Why did Thor: Ragnarok Blew My Mind – Hidden Internet Memes and Some Musical Analysis (Spoilers inside)

So, besides the obvious reasons – this is a kickass movie, I'm a die hard MCU fan, it is one of the biggest blockbusters of 2017 – I've been thinking on some points that had left me amazed after watching the movie and might have been overlooked, and wanted to share. This is not a plot analysis or easter eggs/comics kinda text, those you can find plenty of over at YouTube.

• A thing that was really striking the first time I watched the movie, and took me a while to grasp, was the subtle and clever way the movie is coming to terms with the phenomena of internet memes. This is the first time I see a movie that engages with this kind of internet phenomena, thus actually creating some sort of dialogue with online culture, rendering the movie medium more relevant. This type of moment is first seen on the screen when Skurge runs quite late into the scene to announce Thor's arrival and warn Loki. To that, Loki replies with the famous internet meme "you had one job". This becomes even funnier when one realizes that this phrase was originally uttered by no other than Don Cheadle, who assumes the role of War Machine in the MCU.

• Another appearance of an internet meme, more subtle and serious, happens after Valkyrie stuns Thor with that obedience disk thingie: She is seen from the back, her head slightly turned towards the camera, pulling the unconscious Thor by his red cape with one hand into her spacecraft. The muffled bass and electronic ambient sounds in the backdrop serves to illustrate Thor's helplessness and unconsciousness.

Now if this shot reminds you of something, you are absolutely right: it is a visual paraphrase (visuphrase?) of Murad Osmann's famous photo-series-cum-internet-meme #FollowMe, where he shoots his girlfriend leading him by the hand through various locations across the globe.

• So far for internet memes in the movie. Another great point is the music in the movie, but that is hardly overlooked. If you grew up on Rock mythology, like a lot of people from my generation (go 80s kids!), then Led Zeppelin was a staple food of your nutrition and Immigrant Song an all time favorite head-banger. With its lyrics featuring "the hammer of gods" and "valhalla" , it is the perfect choice for Thor: Ragnarok's soundtrack, and the usage of the song in both opening and final fight scene is not only very exciting (for everyone who watches the movie; the song is not just "in the background" – it orchestrates the action to its beat) and very affective (for audiences who grew up on this song), but really creates the sort of classical recapitulation one finds also in the classical Sonata Form, thus structuring the whole movie around this monolithic piece of music.

• Apart from the usage of Immigrant Song (which functions similar to the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack and its top-of-the-pops 80s golden hits), we get a standard MCU orchestral soundtrack (with the recurring i-VI super-heroic lietmotif) with a bit of 80s/Electro touch to go with the retro-space-age design of the planet Sakaar. Standing in contrast are the "norse folk" bits used to signify the Elysium of Valhalla, as in the track titled Twilight of the Gods, that serves as a backdrop to Odin's passing away:

• The dialogues are exceptionally well written, with lots of "Meta-Moments" in which the text echoes throughout simultaneous levels of meaning signification - the literal level of the movie's plot and the Meta level of the feature film as an art piece: The opening scene where Thor is seen conversing with a skeleton is reminiscent of Shakespeare's Yorick character from Hamlet, Thor telling Surtur that seeing him destroy Asgard would be "quite the spectacle", the Grandmaster telling Thor and Loki he's sure "there's lots of history going on" between the both of them, etc.

• To my opinion this is the best MCU movie so far, and I've seen them all. I have lots of additional things to say about Thor: Ragnarok, but I feel this starts to become too long. Perhaps in another post: Hela is the greatest Marvel villain next to Loki himself, and Cate Blanchett is simply amazing in portraying her; the movie touches upon a wide range of issues and sensibilities, and accordingly invites numerous readings – inter-generation relations, environmental and ecological issues, brotherhood, friendship and even BDSM. The MCU seems to just keep on getting better all the time, and it seems that more great things are ahead!

Please do use the comment section below to share your thoughts and insights about the movie, and please let me know whether there are any other MCU movies/characters/Music you would like me to write about (Sorry, I only watch Marvel movies these days. Might be willing to post about Wonder Woman also). This post is dedicated to @geekorner, AKA Thunder_God in the Israeli Steemit community.

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