(no subject)

[seekingferret]

I'm planning to go to Boston Labor Day Weekend again, like the last two years, and frantically run around trying to see if everyone. I'm trying to poke all the Bostonland people I remember to deal with schedules, but if I forget you, please let me know.




Saw Captain America the other night! It was a lot of fun! It was also deeply imperfect. There were a lot of things that could easily have been much better.

It was very much a World War II movie, which means that it completely forgot that the Holocaust ever happened. Which I would have been a lot more okay with three months ago before I saw XMFC, but between IB and XMFC, my expectations for Hollywood treating the Holocaust and its relationship to the War have been elevated. So I was disappointed.

I was particularly disappointed that what made Red Skull such a dangerous villain was that unlike Hitler, he had both Berlin AND New York on his map of places to blow up. It perpetuated the notion that most Hollywood WWII movies like to pretend that Hitler was just like the Kaiser and World War II was just like World War I, a battle between the civilized Germanic peoples of the Reich and the civilized Germanic peoples of Britain. What made Red Skull beyond the pale was that he broke that covenant of special white people who wage periodic wars against each other because of honor and duty and dignity. I really cannot deal with people who think things like this. The Nazis weren't just the enemy you marched off to fight against, not mere bullies in pretty uniforms who needed to be taught a lesson. They were evil perpetrators of genocide.

It's not that my sympathies lie with the Red Skull (Unlike how in XMFC all my sympathies were unabashedly with Erik). It's just that that moment in the film was supposed to be the moment where you realized how out of control and evil Red Skull was, and instead I just got angry at the filmmakers.

But other than the problems with the Red Skull, who was so compellingly played by Hugo Weaving that despite the idiocies of the writing for him I actually thought he was an awesome villain, Captain America was pretty good. My lord, a movie about American heroism! How did they sneak that past the cynic patrol?

A movie about clear good and clear evil, a film that accommodated a pro-immigration message (See Scott Kurtz's post about his father and Abraham Erskine) and an internationalist vision of America's moral responsibility to use its superpower position for good and the belief in the continuing value of an individual to stand up to evil.

It was a movie that essentially affirms a whole pile of unfashionable ideas about American exceptionalism, ideas that are unpopular both on the right and on the left. And yes, they're flawed ideas, and they're out of fashion for a reason, but they're not irrelevant ideas, and it's good to see them dredged up again.

And duh, I cannot wait for all of these ideas to come into collision with Iron Man's contemporary cynicism in Joss Whedon's "The Avengers." No wait, that sentence needs caps.

I CANNOT WAIT FOR ALL OF THESE IDEAS TO COME INTO COLLISION WITH IRON MAN'S CONTEMPORARY CYNICISM IN JOSS WHEDON'S "THE AVENGERS".


Also, I am probably going to write Howard Stark fic because um... is there anyone who's surprised that I'm going to write Howard Stark fic? He really needs to meet Oppenheimer and Teller, is all I'm saying. And probably McCarthy, too.

Comments

[starlady]

Joss Whedon is doing The Avengers movie? …Wow. That totally clinches my decision to see it. (Do I need to see Thor and Captain America first?)

I would read that fic about Howard Stark.

I was particularly disappointed that what made Red Skull such a dangerous villain was that unlike Hitler, he had both Berlin AND New York on his map of places to blow up.

Really? Argh.

[seekingferret]

You're like the third geek I've mentioned the fact that Joss was doing the Avengers film to recently and they responded with surprise. I thought this was geek common knowledge already. I haven't seen Avengers, so obviously I don't know if you need to see Thor and Captain America first. I would recommend both films, though. Neither's as good as Iron Man, neither's as much of a letdown as Iron Man 2, but both have a lot of really fun characters. And Thor even passes the Bechdel test.

[starlady]

I haven't seen Avengers, so obviously I don't know if you need to see Thor and Captain America first.

Fair enough. This is why I have Netflix, after all.

I really don't think I am a good measuring stick in terms of geek common knowledge, my interests and reading are way too idiosyncratic. :P

[seekingferret]

Ah... since I'm not sure this is clear based on what you've said, you have realized that Joss's Avengers doesn't come out until next summer, right?

[starlady]

*nods* Yup, I did know that. (Thanks, New York Times!)

[thaurfea]

There was an after-the-credits bit at the end of Thor that wasn't resolved in Captain America, so I suspect that it will be resolved in Avengers. But most people don't stay until after the credits anyway, so it's very unlikely to be vital information that you will be lost without. Thor was pretty cool, though, and I recommend it. Well, the Asgard bits. The Earth bits were a little boring. But Loki was cool.

[seekingferret]

This is the fic I want to write about Howard Stark.

But probably I'll just end up adding him in later sections of "Only a Sun..."

[starlady]

I second sophia_sol's comment, but I wouldn't say no to more "Only a Sun…" either.

[thaurfea]

I still need to see IB. It's on my List. I don't exactly sympathise with Agent Schmidt but dude, it's Hugo Weaving and he's awesome. And, yeah, basically I agree with your whole post, and please please please write that Howard Stark fic.

[sophia_sol]

I CANNOT WAIT FOR ALL OF THESE IDEAS TO COME INTO COLLISION WITH IRON MAN'S CONTEMPORARY CYNICISM IN JOSS WHEDON'S "THE AVENGERS".

...OOOH. I was already excited about The Avengers. And now I am EVEN MORE EXCITED.

Also, thanks for linking Scott Kurtz's post; that particular aspect of the movie hadn't really occurred to me.

[seekingferret]

Yeah, Avengers is going to hit fandom like a storm.