Captains America

[Erik T. Burns]

Foax—

Bear with me here. Last night I saw “Captain America: The First
Avenger” (in 3D, natch.)

I was pleasantly surprised. There was plenty of homage to some of my
childhood favorites (“Star Wars” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark” a-and
even “Ghostbusters”) but best of all there was a real _Gravity’s
Rainbow_ vibe going on as well, above and beyond the obvious WWII
milieu.

Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter were like Roger & Jessica, Hugo Weaving
(a pynchonesque name, to be sure, like Ian Scuffling) was great as the
Tchitcherine-like occult-power-obsessed head of Hydra (symbol: an
octopus; obsession, a Kirghiz-like light that gives him his power),
his minions were reminiscent of Schwarzcommando (not Africans,
visibly, but shrouded in all-black costumes), Stanely Tucci’s Abraham
Erskine was amusingly Jamf-like (and his serum turns scrawny Rogers
into a superhero of sorts), etc.

Mid-flim Captain America plunges off into a wild, costumed escapade
through WWII Europe, replete with chorus girls, manned suicide
rockets, a V-shaped airplane, motorcycles, racing trains, and a set of
Hydra’s secret military factories that more than resemble the
Mittelwerke. All that was missing (well, I exaggerate) was a party at
a casino.

Okay, so it was a goofy action picture based on a comic book knotted
into a serious war. Now that I think of it, that’s a pretty good
one-line description of _GR_.

Of course, Captain America (the comic book hero) predated _G R_, and
must have been a part of TRP’s consumption as a youth. Who knows (or
cares?!) which way the influence flowed. But clearly, it flowed.

I have to go back now and read the Captain America comics, which
weren’t really part of my childhood (I was more DC, if you know what I
mean) and see what was going on there.

e.

p.s. for Gaddis fans there’s also a kute korrespondence: in on scene
Captain America’s crew stops an attack team on motorcycles by
stringing wire between trees – just like the sailor tells Otto to do
to get the cops if there’s a revolution down south. (p 161 and p 190
of _The Recognitions_.) Ok, so that’s a stretch, influence-wise.