Opinion: Gravity, S.H.I.E.L.D. & Expectations

Once read an article by a neuroscientist in which he put forth that since the human mind is such an incredibly complex phenomena, it's fair to say that there are essentially over seven billion different realities on this planet. However, most people don't function throughout life maintaining a world view shaped by this perspective and they live out their days thinking,"THIS is the way things ARE! If you don't agree with me, YOU are WRONG!" Which, of course, is why there seems to be so many idiots in this world. "Seems" being the key word there.

Closely connected to the paradigm of "How Things Are" is that of "How Things Should Be."

Expectations.

Recently wrote a review for the film Gravity and also have been following reviews of ABC's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

I wrote the review of Gravity within an hour of seeing the film and without having heard the opinion of anyone else.

As the days progressed, I was completely shocked by every other review I'd read.

Expecting a shiny, CGI driven, lightly written flick? You'll be happy. Expecting same levels of brilliance as 2001: A Space Odyssey? Look Elsewhere.

And the same could be said regarding what I've been reading about Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

In both cases, my mind reacts to other reviews with the initial, primal, amygdala driven, self-defense mechanism of,"What ARE these people thinking? They DON'T understand these things like I do!"

But upon reflection, using this thing that I believe is called "reason," I reached a conclusion: Well, duh....of course they don't. People's minds function differently.

And what it all comes down to is expectation.

Discussed both Gravity and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. with Troy-Jeffery Allen, who is a geek/comic Renaissance man that also happens to write for Action A Go Go. He has seemingly polar opposite views than I do. He liked Gravity and is not too keen on Joss Whedon's new TV gig.

What's the difference between his mind and mine?

I had no expectations for AoS, but was looking forward to Gravity for months. On the flip side, he grew up immersed in the Marvel realm, but just happened to catch Gravity a few days after it came out.

Our expectations were different.

Many reviews that I've read of S.H.I.E.L.D. are treating it on the same plane of existence as one would Shakespeare's Henry V or AMC's Breaking Bad. Of course the reviewers are going to be disappointed.

When all is said and done, AoS is a 45 minute long TV show that is operating within budget constraints, has to connect to a fictional universe that's been around for decades and has to keep the attention of the average TV viewer, of which only die-hard comic fans are a subset.

AoS isn't supposed to be reviewed as art. It's merely there to be fun. To help the mind defrag during the work week. To see the good guys do cool stuff while saving the world from the bad guys. To put it in terms that some older folk might get, it is this generation's A-team.

Expecting the complexity & depth of the Marvel universe with which you grew up? Look elsewhere. Looking to laugh, defrag and see the good guys triumph over the bad guys? You've found your show.

If you expect more than that, of course disappointment will occur.

As for Gravity, my expectations were high. Am a huge sci-fi fan. Have been following stories about the film for months. Its budget was over $100 million dollars and the director is the same man that created Children of Men (2006) which was an exquisite film on many levels.

Yet, all amazing visuals aside, its last half hour felt as formulaic and melodramatic as any made-for-TV movie. Well, it seemed that way to me.

All the while, it's raking it in at the box office and critics and fans across the globe are singing nothing but praise.

Again, expectations. Mine were high. Higher than most. And that lead to a fall.

Quite sometime ago, was close friends with a monk in the Indo-Tibetan Buddhist tradition. One of the wisest people I've ever known. An incident took place in my life that left me in a fit of rage. I called him up, looking for guidance. After my half hour long rant, he only had four words: "You're unhappy. Why? Expectations."

That perspective has helped me over the years, throughout all aspects of life, including with films and TV. I liked Daredevil (2003) and Hitman (2007), when countless fan boys wanted to rip them apart. I'm okay with the Star Wars prequels and parts two and three of The Matrix Trilogy. And once I got past the absence of Sigourney Weaver, have learned to see the brilliance of Prometheus (2012).

This? I was ok with this. Then again, I had no expectations.

And starting tonight, I have the good fortune of covering Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. for Action A Go Go.

With no expectations.

Stephen Sumner is the science fiction columnist for Action A Go Go. His favorite sci-fi series include Firefly, Battlestar Galactica and Star Trek. He can be followed on Twitter at https://twitter.com/VierLights or on the Tumblr machine at http://vierlights.tumblr.com/.