The big problem with this social justice pandering, whether it's in superhero comic movies or anywhere else, is that it's very obviously not being used to actually engage with any new ideas. To the contrary, it just acts as a bulwark against any possible criticism, by free associating the new ideas with stereotypes. The "smile more" critique of Brie Larson is a perfect example of this. Anyone complaining about how weirdly humorless Brie Larson was relative to the Marvel brand could easily be pigeonholed as being some misogynist jerk, making dour Brie Larson an extremely safe creative choice regardless of how it's executed.
It's funny to look back on Captain Marvel as this massive success which vindicated the whole strategy. I think in reality it was popular mainly because Disney successfully branded it as the final piece of the great Marvel narrative that you needed in order to understand Endgame. Once that element was gone, Captain Marvel as a character aged so poorly that The Marvels only made a small fraction of the money its prequel did.
All this just speaks to a larger problem. Major film producers want the credibility of a brand but are offended at the idea that they need to put effort into understanding why people ever liked the brand in the first place. They're trying to use it as a cheat code to make money without doing any actual work and are now years into a slump that could have been avoided if they'd just tried doing something else instead of continuing to double down on an increasingly expensive strategy of diminishing returns. They've so thoroughly internalized this toxic mindset it wouldn't surprise me if AI manages to kill the whole industry off once and for all.
Probably the most aggravating motif or stock character I am seeing these days is the pseudo-Girlboss who for some reason has insufficient if nonexistent agency, to draw a hard outline of What She's Up Against.
As opposed to a Randian "it's not who's going to let me, it's who's going to stop me" total ownership of situations and agency to spare, these pseudo-Girlbosses seem to be overcome by external forces, usually of a patriarchical nature, requiring some kind of deus ex machina to save them and see them through.
Hell, Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin, and Jane Fonda did better in 9 to 5 in this regard.
If you're going to have a strong female character, have a strong female character.
The big problem with this social justice pandering, whether it's in superhero comic movies or anywhere else, is that it's very obviously not being used to actually engage with any new ideas. To the contrary, it just acts as a bulwark against any possible criticism, by free associating the new ideas with stereotypes. The "smile more" critique of Brie Larson is a perfect example of this. Anyone complaining about how weirdly humorless Brie Larson was relative to the Marvel brand could easily be pigeonholed as being some misogynist jerk, making dour Brie Larson an extremely safe creative choice regardless of how it's executed.
It's funny to look back on Captain Marvel as this massive success which vindicated the whole strategy. I think in reality it was popular mainly because Disney successfully branded it as the final piece of the great Marvel narrative that you needed in order to understand Endgame. Once that element was gone, Captain Marvel as a character aged so poorly that The Marvels only made a small fraction of the money its prequel did.
All this just speaks to a larger problem. Major film producers want the credibility of a brand but are offended at the idea that they need to put effort into understanding why people ever liked the brand in the first place. They're trying to use it as a cheat code to make money without doing any actual work and are now years into a slump that could have been avoided if they'd just tried doing something else instead of continuing to double down on an increasingly expensive strategy of diminishing returns. They've so thoroughly internalized this toxic mindset it wouldn't surprise me if AI manages to kill the whole industry off once and for all.
Probably the most aggravating motif or stock character I am seeing these days is the pseudo-Girlboss who for some reason has insufficient if nonexistent agency, to draw a hard outline of What She's Up Against.
As opposed to a Randian "it's not who's going to let me, it's who's going to stop me" total ownership of situations and agency to spare, these pseudo-Girlbosses seem to be overcome by external forces, usually of a patriarchical nature, requiring some kind of deus ex machina to save them and see them through.
Hell, Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin, and Jane Fonda did better in 9 to 5 in this regard.
If you're going to have a strong female character, have a strong female character.