Every single day it seems, a new superhero is being born, and every day after that, another show is being made. From the Avengers we got Falcon and The Winter Soldier, Black Widow, and even Hawkeye, now we have a show about not one but two Hulk’s which I am looking forward to seeing.
From the birth of The Snyderverse (3 fucking hours…dudes it was the same fucking film,) we got Peacemaker, Harley Quinn, (a feature film and a cartoon for television,) and now thanks to Eric Kripke, a genuis writer and creator if there ever was one, The Boyz, and I was not….ABSOLUTELY not, prepared.
I slept on this show, so I’m starting with season 1 and I’m only on episode four, but it’s actually everything I want in a superhero show, in that it’s absolutely not a superhero show.
Imagine a world that didn’t have the limits of the Avengers – each of the Avengers makes each of the others stronger, but they also can fight and hurt each other, they have limitations. The DC front-line characters like Luke Cage, Daredevil, and The Punisher, they’re all basically human, sure they have superhuman powers, but they aren’t all-consuming.
They aren’t Superman or Supergirl, they aren’t Gods, they’re basically human, with a slight edge, but not so much of one that they can’t be stopped if necessary. Even Jessica Jones has her limitations, and they all have this one thing – an addiction, or something that makes them even more human.
We call them anti-heros because they don’t set out to be super heros, they’re just doing what we would love to believe, any human would do, would that they could.
Back To The Boyz.
It’s filled with misogyny, racism, the slight not so massive, hint of sexism, revenge, violence, and blood in every episode, and it’s more accurate than I think the idealized Avengers or X-Men might be.
These characters are deeply flawed, they choose ease and access over morals, they make exceptions for their abilities by being the worst versions of themselves, and the one bright spot that you think is going to be the hero of the show comes across just like an ordinary girl.
“You can have all your dreams, but you just need to give me a blowjob first,” is literally in the first episode, not verbatim.
It’s just gross enough to keep me entertained, but it also makes me think and wonder, would superheroes be the best versions of themselves if they really existed? Or would they be just as flawed and gross as real human beings are? Or rather, our version of a real human being I should say.
The possibilities about what would or would not make someone a superhero are completely endless because the vast versions of the kinds of humans on this planet are endless, each of us so different in our pain, our trauma, and our needs, that it makes sense that if there were to be any show that’s more realistic about how we approach those we consider “super,’ this is it.
The Boys is a super commentary on how we treat famous people, it’s a way of writers expressing how Hollywood, and the world, react to those who can do things the rest of us cannot, and as with any show the fans have had their say, but recently Eric Kripke snapped back at a fan reminding people that if they think it’s about sexualizing women, instead of bringing attention to the struggles we face, then they are missing the point of the show.
I’m going to take that one step further, I think the show is about the way that we treat famous people, period. Regardless of what they’re famous for, or what their talent or abilities are, we treat people when they do well as if they can do no wrong, and when they do wrong we often choose to ignore it, so long as ignoring it gives us what we want. In the case of The Boys, it’s the corporate conglomerate that hides in the shadows protecting the super’s evil deeds, while capitalizing on their good ones.
If that doesn’t speak volumes about Hollywood I totally so don’t know what does.
Check it out on Amazon Prime and let me know what you think if you haven’t already seen it.
Sending all my love,
Devon J Hall
Loud Mouth Brown Girl 