Guardian of the Galaxy And Typology of Friends

It’s probably a bit late to write about Guardian of The Galaxy (GoTG), but a movie that good deserves some writing. Also, this time I do not want to write a “review”, but more of a thought inspired by it.

Guardian of The Galaxy to me, without doubt, is the MOST FUN movie of 2014 (as I write this there is 3.5 months to go. So let’s see what Hollywood still has to offer…). I am not a Marvel reader, and had no knowledge whatsoever about GoTG the comic book. When I saw the poster, I was very skeptical. What a freak ensemble! Why is there a tree? Why is there a walking Raccoon? This gotta be a ridiculous and idiotic movie. But I got invited for free screening, so hell, why not.

I left the cinema with a 5 year-old WIDE smile on my face. I literally felt HAPPY at the end of the movie. There was so much laughter, but also touching moments in the movie. Yes it is not an “art” movie, and probably it won’t win any Oscar beyond special-effects or art-direction (which is very nice), but goddamit, the movie makes me happy, and it is enough for me.

With all its epic space adventures, aerial combat, bone-crunching fighting action, and all that, I couldn’t miss the most beautiful theme of the movie, and that is: friendship.

To me, GoTG joins the list of Hollywood’s great stories of friendship. I personally love friendship movies. Romantic love stories are all nice and beautiful, but we know in real life it’s all crap. Most infatuation and romantic sparks die after some time (I blame it on how the brain chemical for love works). But true friendship endures. An in GoTC, I find several typologies of friends as represented by the ragtag band.




Let’s start with Starlord/Peter Quill. To me he reminds of that funny friend who seems like the sun hangs over him all the time. Never looking sad, always quick to throw wisecracks, the life of the party. But often, funny friends like this actually hide a sadness. In Starlord’s case, he lost his mother at such early age. And worse, he was uprooted from his earth home and raised and grew up in an alien family.

Gamora, the green chick (and still hot!). She represents the friend with a dark past. She/he has done something bad in the past, but she regrets it, and is on the way to redemption.

Drax. He represents the “constantly angry” friend. He/she might have short temper, does not have good sense of humor (as Drax cannot understand metaphors). He/she might have been wronged in the past, which explains his vengeful nature. He/she may not be a very sociable being, and may be intimidating to most people. But he takes friendship seriously, and he will stand by them, and defend them without hesitation.

Rocket. Ah, my favorite character. The quick-witted, street smart friend. He embodies independence and self-sustenance. He has serious trust issue, and probably the most difficult to start new friendship. His ‘best friend’ is practically a mute. But all this ‘tough talk’ actually hides a terrible past. Rocket was ‘created’ in the lab, subject to inhuman (or in-racoon?) experiments, and with virtually no family to grow up in, Rocket was left to fend for himself since young,

Last, everybody’s sweetheart, Groot. To me, he represents that not-so-smart friend. We all have that friend who most consider ‘slow’. But what Groot lacks in intelligence or articulation, he compensates with pure, unquestioning loyalty. And his ultimate demonstration of loyalty to friends is when he was willing to give up his life, so his friends can save theirs.

But here’s the beautiful thing. All the five cast look different, talk different, have different background and different temperament. Yet in the end they all become friends. And this has parallel in our real lives also. Look at your best friends – do they look, talk, behave exactly like us? Some may do, but I think most of them are different. And yet those differences do not really matter when we become friends.

I truly believe we meet one or more, if not all, the cast of Guardians of The Galaxy in our lives, as friends. They are more than meets the eyes. Beneath whatever personality they display outside, the funny, the streetsmart, the angry, the quiet, the ‘dumb’ – there is history, past, and background. The true friends know each other beyond the outer layer. And true friendship stays even with the all the “back stories” – because friends accept each other in complete package.

So here’s to friendship, and all the types of friends we might have. And to the beautiful stories we weave together as friends.

And perhaps along the way, we can save a galaxy.






  1. totally agree! Rocket is my personal favorite, but each of them represent true characters in each friendship in real life. 🙂 filmnya ngaduk-ngaduk emosi banget, soal pengkhianatan, soal persatuan, soal kerelaan berkorban… :’)

  2. tiap baca kalimat per kalimat gue selalu menganggukkan kepala.
    ini film emang keren banget. gue jarang nonton film² nya Marvel, tapi GoTG udah langsung masuk list fave film gue.

    btw, part Rocket yang lagi mabok dan ngungkapin kesedihannya itu bikin gue menitikkan air mata loh 😢

  3. GotG, They had me in the first 10 minutes and i have 2 hours of fun and joy afterwards, truly Star Wars of our Generation. And one more thing, the music is AWESOME!!!

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