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Strange Tales

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The idea of Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange was appealing so I asked my daughter if she had downloaded this Marvel legend.  He dates back to a 1963 issue of Strange Tales, where he didn't even get top billing.  The idea was drawn from Steve Ditko's imagination, not Stan Lee, and eventually the dark doctor would gather a following.  Strange that director Scott Derrickson didn't work in a cameo of Ditko in the 2016 movie, as he was still alive.  Anyway, as far as Marvel movies go this one was worth watching, especially with the added bonus of Tilda Swinton as the "Ancient One," who reveals the hidden dimension of sorcery to Dr. Strange.

It is less a kid's movie than it is for adults who grew up on these comic books.  As I said before, I was never much of a Marvel fan beyond the Fantastic Four, which sadly were made into very bad movies, but I do remember Doctor Strange, not least of all for all the drug culture references.  

This article implies that the doctor prefigured the American counter-culture movement, but it was already in full swing by 1963.  Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert had become famous for experimenting with LSD.  Alpert was fired from Harvard in 1963.  He later went onto become Ram Dass, the chief proponent of drugs for the sake of mystical enlightenment, no doubt influencing Ditko.  Dr. Strange was never one of Marvel's more popular characters, but he did have an impact on impressionable young minds at the time.  

The movie assiduously avoids any such drug references other than Strange making a flippant comment about psilocybin in his tea after first experiencing the Ancient One's mystical powers.  After all, we don't want to bend any young minds in the wrong direction these days.  Nevertheless, the movie is quite "trippy" with all its kaleidoscopic walls, city streets and flaming portals to other dimensions, owing quite a bit to Christopher Nolan's Inception.

However, what makes Dr. Strange work is that the story is quite interesting and the actors give their characters the weight they need to prop up all this mysticism and pscychobabble.  It doesn't hurt to have Mads Mikkelsen as the villain, no longer satisfied with the Ancient One's teaching, and giving himself completely over to the dark side, a la Anakin Skywalker, although Kaecilius dates back to 1965, long before Star Wars.

This is the problem one faces in reconciling these characters from the Marvel past with the science fiction and fantasy movies that have followed.  After all, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and all the other contemporary directors grew up on these comics, which Stan Lee revolutionized in 1961.  This became known as the Marvel Age of Comics and would have a profound influence on everything that followed.  

The Cold War gave the perfect setting for all these super heroes and super villains to wage fierce battles against each other, the same way that WWI and the rise of Hitler spawned DC comics.  Superman was largely a creation in response to the growing spread of Fascism and the fear many Jews felt in between the wars.  The Atomic Age, being much more ambiguous, allowed Stan Lee and his co-creators Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko to offer ever more unusual characters.  Dr. Strange grew out of this milieu.  

The Marvel movie franchise has been a tremendous success, eclipsing that of the DC franchise, which has done very well on its own with its more moody Batman and Watchmen series that play well to older audiences.  I think Dr. Strange is Marvel's attempt to similarly reach an older audience.  Whatever the case, it is fun to watch.  

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