The Marvel Cinematic Universe is pretty much the only thing guaranteed to get me to a movie theater on opening night.
But even though the movies are amazing, there is popular criticism that their villains
are kind of weak yet there's one villain that everybody seems to adore and root for.
I am Loki of Jotunheim. And I bring you a gift.
While most Marvel villains get killed off or captured after just one film, Loki has now played a major role in four films.
There's even petitions for his own movie.
I believe there are four major reasons why Loki has literally gotten away with
murder and become one of the biggest fan favorites in the Marvel Universe.
And understanding these four things will help so you too can get away with making mistakes or screwing up
without it being something people hold against you — just don't actually try to get away with murder.
We're going to start with the obvious one — I think points two through four
are even more interesting insight into some unique things that make humans like someone but we have to start with the obvious.
First and foremost, Loki is charming — he's clever, enjoying himself, and unfazeable.
He looks like he's always in on a joke that you don't know yet.
You're?
I'm Loki. And I've—
That's for New York.
I like her.
Responding to that slap with a smile and a compliment might be the single most
infuriating and attractive way he could have responded.
Even when his life is threatened, he's playful and totally unfazed.
Betray and I'll kill you.
It's good to see you too, Sif.
Here's my favorite example of him being unfazeable under stress.
This is so unlike you, brother — so clandestine.
They're in the middle of a high-pressure escape and he's just having fun.
Because he's always having fun, it creates a swagger.
Perhaps you prefer one of your new companions given that you seem to like them so much.
Oh, this is much better. Ooh. Costume's a bit much — so tight.
But the confidence — I can feel the righteousness surging.
We envy that carefree attitude and confidence that everything is going to turn out alright.
And you know what? We honestly should all have a bit of that in us.
Most of us overestimate the severity of our situations.
At the end of the day, unless you're struggling against starvation or
facing a life-threatening situation, life is only as stressful and serious as we make it.
If you have a roof over your head, food every day, and you go from sunrise to sunset without facing death,
you're doing better than 95% of humans throughout history.
By making light of things and having fun while not doing anything to jeopardize the mission Loki shows carefree
everything-is-gonna-be-all-right swagger that we admire and enjoy watching.
You lied to me. I'm impressed.
Even in chains, you get the sense that everything Loki does is because he wants to
not out of guilt or obligation but true desire. A good portion of this is tough to fake.
If something affects you and you repress it, it comes across differently than if you're truly unfazed.
That said, one thing you can do today is set a reminder in your phone
that pops up several times a day and asks, "How can I make this more fun?"
Our brain answers whatever we ask.
If you ask yourself, "What do I suck at?" you'll get an answer.
If you ask yourself, "What's something I'm good at?" you'll get an answer.
So by setting yourself up with a reminder, "How can I make this more fun?" you
prime yourself to answer it and make your day-to-day life a little bit more enjoyable.
Now, convey all of this to, say, Malekith from Thor the Dark World
who monotonely drolls in an alien language about destroying the universe, it's clear why fans obsess over Loki.
[Malekith speaking in Svartalfheim language]
That's life; the charming charismatic people get the attention and affection of others
and the majority of people go unseen or unremembered.
Now that said, I actually found Ultron very charming in a weird polite robot sort of way
so why doesn't he have anyone rooting for him or begging for a solo Ultron movie?
It's because of Loki's second strength — we root for him because we understand him, we empathize with his motives, and we relate to him.
And you can use that in your own life as well.
First, let's start with Loki. When you know his backstory, it's hard not to feel for him.
Loki is the clever but smaller little brother to Thor and it's clear that he's not the favorite in his friend group or to his father.
What happened? Silver tongue turned the lead?
Thor, Odin's son, my heir, my first-born...
So yeah, he's been dealing with 5,000 years of that then he finds out
he's actually adopted and not from some lovely Asgardian family, nope.
Loki is actually adopted from the Frost Giants — a race that as Guardians like him are raised to hate and fear as monsters.
What am I?
You're my son.
What more than that?
We can identify with him. He feels under-appreciated for his gifts, overshadowed by
the achievements of someone he doesn't think is any better than him.
If you have a sibling, you know the feeling from some point in your childhood
or adulthood of wanting all of your parents' love or wanting to be the favorite.
Even in an office setting, who hasn't been frustrated by a more favored co-worker
who gets better assignments or better pay despite not being as good as you?
Or frustrated by a boss that we don't think is as smart as we are?
Loki's not driven by limitless greed or an unexplained love for destruction.
In the beginning, he's a hurt son taking misguided actions
to try to prove that he's good enough and that he deserves to be loved.
I never wanted this throne! I only wanted to be more equal.
To some extent, that's what drives all of us — at least some of the time.
Regardless of how successful you are, some part of you just wants the love
and acceptance of your friends or your family or special someone.
We try to better ourselves or our circumstances so that people will like us so that we don't end up alone.
Why have you done this?
To prove to father that I am a worthy son.
When he wakes, I will have saved his life, I would have destroyed that race of monsters and I will be true heir to the throne.
Why does seeing ourselves in someone matter? It's because most of us don't 100% hate ourselves.
Even when there are things we don't like about ourselves or when we do something we aren't proud of,
we excuse it because of something in our past or our circumstances.
We go, "Yes, I get that this looks bad and I wouldn't want a world where everyone did this all the time.
But you don't understand this is different. I'm different. I only did that bad thing or told that small lie because of circumstances that make me special."
So when Loki makes terrible decisions or does bad things from a place we can understand we don't hate him for it.
We might hit his actions but some small part of us feels for him,
hurts with him, and even roots for him to find his way back to the good side.
I could have done it, father.
I could have done it... for you — for all of us.
How can you apply this to your own life?
One is — if you feel yourself angry with someone for something they've done,
try to remember that their life circumstances have led them here.
Maybe they cut you off because they're a jerk. But maybe they cut you off because they're racing to the hospital
You don't do this for their sake but for your own.
You'll find yourself being a more forgiving understanding person.
And you'll spend less time feeling things like anger and frustration
which frees you up for more time feeling happy upbeat and inspired.
Two — if you accidentally screw up be transparent and share with people what you were trying to do.
Let them see that you were motivated by good intentions.
We've all screwed up. If you start with good intentions and are transparent
about your mistakes and how things went wrong, people are much much more likely to forgive you.
That doesn't mean try to downplay ownership of the situation.
If you say, "this wasn't my fault because of X, Y, Z," it's not gonna work out well for you.
Ironically, if you don't try to deflect blame but instead
explain what happened while still accepting it, it's very likely
you won't suffer any major long-term damage to your relationships.
Loki? Lo-Loki's alive. Can you believe it? He's up there. Loki, look who it is.
The third reason that Loki is a villain with an adoring fanbase that forgives his flaws
and roots for him is because he is a tortured soul.
You sometimes get the sense that Loki doesn't want to cause destruction.
These rare moments where he isn't enjoying himself only come out when he potentially regrets the damage he's done.
And rather than undercutting his likability, they amplify it.
Thor: Look around you.
You think this madness will end with your rule?
It's too late. It's too late to stop it.
No, we can... together.
Is it real? Is it an act? He's unpredictable, you root for him to do the right thing, he constantly disappoints you, and then he gives you hope.
This happens in real life all the time. Also, he isn't just a cocky unfazeable a-hole.
He's in pain and he shows hints that he could maybe even be redeemed if only the right person came along and helped him.
Guards! Guards, please help!
I know a guy from college who embodies this to a tee
and the number of women that flocked to him knowing he's likely to hurt them was shocking to me before I understood this.
And it isn't just women. Men can have this savior complex too.
In either case, there's a large part of humanity that's drawn to people
not because of who they are but because of glimpses of who they could be.
This is why people go back to exes who cheat on them or mistreat them.
It used to baffle me. I had no idea how to stop people from going back to
bad situations until I understood that these relationships are addicting in the same way as certain drugs.
They create dangerously low lows but incredibly high highs and the glimmer of hope
that they can keep those highs and lose the lows gets them to go back.
The key here is that the most addicting people aren't bad all the time. What they are is unpredictable.
Loki is fascinating to us because he creates a wide range of emotions in us — laughter, frustration, sympathy, admiration.
You never know exactly what he'll do which keeps you riveted to him and keeps you thinking about him.
The fact that Loki is a demigod with insane power for creation or destruction takes this and puts it on steroids.
As a quick side note, I'm not saying you should be this way.
Long term, there are better ways to go about captivating people and attracting friends and dates.
There's a lot of different ways to be charismatic and magnetic and just because the tortured soul works for Loki doesn't mean you should aspire to it.
The last trait that makes us love Loki is something you can aspire to and that's that you can't keep him down.
We all make mistakes, take losses, and have bad days
so if someone is perfect, we don't necessarily like them.
Now, someone that falls, gets up and dust themselves off with a grin, that we can get behind.
If it's all the same to you... I'll have that drink now.
Now, when you combine that ability to take lumps and keep smiling with his cocky charm his deep-seated desire just to be loved
and his tortured unpredictable nature, you end up with, hands down, the best Marvel villain of all of them.
That said, I'm more of a hero guy myself so if you liked this video
and want to see our breakdown of Iron Man vs Captain America,
who's cooler and who's a better leader, I will link to that here.
And if you want more videos like this one click subscribe and then click the bell next to it for notifications.
Thank you for watching and I will see you in the next video.
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét