Captain Marvel, Disney Princesses, and the “Feminist Agenda,” Part 2
3. Reverse Chronological Snobbery
C. S.
Lewis coined the term “chronological snobbery” to describe the belief that the
“intellectual climate” of our own time is automatically superior to that of the
past, as the beliefs and practices of previous generations are outdated and
less enlightened. This is a dangerous and pernicious mindset, blocking us from
learning from past eras.
Another
detrimental mindset is reverse
chronological snobbery. This is the belief that the intellectual climate of
times past are inherently superior to those in the present. The person who holds
this view practices what my friend E. Stephen Burnett has called
“nostalgia-based discernment”—looking back to the good old days when times were
ostensibly simpler or better or easier. In the words of author Jen Pollock Michel, it can be tempting to “decry the abasement of morality in
contemporary culture…when compared (however naively) to an idyllic yesteryear.”
The wording Morse used in his piece led
many readers to believe that he longed for an idyllic yesteryear—i.e., the time
period of the earliest Disney princesses. A lot of people reacted strongly (and
sometimes harshly) to the idea that Morse thought women were better off back in
the earlier days of Disney animation.
Based on the in-depth conversation I was
able to have with him after originally publishing this blog post, I discovered
that many of Morse’s critics were responding based on a misperception of Morse’s
intentions. He did not mean to declare—or even insinuate—a longing for the
“good old days” of the 1940s. That wasn’t his point at all.
What did he mean, then? Please visit my third entry in this series to get a clearer picture of Morse’s original
intentions.
4. A Demeaning Attitude Toward Women
It is true that men are generally
physically stronger than women. A recent BBC article I read said that men have “40% more upper-body strength and 33%
more lower body strength.” To deny differences between the sexes, or to promote
the idea that one sex is better than the other, is dangerous.
Because of the wording Morse used,
however, many interpreted him as going beyond cautioning against such dangers.
In fact, his argument against the “myth of sameness between the sexes” seemed
to communicate (inadvertently, we now know) not just that men and women are different, but
that men are better than women. As an illustration, let me
share just one example.
Morse wrote that the “alternative universe
where an accident infuses the heroine with superhuman powers…seems to stand as
a reasonable apologetic for the feminist agenda.” This language implies
that Captain Marvel is basically a wish-fulfillment fantasy
for women, since they have no hope of such amazing powers in our universe.
But what about all the superhero stories
where men are infused with superhuman powers through an accident? Are stories
about Spider-Man, The Hulk, and The Flash just wish fulfillment fantasies for
men who lack a sufficient amount of masculinity? Are these comic book heroes a
reasonable apologetic for the misogynist agenda? Of course, to ask such a silly
question is to answer it.
A stronger point could have been made, I
think, if Morse had specifically critiqued movies and TV shows featuring petite
women fighting and overcoming larger, stronger men in real-world, hand-to-hand
combat situations (which often are not only unrealistic, but also involve a
quasi-sexual move where the woman wraps her legs around her enemy’s neck to
gain the victory). Because of his unclear language, however, he seemed to be
critiquing more than he actually was.
SAME BOOK, DIFFERENT PAGES
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: AntMan3001
via flickr,
CC (this photo has been cropped)