week 3

 Week 3:

This week Caroline and I watched almost all the films of phase three in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We did not watch all the movies in phase three as there are so many, however we will watch the rest of next week with the two short television series in phase 4. In all the films we watched, Dr. Strange, Thor Ragnarok and black Panther were the most interesting to discuss. 

The first thing to note about the film Dr. Strange is that the character was portrayed by a white actor even though the character in the comics is of Asian descent. This is not the first time we have seen marvel white wash certain characters. Like I mentioned in my blog last week both Wanda and Pietro Maximoff were originally people of color, but were portrayed by white actors in the films. There were also many instances in this film where Marvel could have shown more diversity by having more Asian actors as the film focused on cultural and spiritual aspects of Asian culture. Like in the previous films we watched, this film also did not pass the Bechdel test. There was only one primary female character.  

(https://www.wired.com/story/valkyrie-thor-ragnarok) 

I appreciated the film Thor Ragnarok as despite it originating from Norse mythology had more racial diversity than the other Marvel Cinematic Universe films. Tessa Thompson, a queer actress of color, plays a prominent role in the film. She plays the character Valkyrie who is the last of a legion of all women warriors of Asgard. Even though it does not specifically say some audiences speculate that this character is queerbaiting. This term is used when a character or person personifies queer traits to profit and commodify LGBTQIA+ culture and clout without explicitly stating sexual orientation. I appreciated that in this film Marvel decided to completely change the original character of Valkyrie that is seen in the comics. In the comics Valkyrie is a blond haired blue eyed white female who fights in a skin tight leotard probably to appeal to the male gaze. However, in the film she is a black woman who fights in full body armor, which actually makes more sense. 

(https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Dora_Milaje)

Black Panther was probably one of the most influential films Marvel has produced and had a huge cultural impact. The term “Wakanda Forever” was heard for months after the film was released and is even still heard now. This was also one of the first big budgeted films with a primarily black cast. The movie tied in a lot of different pieces of African culture in terms of costume design, foods, and artifacts. Overall this film fought against many stereotypes such as racial stereotypes and stereotypes towards women. This is one of the first films we see where the military is composed only of women who are respected by the people as well as a young woman who leads the country's work in STEM fields. This film was one of the only marvel films that has passed the bechdel test. Not to mention the soundtrack of this movie was amazing and featured modern day artists such as Kendrick Lamar, SZA, 2 Chainz, Jorja Smith, Future, The Weekend, and Travis Scott.