Age of Ultron: thinky thoughts
Second viewing of Age of Ultron was on Tuesday for thinky thoughts and third viewing was this afternoon for trying to memorize quotes and checking a few things for fic purposes *grins*. So I bring you further, hopefully more coherent, thinking. Be warned: SPOILERS FOR ALL THE THINGS. Also it’s kind of long and detailed, sorry not sorry
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On the Firefly references- I think you're being overly optimistic, that's more thematic similarity than deliberate reference. Also Foucault is not my cup of tea, but I always love seeing things I studied in uni referenced ;)
Two things I though were brilliant in this meta:
1. Tony as freedom from, Steve as freedom to. I don't conceptualize these as a binary as you do (in some cases these freedoms even enhance each other!), but they are contrasting positions that are sometimes contradictory. It's also worth noting that their personal behavior belies their views - Tony is very much for individualistic freedom-to behavior for himself, but doesn't extend that trust to others. Steve is team-oriented and empathetic (the crack about German experimentation was great) and never really uses his "freedom to" for individual ends despite having great power.
2. The change between Cap 2 "It's a good way not to die," Nat and Avengers 2 "There are worse ways to go," Nat. It could be just a coincidence, but I hope not, because it's great character development. It also ties back to the idea of positive and negative peace you mentioned earlier (i.e. the difference between quiet/ calm and active peace/ justice). Surviving/ not dying is negative peace, where as accepting death but also embracing life (as she does when she pursues Bruce, and then makes the hero's choice) is a positive act.
Lastly, I thought the most interesting philosophical difference in the movie was actually between Natasha and Steve when they discuss whether to kill thousands or people in the present or risk the entire world. Natasha is clearly a pragmatist who judges actions by their results. Steve is an idealistic who judges actions by his moral code (I'm not leaving this rock with one civilian on it). Certainly sets up an interesting conflict for Civil War and Avengers 3.
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Yeah, my ears are too trained to the Firefly frequency and need to stop, but hey, they heard what they heard ;) Well, I had Saga and Margaret Atwood in there, Foucault wanted to join in *grins*.
1) Now that's a fascinating angle. I'd picked up on Tony being a contrast, wanting freedom from for everyone else but wanted freedom to himself to get there, to be able to do what he wants without 'a City Hall debate', but yes, Steve is also contradictions, wanting people to have freedom to but then cracking down on Tony when he tries to exercise that freedom. The individual vs team as well too... Wondering how this will feed into Civil War!
2) YES, from surviving to living. I may be making this up, but sod it, this is Natasha's arc for me :)
I think of this also in terms of Natasha is going for an escape plan here, she's saying all of them on flying Sokovia vs everyone else, kind of the same sacrifice play as Tony at the end of Avengers flying the nuke into space and Cap bringing down his plane... And kind of what you were saying about Steve in terms of the individual and team above, that this isn't a sacrifice play for Steve because there are civilians involved.
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