The Novelty Era
As the notion of the spectacular swept the film industry, audiences couldn’t get enough of their mysterious heroes. Following the success of Superman, a whole string of Batman movies stepped out from the darkness and proved equally as popular. This series along with another handful of lesser known superhero films were only focused on one thing: the superhero.
It’s silly to say, but it’s completely true. There was no focus on what made them superheroes. Instead, the focus was on the fact that these superheroes were just that: super. They weren’t human, they weren’t tangible, but they were made to give the audience an escape into fantasy – or perhaps an escape into their ideal reality.
This era leading up to the new millennium was characterized by over the top characters resulting in a lack of emotional connection with the film and the audience. But you know what? That didn’t matter because emotional connection was not the point. Audiences wanted to see dazzle, audiences wanted to see flair, and audiences wanted to see the fantastical. If someone who had never seen the films were to watch them now, the first word would probably be cheesy or cliché, which makes perfect sense seeing what these films were originally made for.
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