War of worlds

So if you are the average Joe spending time on commute-work-sleep-repeat, you ought to know this. There is an entire galaxy of superheroes out there vying for your attention and money. They will save your world for as less as Rs. 270 + 18% GST if you book your movie tickets online on weekdays.

Move on Superman and Spiderman. There are far too many of them with special powers. And if you have not been following their global expansion through their franchises, you are doomed.

You ask why? Try this at your risk. Fed up by the demands of the world, you take a day off and decide to watch a movie. Let us call it 'Justice League'. You haven’t seen the reviews in advance.

What follows over the next couple of hours is that you are introduced to a bunch of good and bad guys with great abilities go against each other in conditions that look intense. The cost of making a mistake is huge and with odds stacked heavily against them, the good guys are pushed to the edge and beyond. But with great determination, unwieldy costumes and VFX, they manage to prevail. Yes - one more time. Just how these movies are set up and end.

Your faith in humanity and special effects is temporarily restored. For a price of one ticket, you got to see plentiful superheroes in their elements. Nice, you say!

The problem is you come back to work and over lunch, inform your office colleagues about the movie outing. And then comes the question – “So how did you like it?”

This was a trick question. The entire office is looking for you to say something like – “Gosh! Can’t believe that I actually ended up watching this ensemble misadventure. There was no genuine plot, the CGI was tacky and the cast has been truly wasted. IMDb has been generous with its 6.5 stars. To me, it stops at 3. Wonder what is the future for DC!”

Instead, you say – “Not bad yaar! The usual stuff you know – the action looked good on screen. Actually, I enjoyed it”.

Shit just happened. And you did not realize. Your problem. The lunch table went empty in exactly 7.5 seconds. No one has joined you for lunch ever since. Employee attrition in the team is now at an all-time high. HR is doing skip level meetings with your teams and ‘lack of empathy by management’ is coming out as a big issue.

The contents in this blog so far may not have been completely fictional. Resemblances could be very real.

Your Coursera training on ‘Machine learning using Python’ can wait for another couple of weeks. But you cannot afford to be ignorant on more pressing matters involving fictional characters. What I am saying is this - Your views on Antman will win you more admirers than fluency in backpropagation Neural Networks. So, if you find yourself on the wrong side of the divide, here is a quick starter guide -

1. They descend from two universes – Marvell (Walt Disney) and DC (Time Warner). Somewhere down the line, their universes will collide and matters will be settled. Till such time, Superman, Wonder woman, Aquaman, Batman are to be identified with DC and Ironman, Thor, Spiderman, Hulk, and Wolverine etc. are Marvel characters. Never get these fundamentals wrong and you will not be found strangulated under mysterious circumstances outside an INOX theatre. 
2. They work solo and then combine – When they have manageable problems to solve – they operate solo. Keeps their brand equity strong. But every once in a while, they are brought together by the producers – to create a multiplier effect. Marvell has Avengers while Justice League belongs to DC. The Avengers franchise has done very well whereas in comparison even a born-again Superman is not able to bring in enough audiences into theatres.
3. Every end is a beginning – This one is very important people! So listen carefully. Each movie is connected to another one – so in all likelihood, there will be a follow-up movie – either as a sequel or prequel. So what if Thanos snapped his fingers and half the characters died. The past can always be recreated. So remember, picture abhi definitely baaki hai mere dost…coming soon at an expensive theatre near you.
4. Go deep instead of wide – That is to say that rather than attempting to know all characters – invest in learning about one character in detail. A lot of detail. It is not enough to know that Peter Parker got bitten by a spider and he lives with his uncle and aunt in a low rent neighborhood. In the case of Thanos, you should be able to remember the names of all 6 infinity stones. These movies are shot in Ultra HD - you ought to verify if, despite all his testosterone, Aquaman had a missing left testicle which might limit his mating options in the second installment of the movie. This kind of insight is pure gold and you are totally killing it now. 

So then. Try this out in 2019 and let me know if your lives have improved for the better. Happy new year!