The Four Color Media Monitor

Here's something eyebrow raising on Forbes about the characterization in the upcoming Captain Marvel movie, which'll open in less than 2 weeks, with star Brie Larson already having put financial prospects in question due to her politicized approach to promoting it:

Marvel’s latest installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain Marvel (is that enough Marvels for you?) is doing things a little bit differently. While yes, it follows the same pattern of other MCU movies with superhero + bad guy + saving the world + loose connection to the other movies, it’s different in a few ways. For one, it’s now the second MCU movie that’s actually set in the past, making Captain Marvel somewhat of a period piece in the mid-90s. It also has to be noted that it’s the first Marvel movie to feature a female lead, Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers, played by Brie Larson. And, maybe the thing to break tradition the most, is that Captain Marvel/Carol has zero love interest in the movie.

No kidding! I remember the older comics with Ms. Marvel did speak of an old flame named Michael Rossi, a USAF colonel (and she may have romanced Mar-Vell himself, IIRC, in her first years as a supporting character in the MCU circa 1968), and even the late 2000s stories featured a boyfriend or two (in the Avengers during 1998, I think she romanced Wonder Man too at one point!). But in this film, no variation on Colonel Steve Trevor from Wonder Woman? What good is that? It only compounds the impression Larson and the screenwriters are so bent on political correctness, they won't include a guy in her life who could help add character depth to Carol. Not a good way to emphasize whatever this movie is supposedly about.

But, that’s not to say that she’s not saving the world for someone. Instead of giving Captain Marvel a male love interest for her (and the audience) to swoon over, she’s got a different kind of love and it’s perfectly fitting for the film. Captain Marvel is really trying to save the world for her best friend, Maria Rambeau, played by Lashana Lynch.

Is the character's first name different from that of the African-American girl (Monica) who became Mar-Vell's successor in the Captain Marvel role back in the early 80s? It could be a typo, but let's not dwell on that just now. First, what's interesting is that they imply a female audience when they state there's no boyfriend for the moviegoers to swoon over, like there was in the WW movie with Gal Gadot. Indeed, why can't the ladies have that? Second, if one were to extrapolate, you'd rightly have to wonder at this point if they're hinting at a lesbian affair in this movie?!? Why do they think that's fitting when Carol Danvers, even though her history of appearances up till the turn of the century was spotty at best, did have at least a few boyfriends? It sound more like Larson and company exploited these characters more for isolationist/feminist ideas, believing it wrong for a man to provide help and inspiration.

It’s absolutely not a spoiler to say that this relationship takes the place of any love interest in the film, as we’ve already seen their friendship in the released trailers. While Tony Stark has Pepper Potts, and Thor has Jane Foster, and Peter Parker has Mary Jane, Carol has Maria to turn to for comfort and support along the way. Carol doesn’t need to pine for anyone, let alone flirt with anyone, and giving her a typical male love interest in the film would have just bogged the story down — and that’s not what Captain Marvel is about. It’s very much a story about how Carol only needs herself, and how she needs to look inwards, to save the day.

So when she needs someone to rely on, it’s Maria.

This is laughable too. It's not like having a boyfriend would literally impede upon saving the day successfully, if that's what they're implying. Or, why do they make sound like it's wrong for a guy to encourage and inspire a girl? Very insulting, I must say. But then, this was a screenplay reportedly drawing from Kelly Sue deConnick's otherwise abortive runs that even made Carol look more masculine than feminine, something only recently reversed, and lately, it appears they've decided to take a ghettoized route by only assigning women to write the solo book, and not based on talent, understanding of the material, let alone having a good idea what would make the stories enjoyable.

Some of the stills I've seen from the film may show there are male co-stars, but if the above is correct, their potential is thrown away for the sake of forced liberal feminism. As a result, the filmmakers missed a chance to conceive moments where Carol rescues a boyfriend the way WW would rescue Steve when he was in danger during the pre-Crisis era.

This love isn’t something that the film forces on viewers, though, as it’s rather inserted organically, with Larson mentioning, “It's not something that we make a big deal about, but it feels so natural because that love is so strong.” She also goes on to say that when Lynch’s Maria is on screen, “the movie shifts” because of the “power that she commands," and Carol respects — and loves — that in her best friend.

Yep, tell us about it, please; it's pure comedy gold. It brings to mind the Star Trek remake from a decade ago in 2009, where Captain Kirk was depicted as rather unsuccessful in striking up relations with women, because winning over a girl's love is, in the grotesque mindset of left-wing feminists and other PC advocates, evil and taboo. They even used the excuse that it's not part of the original canon, as though that immunizes it from judgement on story merit. The sequel to that film, Into Darkness, IIRC, may not have been screened for critics, and was considered weak by purists. I don't think Beyond did much better either.

Another problem now turning up with the film is that Rotten Tomatoes may have removed options for whether viewers do or don't want to see a film in order to protect this oh-so important film from the impending box office disaster that could occur, courtesy of Larson's startling politicization of her promotion, namely, her insults to white film critics. But if the users had been overwhelmingly positive in their interest, chances are they wouldn't have done this. It's a terrible shame this is happening, as it only compounds the PR cowardice of the film studios at a time when moviegoing is declining, and won't do much to change the film's fortunes. Thanks to all these increasingly obvious missteps, Captain Marvel could become the first real failure in the Marvel movieverse, and miss a chance to duplicate WW's film success the right way.

And they sure did miss a golden chance to star a black woman in the role. They must've passed on it in part because it was far more plausible.

Labels: marvel comics, msm propaganda, politics, women of marvel