Bookmark: The Power of a Skeptical Captain America
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?"
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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.
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.