gisambards wrote:I mostly thought the article was good, and I agreed with most of it - I so want a Black Widow movie - but I had one criticism besides the obvious "Black Widow is a monster because she can't have kids" mistake: I think the criticism aimed at Guardians of the Galaxy in #1 is unfair.
Yes, Gamora is called a whore, once. But we're not supposed to agree with the remark, it's a throwaway insult from Drax, and - as a writer - I hate the thought of having to censor what characters say for fear it will be seen as the opinion of the writer of the film. Characters can say sexist stuff without the film being sexist, and it's not really comparable to real people calling Black Widow a slut, because there that is real people saying that, which would imply a bit of sexism on their part.
Also, the writer (of the article) does suggest that Gamora starts off a bad guy, and is reformed by the love of a man - that's not what happens, she becomes good on her own, and is technically good at the start of the film (if bad before the start of the film).
But besides those points, I thought this was a fine article.
The whole 'calling Gamora a whore' thing ticks me off for another reason: it doesn't make sense. I agree with your point, but given the 'Cracked takes another shit on Marvel movies'-talk gets pretty old, I'm going on a small tangent.
Gamora, as far as the movie tells us, is not a whore. It is a throwaway insult, as you said. Here's the thing though: The one using it is Drax. What is the first (or maybe second) thing we learn about Drax? He takes everything literally and doesn't use metaphores. He doesn't understand the 'slit his throat' gesture and says 'nothing goes over my head. My reflexes are too fast, I would catch it.'. Apart from the constantly calling Gamora a whore, his speech pattern is completely in line with this thinking style, which causes it to stick out to me. So I agree that a character saying sexist insults shouldn't and doesn't make a movie sexist, I think it makes no sense for this particular one to say it.
That 'turns good through the love of a man'-thing is making assumptions for Widow (while she's very postive towards Hawkeye, the only time she's outright expressing love for him is when she's playing Loki in Avengers Assemble) and an insult to Gamora. She turns her back to Thanos - one of the most terrifying figures in the Marvel universe - before the beginning of the movie, and she manages to deceive him into sending her after the stone, which she already has plans with. Maybe Quinn gives her a push, but that's more him convincing her alongside Rocket that fighting Ronan is feasible.
And since I'm on tangents anyway, why do people want a Black Widow movie? I want a Wasp movie, with or without Ant-Man, and I'm looking forward to Captain Marvel, but I'll probably watch a Hawkeye movie before I watch a Black Widow movie. She's not that interesting a character (being the typical best-person-at-the-dangerous-job-ever support character) and it doesn't help that her character isn't totally consistent between movies (compare Iron Man 2, Avengers Assemble, CA: Winter Soldier, and Age of Ultron). Without much to go with and no super powers to speak of besides plot armor, I wouldn't know what a movie starring her would be like. (That said, I haven't seen much of what you'd call spy movies, given I can't even get through a James Bond movie. I tried several, older and recent.)
If there be here lesson or moral, it lies beyond the competence of him who wrote this post.
(Jack Vance, Emphyrio)