So I'm back from basically nowhere! Mostly for you, Anne. I like you. Also I feel like you might discuss all the below stuff with me, because.
Disclaimer: I liked this movie. The first big chunk of stuff below makes it look like I hated it, but I’m just getting the bad stuff out of the way first.
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when everything but the acting is a failure )
There are many times this movie tries, at least supposedly, to tell us what's up with Jane. She's excited about superscience around her; she tells Thor she's afraid that she might die. But these things are shorthand to free the script from actually letting Jane be explored; they are simple moments to say "Jane likes science," "Jane likes Thor," even "Jane is scared/hurt and needs saving", but they never allow anything deeper. Jane doesn't get to have a breakdown, or get angry with the asses who did these things to her, or take control and investigate all this awesome science around her. And that's not because she somehow doesn't have emotions or motivations; it's because those emotions don't matter to this movie, even though it's pretending that they do. It's because spending time on Jane would be inconvenient; she might get upset without just accepting that Thor will save her or do or say something ugly or self-revealing or desperate, and that's a little too much real for this movie's placid, no-really-we-respect-female-characters plod. The script's purpose for Jane is to be the love interest of the leading man and require saving from a great evil, and to a lesser extent to function as a representative for her species instead of an individual. No matter how much it tries to hide that by letting her say large words every few scenes to illustrate that she loves science, it still doesn't want or accept her as a character in her own right.
And this is way not Natalie Portman's fault, either. I have seen Natalie Portman perform Acting, and there is no way this is a case of an actress just not being able to emote or communicate her character because of lack of skill. There is a deep flaw in her character's treatment throughout the movie - both movies - that her holy Streepness herself probably couldn't climb out of.
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And you're right, in the end, Jane is just a placeholder for Thor, too - he loves her because of what she represents, not really who she is, because his feelings for her have also never been explored. They are, as always, less important than his feelings for his family and universe and responsibilities. Jane is here because the hero has to get the girl, and she's given the hallmarks of being neat because there would be complaints if she weren't, but she's still paper-thin.
This is one of the reasons I love coming to tumblr to read about Jane, actually. Fan-works have fixing this kind of bullshit at the forefront of their mission most of the time; posts about Jane delve into her thoughts and feelings and motivations in ways the source material never bothers to, build her up into the character she was meant to be and unleash her across fiction and art as an awesome and every bit as important person as everyone else in the movies. They read into all the things she does and construct what she might have thought and felt; they write those pivotal, beautiful scenes she deserved that would have given us windows into her soul; they give her the attention she deserved directly from the people who most need to see her and characters like her given their due. I love that. We should never make the mistake of thinking that because writers treat Jane poorly, Jane is herself a poor character. We should celebrate Jane. She freaking traveled to a different planet by accident through the power of science. She is awesome.
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So, yes: slapping Loki, also slapping Thor, what is she doing. Actually, I don't think she's really stupid enough for this to be a stupid move. I think it's more of a statement. I actually kind of like her slapping rampage, because I think it's one of the few places in the movie she actually gets to have and act on a real emotional moment.
Jane's a smart person, and she knows she can't physically do anything to anyone from Asgard. She's seen Asgardians fight and knows how many truck-tons of force they can take without flinching; she knows slapping them won't do a single goddamn thing. Hitting Thor when he comes back is an emotional expression, a way of letting him know how deeply upset with him she is without screaming or breaking down, and where it would be unacceptable against another human who could be hurt by it, she knows it's going to bother him about as much as a slap from a fly would. In fact, when dealing with a dude from a warrior culture who could benchpress fifty of her with one hand, giving him a slap when she comes in is almost the best she can do to be part of that: she's asserting her physical presence, letting him know in no uncertain terms that she's pissed off, and doing both within a cultural framework he can understand and one that doesn't actually have even the remotest chance of causing him injury or discomfort. I wouldn't be surprised if she hits him a lot; if I were her, I'd probably be worried he wouldn't notice me unless I did.
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But Jane is a pigeon, and she has a right to be mad. Her planet was attacked, many people - possibly even people she knows, we don't know! - were killed, maimed or had their lives destroyed, national peace and security will never be the same, and the guy who did all that is standing right in front of her, lookin debonair and unconcerned as shit. I'm surprised she only slapped him, and didn't devolve into a screaming fit right there. (Actually, I would have enjoyed it if she had.) Yeah, from the Asgardian perspective, what he did on earth was practically a misdemeanor, and it's really disobeying Odin that he's most guilty of. From her perspective, he's an evil mass murderer who thinks of her as cattle and the fucker is smiling at her.
And honestly, I'm not too down on her for the stupidity of hitting Loki (who, again, she knows she has no prayer of actually hurting). I mean, yeah, he's a crazy psychopath who kills humans without even noticing and that's probably not the best idea she's ever had, but at the same time, he's clearly in chains and surrounded by people who would blow his head off if he tried to retaliate, starting with Thor. It's probably the only time ever, no matter what happens, that she can strike out against him for what he did without either being instantly murdered or totally ignored. And I think there may even be a level of ethical imperative there; she's the only human on Asgard right now, might be the only one ever, and at the moment it doesn't look like Loki's ever going back to Midgard, so this is also the only time humanity, represented by her, can face its attacker and in some small way strike back for what he did. Jane, the Everywoman.
Jane's not stupid, but she is a person with emotions and knee-jerk responses. I probably wouldn't have done what she did, but I can kind of admire her for it anyway.
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