follows a young performer entering the business, but its focus is on the labor involved. | Justine Smith

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