Avengers Assemble

[miss_s_b]

I loved it. Holly loved it. Holly can't decide if she liked Hulk or Thor best. I can't pick between Iron Man and Black Widow. And Samuel L Jackson Fury was stunningly BAMFish. All the characters were really well drawn, and there were loads of really lovely little touches that wouldn't have been in a by-the-numbers superhero movie, but they were in this and added to its awesome.

However, it wasn't totally unproblematic... I'm not going to go too spoilery, but there are a couple of feministy issues I would like to address.

1. On the positive side, several people have said that Black Widow isn't given enough to do. Well, she beats up three guys while strapped to a chair then she recruits Banner all by herself then she pilots a plane and shoots people from it then she out-tricks Loki, THE GOD OF TRICKS then she cures Hawkeye of his Loki-brainwash, not by telling him she loves him or any of that soppy crap - but by beating the crap out of him, and once he's cured he's the one who is over emotional about it then she steals and flies an alien aircraft then she saves the whole god-damn world (with a bit of help from a half-dead scientist).
   
   Now, I'm sorry, but I think that qualifies as enough, especially compared to a couple of the guys, whose storyline is "hit someone" and then "hit some more people". She's the core of the plot. I wish there had been MORE female characters - it would have been particularly lovely to see Jane and Darcy again - but at it's disingenuous to say that the one female hero they had was underused*, and anyone who DOES say that is falling prey to the "women must do twice as much twice as well to be thought of half as good as a man" folly IMHO


2. Loki tossing gendered insults at her and threatening her with being raped by her best friend, while not out of character for him, was disappointing. He didn't throw the N-word at Nick Fury, or threaten him with rape, and there would have been outcry if he did. So I still think we have a way to go.

All that said? I'd still give it nine out of ten. And I'm still a bit in love with Tony Stark. And yes, I cried at the death of Phil Coulson, but since even Samuel L Jackson sheds a little BAMFy tear at that, I think I'm allowed

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*Pepper, while being v smart and running most of Stark, and knowing everyone better than Tony, is not Rescue in this film, and so I'm not counting her in the hero list.

Comments

[miss_s_b]

I loved Tony screaming "HIS NAME WAS PHIL!!!!" at Loki after earlier having said to Pepper "I thought his first name was Agent", among many many others.