osprey_archer: (Winter Soldier)
[personal profile] osprey_archer
I thought I had at last escaped the trammels of the MCU, but then multiple friends and also various news magazines informed me that I just HAD to watch WandaVision, and even though I did not care about (1) Wanda, (2) Vision, or (3) Wanda/Vision as a ship (two dull tastes that are somehow even more dull together?) eventually I cracked and did watched it.

I now care about Wanda, Vision, AND Wanda/Vision. Rarely have I felt so bitter about being forced to have feelings about a character. Apparently when they actually get character development and are allowed to interact with each other, they are... actually interesting? And funny? WHO KNEW. A MYSTERY.

As much as I'm enjoying the show, it's actually only strengthening my beef with the MCU as a whole, because it shows how shoddy the character work has become in the movies. This is character groundwork that they should have laid back in Age of Ultron, when they first introduced Wanda and Vision, instead of six years later in a supplementary TV show that many people will never see.



I'm particularly peeved that we only now! in the year of our lord 2021! got that flashback scene to Wanda and Pietro's defining childhood trauma, when a Stark missile hit their apartment and killed their parents. Putting some version of that scene into Age of Ultron, even a far shorter one, might have made me care about Wanda and Pietro's characters. Yes, yes, Wanda and Pietro tell the story, but that's not the same as seeing it.

And if I had cared I might have found it less ridiculous when Wanda and Pietro stopped working for Hydra and the Avengers instantly gather them into the bosom of the team. Also, I might have actually given a damn when Pietro died - although probably not much of one because having a guy whose superpower is "faster than a speeding bullet" die of bullet wounds is still a stupid cause of death. As it is, the first time in my life I gave a damn about Pietro was when not!Pietro shows up on this TV show and we get to see him, you know, actually interact with Wanda.

On a different note, this show has also strengthened my feeling that you could fill a thimble with what the people at the MCU know about ethics and still have room to spare, but tbh I expect nothing more, obviously it's bad that Wanda has taken an entire town hostage in her grief-sitcom-delusion, and just as obviously there will be no real consequences because the MCU would not function if superheroes suffered consequences for their actions ever. Do I care? Eh, whatever. At this point it's one of those things you have to suspend disbelief about when you partake of an MCU property. In some worlds, ghosts exist; in the MCU Superheroes Are Good no matter what they do.

Date: 2021-04-14 10:25 pm (UTC)
evelyn_b: (Default)
From: [personal profile] evelyn_b
I thought Black Panther did a pretty good job of balancing popcorniness and comic-book-style srsness (and beautiful set and costume design!). The Guardians movies, too, to some extent, though my mind always resists connecting them to the larger dodgy-ensembleverse because I like my space misfits better on their own. My husband is very pro-Winter Soldier as another example of MCU success, but tbh I remember absolutely nothing about Winter Soldier except "there was that great punchcard AI and Steve and Nat were friends." The ensemble movies tend to blend together for me because I fundamentally don't care about infinity stones continuity or whatever forced drama Civil War was going for and no one can make me. But it's easy to sell me on "reality-warping mind powers + fathomless grief = trouble in River City." Especially if there are sitcom pastiches.

I also feel like Wandavision fell apart a little at the end - I wasn't sold on the "rival witch power vampire" reveal even though it had its own theme song; it felt like they really wanted to unlock Wanda's phenomenal cosmic power but couldn't figure out how to do it within the story framework they'd set up.

Also, I know it's just accepted popcorn-movie shorthand now and Wiccans love it and all, but anything with the conceit of actual witchcraft happening in 17thC Salem is Too Soon for me. I know that's the dumbest hill to die on at this point, yet here I am.
Edited Date: 2021-04-14 10:28 pm (UTC)

Date: 2021-04-15 06:21 pm (UTC)
evelyn_b: (Default)
From: [personal profile] evelyn_b
Maybe we shouldn't suggest that there was actually fire to go with all the smoke that led to widespread persecution, you know?

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