I have had to close the comments thread following my review of Captain Marvel, because it had descended into a battle between a deliberate troll and those who were making honest but of course futile efforts to get him to understand, oh, basically everything about how his white male privilege (which he of course denies) has blinkered him about pop culture (and so much else).
But I invite all the whiny manbabies like to read this important thread from Jennifer Harrison on Twitter and perhaps begin to understand why this movie is so beloved by so many and why it is speaking so powerfully to women and other non-white-male people:
Is it ok to talk about Captain Marvel spoilers now? If not, mute this thread.
It's bugging me that the most constant criticism (but one I've literally only heard from men) is that Danvers has no arc. She's super powerful at the start and the end. No personal journey pic.twitter.com/YZS8GPsNaz
— Jennifer Harrison (@GeneticJen) April 4, 2019
YES to that fantastic thread.
Also want to highly recommend this Vanity Fair article, which sheds some more insight into the writing of Carol’s character and profiles all the female creative talent behind the film and what they’re teaming up to do next:
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/04/captain-marvel-billion-dollar-kelly-sue-deconnick-nicole-perlman-geneva-robertson-dworet-known-universe-production-company
That thread made me realize how attached I am to the idea that becoming physically stronger and better at violently dominating others who have previously dominated you is the key component of character development in a comic book movie. I was stubbornly trying to force the classic shonen manga “arc” onto a movie that was trying to do something completely different.
The overcoming institutional oppression arc works great on paper, and the idea to bookend with Yon Rogg fights was solid and really drives the point home. I finally understand why the movie resonates so strongly for many people, and it’s cool that we live in a time when a big budget comic book movie can be written and directed by women with women in mind (not to discount the many men who also enjoyed the movie).
Thank you for the link.
Carol Danvers from the comics struck me as an electrifying character, complex and volatile – someone to rival Robert Downey Jr in charisma.
I felt the film flattened her out – flattened everything out – it seemed these filmmakers didn’t know how to handle this kind of material – too much deadpan smirking – she didn’t strike me as a highly trained operative working in unknown territory – Fury didn’t strike me as a highly trained operative encountering something unprecedented and dangerous and unknown – they were both acting like characters in a sitcom – no sense of stakes or real danger, no need for discretion – why was he so idiotic in handling that cat – even after what he had seen? The Skrull twist was nice, but handled in such a ham-fisted, gushy way – sentimentalizing them, instead of maintaining and deepening our ambivalence (as Rogue One did so beautifully) it just traded one cartoon for another
I walked out of the movie – but then I bought another ticket and watched it again to give it another chance – I really wanted to like it. The film is long overdue, as is Black Widow’s – the MCU obviously has trouble dealing with its female characters – but I have hope for the future films with her
But I do appreciate your point about seeing the film as a retort to gas-lighting man-splaining, and a rediscovery of already existing power – that aspect was refreshing. And the idea of it as a mystery – yes, a nice idea, but I feel much of this character’s beauty lay in her personal history that breathes through her pores, and making her an amnesiac disconnected her from that and handicapped the actress – the fleeting glimpses of Danvers in her rip-roaring past life on Earth show a more thrilling personality than the present-tense Kree version