Links - 22nd April 2019 (Captain Marvel)

Singaporean photographer's day out with Captain Marvel's Brie Larson - "Larson had wanted a Singaporean female photographer to document her jaunts to Gardens By The Bay and the Sri Thendayuthapani Temple. Her objective? To give relatively unknown female photographers an opportunity to use her platform and build their portfolio."
Imagine requesting a male photographer

First female commander of F-16 demo squad fired after 2 weeks over… inability to command - "The first female pilot to head the US F-16 Viper demonstration team has been relieved of duty two weeks after landing the job amid much fanfare – a decision apparently spurred by concerns over her leadership abilities... Kotnik’s promotion came just weeks before the scheduled release of a new superhero film, Captain Marvel, which stars actress Brie Larson as an F-16 pilot – a coincidence that has raised suspicions on social media that there may be more to the story. Revealingly, a tweet announcing Kotnik’s appointment on January 29 has a very superhero feel, with a photograph of the female captain rendered to look like a comic book panel."

Captain Marvel's Brie Larson Continues To Advocate For Fewer White Male Critics - "Speaking with a disabled journalist from Marie Claire on February 7th, 2019, it was revealed that Larson personally requested the disabled journalist as part of her effort to use her “privilege” to give back. She explained to the disabled journalist why she was using her celebrity benevolence to allow the disabled journalist in her presence, like a princess to a pauper"

Captain Marvel Trailer Criticism Deemed Racist - "Both women are trying to inject identity politics onto the movie. In fact, their whole debate isn’t even about the movie or the characters, it’s about the identity of the characters. They are more worried about what the character’s look like and who says how many words than whether or not the movie will actually be entertaining or if the trailer got you hyped for the film."

Captain Marvel's Brie Larson Clarifies "Overwhelmingly White Male" Comments - Wants to "Bring More Seats Up to the Table" - "Larson had previously railed against white men when she accepted the Crystal Award at the Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Awards in Los Angeles last June. She specifically pointed to the bad reviews for A Wrinkle Time from both critics and audiences saying:
“I don’t need a 40-year-old white dude to tell me what didn’t work about A Wrinkle in Time. It wasn’t made for him! I want to know what it meant to women of color, biracial women, to teen women of color, to teens that are biracial.”"

Twitter Came For Brie Larson After She Complained About An Interaction With The TSA - "The tweet reads: "I merely smiled at a TSA agent and he asked for my phone number. To live life as a woman is to live life on the defense.""
In a world of assault smirks, asking for a woman's phone number is rape

Captain Marvel Star Brie Larson Participates in "Targeted Harassment" Against Netflix's Unicorn Store Critic - "Adam Trahan pointed out how a multi-billion dollar company went after a user simply for criticizing their product. And indicated that Joe had to lock his account. His account is still locked."

'Captain Marvel' Star Brie Larson Tackles Sound Guys Putting On Actresses' Mics - "Larson has led discussions about sound guys putting on actors' mics in the context of the movement and said she now mics herself up and advises all other actress to do the same... Larson has continuously showed off her feminist bonafides. For example, the actress rebuked "white dudes" critiquing her and other feminists’ work... "I don’t need a white dude to tell me what didn’t work for him in ‘A Wrinkle In Time.’ It wasn’t made for him"... Larson said she "started handpicking the journalists she works with, giving preference to journalists of color who, she believes, may not get the same opportunities as other entertainment reporters."

"Captain Marvel" and Today's Exhausting Feminism - "you might grab your smelling salts, because this is super groundbreaking and wildly controversial in the year 2019 . . . A WOMAN.Whoa! I know! It’s mind-boggling! This has never happened before, except when it happened two years ago, when Wonder Woman came out, which was also when an impressively large press cohort collectively and conveniently forgot the countless strong female leads that had occurred even before then!... I have never been told to smile more. This deeply worries me, because perhaps it means I am smiling too much. Truly, it keeps me up at night, brooding like a superhero in anguish! Just kidding. It doesn’t worry me at all, because it doesn’t matter. I don’t care, and neither should you, and nobody should be in a tizzy about this particular subject in general, because life is precious and very short... At a base level, the very idea of a superhero is innately goofy or farcical, or at least it should be. But Captain Marvel, by most accounts, is almost perfect: Strong. Beautiful. Driven. Ultra-powerful. According to Slate, she is a “serious, stolid type whose steel will and laser-focused commitment to her mission make her a formidable foe even when her fists aren’t glowing orange with photon-blasting superpowers,” which is impressive indeed.But what does it say about our culture that influential people take a movie like this — and similar so-called “representations” of women, which, as a reminder, are based on fictional comic-book characters with alien superpowers — so seriously? Perhaps it’s because modern feminism has morphed into a crazed culture of unforgiving, humorless, and ultimately atomized workaholism... the modern feminist vision somehow morphs that capitalism into its worst caricature, or a Hobbesian war of all against all."

Review: Brie Larson is fine, but Captain Marvel sucks - NOW Magazine - "What fleeting memories she does have from her life as a human all have to do with being dismissed for her gender. That’s just one way Captain Marvel hangs Carol’s emotional arc on her sex. Instead of treating feminism as a structuring ideology to jump off from – like Wonder Woman so winningly did – Captain Marvel can’t seem to see beyond the idea that Carol is a woman. It effectively makes feminism a target, a goal to be achieved in ways that feel more self-congratulatory than progressive. Larson and Jackson (and a damn fine supporting cast) have very little opportunity to work up an engaging chemistry beyond short emotional bursts and comic relief. They’re simply burdened with too many agendas: beyond everything mentioned above, the movie also has to serve up the ho-hum superhero theatrics while building the connective tissue between this movie and the MCU."
Even a feminist (who bashes "man-babies") has to admit that having a feminist agenda worsens a movie

Brie Larson Backlash: Latest Captain Marvel Box Office Projection WAY DOWN! - "how she is promoting the film, a pattern that is very reminiscent of Ghostbusters. Larson has gone out of her way while promoting the film to state she wants less white men at press events covering the film as well as less white men to review the film.In fact, she’s stated that she sees the film as her “form of activism.” It’s not a multi-million dollar action adventure film, it’s some kind of activism. She would also state that Marvel approached her and stated they wanted to make Captain Marvel a “big feminist movie.” Larson also appeared in a video where she insinuates the patriarchy is somehow oppressing her despite being reportedly paid $5 million to play Carol Danvers in Captain Marvel.Even before Larson began promoting the film, Marvel’s marketing department embraced a divisive feminist slogan on the cover of Entertainment Weekly, “The future is female.” It’s a slogan that’s associated with Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign as well as feminist professors who state it’s “logical to hate men.”"

Captain Marvel Star Brie Larson Wants More Diverse Critics Not Just "White Dudes" - "I’m not really sure what the race of a reviewer has anything to do with film criticism. Wouldn’t you be more interested in the opinion of the reviewer and their unique take on films? “White dudes” can have just as bad opinions as Asian dudes or black chicks. It’s not about what they look like, it’s about their opinion on the film.And just as an interesting tidbit the critic score for A Wrinkle in Time on Rotten Tomatoes was actually 10 points higher than the audience score. The critics gave the film a 40%, while the audience rated it 30%. It looks like it was a lot more than “white dudes” who didn’t like the film"

Busted! RT Allowing Pro Captain Marvel Spam Reviews - "Not only has Rotten Tomatoes been deleting reviews criticizing the movie Captain Marvel, it appears they’re also counter attacking on behalf of the movie from both ends by allowing fake reviews from fake male accounts which love the movie."

Captain Marvel Getting More Negative Reviews, This Time From Women - "critics have started releasing their take on the film, and it seems like Brie Larson’s debut as the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s strongest Avenger might not be hitting all the right notes.While Captain Marvel might have reached a 91% high on Rotten Tomatoes, the film’s score quickly dropped to 83% with a new batch of at least 27 “Rotten” reviews. While some might be quick to blame this score on naysayers and misogynistic men who don’t like seeing strong independent women take the spotlight in a superhero movie, a closer look at Rotten Tomatoes reveals that more than 30 % of the negative reviews on the site actually come from female critics."
Ahh internalised misogyny!

Kenny Nguyen's answer to Is Captain Marvel becoming the MCU’s most controversial movie? - Quora - "it completely shits on all the other characters that fans loved.Look at Thor in Infinity War for example. He has been through a lot. He lost his eye, he lost his hair, his weapon, his family, his friend, his adoptive brother, he had to kill his sister and destroy his home, he got humiliated by Thanos, and nearly killed himself to try to create a weapon, and finally became the True King of Asgard. So you’re telling me that Thor has shown A LOT OF PROOF that he’s the STRONGEST (stalemating Hulk even without his main weapon (Mjolnir) in Thor Ragnarok, holding up a machine that weighs THOUSANDS of tons while taking a hit at a dying star POINT BLANK, oh and completely overcoming a beam from Thanos that used ALL THE INFINITY STONES).You’re telling me that Thor ( a character that we’ve seen for 8 years in the MCU) is weaker than a person who’s only been around the MCU for what, 2 MONTHS!?!What Kevin Feige is kind of inferring is that women are strong only if they are served on a silver platter, while men are strong if they have to work hard.Even, I, as a male, find that insulting to women.Thor basically had to go through trials and obstacles to become the strongest, in fact he EARNED it, while Captain Marvel ( a woman) became the strongest because she got it on a silver platter... Captain Marvel can be the strongest as long as there’s PROOF. As long as I can clearly SEE that she’s the strongest, then I am fine. by saying that she’s the strongest when her movie isn’t even released, it builds up hype in a bad way.Besides if there’s proof that Captain Marvel isn’t strong, then people will NEVER trust Kevin Feige.In fact, another issue is that Brie Larson says stupid shit.She says Captain Marvel can move planets apparently, or that Carol is worthy to lift Mjolnir for no apparent reason.Just to let you know, if Avengers 4 or Captain Marvel doesn’t show that captain Marvel can move planets or that she’s worthy, then people will see Brie Larson and Kevin Feige as a joke, and never trust them ever again.It could have all been averted if Kevin Feige just said “Captain Marvel will play a KEY ROLE in defeating Thanos in Avengers 4. The reason why the Avengers lost is because Captain Marvel WASNT There.” See, if that happened, then the hype would be built up, in a good way. People would be EXCITED to see Captain Marvel.Now, people are only seeing Captain Marvel to see how strong she is, not because she’s an interesting character.Which is pretty sad."

SyFy Wire's Dany Roth Admits to Creating Positive Reviews in Order to Maintain Access While Discussing Captain Marvel's Rotten Tomatoes Controversy - "SyFy Wire’s Dany Roth admitted that access media “plays softball” in order to maintain access with Hollywood celebrities and studios while discussing the recent Captain Marvel Rotten Tomatoes controversy."

Captain Marvel’s Mixed Reviews Call The Movie A Boring And Unsatisfying Slog - "over at Meta Critic, the film comes up at an average 65%, putting the film in the Mixed Reviews category... the same critics that give Captain Marvel a high score also acknowledge the film’s flaws like its rushed story line, a convoluted plot, and the burden of an over-powered superhero... the film takes very few risks in the same way other Marvel films have like Thor: Ragnarok and Black Panther... “What’s said to be Marvel’s most powerful superhero ever is served Melatonin by Larson. There is precious little texture or detail, ups and downs, or emotions of any kind in her performance. The character, even when kicking ass, is a total bore. The film’s best moments are provided by Jackson and a hilarious cat”"

What Happens in Captain Marvel? - "the movie works if you’re a young girl for whom the simple message of “girl power!” still works. You’ll get plenty of it here, with repeated flashbacks depicting Carol as a gritty young girl (played by McKenna Grace and London Fuller) who grew up with the message that she isn't strong enough to race go-karts or play baseball with the boys, and later, that she's not good enough to train with them for the Air Force... Captain Marvel lacks the point of view that’s made recent Marvel films feel like less of a chore—films that we all must see in order to keep up with pop culture (which happens when one studio essentially owns every franchise you love)—and more like a unique moviegoing experience. None of these films has been, say, Yorgos Lanthimos’s The Favourite, but they at least had personality. Boden and Fleck’s perspective may have simply been that girls and women are strong. That’s a completely valid perspective, of course, and one I absolutely agree with! However, the message feels ham-fisted, gimmicky, and flat... the film overall leaned far too much on its girl power message—so much so that it doesn't feel organic"

God Emperor Trump on Twitter: "Batman: Parents shot and killed in front of him when he was a child
Superman: Entire home planet destroyed, last of his people
Spiderman: Parents died when he was young, uncle killed when he could've prevented it
Captain Marvel: Being told 'Baseball isn't for little girls'"
No wonder we were told that this was a feminist movie. Feminism is about first world problems after all

Captain Marvel Only Movie Scheduled at Certain Theaters During Its Premiere Weekend - "Marvel Studios’ upcoming Captain Marvel starring Brie Larson appears to be the only movie scheduled at certain theaters during its premiere week.Popular YouTube channel Clownfish TV notes their source indicates that no other movies being available for purchase at what looks like dozens of theaters is “weird.”"

DC Comics Artist Calls Captain Marvel A Disgrace - "In the latest effort from the Green Lantern and Flash: Rebirth illustrator, Van Sciver echoes many of the talking points that have been making the rounds among Captain Marvel’s most passionate detractors, arguing that bringing Carol Danvers into the MCU is an ill-advised attempt at creating the franchise’s own Wonder Woman:
“It isn’t possible to make an excellent Captain Marvel movie, one that can actually fulfill the hopes and dreams of women everywhere. Why? Because Captain Marvel isn’t just that good of a character. Captain Marvel is a character built on convenience, built on the desire of Marvel Comics to virtue signal that they, too, have their own Wonder Woman. Their own standalone powerful female character that is not connected to any teams like the Fantastic Four, X-Men or Avengers, or anything like that — somebody who has been beloved for decades and decades. They don’t have anything like that.”
The artist goes on to brand Captain Marvel as a “Mary Sue” and a vehicle for feminist values:
“Because this character is shouldering the weight of social obligation, she is, Marvel needs her to represent how powerful and wonderful women are, she’s an avatar for feminism, she can’t really possibly have any flaws. That’s what a Mary Sue is. You don’t want to take a character like this and imply that she has difficulty, flaws, that she could get easily beaten up, that this can happen and that can happen. There is no story arc for Captain Marvel because that would imply that women have problems.”"
Many comments are slamming Ethan Van Sciver as a DC shill but he drew for Marvel too

Media Outlets Purport Captain Marvel Is Being Review Bombed Even Though There Are No Reviews - "Media outlets such as Comicbook.com, The Independent, GQ.com, CBR.com, Daily Express, Screen Rant, The Mirror, Bleeding Cool, and The Mary Sue are all purporting that Captain Marvel, the upcoming blockbuster from Marvel Studios, is being reviewed. There’s only one problem: there are no reviews.Since the movie isn’t out yet there’s nothing for users to review. However, this little conundrum hasn’t stopped websites from misreporting a fact that doesn’t exist: that users are somehow review bombing Captain Marvel... Before a movie releases – and in this case, Captain Marvel isn’t due out until March 8th, 2019 – the only thing you can do on Rotten Tomatoes is leave a comment and rate the movie with a “Want to See It” or a “Not Interested”... In a rush to demonize audiences who aren’t interested in seeing the film, media outlets proclaimed that the comments left by potential filmgoers were “reviews”, and thus predicated to them actions and consequences that never happened."

YouTube Reportedly Changes Algorithm Against 'Troll' Videos For Brie Larson Search Results

ZeroHavens - Posts - "They deleted 92% of the reviews and the score only gained 3%. So many “bad actors” had their takes removed and practically nothing changed. THAT’S your argument. A whole lot of people think the movie sucks."

Rotten Tomatoes Redesigns Website to Remove Audience Interest Score After Fake News About Captain Marvel "Review Bombs"

Marvel VP: 'Diversity' In Our Characters Is KILLING Our Sales - "When it comes to new superheroes, people are always skeptical, so this poses something of a challenge: how do you better reflect diversity in comics without tanking sales? The answer: make new characters terrific, then worry about whether they’re diverse – or use a historic diverse character to infuse new life. Marvel did the latter with Black Panther, hiring Ta-Nehisi Coates to write the comic, which immediately became a bestseller (the comic is actually unreadably bad, but at least Marvel tried doing diversity the right way here). In the DC universe, Harley Quinn, who was a marginal character twenty years ago, is now a major bestseller because she’s interesting, not because Batman had to become a woman.But the comic book industry keeps attempting to slam its constituents over the head with social justice messaging – and that’s killing the quality of comics (see Batman, advocate for Trayvon Martin, or Captain America, illegal immigration defender). Turning iconic characters into avatars of social justice kills sales, too. It’s throwback comics doing most of the heavy lifting at this point – and Marvel and DC should take note that it’s not American racism driving that choice. It’s Americans’ discontent with the left’s willingness to sacrifice quality and legacy for politics."