The Avengers
Nov. 22nd, 2013 01:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerI have finally seen Avengers! I was worried that I would feel as lukewarmly positive about it as I did about most of the other Marvel movies - I felt many of them were a little too aware of their status as prequels, which made their plots unsatisfying - but I can conclusively say that Avengers is still pretty awesome even if you've been spoiled for basically everything by the internet.
Although the fact that Coulson now has his own post-Avengers TV show kind of undercuts the effect of his death.
Captain America and Black Widow are still my favorites. (Obviously this means that I am way excited about The Winter Soldier.) I was impressed by the subtle way the movie dealt with Captain America's temporal displacement: it's not just a series of gags about his difficulty with technology/pop culture references (how cute was it when he's all "Flying monkeys! I got that one!"), but there's a real sense that he still thinks like a man from the 1940s.
I'm thinking of his comment that there's only one God - not the fact that he believes it, but the fact that he asserts it as common knowledge, as if it's not at all ethnocentric. Also, even more, the fact that when Agent Coulson dies, Cap's the one who asks, "Was he married?"
Obviously Black Widow's scenes have been discussed up and down the internet. I don't have much to add about her scenes specifically, but as a wider comment on Whedon's work - Whedon really likes the whole "feminist judo" schtick, where his female characters use other people's misogynistic underestimation of their abilities to win. It's so overused in Whedon's work - he uses it twice in this one movie, in both of Natasha's interrogation scenes - that it's not only predictable, but also suggests that his heroines can only win because their enemies underestimate them.
I think often Whedon's work is more feminist when he's not trying so hard at it.
Having said all that - it amused me that Natasha has the sensible superhero suit, while Hawkeye is running around wearing the outfit clearly designed to show off his attributes - his magnificent arms, in this case - at the expense of actually protecting him. Oh, Hawkeye. It's hard out there for the eye candy.
Although the fact that Coulson now has his own post-Avengers TV show kind of undercuts the effect of his death.
Captain America and Black Widow are still my favorites. (Obviously this means that I am way excited about The Winter Soldier.) I was impressed by the subtle way the movie dealt with Captain America's temporal displacement: it's not just a series of gags about his difficulty with technology/pop culture references (how cute was it when he's all "Flying monkeys! I got that one!"), but there's a real sense that he still thinks like a man from the 1940s.
I'm thinking of his comment that there's only one God - not the fact that he believes it, but the fact that he asserts it as common knowledge, as if it's not at all ethnocentric. Also, even more, the fact that when Agent Coulson dies, Cap's the one who asks, "Was he married?"
Obviously Black Widow's scenes have been discussed up and down the internet. I don't have much to add about her scenes specifically, but as a wider comment on Whedon's work - Whedon really likes the whole "feminist judo" schtick, where his female characters use other people's misogynistic underestimation of their abilities to win. It's so overused in Whedon's work - he uses it twice in this one movie, in both of Natasha's interrogation scenes - that it's not only predictable, but also suggests that his heroines can only win because their enemies underestimate them.
I think often Whedon's work is more feminist when he's not trying so hard at it.
Having said all that - it amused me that Natasha has the sensible superhero suit, while Hawkeye is running around wearing the outfit clearly designed to show off his attributes - his magnificent arms, in this case - at the expense of actually protecting him. Oh, Hawkeye. It's hard out there for the eye candy.
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no subject
Date: 2013-11-22 07:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2013-11-22 08:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2013-11-23 06:37 am (UTC)Also, ScarJo has discussed in interviews the fact that she had to lube herself up (she calls it the "special sauce") in order to be able to squeeze into that skintight costume.
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2013-11-23 02:11 pm (UTC)Whedon (of whose stuff I've actually seen very little: a number of Firefly episodes, one episode of Dr. Horrible... that's it) strikes me both from what I've seen and what I've heard as a guy stuck in the beginner's stages of feminism, when everyone else is far, far ahead--so he ends up looking (and.... being) regressive. "OMG LOOK!!! Women are, like, people, and, and, they can do stuff! They can be almost as--no, strike that, they can actually be as good as men. Mind blowing, right? OMG. OMG."
And everyone watching is like, dude. What is your problem with women, already.
(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2013-11-23 10:07 pm (UTC)(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2013-11-24 10:26 pm (UTC)Eh, I see your point and yet, I think it's true in RL. People DO underestimate women - and thus why not take advantage. I think it's faulty that Loki would underestimate a woman (given he himself takes the form of one) but perhaps its less to do with female and more to do with human in MCU.
I HATED that God line from Steve. I know comics!Steve identifies as Christian but urgh, it rubbed me the wrong way.