Warning right now: this is not a review, and it will have plot spoilers, so if you haven't seen it and don't want spoilers, come back later. If you want a review, my short review is though I have some notes, as a writer, I thought it was a very fun movie and worth a watch.
I also think it's a very important movie right now, and I think I need to explain what I mean by that.
I've been watching the controversy online over the movie and how Rotten Tomatoes had to change their rating/review allowances due to people trying to sink the movie before it even came out. According to this article from The Atlantic, this was due to the film having a female lead, although when I talked to a male friend, he also added that a lot of people were boycotting the movie or rating it low because they didn't like Brie Larson or comments she made about "40 year old white dudes" reviewing movies.
On the other hand, the women I speak to either loved this movie, enjoyed it to some degree (like I did) or think that at least, it was important and good that it exists. I also agree with this, and this is why:
1. Hate groups tried to drag the movie, but it did well anyway.
See above about Rotten Tomatoes; people were leaving bad reviews for Captain Marvel, trying to prevent it from doing well, just because we have a female lead. I understand not wanting to support an actor that you dislike or who has said or done things you disagree with; I can think of a few celebrities I do not acknowledge or watch. However, and this is a side point, the comment that Brie Larson's movies shouldn't be watched because she said something rude sounds pretty hollow if the speaker is still watching films made by/starring John Travolta, Charlie Sheen, Kevin Spacey, Dustin Hoffman, Jeffrey Tambor, (men who have been accused of sexual harasment and worse), etc., while making the case that we should "separate the art from the artist."
Again, I don't dispute that it's okay to refuse to watch a movie because you dislike an actor. I'm just condemning hypocrisy and asking that you don't give bad reviews without seeing a movie. Just be freaking honest, okay?
But despite all that, Captain Marvel did well. It made $153,433,423 its opening weekend, making it the #1 film that weekend. It now is the 10th highest earning film in the MCU. This is important: despite the smear campaign, people came to see it. This tells Marvel that there is an audience for films about female heroes (so where's our Black Widow movie?). After years of hearing that no one wants to see a movie about a female hero, we have our proof right here that yes, we really do.
And why is this important?
2. A stand-alone female superhero.
I just did a count of MCU superheroes. Of the 24 heroes I found on one list, 18 of them were men. Only 6 were women, and this counted Black Widow, Gamora, Mantis, Wasp, Scarlet Witch, and Captain Marvel. Of course, this wasn't complete (I mean, where's Valkyrie in this list? Or Hank Pym?) but it does show a disparity.
Of the 21 MCU films that have come out so far, 14 are stand-alone hero films starring a male hero. Six are ensemble casts with a blend of male and female characters (Avengers, Guardians, etc.) although I think the case could be made with the Guardians films that Peter Quill is the protagonist, and everyone else is a side character. I included Ant-Man and the Wasp in this category. And we have 1, just 1, with a stand-alone female hero.
Considering that 50% of the population are female, this math seems a bit skewed. And yet we still have some guys complaining that there are too many female leads and Hollywood hates white men.
And yes, this is important. For the first time, Marvel fans are able to watch a movie about a woman, dealing with the issues of being a woman. We don't have to watch a man and just figure out a way to relate, like we always do. We love the male superheroes, we do. But its empowering and wonderful to see the hero look like us, finally. It gives us so much to see a woman, on her own, save the world. For once, we're not a sidekick or love interest: we're the hero.
Boys, how would you feel if every time you turned around, the hero was a woman? If every film and story only showed you as eye candy or a prize for the leading lady to rescue and win?
How would it feel, then, if suddenly one movie was actually about you? That is why this movie is so important.
Yes, I know Wonder Woman came out, and yes, I loved that as well. It was important, too. Captain Marvel, though, shows the trend continue, and frankly, is coming from a better loved film franchise. Personally, I also appreciate that Captain Marvel's costume isn't so revealing; I wouldn't feel comfortable trying to cosplay as Wonder Woman.
Now, though, we have a hero that little girls can look up to. Finally, there's merchandise for the girls, with a female superhero.
I have two work-out shirts based on superhero costumes: the Flash and Spider-Man. But I have never been able to find a female hero's costume represented. I'm hopeful that soon I'll find a Captain Marvel compression shirt.
This film is important because it tells girls that we're valuable and heroic, too. It's a step to representing us fairly and equally. Maybe, someday, we won't be 1 out of 21. Maybe there will be actual representative equality one day.
Which brings me to my last point.
3. The film resonated quite a bit with women's perspectives.
Okay, why am I talking about this? Like I said earlier, this was a movie about a woman, and women tended to like it more than men did. I went to see it with a group of men, and they came out saying, "Meh." And while I did think the movie could have been improved, story-wise, I left with my sister, and we were talking about parts of the film that mattered to us but probably not to the men.
Because they have different lives, different perspectives. And, for most of the MCU movies, they've had heroes with lives and perspectives that were like theirs.
But Captain Marvel is about a woman, and her perspective is a woman's. I think this is true also with Wonder Woman but maybe a little more with Captain Marvel. Let me explain:
- There's a scene in the film where a man hits on Captain Marvel and tells her to smile. My sister and I were so mad about that, because it's happened to us. My fiance and I both went to England, separately, last summer. I was there with a female friend. He was with his family. My friend and I got hit on by two drunk Welsh men, and it was scary. We thought the men might follow us off the bus. They didn't, but I don't think my fiance or his family had to deal with this.
- Captain Marvel is told, over and over again, that she's too emotional. That she doesn't deserve her powers if she can't stifle her emotions. She is told her powers are a gift to her and they can be taken away, when the powers are actually a part of her and she's being manipulated. For an audience of women who get told that they're too emotional to hold office or be taken seriously, while young men shoot up schools for being rejected, for an audience who has heard men talk down to them and take credit for their contributions (and believe me, this happens), this sounded very familiar, and it was beautiful to see Carol Danvers rise above this.
- At the end, Captain Marvel comes face to face with her old mentor who demands that she fight him without her powers, that she prove that she's better than him without them. To which she responds by shooting a photon blast at him and saying, "I don't have to prove anything to you."
This last one really spoke to the geek girl in me. When a geek girl says she's a fan, she's sometimes put on trial by boys who want her to prove that she's a real fan, usually by giving trivia on a subject that only a die-hard fan would know. A girl has to be more of a geek than anyone just to prove that she likes something. A woman has to be more competent, more intelligent, more of anything just to be taken seriously.
Take this movie. Captain Marvel was one of Marvel's more mediocre stories. I think it could have been better. But I have heard people complaining that it wasn't good, that Marvel should have made a better female-led film if they want more superhero movies about women. At that, I wonder, why is no one saying it about the movies about men? No one complains that Ant-Man is mediocre, or Guardians of the Galaxy 2. No one is complaining about how Age of Ultron needs to be astounding or no one will want to do another Avengers movie.
Women can relate to being told to be perfect. To be smart and beautiful and powerful and a perfect mother and wife and a killer in the workplace just to be considered on par with the men around them. So when Carol says, "I don't have to prove anything to you," it felt really, really good. I don't have to prove anything; I'm heroic and valuable without having to reach your unattainable standards.
So, basically, Captain Marvel was an important film for at least half of the human population. Men, if you didn't like it because of the story and its value as a film, that's fine. I get it and I respect it. But be careful that you're not dismissing it because it's not about you or your lives. Be careful that you are, in fact, supporting equality. We ladies need our heroes, too.
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