{"id":5191,"date":"2019-03-12T19:29:14","date_gmt":"2019-03-12T19:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog-proxy.atomtickets.com\/?p=5191"},"modified":"2019-03-12T19:29:14","modified_gmt":"2019-03-12T19:29:14","slug":"the-themes-that-transform-carol-danvers-into-the-hero-captain-marvel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/themes-in-captain-marvel\/","title":{"rendered":"The Themes That Transform Carol Danvers Into The Hero Captain Marvel"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">By now, you\u2019ve probably read a lot of takes about\u00a0<\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.atomtickets.com\/movies\/captain-marvel\/198440\">Captain Marvel<\/a>.<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">You\u2019ve seen stories about the trolls trying to review bomb the film on aggregators like Rotten Tomatoes, and you\u2019ve likely seen how well that worked out for them with the film\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/box-office-insider-captain-marvel-blasts-its-way-to-1\/\">record-breaking opening weekend<\/a>. You\u2019ve seen valid criticisms and well-earned adoration thrown every which way on social media from both critical and consumer perspectives, and you\u2019ve seen a million different people squeal about Goose.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\"><strong>SPOILER WARNING:<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>This post contains spoilers for Captain Marvel. Reading past this disclaimer is a one-way ticket to spoiler town.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Tdx3YGRXL4Y?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Let\u2019s take a quick look at the underlying themes that build the sturdiest of foundations for Marvel\u2019s first female-centered film.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Current Events And Political Themes<\/h2>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Art is inherently political. It has been from the beginning of time and it will continue to be until humanity manages to wipe itself off of this planet. To this day, there are countless folks who rally under banners like \u201ckeep politics out of comics,&#8221; though comics have always had political and social themes \u2013 just pick up any\u00a0<\/span>X-Men\u00a0<span data-contrast=\"auto\">title. Comic books and comic book properties historically thrive during times of political unrest.\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Some properties, like\u00a0<\/span>Captain America<span data-contrast=\"auto\">, are even born from it.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">While art may also be a form of escapism, stories about heroes have always been about inspiring hope. Hope that the war will end, hope that a new home can be found, and hope that a heart can be changed. Propaganda is a powerful tool and, like all powerful tools, it can be used for both good and evil. Where Rosie the Riveter acts as a rallying cry to women everywhere, dictators and would-be conquerors use the same form of art to inspire fear and obedience\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">among the masses. If there is no voice to speak up when they see things heading south, that&#8217;s when corruption sets in. Carol Danvers \u2013 or Vers, as she&#8217;s called by the power-hungry Kree \u2013 decides she&#8217;ll no longer be the tool of oppressors, but the wrench in their works.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/images.atomtickets.com\/image\/upload\/h_960,q_auto\/v1537813936\/ingestion-images-archive-prod\/archive\/1537813936186_198440_cops_9.jpg\" width=\"1439\" height=\"960\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Vers<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0is a product of that same kind of political propaganda. She\u2019s lied to and molded into a weapon for the\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Kree<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">, the very race that made her believe that her powers were granted because of them. She was manipulated into believing the political notion that the\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Skrull<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0were a scourge on the galaxy, a black mark that had to be eradicated before they took what rightfully belonged to the\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Kree<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">.\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">In reality, that was all a lie. The\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Skrulls<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0were nothing more than refugees trying to find a home. Sound eerily familiar?\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">A tentpole film\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">tackling themes that are relevant to our own political climate is so much more important than some may realize. It won\u2019t change every heart. Hell, it won\u2019t change most of them. But maybe someone saw their hero realize that she\u2019d been duped and manipulated into believing she was under attack when really her \u201cenemy\u201d was only trying t<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">o find a home. Maybe a kid who\u2019s<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0only ever been exposed to a certain view saw a new perspective and will take it with them as they grow.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Media matters. It\u2019s why women (and men) walked out of films like\u00a0<\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Wonder Woman\u00a0<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">and\u00a0<\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Captain Marvel\u00a0<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">feeling like they could (and can)<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0take on the world. It\u2019s\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">how<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0movies like\u00a0<\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse\u00a0<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">showed the entire audience that any one of them could be the hero, no matter who they are or what they looked like. It\u2019s easy to\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">laugh at the idea that a superhero film can change hearts, but we see them inspire people of all ages with each passing film. It\u2019s wonderful to see this one take such a strong stance without looking into the camera and screaming, &#8220;We\u2019re talking about politics now!\u201d<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0It&#8217;s proof you can have a wildly entertaining movie but also take away deeper messages \u2013 if that&#8217;s what you want.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Friendship And Family<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/images.atomtickets.com\/image\/upload\/h_960,q_auto\/v1537814093\/ingestion-images-archive-prod\/archive\/1537814092549_198440_cops_15.jpg\" width=\"1439\" height=\"960\" \/><\/p>\n<p><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Captain Marvel\u00a0<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">shines the brightest when it focuses on Maria\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Rambeau<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Carol\u2019s friendship. It\u2019s presented as so tangibly real in a matter of moments, making each scene they have together an absolute gift. A close second to their one-off\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">interactions<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0is when any scene with the two of them includes young Monica. Small, humanizing moments like ketchup on a jacket, or a table strewn with memories are what make larger-than-life stories like\u00a0<\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Captain Marvel<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0relatable. Carol Danvers might be able to punch\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Thanos<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0in his dumb purple face and save an entire race without breaking a sweat, but she was already a hero to the people in her life who matter the most to her.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">In that same vein,\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">what makes Carol Danvers an exceptional character isn\u2019t the fact that Captain Marvel in Binary mode has no known limitations. It\u2019s that when she is presented with limitations she doesn\u2019t give up. It doesn\u2019t matter how many times her family, her superiors, societal rules or the entire damn universe tries to keep Carol on the ground, she gets back up every single time. Maria, Monica, and Mar-<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Vell<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0all see that in their girl.\u00a0<\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Captain Marvel\u00a0<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">built its whole identity around women supporting women, whether it be as family, friend, or mentor. We love Bucky and Steve, Steve and Tony, Tony and Rhodey, Steve and Sam, Thor and Hulk etc. etc. just as much as anyone. But to finally see the same sort of bond between two women in a Marvel movie was incredible.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">This takes us to the final brick in the powerful foundation of\u00a0<\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Captain Marvel<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">.\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Women Know Their Worth<\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/images.atomtickets.com\/image\/upload\/h_960,q_auto\/v1546901490\/ingestion-images-archive-prod\/archive\/1546901489495_198440_cops_19.jpg\" width=\"2291\" height=\"960\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Girls grow up explaining themselves.\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">We grow<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0up he<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">aring that boys will be boys, but rarely anyone coming to our defense when we dress a certain way, or speak a certain way, or stand up for ourselves in a certain way. Women have to claw their way into rooms that men walk into with half the effort, but are punished for showing emotion once we get there. The best men hold open the doors to those rooms for us; the worst try to bar them. But there are many in the middle who will simply feel uncomfortable sharing the stage with strong women whether they realize it or not, and that&#8217;s where Yon-Rogg falls on the scale<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">. He was able to handle the idea that his pupil\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Vers<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0was stronger than him only because she was controlled by him. After amnesia and years of manipulation, his prized student only wanted to make him proud. Thirty seconds with her\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">bestie<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0and adjusting her perception upon learning new information from the\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Skrulls<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0fixed that situation up nice and good.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">By the end of the film, Carol is a woman who no longer needs his \u2013 or anyone&#8217;s \u2013 validation. She doesn&#8217;t give up, not when she was boxcar racing, not when she was told she&#8217;d never be a fighter pilot, and not when she was told she&#8217;d never become the powerful warrior she was meant to be. Strong women like the ones in <em>Captain Marvel<\/em> don&#8217;t give up. They just go higher, further, faster, and they look damn good while doing so.<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0From\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Minn-Erva<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0to little Monica, every portrayal in\u00a0<\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Captain Marvel<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0is a centered woman who knows her value.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">That&#8217;s why <\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">there\u2019s\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">so much power in<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0the line \u201c<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">I have nothing to prove to you,\u201d when Yon-Rogg goes on about her losing herself to her emotions before their final battle. That battle might have\u00a0been too short for some folks&#8217; taste, but that&#8217;s the point \u2013 it didn&#8217;t need to be. Carol knows who she is and exactly what her strengths are, and she didn&#8217;t need a long, drawn-out battle to prove her worth.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Captain Marvel\u00a0<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">isn\u2019t the perfect film. There\u2019s plenty of stuff that could be fixed, but the underlying themes of Carol\u2019s origin story are more than enough to carry the movie, and to drag this girl out to see it at least twice more. Here\u2019s to many sequels, and to plenty of\u00a0<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Thanos<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0getting his ass kicked across the galaxy!\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.atomtickets.com\/movies\/captain-marvel\/198440\">You can get your tickets to see <em>Captain Marvel<\/em> here.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>You Might Also Like<\/h2>\n<hr style=\"color: #000; width: 95%; margin-left: 0;\" \/>\n<!-- The Grid Plugin Version 2.7.4 --><div class=\"tg-error-msg\" data-grid-name=\"Home Featured\">No post was found with your current grid settings.&#xa;You should verify if you have posts inside the current selected post type(s) and if the meta key filter is not too much restrictive.<\/div>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By now, you\u2019ve probably read a lot of takes about\u00a0Captain Marvel.\u00a0You\u2019ve seen stories about the trolls trying to review bomb the film on aggregators like Rotten Tomatoes, and you\u2019ve likely seen how well that worked out for them with the film\u2019s record-breaking opening weekend. You\u2019ve seen valid criticisms and well-earned adoration thrown every which way [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":5180,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[56,50],"tags":[40,37],"class_list":["post-5191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-captain-marvel","category-editorial","tag-featuredpage","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5191"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5196,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5191\/revisions\/5196"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atomtickets.com\/movie-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}