Discussion: Captain Marvel - Looking at the Film's So-Called 'Feminist Agenda'

Captain Marvel (2019) - Looking at the Film's So-Called 'Feminist Agenda'

With this past weekend's release of the highly anticipated Captain Marvel, the latest entry in the uber-successful MCU, the world has received its latest cue that, perhaps, presently, we are not yet deserving of a hero such as Captain Marvel.

By now, we all know that fandom can be a tyrannical beast. From Beatlemania to the Beliebers, from Twilight to Harry Potter, there are plentiful stories of fans taking things

more than a little too far. This weekend was a new showcase of fans (and perhaps more-than fans) crossing the line. Early on in the weekend, Rotten Tomatoes had to change the way their website was run due to 50,000+  negative audience reviews plummeting in within hours of the film's release. (The actual number of these reviews was more than Avengers: Infinity War received in its entire theatrical run.) The reasoning was that, through the use of bots, disgruntled online trolls were attempting to 'review-bomb' the film. The result was that Rotten Tomatoes now disallows users to leave a comment or review prior to a film's release (I am not sure why this should have been allowed previously, but that is another discussion entirely). It is not clear what the exact motivation was for the attempted 'review-bombing', however, going online and seeing some of the reviews written by so-called 'Marvel fans' and by others may give an outlook on the matter.

I just saw Captain Marvel last night, a few days after many other similar-minded film reviewers. I tried to avoid reading most of the reviews in-depth prior to seeing the film, but I couldn't avoid skimming through many of them and what I saw was a somewhat concerning trend. Similar to myself, quite a lot of reviews overall said Captain Marvel was a decent film but not quite up there with the rest of the MCU films. By itself, this conclusion I have no problem with. What was troubling, however, is that a perceived major detracting point amongst many of these reviews was the film's so-called 'social justice warrior' agenda.

This 'agenda' was often not explicitly set out, however, what I, and I assume many others, have now gathered is that this 'agenda' is referring to the film being centered on a female superhero, and that she is presented as the type of character that the audience, and likely, females in the audience could look up to. These reviews seem to contend that this aspect of the film is a negative and part of an agenda created by Marvel that either takes away from or does not fit into the greater narrative and/or tone of the current MCU.

As I said, this is, in my opinion, a troubling trend and outlook. The idea that people and fans are criticizing a film for creating a role model for females to look up to or that the film's makers, if they so intended this, should be denounced is, in and of itself, problematic.

Superheroes are inherently created to be role models for us to look up to and to be inspired by. That much is clear. It was an issue, however, from the onset of superheroes that the early heroes were often not representative of the make-up of our own society. White male heroes dominated the scene for many decades and, in similar fashion, this trend followed into superhero film adaptations. As we know, 2017's Wonder Woman was the first modern female-starring superhero film (that was DC) and last year's Black Panther was the first black-starring superhero film. It is clear that all people could be inspired by the heroes of these two films but obviously they also connected with specific demographics that had yet to be spoken to - black people and females.

In unfortunately late fashion, Captain Marvel now is Marvel's first female-starring superhero film. Through the film, there are feminist undertones with themes of female empowerment and the overcoming of obstacles, including those set specifically by men. These messages are not always subtle but they also do not overpower or detract from the more central theme/narrative of discovering one's identity. They are simply a facet of this plotline. Much of the feminist theme is simple imagery such as Carol Danvers getting back up after continuously getting knocked down and also, in kickass fashion, being able to beat up everyone else by the end of the film. The images are strong and one's that should be applauded and definitely not condemned. And that is the next point - Captain Marvel and its creators should not have to defend or justify its film's themes and messages for being 'too overt'. The fact that people are saying that Wonder Woman was a better film because it also carried feminist themes but it wasn't so 'in your face' about it is not a conducive attitude.

The existence of the 'agenda' itself in this film is difficult to prove and discussions about it are mainly conjecture. However, the contention that a superhero film such as Captain Marvel should not contain an agenda or, likely more appropriately, simply a theme that speaks to a relevant discussion occurring in our own world does not hold much sway. Many of the already in-existence MCU films (and innumerous Marvel comic stories) are built upon resonating themes that one could likewise christen an 'agenda' just as easily as the feminist themes within Captain Marvel. Both Age of Ultron and Civil War deal with a United Nations-like body and discuss themes such as international oversight, governance and protection, and freedom vs. independence, the character of Iron Man inherently deals with the morality of weapons dealing and commercialism vs. social utility, Black Panther discusses the idea of maintaining tradition vs. accepting change/innovation (with obvious analogies to African tribalism and nationalism within the contemporary global landscape). Then there are the more personal themes within all of the films such as familial dysfunctionality and mentor/apprentice relationships (righting the wrongs of the mother/father/teacher). And, interestingly, within Captain Marvel itself, in the second half of the film, there is a major twist that leads to a very clear metaphor to our own world, specifically the protection of a specific group of vulnerable people that our world is now dealing with. I do not want to go into specifics as it would spoil the second half of the film, however, suffice it to say that this latter theme could probably be seen as a clearer 'social agenda' than that of the feminist undertones in the film.

Captain Marvel, the film, has issues of its own that a person reviewing a film has every right to discuss - tone, plot, character consistency, etc. However, the simple fact that the film is centered on a strong and inspiring female character is not a justifiable ground for reprimand. The fact that fans, reviewer and others have taken issue with this - spamming the global internet and online review sites, criticizing the film in individual reviews, and also, sending violent and hateful messages to people involved in the making of the film, most notably, Brie Larson, is nothing other-than disgusting conduct.

In this day and age, we need to re-evaluate why we go to see films like this in the first place. Instead of criticizing who the hero is we are watching on-screen and the alleged reasoning behind them, let's simply start being inspired by them because we can do so much better than this.

Spoiler Alert:

It is really no wonder that, at the end of the film, Captain Marvel decides to leave Earth. At this point, with a welcome such as she has received, who can blame her?