Captain Marvel is leaving its mark on the Marvel franchise and the film industry at large. This is the first solo Marvel film that is lead exclusively by a woman. The movie tells a different kind of female story and sets Captain Marvel up to be the savior of Avengers: Endgame. And it is the first live action film directed by a woman to gross $1 billion (Morrow, 2019).
People’s attitudes and perceptions are influenced by the character portrayals they watch on film. We form attitudes about what women are capable of and how they should live their lives based on media representations of women (Bussey & Bandura, 1999; Gerbner, 1998). Captain Marvel provides audiences with a new type of female superhero. Carol Danvers is not hyper-sexualized, like so many other superheroes in the Marvel canon. She isn’t interested in playing nice or putting on a smile. Her story isn’t centered around a love interest, at all. It’s about figuring out who she is and where she came from and what she wants to do with her life.
So often, women are portrayed as emotional in media depictions. And these depictions of emotionality are negative – emotions are seen as a sign of weakness (Signorielli, 2012; Ward & Aubrey, 2017). In this film, Captain Marvel’s boss and mentor echoes these sentiments as way to get her to submit to his power and authority. As she learns the truth about herself, she realizes her emotions are an asset and make her more powerful. This message is a sign to young girls, and boys, watching this film that their emotions should be considered a strength.
Despite these great strides in disrupting the traditional narrative on the female superhero, Captain Marvel didn’t land with all audiences. Marvel studios may have pushed a little too hard on the female messaging. The movie was released on International Women’s Day (Sio, 2019). It also contains 90’s anthem I’m Just a Girl by No Doubt, in an ill-fitting manor. These choices felt forced to many audiences and it’s understandable given the market’s push for more dynamic and nuanced female leads. It is true that the industry portrayal of female superheroes has not reached the heights of complex female character depictions. Although Captain Marvel may not be the most subversive or atypical or feminist film there could ever be, this film is a refreshing step in the right direction.
Written by Abigail Walsh
References
Bussey, K., & Bandura, A. (1999). Social cognitive theory of gender development and differentiation. Psychological Review, 106, 676-713. doi:10.1037//0033-295x.106.4.676
Gerbner, G. (1998). Cultivation analysis: An overview. Mass Communication and Society, 1, 175–194. doi: 10.1080/15205436.1998.9677855
Morrow, Brendan. “Captain Marvel Is Now the First Live-Action Movie Directed by a Woman to Gross $1 Billion.” Image, The Week, 4 Apr. 2019, theweek.com/speedreads/833262/captain-marvel-now-first-liveaction-movie-directed-by-woman-gross-1-billion.
Signorielli, N. (2012). Television’s gender-role images and contribution to stereotyping. In Handbook of children and the media (2nd ed., pp 321-339). Los Angeles: Sage.
Sio, Izzy. “Captain Marvel Might Not Be the Feminist Phenomenon We Want.” Medium, AP Marvel, 1 Mar. 2019, medium.com/ap-marvel/captain-marvel-might-not-be-the-feminist-phenomenon-we-want-f062e8c5d6fb.
Ward, L. M., & Aubrey, J. S. (2017). Watching gender: How stereotypes in movies and on TV impact kids' development. San Francisco, CA: Common Sense.
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