(no subject)

[ivyfic]

You know, the more I think about it, the more pissed I am at how completely tone deaf the movie was about the things Americans did in the war. I think now what I'd like most from a Steve Rogers in the future story is for him to find out about Nagasaki and Hiroshima and the internment camps and realize that Americans were bullies, too. (I'm not making a statement about whether or not we should have dropped the bomb--but this was not a war where all the righteousness was on our side, I'm just saying.)

God. It really kind of pisses me off. This movie brought up a whole boatload of really loaded issues and then ignored them and I just don't feel quite that happy-go-lucky about the whole thing. I've never read the comics, I have no attachment to the character or the Marvel verse, and this movie just did not sell me on it. At all.

Comments

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

The imagery that bothers you so much honestly never occurred to me, and I'm as saturated with those images as anyone, to be sure. Interesting.

Having a problem with the premise but going to see the movie anyway? What, are you me all of a sudden?

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

I honestly knew nothing about Captain America in advance, except for what Stephen Colbert said on his show.

And also, the movie did not even examine the basic idea of there being an uber mensch, and it could have done that. You have Red Skull saying he no longer fits Hitler's ideal (when Steve CLEARLY does), you have him saying he and Steve are now above everyone else and then...nada. Steve has guts and heart, but everything he does after the procedure is about his physical beauty/capabilities. We see him as clever with the flagpole when he's scrawny, but then he just punches things. The movie is not saying it's wrong to try to create the ideal man. It's saying the ideal man is an American. So...Hitler was right? I mean, just, what. His sidekicks are less than window dressing--Bucky exists to be killed--everything he does, he does. The movie basically validates the whole Nazi uber mensch idea, while simultaneously pushing American weapons-creation onto Nazis and it just bothers the HELL out of me.

Yes, I know the uber mensch thing is also a general comic book super hero thing, but this setting draws specific attention to it in a very disturbing way.

If you can ignore all the baggage, it worked pretty well as a movie. But all I see is baggage.