and when the grief fades you’ll still have his memory. treasure that. it’s a gift.
Tag: that’d be good
Okay, so here’s the thing: I’m done with reviews taking cheap shots at Agents of SHIELD while heralding Agent Carter as a game-changer, because truth be told, I would argue that Agents of SHIELD was a bigger step forward for Marvel and representation than Agent Carter is. Clearly there is legitimate criticism to be made of Agents of SHIELD – heck, I’ve written plenty myself – that the acting is not on point as implied here or that it doesn’t feature superheroes are not it.
Let’s start with that jibe at the acting, because yes, Hayley Atwell absolutely knocks it out of the park in Agent Carter, but how could anyone who watched the SHIELD S2 midseason finale not agree that Chloe Bennet is utter perfection in that final shot? Where are the articles about how much Chloe has blossomed right along Skye, and the impact of that glorious moment – right before she sees Trip – and the pain of the moment right after on the viewers who’ve just seen an Asian-American superhero find her powers right there?
I also want to point out that even if this point was anywhere close to being legitimate, and it is not, making it without considering the opportunities available to Hayley as a white women as opposed to Chloe and Ming Na Wen as women of color ignores a crucial point. How many interviews has Ming given about not wanting to take roles that perpetuate Asian stereotypes but having to in order to pay the mortgage? How many interviews have we seen from both Ming and Chloe talking about how grateful they are for these roles, and how few from the white actors and actresses from the same show? Two Asian American leads in the superhero/sci-fi genre is in itself revolutionary, and they both do it so well.
I’m not mad that we’re talking about Agent Carter. I’m mad that we’re not talking about both.
peardita wrote a post before about how Agent Carter is not so much a step forward as it is doing the bare minimum to not be a step backwards, and I have to agree, especially in the context of reviews like these and many other mainstream media articles gushing over the show. Let us take a moment to think about how it took a studio that made its fortune on creating media centered around white male superheroes to make a show about a white woman fighting misogyny for us to have “the hero we deserve,” to have women not being catty and supporting each other!!!, when Shondaland has literally been giving us hero after hero and producing shows on the foundation of strong supportive female friendships for a decade.
Don’t get me wrong, I could not be happier that we have both Agents of SHIELD and Agent Carter. But what these reviews miss is that in many ways, Agents of SHIELD is Marvel’s game changer. It’s an attempt at introducing diversity into a genre dominated by white men, and I mean, just look at melindamaymatters to see how much of an impact that has made. AoS is far from perfect and it has done terrible, terrible things, but it is a genuine attempt at taking a step forward and taking risks at the intersections of race and gender in a way that Agent Carter has yet to do. Sometimes it fails. But it tries. And that’s worth celebrating.
A two-season show that is the origin story of an Asian-American female superhero is, to me, far more revolutionary than a show about a white woman fighting misogyny. And we don’t talk about that enough.
i’ve seen a lot of people reblogging news from ferguson, wondering if the situation has changed at all. the answer is YES—massively! so i thought i would compile some updates, courtesy of alderman antonio french (who, less than 24 hours ago, was being [wrongfully] held in jail for alleged unlawful assembly). the time right now is 4:20AM CST, august 15th.
yesterday afternoon—thursday, august 14th—ferguson & stl police were taken out of control of ferguson and replaced with MO highway patrol, led by captain ron johnson, who grew up in the area. his first order of business was to order police to remove their masks and cease violent tactics.
orange cones replaced tanks, the police line vanished, not a drop of tear gas was in sight and families felt safe enough to have their young people out protesting with them. without the fear tactics and police intimidation, people came out in droves to support ferguson.
the discussion of mike brown cannot end here. the relief is palpable and the decrease of tension under johnson’s excellent leadership is a huge mercy, but justice has not been served yet. now, hopefully, citizens will get to work together with the legal system for swift and transparent justice for mike brown & the countless other black men & women across the nation who have been unlawfully treated, and in many cases died, at the hands of police. let all of us use the alleviated atmosphere to focus the conversation, focus the nation. #mikebrown
fearlessstateofmind backup 