Even video essay hit-makers sometimes miss: a look (read: rant) at how Vox got it wrong this time.

On this site, the video essays from Vox are generally celebrated as outstanding, whether for their subjects, their style, or both. Which makes the ways their video essay ‘Why the Marvel Cinematic Universe feels empty‘ falls short so surprising – and so disappointing.

First the video, then the response:

I would have preferred my response to be measured, ideally with a proper entry on this site – but clearly, when first watching the video, I was in keyboard warrior / soapbox mode…

I'm not even saying this in defence of the MCU. The "argument" is personal taste presented as a disjointed bundle of sweeping assertions not backed up by much of anything.

— viewinder (@viewinder) October 19, 2018

Perhaps a more effective, focused video could have compared the "deeper" themes & weaker storytelling of the X-Men films vs the lighter ideas & more effective funtionality of the MCU – and what box office tells us about what really resonates, and maybe even why.

— viewinder (@viewinder) October 19, 2018

(Granted: "compelling", "argument" and "essay" are not labels you've actually attached to your video. I'm asserting them, based on Vox's body of work, of which I'm a fan. Which is why I'm disappointed by this one – it's poorly conceived, and misses more interesting opportunities)

— viewinder (@viewinder) October 19, 2018

If there are more substantial or less "cynical" ways of utilising a shared universe, then show us. Merely gesturing towards movies with stronger themes but weaker internal continuity betrays a lack of understanding or analysis.

— viewinder (@viewinder) October 19, 2018

Further Viewing

Speaking of a more measured response: Captain Midnight attempts to speak to each of the scattered assertions made in the Vox video, from the “disingenuous” to the “really misleading”. At one point, he observes that, for a critique of the Marvel shared universe concept, Vox’s video “erases the authorship” of creators such as Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko by failing to even mention them, thereby conveniently avoiding the related, more nuanced discussion about authorial vs commercial intent. Captain Midnight also makes an important distinction between the types of crossover events in popular culture – shoehorned-in versus core-to-the-concept – which the Vox video attempts (incorrectly) to paint as equivalent (and therefore equally forced, and equally cynical) in both intent and execution: