Family Values FORGING BONDS IN THE GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY FILMS

Guardians of the Galaxy (James Gunn, 2014) and its follow-up, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (Gunn, 2017), heralded a refreshing direction for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The relative unfamiliarity of the characters and storylines to a mainstream, non-comic-book-fan audience actually worked in the films’ favour, with the Guardians given the status of loveable underdogs in comparison to the MCU’s more well known heroes. As is true with the best of the Marvel films, great characterisation and an emotional core elevate the experience above pure spectacle. While audience expectations for a superhero film have traditionally been based on stereotypical muscle-bound heroes saving the world, as the genre has matured, audiences have come to expect more diverse portrayals of characters (who are often dealing with their own vulnerabilities and personal tragedies). With characters appearing across several films in the MCU, the series’ capacity to sustain fully rounded personalities and develop strong emotional ties between them has been vital to retaining the element of authenticity that elevates these films within the genre.

In the franchise, we find a group of characters thrown together largely by circumstance within a classic ‘quest’ narrative. They initially present as a group of ragtag adventurers, but, over the course of the two films, their interactions become far more familial in nature. As reviewer Scott Beggs states, ‘Messy family lives are our surest reminder that superhero stories are essentially fairy tales’; he goes on to say that the Guardians represent the strongest incarnation of the ‘chosen family’ theme that is This is initiated by the fact that some of the characters have either lost or become displaced from their own families, while others have never experienced having a family at all.