Edited by: Maya M. Haidar (UG 2019)
Captain Marvel will be Marvel’s very first female superhero to have a standalone movie, since the Marvel Cinematic Universe came into being. It was DC’S Wonder Woman in 2017 that set things into motion for strongly driven female superheroes–an endeavour,which started and died with Wonder Woman itself. Many fans were visibly upset with how the film actually turned out because (spoiler) in the end, Diana’s thoughts come second to her feelings for a man, nullifying the effect of an entire island of Amazons where Diana grew up surrounded by some of the most powerful and brave women.
Although, the problem begins with making a comparison between the two films. While Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel are above all portrayals of strong female characters, they are in no way related to each other–except for the rivalry between the two studios. It took Marvel a whole decade to make a standalone film for a female superhero (the film for Black Widow never materialized). But having Academy Award winner Brie Larson play the role of Carol Denvers, and centring the plot on the much-awaited Avengers: Endgame, forgives the long wait. Marvel has featured many independent and strong female characters such as Natasha Romanoff, Maria Hill and Shuri, all of whom only had human capabilities. Captain Marvel, on the other hand, is the most powerful Avenger to exist in the Marvel Universe, as has been confirmed by the film producer. This movie could be a game changer for the MCU and the portrayal of women in cinema, as a whole.
The current trend of all-female adaptations of Hollywood classics has seen many downs,with Ghostbusters and Ocean’s Eight: failing to leave a mark and leaving a very negative mark respectively. The pressure to break bonds and change public opinion may be responsible for stifling the true potential of the films:the creators think that they must undo years of misogyny or sexist trends through one film. But overnight change in the film industry is not just impossible but impractical. The general expectations for female led movies are extended to Captain Marvel,and are amplified. Will they manage to portray a female character who does not depend on a male or fall back into the hole of movies which could not pass the Bechdel test? (Context:The Bechdel test is a metric to see how sexist movies are by considering if they have more than one female character,whether those characters have a scene together, and if they converse about things other than men).
Most movies fail the Bechdel test miserably because they either have a lack of female characters, or they have named female characters who never share a scene together and are rather just props with no role in the plot. When they do share a scene together, all their conversations surround the male characters and men in general. Famous blockbusters which fail the Bechdel test include The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Slumdog Millionaire, La La Land, and Avatar. Such a critical analysis of movies and attention to representation, gender equality and accurate casting forces creators to pay attention. The message of a movie may not be to amplify the voices of the oppressed classes or other hard-hitting social message, but it is the lack of thought about small things which sends a stronger message. This is why female led movies are significant to cinema–if half the earth is populated with women, how can movies be made without the presence of female characters? Captain Marvel is not the token female superhero movie, neither is it the movie to erase all gender equality. It is simply a big budget film which stars one of Hollywood’s biggest actors and has been the most-awaited release of 2019.