Meme: December 6 (oops)
Dec. 7th, 2013 08:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
next_to_normalI am a day late in posting this, because I did not anticipate that yesterday's office holiday party would be OFF THE CHAIN. This year, the organization did away with the traditional office lunch for unknown (but probably scandalous) reasons, and just gave us the afternoon off. So some of my coworkers decided to have our own holiday lunch at this German bar where beer comes in three sizes: half-liter, liter, and DAS BOOT.
SEVEN HOURS LATER, when we were paying our second tab (because they made us close out the tab when they switched from lunch to dinner, lol), the bartender jokingly asked us if we would like to see a breakfast menu. We kinda laughed, but also kinda wanted eggs and bacon.
While I suspect a rambling post written under those circumstances would have been HILARIOUS, I also kind of had serious thoughts about this one, so... here we are.
Today's - er, yesterday's topic comes frompocochina, and remember that I am still taking requests. Tell me what to talk about!
Poco sez: Sell me on watching Captain America.
Which is actually more of a challenge than it seems, because ordinarily, that is not where I'd recommend one start when getting into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Not that it's a bad movie, just that in my mind, most of Phase 1 is sort of perfunctory? It's like, "Okay, we have to get the origin stories out of the way, so then we can start doing the new and different, more interesting stuff." My picks to introduce a newbie to the MCU would be Iron Man, The Avengers, and Iron Man 3, and if they liked what they saw, go back and watch the others for background. I could probably make a better argument for Captain America: Winter Soldier, and I haven't even seen it yet, lol.
(OH LORDY I am so excited to see Cap vs. the System, and Steve and Natasha on the run, and fighting an enemy who used to be a friend, and Steve dealing with villains who are not as clear-cut eeeeevil as, y'know, NAZIS or aliens. Everybody agrees that Nazis are bad, there's no moral ambiguity there. I really want to see Captain Moral Goodness facing a world where the line between right and wrong is not as easily drawn.)
I mean, Captain America does distinguish itself from the slew of superhero movies a bit by being set during World War II, so if you like period pieces, it's got that going for it? I'd try the "Peggy Carter female character yay" argument, but frankly, that's pretty weaksauce when she's the only major female character and I have some issues with the Strong Female Character-ing of her.
I actually think the way to sell this is "HEY IT'S CAPTAIN AMERICA AND HE'S AWESOME." Because you should watch the movie just to spend time with and get to know this character.
How could you not love this guy?
You'd think Steve Rogers might be a pretty hard sell for someone like Poco, who loves morally gray characters and wrong!ships dysfunctional relationships like a boss. Steve is an incredibly earnest do-gooder, a wholesome American hero, there is no getting around that, although a lot of people mistake that for "boring" or lacking character conflict, which he is totally not. The thing is, Steve tries to do the right thing, and sometimes breaking the rules and insubordination is the right thing to do. And he has zero qualms about that.
Pre-serum Steve picks fights with guys twice his size because he hates bullies, but also because he solves problems with violence, whether he has the strength to back him up or not. He lies repeatedly to get into the Army. He risks his life on a crazy science experiment1 because it's the only way they'll let him serve his country,and also because he gets super-duper muscles out of the deal.2 He chafes at being used as an American propaganda tool and jumps at the first opportunity to abandon his job when he thinks he could be doing something more. He defies orders and goes AWOL behind enemy lines to rescue his best friend. (In general, his bro-ship with Bucky is a thing of beauty.) He is a total snarkmaster who frequently tosses off a one-liner and then jumps out of a plane.
Also, to really understand and appreciate Steve in the present day, you have to realize just how much he's lost. Bucky, Peggy, Howard, the Howling Commandos - it's one thing to know that practically every single person he knew is dead. It's quite another to look at their faces - to look at Steve's face when he's with them - and know that he missed out on their entire lives, that he simply woke up one day and everyone was gone. His whole world was gone, and he's thrust into this new, unfamiliar one where the old rules don't apply.
Plus, Chris Evans is the most adorable thing ever, and you would be forgiven for watching this movie exclusively for that.
Seriously, tho, look at this doofus run:
In conclusion, abs:
1 From a meta perspective, it's interesting that Steve is one of the few superheroes who chooses his fate. Most of the time, superheroes are ~special because they were born that way or they became that way by superpower-bestowing accident. And they're always ~reluctantly becoming superheroes. Steve voluntarily signs up for a process that might very well kill him - practically begs for the opportunity - because he wants it just that badly.
2 I feel like there's also a meta to be written about body image and skinny Steve vs. super Steve, and the ways people treat him differently, and how even after he's buff, he still has the mentality of the scrawny overlooked kid, but I have not thought enough about it to write that meta. Just throwing the idea out there.
SEVEN HOURS LATER, when we were paying our second tab (because they made us close out the tab when they switched from lunch to dinner, lol), the bartender jokingly asked us if we would like to see a breakfast menu. We kinda laughed, but also kinda wanted eggs and bacon.
While I suspect a rambling post written under those circumstances would have been HILARIOUS, I also kind of had serious thoughts about this one, so... here we are.
Today's - er, yesterday's topic comes from
pocochina, and remember that I am still taking requests. Tell me what to talk about! Poco sez: Sell me on watching Captain America.
Which is actually more of a challenge than it seems, because ordinarily, that is not where I'd recommend one start when getting into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Not that it's a bad movie, just that in my mind, most of Phase 1 is sort of perfunctory? It's like, "Okay, we have to get the origin stories out of the way, so then we can start doing the new and different, more interesting stuff." My picks to introduce a newbie to the MCU would be Iron Man, The Avengers, and Iron Man 3, and if they liked what they saw, go back and watch the others for background. I could probably make a better argument for Captain America: Winter Soldier, and I haven't even seen it yet, lol.
(OH LORDY I am so excited to see Cap vs. the System, and Steve and Natasha on the run, and fighting an enemy who used to be a friend, and Steve dealing with villains who are not as clear-cut eeeeevil as, y'know, NAZIS or aliens. Everybody agrees that Nazis are bad, there's no moral ambiguity there. I really want to see Captain Moral Goodness facing a world where the line between right and wrong is not as easily drawn.)
I mean, Captain America does distinguish itself from the slew of superhero movies a bit by being set during World War II, so if you like period pieces, it's got that going for it? I'd try the "Peggy Carter female character yay" argument, but frankly, that's pretty weaksauce when she's the only major female character and I have some issues with the Strong Female Character-ing of her.
I actually think the way to sell this is "HEY IT'S CAPTAIN AMERICA AND HE'S AWESOME." Because you should watch the movie just to spend time with and get to know this character.
How could you not love this guy?
You'd think Steve Rogers might be a pretty hard sell for someone like Poco, who loves morally gray characters and wrong!ships dysfunctional relationships like a boss. Steve is an incredibly earnest do-gooder, a wholesome American hero, there is no getting around that, although a lot of people mistake that for "boring" or lacking character conflict, which he is totally not. The thing is, Steve tries to do the right thing, and sometimes breaking the rules and insubordination is the right thing to do. And he has zero qualms about that.
Pre-serum Steve picks fights with guys twice his size because he hates bullies, but also because he solves problems with violence, whether he has the strength to back him up or not. He lies repeatedly to get into the Army. He risks his life on a crazy science experiment1 because it's the only way they'll let him serve his country,
Also, to really understand and appreciate Steve in the present day, you have to realize just how much he's lost. Bucky, Peggy, Howard, the Howling Commandos - it's one thing to know that practically every single person he knew is dead. It's quite another to look at their faces - to look at Steve's face when he's with them - and know that he missed out on their entire lives, that he simply woke up one day and everyone was gone. His whole world was gone, and he's thrust into this new, unfamiliar one where the old rules don't apply.
Plus, Chris Evans is the most adorable thing ever, and you would be forgiven for watching this movie exclusively for that.
Seriously, tho, look at this doofus run:
In conclusion, abs:
1 From a meta perspective, it's interesting that Steve is one of the few superheroes who chooses his fate. Most of the time, superheroes are ~special because they were born that way or they became that way by superpower-bestowing accident. And they're always ~reluctantly becoming superheroes. Steve voluntarily signs up for a process that might very well kill him - practically begs for the opportunity - because he wants it just that badly.
2 I feel like there's also a meta to be written about body image and skinny Steve vs. super Steve, and the ways people treat him differently, and how even after he's buff, he still has the mentality of the scrawny overlooked kid, but I have not thought enough about it to write that meta. Just throwing the idea out there.
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Date: Dec. 11th, 2013 11:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Dec. 14th, 2013 06:28 am (UTC)