If it’s a bad movie, it’s still a bad movie.
For me personally, the reason I absolutely despised Captain Marvel had absolutely nothing to do with the gender. I hated that movie for the same reason I hate almost all depictions of Superman: universe defining power with no real character growth, meaningful struggle or change.
They start with godlike power but don’t know it, discover they have godlike power, and then proceed to trivially dismantle the plot with some contrivance thrown in that doesn’t pose any danger at all to them. It just makes for incredibly boring storytelling.
Have you seen ‘My Adventures with Superman’? I think they did a great job in this series dealing with the issues you mention.
As an aside, One Punch Man is an example of a series where the protagonist is absurdly OP but super entertaining nonetheless - not a comic book series though, of course.
My Adventures with Superman
No, never heard of it. I’ll check it out at some point.
I did like One Punch Man, and yes, they lampshade the sheer ridiculousness of his power level, and even mess with preconceptions by having the origin story be as mundane as possible. I think the core difference between One Punch Man and Superman/Captain Marvel is that OPM isn’t supposed to be taken seriously. The mismatch is the joke.
lobut@lemmy.ca 1 month ago
I REALLY wanted to like Captain Marvel and not just because I have a huge crush on Brie Larson but they really needed to bring their A game writers and directors for her. She really needed to be the bridge from the previous generation to the next. I felt like most of us wanted to root for her in the series but it felt just off … almost like the MCU expected us to root for her without putting in the legwork.
I’m not a writer and I’m shit with storytelling but I really thought they should have started her off on Earth and shown her vulnerable side and have her be more “human” before going all godmode.
MindTraveller@lemmy.ca 1 month ago
The problem is that Carol Danvers’ arc in Captain Marvel is being emotionally repressed by the Kree. She’s a soldier from a regressive society that reduces people to mere weapons. She wins the movie when she embraces her emotions and gains full control of her powers. This is a perfectly fine movie plot on a logical level. Character has a flaw, character overcomes flaw in order to become self actualised and resolve the plot. It’s even socially relevant, because women’s emotions being treated as a taboo is a political issue on our own society. This is classic sci-fi writing.
Unfortunately, it necessitates that Brie Larson must spend 90% of the movie showing absolutely no emotion or feeling. Which is a TERRIBLE directing decision especially for the new flagship of your franchise.
There are ways to use framing to play on this kind of thing and make a good movie out of an emotionless character. Look at Spock and Data. Look at Blade Runner. But Captain Marvel chose not to do that, and to play the superhero genre straight, for… some reason, which resulted in a bad movie.