Captain Marvel
Aug. 18th, 2021 07:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
redfiona99In which I am the problem, not the film.
I know what they were aiming for. Female nerd, of the generation that are now coming into money and power, aged somewhere between 30 and 45, finally gets to see themselves on film. Girl power etc.
And this is where I become the problem.
Teenage girl me, who would have been hitting her comic book years when the film is set, was an X-Men fan. I've already had *my* comic on screen.
If I want an accurate presentation of who *I* am on screen, it's Beast (or Bruce Banner - when Avengers Assemble came out, people kept saying Mark Ruffalo gave an excellent performance of me on a bad day). It's not someone who joined the US airforce in the 1980s. Given the lengths the first Captain America film went to when explaining that Steve Rogers was a good guy despite joining the US military, when he did it to go and fight in the Second World War, I could have done with them doing the same for Carol Danvers. Because I'm sorry, "I really want to fly awesome fighter jets so I will join the US military, despite what they were doing then" really does distance me from a character. (Literally, one line going "it was the only way I could afford college", and I would have given them a pass).
I've seen myself on screen, I was either blue furry or green angry. They've tried to create a relatable everywoman, but I can't relate to her.
For me, Captain Marvel herself is the least interesting good guy in her film. (May I repeat, I am aware that I am the problem, not the film) (Also, in this film, Brie Larson suffers from Ryan Gosling syndrome and is only allowed 3 facial expressions. The whole character does not work for me.)
In my "100 Things: 100 Great Scenes in Less Than Great Films" posts I have a category for bad Marvel films. They've all been ones that were "outsourced" to other studios but this film shares a lot of similarities to those. The bad guy has a squad of henchpeople whose presence or absence wouldn't affect the film. The bad guy is defeated easily, too easily to be satisfying (yes, I know Yon-Rog is supposed to be the "Debate Me" guys, but one punch is a lousy way to end a climactic battle). The difference between the "Bad Marvel Films" and this is that it has excellent SFX and much better lighting.
The SFX were really good, and you could hear Fox execs kicking themselves that this film came out first because a lot of the SFX when Carol Danvers gains or uses her superpowers are exactly what you'd imagine and want for the Phoenix Force.
I was amused that evil continues to sound British, and that you could guess that there was something wrong with the theory that "Skrulls: all evil" the minute Ben Mendelsohn's accent wandered into 'Strine. I understand why they went with that twist, even if it wasn't a twist to anyone who reads comics (Skrulls, much like most of the X-Men, have been bad guys and good guys at different times). Ben Mendelsohn is the best thing about the film, and I'm not sure why all the reviews didn't rave about him.
Going back to my theme of "I know what they were going for but it didn't work for *me*", another example was the soundtrack. It was all the expected female-led hits of my teens (and Elastica. I mean, I am a-glee over Elastica), and it was supposed to be a nostalgia-rush for people like me. And it was, to an extent, see the previous comment about Elastica, but it kept being the wrong song for *that* moment. For example, "Celebrity Skin" over the end credits. I love that song. It takes me back to probably 1998, and German classes in high school, and a time and a place and a mood. But the younger me who screamed her throat raw singing along to those lyrics knows that that's not the soundtrack to Captain Marvel saving the Skrull, it's the soundtrack to Vers going back to kick Kree ass. The song is someone at the end of their tether, not someone bringing hope. It's rage, not kindness. It's all the wrong song for that moment.
I think that's my overall review, the filmmakers were aiming for nostalgia and resonance with a particular segment of the audience. As a member of that audience segment, for me, it didn't resonate the way they wanted it to, in fact some of the ways they used to try to get that feeling across caused major dissonance. It didn't work for me, but I suspect I am the problem, not the film.
I know what they were aiming for. Female nerd, of the generation that are now coming into money and power, aged somewhere between 30 and 45, finally gets to see themselves on film. Girl power etc.
And this is where I become the problem.
Teenage girl me, who would have been hitting her comic book years when the film is set, was an X-Men fan. I've already had *my* comic on screen.
If I want an accurate presentation of who *I* am on screen, it's Beast (or Bruce Banner - when Avengers Assemble came out, people kept saying Mark Ruffalo gave an excellent performance of me on a bad day). It's not someone who joined the US airforce in the 1980s. Given the lengths the first Captain America film went to when explaining that Steve Rogers was a good guy despite joining the US military, when he did it to go and fight in the Second World War, I could have done with them doing the same for Carol Danvers. Because I'm sorry, "I really want to fly awesome fighter jets so I will join the US military, despite what they were doing then" really does distance me from a character. (Literally, one line going "it was the only way I could afford college", and I would have given them a pass).
I've seen myself on screen, I was either blue furry or green angry. They've tried to create a relatable everywoman, but I can't relate to her.
For me, Captain Marvel herself is the least interesting good guy in her film. (May I repeat, I am aware that I am the problem, not the film) (Also, in this film, Brie Larson suffers from Ryan Gosling syndrome and is only allowed 3 facial expressions. The whole character does not work for me.)
In my "100 Things: 100 Great Scenes in Less Than Great Films" posts I have a category for bad Marvel films. They've all been ones that were "outsourced" to other studios but this film shares a lot of similarities to those. The bad guy has a squad of henchpeople whose presence or absence wouldn't affect the film. The bad guy is defeated easily, too easily to be satisfying (yes, I know Yon-Rog is supposed to be the "Debate Me" guys, but one punch is a lousy way to end a climactic battle). The difference between the "Bad Marvel Films" and this is that it has excellent SFX and much better lighting.
The SFX were really good, and you could hear Fox execs kicking themselves that this film came out first because a lot of the SFX when Carol Danvers gains or uses her superpowers are exactly what you'd imagine and want for the Phoenix Force.
I was amused that evil continues to sound British, and that you could guess that there was something wrong with the theory that "Skrulls: all evil" the minute Ben Mendelsohn's accent wandered into 'Strine. I understand why they went with that twist, even if it wasn't a twist to anyone who reads comics (Skrulls, much like most of the X-Men, have been bad guys and good guys at different times). Ben Mendelsohn is the best thing about the film, and I'm not sure why all the reviews didn't rave about him.
Going back to my theme of "I know what they were going for but it didn't work for *me*", another example was the soundtrack. It was all the expected female-led hits of my teens (and Elastica. I mean, I am a-glee over Elastica), and it was supposed to be a nostalgia-rush for people like me. And it was, to an extent, see the previous comment about Elastica, but it kept being the wrong song for *that* moment. For example, "Celebrity Skin" over the end credits. I love that song. It takes me back to probably 1998, and German classes in high school, and a time and a place and a mood. But the younger me who screamed her throat raw singing along to those lyrics knows that that's not the soundtrack to Captain Marvel saving the Skrull, it's the soundtrack to Vers going back to kick Kree ass. The song is someone at the end of their tether, not someone bringing hope. It's rage, not kindness. It's all the wrong song for that moment.
I think that's my overall review, the filmmakers were aiming for nostalgia and resonance with a particular segment of the audience. As a member of that audience segment, for me, it didn't resonate the way they wanted it to, in fact some of the ways they used to try to get that feeling across caused major dissonance. It didn't work for me, but I suspect I am the problem, not the film.
no subject
Date: 2021-08-19 06:51 am (UTC)re: the US military - I think it's noticable they're bankrolling all the MCU movies (well, not bankrolling, but letting them use their stuff and getting positive imagery out of it), sometimes more and sometimes less blatantly. In case of Captain Marvel, it fits with the 80s theme - Top Gun being another partly US military supported movie in point - but also with the US culture in general with the glaring exception of the later 1960s and early 1970s as the result of the Vietnam experience, the whole "thank you for your service" thing and the basic assumption that "our boys" are good, "support the troops" is what good citizens will do, and while there is the occasional bad general and evil commander, the army itself is good. Which was, when I was a teenager in the 1980s and came to the US for the first time, one of the big culture clash/most alien things to me, along with the Reagan era hyper patriotism (little did I know...), but then, it would be, for a German teen. What I'm getting at is: the American target audience for any MCU movie, including this one, would probably not question anyone's decision to join any branch of the army at any given point.
which brings me to: Given the lengths the first Captain America film went to when explaining that Steve Rogers was a good guy despite joining the US military, when he did it to go and fight in the Second World War
Interesting - as a viewer, I didn't have the impression the lengthy backstory was to justify Steve joining the US military at all. (I.e. I don't think anyone in the script writing department saw the need to justify it.) I thought it was to get the audience to empathize with Steve Rogers, skinny guy with a good heart and stubbornness etc., before he becomes supersoldier-shaped, and to prepare the "man out of time" element in the current day timeline by putting the audience in Steve's shoes. Now, given the way WWII looms in pop culture as the "good" war where the good vs evil lines are most clearly drawn, and the way almost anything WWII themed in books, tv and movie with an US hero tends to be an US box office success, setting an entire movie there (minus the very last scene) instead of, say, narrating Steve's backstory in a few flashbacks in a current day film probably also was motivated by this. But I really doubt it was by a need to justify him having joined the army.
Don't get me wrong: I'm not saying the entire MCU scriptwriting department are uncritical or unaware of the perception of the US army as less than a force for good in other eras, far from it. Both "The Winter Soldier" and "Black Panther" are cases in point, and not so coincidentally, the first Captain America movie in its German release was called "The First Avenger" instead. But even in these movies, the basic assumption is still the "a few bad apples" one. (Yes, Steve gets Nick Fury to agree to the dismantling of SHIElD in its entirety, but even leaving aside subsequent rebuildings of SHIELD in various tv series and films, SHIELD is a fictional organisation. Sharon joining the very real CIA at the end of "Winter Soldier" and this being presented as a good thing ties with Martin Freeman's character in "Black Panther" being a CIA agent and a good person. (Meaning yes, Killmonger learned evil tactics while working for various US services himself, but clearly, which he now applies to Wakanda, but clearly, we're not supposed to take from this said services themselves are evil, they also produce good people.)
IMO as always, and I could be wrong. But that's why Carol - and Monica - having joined the air force in the 1980s in an MCU movie did not even make me blink in terms what it was supposed to say about them.
Ben Mendelssohn, though: agreed, and that's why a certain scene in Spider-man: Far from Home made me very happy indeed.
no subject
Date: 2021-08-19 06:02 pm (UTC)>>What I'm getting at is: the American target audience for any MCU movie, including this one, would probably not question anyone's decision to join any branch of the army at any given point.<< That is a very good point.
Re: Steve - You're right that it was to build up the "Steve wants to join up to protect people not to fight" aspects of his character, and looking at it that way, it does make sense that they didn't bother with something similar for Carol but it does feel "weird" to have it in one but not the other (although I take your point that they're telling very different stories).