Captain America: The Winter Soldier: and one more thing
I actually kind of like the black-and-white identification of the good guy agents and the bad guy agents, because it underlines that the presence of good people doesn't counteract an oppressive institution -- and, in fact, that good people can be complicit in or actively maintain an oppressive system.
Ugh, I hate talking about "good people" and "bad people". In fact, I am ideologically opposed to it. So I may be twisting logic in knots here. But even though there are SHIELD agents we like and trust (or that the narrative assumes the audience will like and trust), their existence doesn't mean that the system in which they operate is salvageable.
I just wish there was more of an emphasis on the fact that these "good people" were totally okay with all the surveillance and imperialism when they thought the right people were in control. We get that emphasis for Fury, but we don't get that clear a look at how widespread and how deep the problem is. The movie explicitly name checks Operation Paperclip; HYDRA is in SHIELD because SHIELD invited them in; Captain America and the HYDRA infiltration originate in the same training ground. But then we get an emphasis on Peggy Carter and Howard Stark creating a good thing that got corrupted, not on how questionable their creation was in the first place. Like these attempts to uncover how dark this story is get hastily covered up again. It's like the Pierce-Fury-Steve correspondences -- like there's a much deeper critique that the movie's makers backed away from.
(I don't want grimdark; for one thing, that's another easy out. But I do want to look the problems full in the face, not glance at them from the side. Wow, my metaphors are going all over the place.)
cups brewed at DW
Ugh, I hate talking about "good people" and "bad people". In fact, I am ideologically opposed to it. So I may be twisting logic in knots here. But even though there are SHIELD agents we like and trust (or that the narrative assumes the audience will like and trust), their existence doesn't mean that the system in which they operate is salvageable.
I just wish there was more of an emphasis on the fact that these "good people" were totally okay with all the surveillance and imperialism when they thought the right people were in control. We get that emphasis for Fury, but we don't get that clear a look at how widespread and how deep the problem is. The movie explicitly name checks Operation Paperclip; HYDRA is in SHIELD because SHIELD invited them in; Captain America and the HYDRA infiltration originate in the same training ground. But then we get an emphasis on Peggy Carter and Howard Stark creating a good thing that got corrupted, not on how questionable their creation was in the first place. Like these attempts to uncover how dark this story is get hastily covered up again. It's like the Pierce-Fury-Steve correspondences -- like there's a much deeper critique that the movie's makers backed away from.
(I don't want grimdark; for one thing, that's another easy out. But I do want to look the problems full in the face, not glance at them from the side. Wow, my metaphors are going all over the place.)
cups brewed at DW