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When #CaptainMarvel came out, I was not delighted with it. It was okay, but not at all what I wanted or expected from a Carol Danvers movie. The baffling thing to me was that it obviously resonated SO HARD with SO MANY women I knew (& didn't know), so I shut up & listened to why.
After listening, I understood better, & I watched it again to understand MORE. It's effectively about an amazing, powerful woman being gaslit her entire life, & ABOUT her entire life, so that other ppl could control her.
I genuinely could not recognize that on my own.
I genuinely could not recognize that on my own.
I saw a character who was obviously competent, obviously skilled, obviously smart, and bewilderingly...passive? I guess? Like, she had the power, she KNEW she had the power, she USED the power repeatedly, but she didn't...IDK. Own it? IDK.
Watching it, what I saw was homage after homage to moments in other films & tv where the women took up their power. Most particularly the 'activate the Slayers' moment, but there were A BUNCH of them where I kept going 'but I've seen this EXACT THING in X movie, Y tv, etc.'
After listening, tho, I grasped that that was THE POINT.
And after listening, I grasped something that I had absolutely not considered at the outset: this movie was not for me.
Like. On the surface? It was OBVIOUSLY for me! It's CAROL DANVERS KICKING ASS!
And after listening, I grasped something that I had absolutely not considered at the outset: this movie was not for me.
Like. On the surface? It was OBVIOUSLY for me! It's CAROL DANVERS KICKING ASS!
And don't get me wrong, I LOVE watching Carol W R E C K spaceships.
But Captain Marvel is not, fundamentally, for me.
Rewatching it now...it's still not for me. It's fine. It's rewatchable and even enjoyable, as nearly every MCU film is. But it's not for me.
But Captain Marvel is not, fundamentally, for me.
Rewatching it now...it's still not for me. It's fine. It's rewatchable and even enjoyable, as nearly every MCU film is. But it's not for me.
Which is more than okay, bc I think an awful lot of ppl needed that movie to be what it is than I needed it to be what I thought it would be. People who understood it without having to have it explained to them. I'm glad they made the movie they did, instead of the one I wanted.
(As it turns out, as I realized that Captain Marvel wasn't for me, I also realized that the MCU already *had* a character for me. They hit that one out of the ballpark in the very early days. :))
(I do not necessarily think everybody's got an effective 1:1 MCU-to-me character template, & there should be SO MANY MORE WOMEN TO CHOOSE FROM IF THERE IS SUCH A THING, but...Carol provides one really, really viable kind of template. Peggy provides a *completely* different one.)
