LogFAQs > #937085848

Watched Captain Marysue last night and, honestly, up until the third act it wasn't that bad. I will say that Mary Sue Danver's hero's journey is pretty shitty compared to the other MCU heroes because they subvert the whole "you have to learn to control your emotions" story arc and replace it with a "you were perfect all along, but you just had to recognize your inner awesomeness and ignore everybody else because they were haters!" moral. Granted, the move was foreshadowed by the near-constant habit of showing us various micro-aggressions and perceived barriers. And, of course, it all culminated in that final act of "fempowerment" when rather than face a man on his terms and beat him at his own game, she merely blasts him -- a decision easily telegraphed and, rather than seeming a pivotal recognition, is more in keeping with the impetuous trainee who already blasted him once when she couldn't win

Compare this to Thor 1 where Thor learns humility and is taken down to the level of a mortal, gets beaten, and ultimately becomes worthy of wielding his hammer again. Compare this to Iron Man where the shallow, self-absorbed Tony Stark comes to recognize the harm his weapons are causing and starts to act in the greater good.

Hell, even compare this to Black Panther where T'Challa is forced to recognize his father's faults and how cutting themselves off from the world has... well, the takeaway there is a little spotty. It's a mix of isolationism didn't actually keep them safe (although you have to overlook that the reason why it didn't keep them safe is because they were venturing out into the world where members of their society were becoming radicalized) and that they had a moral obligation to help black people everywhere because they able to do so. Okay, not a great film, but still, T'Challa had more of a narrative arc which included a fall from grace.

I'm going to chalk up part of the problem to the fact that Captain Marysue never really feels powerless -- in the current events -- in the film. Other than being surprised by a taser at the beginning, she never really loses any fights and barely seems to struggle. Even with her hands cuffed, she beats down a squadron of Skrulls. And the closest her enemies come to victory is managing to successfully run away. That said, the whole getting up and trying again theme was nice. I guess it's a good moral for a kids movie... oh wait, they explicitly curse in this ("Am I supposed to guess what that means?" "Your ass!"). That's not really so good for the kids >_>

And, of course, in true keeping with the Mary Sue-ness of the film, the end reveals that this is both the backstory for how Fury loses his eye (which I get is for laughs, but it's still stupid) and credits the Avengers' team name to having been inspired by her nickname. And speaking of nicknames, at the end of IM1 Tony suggests just calling Fury's organization SHIELD. However, they're *already* doing that throughout this film and, by saying the name in public, suggesting that it's a commonly-known thing.

All things considered, I'll admit that Brie Larson warned us when she said something along the lines of, "This movie isn't for cis-het males," and that most people I talked to had a negative opinion of it. It's really my fault for getting my hopes up for a while. It's really my fault for getting my hopes up early on into the film... and given the spoilers at the end, I guess I really should have watched this in between IW and EG, which is another reason why I hate this film since it kinda breaks up the two by mentioning something about Fury dying (or going missing?) in IW.

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There are precious few at ease / With moral ambiguities / So we act as though they don't exist.