Captain Marvel, Disney Princesses, and the “Feminist Agenda”
As I see
it, there are four main problems with the article: 1) unclear language, 2) genre
confusion, 3) the appearance of reverse chronological snobbery, and 4) the appearance (unintentionally, to be sure) of a demeaning attitude toward women.
1. Unclear Language
The
article’s author, Greg Morse, pushes back against what he calls the “feminist
agenda,” but he never clarifies what that term actually means. The truth of the matter is that feminism, like many other ideological
positions, is too broad a description to condemn or praise outright. One must
be more nuanced and specific.
There is a
feminism that wants to devalue men in the same way that women have been
devalued, and then there is a feminism that wants to see both men and women
viewed as equal in value and worth. There is a feminism that embraces
pornography as empowering and liberating, and then there is a feminism that
condemns pornography as objectifying and dehumanizing. There is a feminism that
seeks to deny the differences between the sexes, and then there is a feminism
that seeks to embrace those differences as worthy of acknowledgement and
respect.
The group New
Wave Feminists seeks to protect the lives of the unborn. Part of the mantra of
the feminist nonprofit Beauty Redefined is “Women are more than just bodies.” The
feminist organization Collective Shout fights against the sexualization of women and girls. Greg Morse would, I believe, find an
overlap between his sense of Christian ethics and the ethics espoused by the
above groups of women. (I know I do.) As such, Morse would do better to clarify
which “feminist agenda” he’s going after.
As proof
of the movie’s moral failings, Morse refers to an interview with actor Brie
Larson (who plays Captain Marvel), where she says the executives at Disney
wanted to make “the biggest feminist movie of all time.” Morse himself points
out what I’ve seen other reviewers say: Captain Marvel is nowhere near achieving
such a status.
In fact, film
critic Steven D. Greydanus says that praising the movie for being feminist is “like
Christians cheering every faith-based film that comes along: It’s settling for
too little. At the same time, anti-feminist backlash against the film seems
disconnected from reality. For a Marvel movie, Black Panther had
some provocative themes; Captain Marvel really doesn’t.”
In any
case, I watched the entire interview with Larson to get a better feel for what
she was trying to communicate. She came across as gracious and humble, and certainly
not combative. On the contrary, actually. The overall tone of her interview can
be better encapsulated by a part where she said that, in making this movie, “[we
aren’t] trying to stick our tongues out. It’s just, this is who she is, and
this is the story that we’re telling.”
2. Genre Confusion
Morse takes
a huge and faulty logical leap by comparing Captain Marvel (unfavorably) with
the Disney princesses of old. At one point, he says, “Along with
Disney, we abandon the traditional princess vibe, and seek to empower little
girls everywhere to be strong like men. Cinderella trades her glass slipper for
combat boots; Belle, her books for a bazooka.”
This language conflates the fairy tale and superhero genres. Captain Marvel
is not a Disney princess, nor is she trying to be. Her physical abilities are
way above and beyond anything a princess—or any woman—could ever do, just as
the physical abilities of Captain America are far beyond anything a prince—or a
man—could ever do.
When
talking about the abandonment of the “traditional princess vibe” (as if that
were the standard by which superhero movies should be judged), it’s interesting
that Morse uses Cinderella and Belle as examples. Disney has recently produced
live action versions of both those stories, actually, and in neither of these
modern retellings does the princess swap her traditional accoutrements for
combat paraphernalia.
The goal
of a superhero movie is not to get people to try flying off balconies or become
autonomous vigilantes. No, the goal of the superhero genre is not audience imitation but rather audience inspiration. The virtues and character
arcs of superheroes can—and do—motivate us to pursue virtue and character
growth ourselves.
For example,
I found it incredibly inspirational in Captain
America: Civil War when Sharon Carter spoke the following words during her eulogy
for her aunt:
[Aunt
Peggy] said, “Compromise when you can. Where you can’t, don’t. Even if everyone
is telling you that something wrong is something right. Even if the whole world
is telling you to move. It is your duty, to plant yourself like a tree, look
them in the eye and say, ‘No. You move.’”
This call
to resilience and commitment to do what’s right, no matter the cost, proved to
be a catalyst for Steve Rogers’ actions in the rest of the movie. Civil War gave an illustration of what
it might look like to pursue what’s right even when the rest of the world is against
you. It’s a powerful illustration, and it inspired me while watching it. Years
later, even just thinking about it inspires me still.
Or
consider, in the words of cultural commentator K. B. Hoyle, how a movie like Captain
Marvel can inspire audiences:
I
think it is absolutely crucial for girls and women to see representations of
themselves as heroes on the screen—as more than love interests, supporting
characters, femme fatales, or damsels in distress. Furthermore, we need to see
ourselves headlining our own movies as heroes capable of standing alone against
evil when no one else can, no one else is left, or no one else will. Stories
that do not reflect real life cannot be called true or good, and in real life
women are often alone—whether by choice, circumstance, or abandonment. Not that
a woman needs to be alone to stand against evil, but she needs to know she is
capable of it.
Princesses
can be inspirational in their own right, of course, but not typically by
exerting superhuman abilities. Princesses aren’t comic book heroes, and comic
book heroes aren’t princesses. There’s plenty of room for both, and neither
should be judged arbitrarily by the merits of the other.
Those are
the first two problems I have with Morse’s article. As this blog post is lengthy
enough already, I’ll need to save the rest of my thoughts for my follow-up piece: Captain Marvel, Disney Princesses, and the “Feminist Agenda,” Part 2
UPDATE: I
have since had an in-depth conversation with Greg Morse, necessitating a third blog
post to modify my critiques and help bring some much-needed clarity to Morse’s
initial intentions. You can read that entry here: What REALLY Went Wrong with Desiring God’s Critique of CAPTAIN MARVEL
photo credit: VCU Capital News Service via flickr, CC
photo credit: VCU Capital News Service via flickr, CC