Podcast looks at grounded superhero trilogy
Midweek update: Filmmaker’s superhero summer concludes with 3 films from M. Night Shyamalan
Oklahoma filmmaker Nick Sanford (“The Harvesters,” “Elusive”) has been binging superheroes like nobody’s business for summer 2024. He’s then been podcasting about them in a series of team-ups with Oklahoma writers, creatives and filmmakers including Caleb Masters, Andrew McDonald, Adam Hampton and Bradchad Porter. His “Death by Movies” podcast featured deep dives on the Superman, Batman, Spider-Man and Avengers films in the previous four episodes of the series.
Sanford was kind enough to invite me to the big Labor Day finale of superhero summer to discuss M. Night Shyamalan's Eastrail 177 trilogy: “Unbreakable,” “Split,” and “Glass.”
My background as Speeding Bullet Comics’ owner led Nick to ask for my insights, even though I’d only seen “Unbreakable” prior to being asked to appear on the podcast. I watched the later “Split” and “Glass” over a weekend, then joined Nick for a Sunday podcast session!
Here’s how Nick describes what we discussed:
The origins of the contemporary superhero are laid out, such as vigilantism's racist roots and Fredrich Nietzsche's ubermench's Hitler/Nazi hijacking being repurposed and repackaged by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in Action Comics #1, as well as the comics boom of the 80s and 90s, and one comic shop owner's perspective on how lovely the empathy that reading inspires can be.
Also discussed are the pros and cons of the comics and film mediums, and the individual strengths of both.
And then, WE GET INTO IT. What was M. Night Shyamalan actually trying to explore with this trilogy? How much does Unbreakable have in common with Spider-Man 2 with regards to middle-aged impotence? Why does it sound like Sanford's trying to justify the cannibalism in Split? Matthew Price saw Glass for the first time about twelve hours before recording this, and boy does he have some questions.
And just what sort of philosophy or messaging does this trilogy land with by the end of Glass? Is it a nightmarish vision of a lack of agency and not being able to see your place in the world? Is it an uplifting and hopeful love letter to the interconnectedness of humanity? Is it neither and both? Some truly wild stuff!
Check out the episode here on the Death by Movies Podcast.
Being on the podcast was fun, and has gotten me on a Bruce Willis kick in September. What do you think of the trilogy? Let me know in the comments!
Matthew Price, matthew@matthewlprice.com, has written about comics, entertainment, film, and a variety of Oklahoma topics and industries for more than two decades. He is the co-owner of Speeding Bullet Comics in Norman.