It is an indisputable fact that society uses entertainment as a means of escape from life's realities. In relatively recent history, technology has provided a universally affordable, high-involvement form of entertainment: feature films.
Escapism suggests that we as an audience are most entertained by what the world is lacking at the time of engagement. In terms of movies, this means when times are good, we tend to like dark, destructive, apocalyptic flicks. When times are bad, we tend to enjoy hopeful movies with happy endings.
Think back to the 1990s. Bill "It's the Economy, Stupid" Clinton was president. The Dotcom bubble was expanding without end. The economy's growth was an average 4.0% per year. And, not coincidentally, the top 10-grossing films in the U.S. included:
Jurassic Park (1993): A power outage at a dinosaur theme park causes a slew of bloodthirsty carnivores to wreak havoc and kill almost everyone on the island.
Independence Day (1996): Hoards of aliens come to Earth and obliterate all major cities and their landmarks, including the White House.
Titanic (1997): A tragic love story based on one of the most historically devastating events in U.S. history.
Armageddon (1998): Asteroids hit a space shuttle and wipe out New York before a team of oil drillers barely blows up the Big One right before it decimates the planet.
Fast-forward to 2008-present day. The worst U.S. economic recession hits since 1930s. The economy spirals like a turd in the toilet while big business continues to be cloaked in greed-fueled scandal and bipartisan bickering in Congress solves nothing. It should not be surprising that since 2008, each year's top-grossing film has been about superheroes conquering evil:
The Dark Knight (2008): The ever-vulnerable citizens of Gotham City need Batman to save them from the Joker and his thugs.
Avatar (2009): A world in peril is saved from an evil big-business owner ready to ruin a world for economic gain.
Iron Man 2 (2010): Well, Toy Story 3 was actually the top-grossing movie in 2010, but Iron Man 2 was a close third. You just can't beat Disney/Pixar. Anyway, Iron Man 2: The protagonist must save the world from the U.S. military, which has stolen his armor design and plans on using it for devious purposes.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 2 (2011): Ol' Harry finally defeats Voldemort and saves both the magical and muggle worlds.
The Avengers (2012 so far): A band of superheroes combine forces to save the world from hostile alien threat.
This is not coincidence. With the economy crashing, unemployment stuck at 8%, deficits looming, the Middle East imploding, Europe going bankrupt, white kids going on killing sprees, banks and financial offices getting bailout after bailout yet resuming their corrupt ways, widespread terrorism sowing fear into the soil on every continent... the box office doesn't lie.
THE WORLD NEEDS SAVING.
