Superhero Media: Captain Marvel

I'm writing this in September 2020, so over a year after Captain Marvel was in cinemas, and doing some rough math, expect this article to come out through the backlog sometime in 2023, by which time, I really hope angry nerd guys have stopped complaining about it. No, I'm not "defending" Captain Marvel, because I don't feel multi-billion dollar corporations need me to defend their products and the film stands fine on it's own merits. For me, Captain Marvel is middling in terms of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it has good characters and fun elements, but falls down in a few areas. What Captain Marvel is not, however, is a "bad film" because it doesn't appeal to traditional, read; Male, narratives. Look, I'm really not qualified to lecture on Feminist Film Theory and this isn't the place for it, but, rather fittingly, Captain Marvel chooses to forgo the typical male superhero narrative for a more feminist character journey, which, of course, made it a shitload of money from female fans and left a bunch of nerds butthurt on the internet. This may well be the darkest timeline after all. 

So yes, I probably won't be talking much about the narrative of Captain Marvel here, at least in terms of recounting it, as it's perfectly serviceable and how many of us really watch the MCU films for the intense plots? I honestly feel that the guys (and it is ALWAYS guys) who complain that Carol "doesn't overcome" anything to "earn" her power are, on some level, willfully ignorant of female experience. Watching Captain Marvel again for this article, I was like "Oh yeah, Carol's been pushed around and boxed in her whole life", so whilst I may not really be able to identify with the narrative, I do understand it and think it works well. The entire world has told Carol not only what she can and can't do, but what to feel and how to act; don't give into your emotions (like a weak woman), be rational and logical (like a strong man). The secret to unleashing her power, however, is to feel, to embrace her natural emotions and be her true self, undefined by the roles placed on her by others. I'm not saying you have to enjoy Captain Marvel or can't criticise it, but "it's not a male narrative" is not a legitimate criticism, it's sexism. If you really were being critical, you would have pointed out the uninteresting soundtrack, poor mixing or bland alien planets. Funny you didn't.  

Oh hey, there are Skrulls in this film! I fucking love Skrulls! Sure, they're pretty different from how they are in the comics, and they don't do any of the interesting spiritual or gender stuff, but I can't honestly say I was expecting any of that. Ben Mendelson is brilliant as Talos and I'm glad that he's already been back in Spider-Man Far From Home, can't wait to see how they do Super-Skrull, Paibok and the Skrulltastic Four. I feel, for me, that Captain Marvel will be like Doctor Strange, in that I enjoy it enough, but will not be hanging out for each new installment as much as I will, say, Guardians of the Galaxy or Ant-Man. And that's ok. There are enough films to go around, not all of them need to be something that I will, specifically, enjoy, the girls are welcome in the playground, there's plenty of space and I don't mind waiting for the slide occasionally. Hey, maybe if we stop being mad about the girls getting included, we can also invite the LGBTIQ+ people over? They seem like a lot of fun to have around? Just a thought.