Avengers and Free Will

"Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state? It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel."

It was July when we saw The Avengers at Muvico. Afterwards, we were walking through International Plaza when my mom admitted...what made Loki so convincing was that he was right about a lot of things...especially free will.

My mom was raised Methodist in a small town in Indiana in the 50s and 60s which means that her parents were ULTRA conservative. There was no need to decide things for yourself because it was already decided...men couldn't have long hair, no one could divorce, no one could have premarital sex, no one should fraternize with those who aren't also Christians aka Protestant and so on and so on.

It is simpler. My mom has admitted this. When people tell you how to think, you don't have all those problems of thinking for yourself.

Look at all the self-help books so people can tell us how to fix our lives...the diet books to tell us how to eat...the news channels to tell us how to vote. Society even insists on us being restrained and telling us what to do. If we're single, everyone says we should date. If we're dating, everyone says to marry. If you marry, everyone says to buy a house and/or have children. More and more shackles even if some of us are quite happy to add them but the point of it is that society likes to have rules for everyone to follow. Humans do crave an order and rule to their lives and are more than happy to impose it on others in order to "help" them.

Safety Not Guaranteed

So, on the same day we saw The Avengers, we saw another movie right after it...Safety Not Guaranteed. I'd been wanting to see it for a while because of the premise and Aubrey Plaza. It's rated R.

The ticket seller asked if my mom was my legal guardian because otherwise, I couldn't have a ticket. I gaped at him for a good solid minute. Admittedly, I was wearing my Ariel sunglasses and Avengers t-shirt but still...

This is the first time that's ever happened. My youthful appearance had never been a problem because my mom was the same way but in the past few years, her job has finally caught up with her and she has some grey. This is the only the second or third time that she was thought to be my grandma.

My mom gave him one of those special mommy death stares that you just don't mess with and I asked whether he'd like to see my license. He gave us our tickets.

It took me almost half the movie to realize that I knew Aubrey Plaza's boss (Jake Johnson) from New Girl. My mom also turned to me at one point, "That's Veronica Mars, right?" Yes, it was Kristen Bell. I basically spent my summer watching The Avengers and Veronica Mars over and over.

I really liked it. The movie is just a cute independent venture with an ending to satisfy almost everyone.