caitri | Entries tagged with avengers

CURRENT TALLY OF COMPLETED FIC WORDAGE: 431,692
All Star Trek stories are Kirk/McCoy unless otherwise stated.
All Avengers stories are Steve/Tony unless otherwise stated.

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Current Mood: cheerful

The Power of a Skeptical Captain America by Sophie Gilbert

Snip:

From the first episode, in which Sam’s bank manager tried to place where he knew this telegenic Black man from (“Did you used to play for LSU?”), to the end, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has wrestled with an idea: Who are superheroes for? And can a nationalist symbol be reclaimed by someone whom that nation has consistently and historically rejected?"

...

But The Falcon and the Winter Soldier also presents an opportunity to see what might be coming in the next phase of storytelling in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as well as how far things have come. Only six years ago the MCU was still being overseen by Ike Perlmutter, the longtime Marvel CEO best known for reportedly stalling Black Panther and Captain Marvel because he didn’t think tentpole movies framed around a Black character and a woman would attract audiences. (Perlmutter is also known for allegedly scaling back production of Black Widow merchandise in 2015 because he didn’t think girls cared about superheroes, and for donating $360,600 in 2019 to the Trump Victory committee funding the former president’s reelection efforts).

There's A LOT to be broken down in Marvel generally and MCU specifically going back and forth between progressivism and reactionaryism. (Also I pointed out recently in convo when Bucky became Cap in 2007 there was a chonk of pushback because the ideal Cap was not supposed to carry a gun, vs. the pushback of Sam becoming Cap in 2015 which was very much about pushback to a Black Cap that the show was getting at.

I have more thoughts but they are still jumbled, but generally I ADORE how the show has been so bluntly political and have thoughts on that. But in the meantime the scene I can't get out of my head is Sam going full angelic pieta.

Current Mood: thoughtful

Incomplete thoughts on pop culture consumption and spoiler anxiety--and keep in mind this comes from a Gemini, so I'm going back and forth on this a lot.

One of the big papers--prob the NYT--had a piece yesterday about how everyone watching Game of Thrones talked about it on social media while watching or immediately afterwards, as if this was a new thing and not just fan culture gone mainstream.

Like, I remember doing that back in the 90s with Highlander and Buffy. "Social media" consisted of Yahoo chat rooms, licensed message boards, and fan message boards, but we were there. Then came the mid-2000s, and Television Without Pity, and thus the episode recap was born. (Does anyone remember recaps before TWOP?) (Also, RIP, TWOP.) I honestly don't remember if/how spoilers figured into it, back in those days before DVR and if you missed it and didn't record it, you missed it.

(Side-note for those who weren't there for the 1990s: If you liked a cult show and they didn't make a box set and it wasn't in syndication, you were SOL. I literally never saw all of season 1 of Buffy until ca. 2002 when I got the dvd set, as a VHS copy of the full season was not released, or not released where I could get it anyhow. I had to experience S1 of Buffy by READING FAN TRANSCRIPTIONS OF ENTIRE EPISODES.)

And now here we are today and we have mass media but it's also tiered because premium channels and subscriptions and stuff. I have my well-worn gripe here about why do people complain about subscribing to CBS All-Access for Star Trek Discovery when literally NO ONE gripes about getting HBO for 2 months every year for Game of Thrones. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE I DO NOT UNDERSTAAAAAAAND.

I mean aside from, yes all the services and competition and blah blah, and consumption as means and as cultural performativity maybe and--something something?

Which ALL COMES DOWN TO ME WONDERING: If 18 million people watched Game of Thrones this weekend--and they did--how is that different than watching a big football game? Is it because a football game loses its value after the epic conclusion and thus the...plot will not be diminished? .... This might be a bad metaphor, I will never know because I do not understand the sportsballs. But in terms of people accessing the same content widely to communicate about it?

And it's very different from watching Avengers: Endgame because of the finite number of seats in theaters and so on, to say nothing of managing babysitting and whatnot for people with kids who can watch GoT when they have gone to bed.

Except it's maybe not so different because again cultural consumption and a $15 movie ticket vs. $15/month tv subscription? Or maybe it is, I'm not sure.

(Told you I was gonna Gemini this.)

TL:DR What does it mean to consume--or not--popular culture en masse at once (or not)?

Current Mood: thoughtful

It took two months to get through 13 episodes. A lot of the writing is repetitive and sloppy, like they knew they didn't have enough actual plot and so decided to make up for it with lots of characters repeating conversations to other characters, or having flashbacks to scenes we already knew about. That said, the final two episodes did a lot of work and were well done, esp. in terms of what they did for various characters. Some cinematographic shots were straight up fucking incredible.

What particularly struck me as the season wore on though is how I became much more invested in minor characters. The relationship between Shades and Comanche was really interesting and had a lot of reverberations throughout the season. (I'm tempted to go look for fic.) D.W. spends an inordinate amount of time being comic relief and then speaks literal truth to power at the end.

I'm more frustrated in what we didn't get with Luke though. Like, every character is bent on telling him who he is--or isn't--and by the time he "decides" in the final minutes it isn't altogether convincing. The scenes that felt most like development doubled as appreciation for the NYC skyline; in ep 8 (?) Iron Fist visits and takes him by Columbia to see the city from above to see the bigger picture, so Luke starts periodically going back there to think. It's pretty but it didn't quite work with the rest of the writing.

...That said, Luke's real superpower is making me not want to punch Danny Rand on sight. This is no mean feat.

Anyways, they left things in a really interesting place, and I hope S3 pays off on that.

Current Mood: awake

...which I just described to someone as "like Kurosawa's Ran but with white and brown people."

I'll be okay. ... later.

Current Mood: awake

Current Mood: amused

Finished it last night. Been mulling it since. I HAVE FEELS. Without spoilers:

* Luke Cage is from Georgia and the actor is from South Carolina. *flail* *in the AU of my mind I now have a shot*

* The integration of the show into the rest of the Marvel universe, but especially with having the street vendors selling recordings of "The Incident" eg. when the Chitauri attacked.

* All of the strong women of color. Fuck yes.

* How Luke Cage uses his hoodie as his superhero costume *the hood goes up, shit's going down* and how this is **embraced** within the show itself, the importance of having a black man who can't be shot.

* Related: Method Man's cameo/song later.

The show just made me happy. It's similar to Jessica Jones in that it handles the social issues of race and policing the way JJ handled women and rape culture. So A++.

Meanwhile, I want to be excited for Iron Fist, but....white dude. Like, that man is paler than I am. Just. There are so many great Asian-American actors, why couldn't they have gotten one? (Daniel Wu, I nominate Daniel Wu, good goddamn.)

Current Mood: happy

WTH were Matt and Foggy doing during the Battle of NYC?

Current Mood: thoughtful

"Helen Cho, Age of Ultron, and Representation Feels" by Nicole Soojong Callahan

With Helen Cho in Age of Ultron, we get an Asian woman in a big-budget major motion picture who:

1) has a name,

2) gets more than thirty seconds of screen time,

3) does not die immediately after being introduced,

4) has no apparent martial arts skills,

5) is neither a math tutor nor a geisha,

6) gets to talk and say smart things — even in a roomful of white characters, who actually shut up for a minute and listen to her when she is explaining her science and why she’s a boss,

7) does not exist solely to give some white lady no one cares about questionable relationship advice, and

8) is not a crime lord and/or running a shady as fuck business out of a big scary warehouse. ...

It shouldn’t feel like such a big deal, and I wish I didn’t have to feel so excited about a character like hers. I wish I could be neutral and reasonable and blasé about media featuring Asian characters who don’t seem like tokens or play to obvious stereotypes, but it’s so rare that I can’t be. Is it getting better? I believe it is — there are certainly more Asians on TV. But after going to see Age of Ultron, I tried to think of other American movies with Asian or Asian American characters that meet all the criteria I mentioned above, and I had a very hard time. It was especially difficult thinking of Asian women whose film characters could pass the test. ...

If this is frustrating for me, just a casual viewer/fan fielding awkward questions from her kid, I can’t imagine how frustrating it is for Asian actors and artists trying to make a living. As great as it was to see Claudia Kim in Age of Ultron, we shouldn’t have to feel so grateful for one role in one movie.

Current Mood: contemplative

I started writing fic about young Natasha meeting Clint and it sort of became about the awesomeness that is Laura Barton.

Phil immediately pulls a gun and trains it on her with the speed that only the best agents have. “Natasha Romanoff. Do you even know how many crimes you’re guilty of? How much blood you’ve spilled?”

“Probably more than I know,” Natasha answers honestly at the same time Clint says, “Oh my God, Coulson! What have I said about guns in my house?”

“You said no guns. You didn’t say anything about shooting people,” Phil Coulson says.

“Well we’re adding it, right now!” Laura says, and she sounds more angry than scared. “No shooting people in our house. And I swear to God, Phil, if there is blood spilled here then you’re the one who’s going to be cleaning it up, and I’m telling Melinda.”

Current Mood: amused

I went twice before I sat down to write, so: TL;DR I REALLY LIKED IT AND I HAVE A LOT OF FEELS.

( All of the spoilers, with analysis )

Um, I think that's it. That's a lot. But yeah. so. Many. FEELS!

Current Mood: thoughtful

Because I have a cold and started watching Thanks for Sharing and all I saw was Bruce Banner and Pepper Potts.

So obviously Tony is the old AA vet who has worked hard to get clean and is deeply cynical and demanding of those around him because he wants to stay that way. Bruce is his mentee who he's worked with several years, but Bruce still calls him whenever he's afraid he's gonna slide and Tony talks him down.

Clint just got fired from his job and has a breakdown in meeting. Natasha approaches him after and praises his honesty. They call each other when they struggle and likewise freak out about being attracted to each other because what's real and what's the addiction and what's easy and where does forgiveness begin and end?

Thor is good-humored and speaks softly at each meeting. Everytime he gets a new chip he beams like the sun. Then one day he comes in, haggard and in borrowed clothes, and says he fucked up and his fiance Jane has left him and what's he going to do now?

And then there's Steve. He doesn't talk in meeting. Sam doesn't want to push, not when there's Tony and Bruce to be even keels while Clint and Natasha are on edge, but at the same time, why IS Steve there? They flirt a little, Steve coming on strong at the breaks, and Sam is so, SO tempted, but that is ALL KINDS OF OFF-LIMITS, but they go to the same coffeeshop and sometimes they end up sharing jogging routes and banter companionably. Steve is in training for freaking marathons and is all kinds of impressive, and Sam is all jelly because hot and charming and adorable, WHAT IS WRONG WITH HIM WHAT.

And then comes the day Steve comes with this dark guy in tow, James Barnes, who mumbles and clearly struggles with just TALKING in front of the group, but gets through, and when he sits down again Steve puts his arm around him, and Sam is like, Oh good goddamn, that's what this is been, he's been scoping out the group to help his BOYFRIEND, Steve is so fucking MAGICAL and also TAKEN, FUCK.

But at break, Steve comes up to him and Sam talks about how pleased he is that Bucky came and is opening up, and Steve smiles and is like, yeah, he's so proud too. And Sam's like, "You must love him very much to do this for him," and Steve nods and looks sheepish and says he does, and Sam is totally dying on the inside but is so careful not to show it. And without skipping a beat Steve is like, "So do you want to maybe go out for dinner Friday?" And Sam glances between Steve and Bucky, eyes wide, and is like, "Um, I'm flattered, but--no, I can't do that," and Steve looks like a kicked puppy and FUCK.

Sam rolls in his misery for weeks. He's pathetic. On the one hand, he has his life together, on the other hand, he hasn't had anyone in his life that meant anything aside from Riley, and he helps as much as he can at the clinic and at the meetings, but fuck, who can help him?

He watches porn and sees nothing but Steve.

Anyway, eventually after meeting one day Bucky comes up to him and is like, "Dude, what is your problem? do you not see how Steve is amazing and how into you he is?" and Sam is like, "I can't date someone who's in my program, God, I want to more than anything I AM SUCH A TERRIBLE PERSON FOR THINKING THAT BUT NO."

And Bucky is all, "YOU FUCKING IDIOT, STEVE IS CLEAN AND HE IS IN LOVE WITH YOU, THERE ARE NO PROBLEMS HERE, UNLESS YOU ARE A JERK, IN WHICH CASE YOU HAVE A BIG FUCKING PROBLEM HERE AND IT IS ME."

And that's how Sam and Steve started dating, not exactly with Bucky holding them in place and saying "Now kiss" but pretty damn close.

Current Mood: blah

Steve Rogers Isn’t Just Any Hero

But the real reason I had to chime in was that Steve Rogers is my favorite superhero. Why? Because unlike other patriotism-themed characters, Steve Rogers doesn’t represent a genericized America but rather a very specific time and place – 1930’s New York City. We know he was born July 4, 1920 (not kidding about the 4th of July) to a working-class family of Irish Catholic immigrants who lived in New York’s Lower East Side.[1] This biographical detail has political meaning: given the era he was born in and his class and religious/ethnic background, there is no way in hell Steve Rogers didn’t grow up as a Democrat, and a New Deal Democrat at that, complete with a picture of FDR on the wall.

Steve Rogers grew up poor in the Great Depression, the son of a single mother who insisted he stayed in school despite the trend of the time (his father died when he was a child; in some versions, his father is a brave WWI veteran, in others an alcoholic, either or both of which would be appropriate given what happened to WWI veterans in the Great Depression) and then orphaned in his late teens when his mother died of TB.[2] And he came of age in New York City at a time when the New Deal was in full swing, Fiorello LaGuardia was mayor, the American Labor Party was a major force in city politics, labor unions were on the move, the Abraham Lincoln Brigade was organizing to fight fascism in Spain in the name of the Popular Front, and a militant anti-racist movement was growing that equated segregation at home with Nazism abroad that will eventually feed into the “Double V” campaign.

Then he became a fine arts student. To be an artist in New York City in the 1930s was to be surrounded by the “Cultural Front.” We’re talking the WPA Arts and Theater Projects, Diego Rivera painting socialist murals in Rockefeller Center, Orson Welles turning Julius Caesar into an anti-fascist play and running an all-black Macbeth and “The Cradle Will Rock,” Paul Robeson was a major star, and so on. You couldn’t really be an artist and have escaped left-wing politics. And if a poor kid like Steve Rogers was going to college as a fine arts student, odds are very good that he was going to the City College of New York at a time when an 80% Jewish student body is organizing student trade unions, anti-fascist rallies, and the “New York Intellectuals” were busily debating Trotskyism vs. Stalinism vs. Norman Thomas Socialism vs. the New Deal in the dining halls and study carrels.

And this Steve Rogers, who’s been exposed to all of what New York City has to offer, becomes an explicit anti-fascist. In the fall of 1940, over a year before Pearl Harbor, he first volunteers to join the army to fight the Nazis specifically. This isn’t an apolitical patriotism forged out of a sense that the U.S has been attacked; rather, Steve Rogers had come to believe that Nazism posed an existential threat to the America he believed in. New Deal America.

I was particularly struck by this quote:

However, even in these versions, some of the political edge of the character is left out. Joe Johnson’s Captain America spends a lot of time punching Hitlers for the USO, but not so much hunting down corporate tax evaders or the German-American Bund, because that might raise uncomfortable questions. Likewise, when it came time to bring Steve Rogers into the Avengers, Joss Whedon describes that “One of the best scenes that I wrote [for the Avengers] was the beautiful and poignant scene between Steve and Peggy [Carter] that takes place in the present,” in which Captain America “talks about the loss of the social safety net that existed in his time, including the need for affordable healthcare for everyone.”[11] It’s good to know that Joss Whedon was thinking about “a sense of loss about what’s happening in our culture, loss of the idea of community, loss of health care and welfare and all sorts of things,” but it really is a shame that the element of Steve Rogers that most challenges modern America with the question of whether we’ve lived up to the ideals of the “Greatest Generation” was left on the cutting room floor.

Every review of Black Widow in 'Captain America' is wrong

In the Independent, Black Widow is a “sultry femme fatale,” although the Telegraph gives her the inaccurate but far more positive rating of “the most (the first?) complex female role in the Avengers franchise to date.” Apparently he failed to notice Pepper Potts (40-year-old tech company CEO), the four central female characters of the Thor movies, Peggy Carter (World War II intelligence agent), Maria Hill (deputy director of an international spy agency), and half the main cast of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

...

If you feel like playing film critic misogyny bingo when America’s first round of Winter Soldier reviews are published this week, I recommend looking out for the phrases “leather-clad” and “ass-kicker.” These are an easy way to weed out any reviewers who weren’t paying attention to the movie, because neither phrase describes Black Widow’s actual role.

~

There really needs to be some more commentary on the Falcon out there. I've watched several of Mackie's interviews where he is thoughtful and adorable (I could roll around in all the feels from that interview where he discomfits Bill O'Reilly just by BEING HIS UNAPOLOGETICALLY ADORABLE SELF) but there's no real analysis I've found yet on Falcon's role as the first African-American superhero, what it *means* when you have two heroes IN THE 70S AND ONWARDS having a regular book where they talk about progressive politics and idealism in America, just, gah, NEED ORE!

Current Mood: thoughtful

THIS INTERVIEW OH MY GOD.

Made even better because Bill O'Reilly is the other guest and sitting next to Mackie who is dorking out and being adorable and just, kind of trying to ignore the fact that he is sitting next to a black superhero. just great.

Current Mood: amused

I HAVE SO MANY FEELS, YOU GUYS. It exceeded my already very high expectations. It did everything right with POC and women characters. Just asdfghjkl;!!!!!!!!!!1

( Spoilers and more feels )

IN CONCLUSION: THIS IS A VERY GOOD MOVIE AND I LIKED IT A LOT.

I think it's a great movie even if you don't like superheroics and you just want espionage thriller stuff.

ETA: Scott and I were eagle-eying a lot. We're reasonably certain Steve lives somewhere in Bethesda; we're pretty sure the mall scene takes place in Friendship Heights. It's not clear where Sam lives esp with the trees but my vote goes towards somewhere in Silver Spring.

Current Mood: ecstatic

So I found this:

And now I really, really want to do nothing but sit down and write reams of fic about Steve and PTSD and being bros with Sam, but no, I have to adult and read and write things for school instead. PFFFTTT.

Current Mood: thoughtful

Marvel commits to Black Widow film

I can only imagine at Marvel Studios some variant of the following conversation is happening:

MINION: Every since the Guardians of the Galaxy trailer came out, social media has been swamped with memes about DC unable to put together a Wonder Woman movie while we can have a talking alien raccoon riding an alien Ent.

KEVIN FEIGE: Hmm. It seems as if women want to see a woman superhero as much as they do gorgeous men in tight and flattering uniforms.

MINION: Indeed, sir.

KEVIN FEIGE: Well, we must obviously never waste an opportunity to stamp on DC mercilessly. Someone call the contracts office and Scarjo. Time to start redesigning Phase 3!

***endcredits scene***

SCARJO and JOSS WHEDON wordlessly fistbump.

Current Mood: ecstatic

So the MCU is updating Sam Wilson/The Falcon's backstory from social worker to veterans' counselor specializing in PTSD.

OH MY GOD I LOVE THIS SO MUCH.

Apparently in the new movie Cap will be living in DC. I'm not sure how I feel about this, because as much as I love DC, I think Steve would hate it. Too many hipsters. (OTOH he would probably have the same problem back in Brooklyn.) I've been trying to figure out what neighborhood he'd probably live in, because I'm a dork. I've narrowed it down to the U St. Corridor (my personal headcanon has Gabe Jones taking the Howlers to Ben's Chili Bowl on leave in the 1940s; the area is historically African-American and has a long and storied history with the Civil Rights movement throughout the 20th c.) and Q St. (as unpretentious a working/middle-class inner-city area as it gets in DC). I think he would be really discomfited by the Cleveland Park/Friendship Heights/Bethesda areas (so disconcertingly white and monied compared to other areas). But I totally bet he spends tons of his off-hours at the Hirsshorn Gallery taking in modern art and sketching.

Damn. Now I just want to write about Steve and Sam being bros in DC and talking about psychology and civil rights and stuff. DAMMIT.

Oh, and DC currently has a campaign to promote trans-people and I just want to see Steve being fascinated with that.

Current Mood: thoughtful

Surprising no one, I *loved* it! I mean, I really enjoyed the first one, but this one was much, much tighter in both writing and execution.

I went to both a 2d and a 3d showing. FWIW, I don't think going to 3d is worth it--the viewing experience wasn't that different from 2d--but it had a different trailer for Cap 2 with more footage of the elevator scene, a close-up of the Winter Soldier's metal arm and his face. (They decided to go all Green Arrow and give him a make-up domino mask, which drives me a little nuts as that has EVEN LESS PURPOSE than an actual domino mask. Sigh.)

Note: There are two post credit scenes, ala Avengers: one midway through and one at the very end. (Most people left by then. I swear, it's like Coloradans have never seen a Marvel flick before. Yeesh.)

Non-spoilery thoughts:

*Tom Hiddleston utterly stole the show. From everyone. Not hard with Hemsworth and co., but with Anthony Hopkins and Rene Russo--damn, son.

*The design of Asgard. You get to see even more in this film, and it's so. fucking. beautiful. It's like Art Deco and Scandinavia had a beautiful steampunky baby.

*Jane Foster/Natalie Portman was much better this go around. They made her more dorky but more understandably so if that makes sense. I always thought one of the weaknesses of the first film was how we have every reason to see why she'd love Thor, but much less why he would be drawn to her. Whereas in the Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes iteration, Jane was an EMT and her bravery in going into danger unarmed to help people utterly won Thor over--and I always just *loved* that. In this movie she gets to show off some more of her science know how and be adorkable about it--and you get to see that Thor just loves her passion and adorkableness. Which I really liked.

*I'm glad Zachary Levi was in it, but--it was only for like three minutes. C'mon, guys.

*The Dark Elves. Does anyone recognize their language? It didn't sound like AS/Germanic to me, and I'm wondering if it was some form of Welsh?

*Also, Chris Eccleston, I love you, but they didn't give you much to work with, did they?

*Heimdall/Idris Elba. Can we talk about his eyes? Because they are like anime levels of expressive. The man is in yellow contacts and let's focus on his eyes to show his thoughts. LET'S ALSO ADD SOME STARS AND STUFF BECAUSE HE IS A GOD WHO WATCHES ALL. Just. *shiver*

Spoilery thoughts:
( Spoiler spoiler spoiler )

One thing the reviews have brought out is that this film has a light touch, which I agree with, and think makes a pleasant change. I loved IM3 and its dissection of American politics and terrorism and such, and I think Cap2 will be similarly interesting, but--it's also nice to sit back and look at some pretty with some swordfights. It really, really is.

Current Mood: cheerful

My reactions largely went: GUNN!!!!!!!!! COULSON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! etc.

( Spoilers of Spoilerdom )

All things considered, I think it was a solid pilot episode: It set up all the characters, foreshadowed a bunch of possible plot-lines, and told a self-contained story. I'm pleased with it and am curious what's coming next, especially as it starts to set up its themes and such. So far what it reminds me most of thus far is Dollhouse, setting up these insider and outsider characters in this new world. SQUEE ON!

Current Mood: happy

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Just a Sci-Fi Kid Like Me

i'm a digital brat with an insect mind

Entries tagged with avengers

Fic Master Post

Bookmark: The Power of a Skeptical Captain America

Miscellaneous Thoughts on Pop Culture Consumption

Finished Luke Cage S2

Still processing Infinity War

This amused me

Luke Cage Reaction Post

Random question to self

Signalboost: "Helen Cho, Age of Ultron, and Representation Feels"

My problem not problem

Movie Review: The Avengers: Age of Ultron

Not Meta: The Avengers Sex Addicts AU

Recommended Reading to Better Process Your Marvel Feels

Anthony Mackie is Freaking Adorable

Movie Review: Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier

ALL OF THE STEVE FEELS, OKAY

Squee!!!!!!!!!!!

Some Nerd Squee

Movie Review: Thor 2: The Dark World

"Nobody's nobody"--A Lot of Feels About SHIELD