tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post4596014710850251029..comments2024-03-17T20:04:18.872-05:00Comments on Indomitable | The online home of Chauncey DeVega: Captain America: The First Avenger's Dishonest and Cowardly Racial PoliticsLady Zora, Chauncey DeVega, and Gordon Gartrellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09138154899923808806noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-13194973107743158142011-08-04T14:16:23.144-05:002011-08-04T14:16:23.144-05:00I love comic books as much as the next straight, h...I love comic books as much as the next straight, hot-chick BUT, I'm suprised that you're surprised. What about The Rocketeer made you think this movie would be good? That movie is so blatantly useless that when I saw the preview for CA, I compared it to the Rocketeer not knowing it was the same director for either. The backlash of one set the pendulum to swing in the other direction. Same is true for the new X-Men, another movie I have not seen. Based on what is obvious to me: Hollywoods' long-standing inability to sincerely embrace jungle fever. They can go into the jungle and wreak all levels of chaos as long as they can return to their unhappy home of lies and lots of money.<br /><br />What is so wrong with equality?Vesuvian Womanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16062107777688049616noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-3361514945291532082011-07-31T19:08:59.424-05:002011-07-31T19:08:59.424-05:00This reminds me of thoughts that went through my h...This reminds me of thoughts that went through my head when I was watching the Will Smith "Wild, Wild West" film. It's supposed to be twenty years after the Civil War and a black federal agent is running around battling neo-Confederates, and not once did anyone use a racial epithet or disparage Smith's character simply for being black.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-71111606510825694882011-07-27T16:04:13.641-05:002011-07-27T16:04:13.641-05:00Agreed on everything except that I think it's ...Agreed on everything except that I think it's the producers who are the prejudiced ones and they project their prejudice on the whole country. It's not like the actual 40's when you had tension between the creative types and the company censors over what they could show on the silver screen and not lose distribution in the South. Now it's all about stroking the backers' egos. The only way movies like "Precious" get made is when you have backers who come from a different background (sorry for that awkward phoneme repetition).<br /><br />(Btw, uncomfortable fact: "Precious" turned a fat little profit.)<br /><br />From what you've said it seems like this movie shits all over the original Captain America, which is totally fucking sad. It's like we're moving backwards. What a crying shame. I, too, saw the trailer and just about had a shitfit when they introduced the shield with no explanation. "The fuuuuuck???? Where's the Black Panther, poopyheads?" I said a little too loudly in the theater.<br /><br />Well, at least I will get some good mileage out of hating this movie. The gall of those c888s888ers, and I am not talking about being good, giving, and game.another halocene humanhttp://notaway@invalid.invnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-87880938525156915812011-07-26T18:03:53.115-05:002011-07-26T18:03:53.115-05:00Hitting the nail on the head. Golden opportunity m...Hitting the nail on the head. Golden opportunity missed by Marvel to honor America's greatest champion,Could have added a sense of true patriotism among all, but it amounted to "lets hope they don't get pissed. Throw a black guy in there."<br /><br /><br />During WW2, these fools even had separate blood for races.Brick Layerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13080391323628880910noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-80826614706590341772011-07-25T16:40:30.486-05:002011-07-25T16:40:30.486-05:00Thank you for this review. I haven't seen thi...Thank you for this review. I haven't seen this film yet; I will have your words in mind when I do.<br /><br />I agree our works of imaginative fiction ought to respond to history instead of "improving" upon it. It doesn't have to be polemical or heavy-handed; it just can be the way the world is presented.<br /><br />I understand the desire to create feel-good escapist fare. But to omit segregation entirely, in a film set in the Jim-Crow era US? To omit all mention of the Holocaust, in a WWII movie? I stare in disbelief.<br /><br />BTW, I wouldn't call Ghost Rider or The Punisher "run of the mill." They are among the worst comic-book inspired films ever made.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-31686525394441762212011-07-25T07:25:50.321-05:002011-07-25T07:25:50.321-05:00Thanks for the review. I will have to see the movi...Thanks for the review. I will have to see the movie. Without having seen it my thought is that people were looking for ways to (ahem) "whitewash" things while still making an entertaining and inclusive (within certain limits) movie. <br /><br />I just saw "Lincoln Lawyer" which takes place in modern times and in which the only black character is a chauffeur who calls the white man "boss" thru the whole movie and has criminal ties. So it sounds like "Captain America" won't be that bad in comparison but I'll look out for the issues you raised in your review.<br /><br />Honestly I don't know if I'll even see it though because I'm just sort of down on white hero movies now. Unless the story/effects are really good I'm sorta burned out on always seeing white heroes/heroines and never seeing black versions of same.<br /><br />I.e where is a black epic/adventure movie? Historical or fiction it doesn't matter to me...Shady_Gradyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00996625985002373392noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-55842388193913943422011-07-24T14:16:29.287-05:002011-07-24T14:16:29.287-05:00@Anon. You miss my point. My point was that these ...@Anon. You miss my point. My point was that these elements would make the story better, even within the aesthetic and universe it established. Folks sometimes forget that popular culture, as a product, object, text, etc. is the result of a series of decisions by the people involved. The writers, producers, and directors made a series of choices that reflect their individuals politics. The movie, even if "just" a comic book movie is doing serious ideological work. Moreover, "casual" and "fun" texts are often the most potent (and potentially subversive in their best examples) precisely because of how readers take them so lightly. <br /><br />@Bigmark. Thanks for the cosign. I look forward to your piece as well. Some folks don't "get" how one multiculturalism and "diversity" can do some really pernicious and conservative ideological work. That is the deep game of colorblind politics where it is all myth making and superficial do-goodism but never addresses the real issues at play.chaunceydevegahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09652406326490873337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-26160051676047005362011-07-24T05:55:51.159-05:002011-07-24T05:55:51.159-05:00I don't think Anon gets the point, which is wh...I don't think Anon gets the point, which is why your critique is more accurate.... I understand the 'brownwashing' of these Marvel Characters (in 'Thor', a BLACK Hemidall..?) but if they were going to 'mulit-culturalize' the film, there should have been mentions made of the aforementioned units, so that an attempt could be made by linking the fantasy to reality...<br /><br />... the thing that made 'Star Trek' so endearing was how the science was 'real' and how unapologetically they mixed the races on the show. But in 'First Avenger', the leaps of logic rivals the same kind of magical thinking that Tea Baggers like Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann take part in... complete departures from reality...<br /><br />... thanks for making your review of the movie... you hit the nail right on the head as far as accuracy goes... I may have to add my own thoughts on the movie as well later today...Big Mark 243https://www.blogger.com/profile/10974573439218884164noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-68443190579350799802011-07-24T02:05:00.251-05:002011-07-24T02:05:00.251-05:00At the end of the day its just a fun throw away co...At the end of the day its just a fun throw away comic book adaptation and means to begin pushing The Avengers film. If this was in away supposed to be a realistic and "gritty" retelling of the Captain America mythos I would agree with you but its not so I dont.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com