The Man Who Talks to Fish: Aquaman

Aquaman begins and ends with a love story.

Love interests, and love stories, are of course to be expected in superhero movies these days—that four-quadrant strategy insists us ladies have to see some kissing before the credits roll—but fewer superhero movies connect their origin stories with romance.¹ More refreshing still, Arthur Curry, Aquaman himself, tells us the story in voiceover; this fish out of water tale means something to him. He’s grown up in the shadow of his father’s heartbreak, but also knows that he was born from unlikely, improbable love.

Aquaman remains a pretty standard action movie in many respects: hero gets reluctantly pulled into fighting a battle with world-changing stakes, loses a vital battle and discovers power where he least expects it, takes those newfound powers and triumphs, gets the girl and saving the day. It’s in the details that Aquaman surprises.

That love story isn’t just an origin story; it’s key to Arthur’s present and future. In 2018, Donald J. Trump was president for the first time, kicking off seven years (and counting) of virulent anti-immigration policies. White Replacement Theory was on the rise. Atlanna’s condemnation and exile for having a child with a human on earth is central to the film’s plot, and it’s clearly intentional that Atlanna is played by a white Australian actress and her human love Thomas Curry played by a mixed-race Māori actor from New Zealand. There are multiple references to H.P. Lovecraft. This is the opposite of subtle.

The film’s approach to gender is slightly more subtle. No one in their right mind would call Aquaman feminist, but its rugged masculinity allows for tear and regret as well as bravado and romance. Arthur’s greatest mistake in the movie is his refusal to save trapped pirate Jesse Kane, and it’s a mistake Arthur himself recognizes before the credits roll. He triumphs in the end by claiming the Trident of Atlan, the kind of plot device that ends up in the hands of a thousand action figures, but his claim is not a result of defeating the trident’s monstrous guardian. Instead, he talks to her. (Sure, then he pulls the metaphorical sword from the stone, but he wouldn’t have been able to if he hadn’t talked to the Karathen!²) He saves the day by being the guy who talks to fish, and I think that’s beautiful. 

This movie takes a lot of the worst of the manosphere and says ‘fuck you’ to all of that. Short kings are awesome. Apologizing is good, actually. It’s okay to cry and to miss the people you love and it’s actually honorable and cool if you don’t act like you’re entitled to women (the opening sequence not only frames Atlanna as more of a warrior than gentle lighthouse keeper Thomas, it makes a point to note that Thomas carefully bandages the mysterious woman he’s rescued over her clothing). The more you act like an entitled dick—as Arthur’s half-brother Orm demonstrates—the more it’s likely to bite you in the ass. Aquaman ends with Atlanna and Thomas Curry, united at last, embracing by the sea, with Atlanna towering over her human beloved.³ This is a vision of masculinity that’s expansive rather than regressive.

Now this isn’t the jumpstart to any kind of revolution. There’s still some very traditional ‘most special boy’ underpinnings to this. Arthur is named after a king, after all, and has some standard-issue superpowers, as well as a connection with the sea and its creatures that shows up when Arthur is very young. Aquaman has the standard-issue relationship with his mentor/trainer (a more than capable Willem Dafoe, having a hell of a lot of fun). But in the DCEU, where Jonathan freakin’ Kent of all people suggested that Superman should let a bus full of kids die and so many visuals were grimy and dark, the beautiful sunsets and genuine masculine tenderness in Aquaman is worth taking note of. Thomas keeps people safe; it’s vital to Arthur’s journey that he learns how valuable that is.

Special shoutout to Kaan Guldur, who plays young Arthur at the aquarium, by the way; it’s a short scene but it’s a lot of fun and the kid is flat-out adorable. Jason Momoa, of course, is also good at what he does: he’s a bro, but he too is capable of kindness, and he’s always had an incredible amount of charisma.⁴ You’d be happy to just watch him swim around shirtless and grab beers with his dad in a different movie.⁵

It’s a nasty but all-too-predictable irony that co-star and love interest Amber Heard had her career derailed as the result of allegations from her ex-husband Johnny Depp, who seems to be doing fine these days, and that it’s almost certain DC/Warner’s capitulation to the endless press attacks hurt Aquaman’s sequel badly. (Among other poor decisions made at the corporate level.) 

Aquaman was a breath of fresh air—or perhaps a sip of cool, clear water—that, like Wonder Woman and Shazam!, could have given WB a solid base to build on. Instead, we ended up with three heartbreakingly bad sequels and a full reset at the hands of new voice James Gunn. Oh well, I bet Momoa will make a great Lobo.

1. The most notable exception—Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Five Rings, which also begins with the lead’s parents meeting—also stars an AAPI lead and has an Asian director.  ↩︎
2. Julie Andrews! Mary Poppins plays the most badass monster in the sea. ↩︎
3. Kidman, once married unhappily to notoriously-touchy-about-his-height cult leader Tom Cruise, famously told David Letterman “Well, I can wear heels now” when asked about the divorce. ↩︎
4. Fucking Stargate Atlantis wasted this man, but that’s a whole different essay. ↩︎
5. Well, I certainly would. ↩︎