The Fragile Masculinity of the MCUWelcome to The Soapbox, the space where we get loud, feisty, and opinionated about something that makes us very happyor fills us with indescribable rage. In this edition a dissection of the fragile masculinity of Marvel movies, the overlooked homoeroticism of superhero stories, and how everyone can do better. The Marvel Cinematic Universe. Whether you realize it or not, its considered one of the biggest pop culture institutions defining modern American manhood. Heroes like Captain America, the Falcon, Iron Man, War Machine, Hawkeye, and Thor are considered red blooded, hypermasculine American men despite Thors role as a Norse god, and even outer space heroes like Star Lord and lower rung Avengers like Ant Man evoke the ideals of fanboy manhood through snarkiness and Teflon attitude. But all of this is really just a faade for a bubbling societal fear. These characters are archetypes for the fragile masculinity that affects too many men in America. That fear of not being masculine enough leads to misogyny, self loathing, fear of homosexuality, and, at its most extreme, the deaths of gay and trans people usually trans women. I can already feel you getting overwhelmed, so let me scale this discussion back a bit to look at the small picture Marvel and Disney. The extraordinary true story of a woman played by Jessica Chastain who sheltered Jews in the Warsaw Zoo during the Holocaust gets a conventional bigscreen. Blade Runner 2049 Review Sequel to SciFi Landmark Is Instant Classic Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford and director Denis Villeneuve turn this followup into a bold. Get the latest music news, watch video clips from music shows, events, and exclusive performances from your favorite artists. Discover new music on MTV. And of course, this thing is absurdly fast. Its capable of firing off fullresolution 24megapixel JPEGs at a blistering 20 frames per second. Neil Gaimans bestseller, now on Amazon and Starz American Gods, featuring videos, photos, episode information, and more. How does Marvel and Disneys beloved MCU perpetuate this idea of fragile masculinity How does it affect their audience And, most importantly, what can they do to stop the cycle Take a journey with me as I pick apart the MCU, its men, and why Marvel and Disney shouldnt be afraid to show them as the vulnerable, soft hearted human beings they actually are. Marvel in Print Versus the MCUThe Marvel universe is decidedly more diverse in both ethnicity, gender, and sexuality in print than it is in Marvels official film canon. As far as sexuality goes, Marvel has been just as responsive to changing tastes. Iceman, one of the original X Men, was revealed to be gay in Uncanny X Men and starred in his own solo series. Another X Men member, Northstar, got married to his non powered, non superhero partner Kyle in Astonishing X Men. And, interestingly enough, one of Captain Americas best friends from the 1. Arnie Roth, whose first appearance was in Captain America 2. Captain Americas aka Steve Rogers big brother figure and protector on the mean streets of Brooklyn before Steve became the serum powered superhero as we know him today. You can read more about the story at Uproxx, but the gist of it is that Arnie is one of the first openly gay characters in the Marvel universe, living with his long time boyfriend Michael. But none of the consideration that goes into Marvels print stories seem to make its way to the film retellings. There are few black superheroes in leadership roles. Even then, is Nick Fury, who was the only prominent black leader in the MCU until Black Panther, an actual superhero or just a government operative And would Marvels film team have really given us a Black Panther movie if there wasnt an outcry about the lack of a black superhero film How come its taken approximately 1. Watch The Full Fragile Machine The Movie' title='Watch The Full Fragile Machine The Movie' />The Hollywood Reporter is your source for breaking news about Hollywood and entertainment, including movies, TV, reviews and industry blogs. Watch Comedy movies online at BoxTV. Browse your favorite movies in Comedy Genre Movie listings sorted by movie genre. Every Comedy Movie and Films you might be. MCU to introduce a female superhero film when DC, regardless of what you say about their film franchise, has introduced Wonder Woman from the beginning of the DCEU And how come no gay superhero has been announced for any point of the MCUs future phases The Superhero Glass Ceiling. Women certainly arent given the same weight as men in the MCU. Regardless of whether the woman is a bonafide superhero like Black Widow, a high powered assistant like Pepper Potts, or a highly competent S. H. I. E. L. D. agent like Peggy Carter, the women of the MCU serve three main functions to look pretty, hit the bare minimum required of a strong female archetype, and most importantly for the MCU serve as the love interest for the male superhero. A reward for a job well done, if you will. At worst, the love interest serves as a blank canvas for the male superhero to throw his emotional baggage onto. This was at its most egregious in Doctor Strange, when awful Stephen Strange releases an ugly spout of vitriol at his sometimes girlfriend Christine Palmer. Dont forget, though, that Christine is a doctor in her own right, not to mention a colleague of Stranges. Yet, her role and her work is treated in a subordinate fashion to Stranges, who gets to use her as a basis for his character development. While Stranges treatment of Christine was anger inducing, the scripts treatment of Sharon Carter, Peggys niece, in Captain America Civil War, was perhaps the most disgusting. In this film, Peggy finally succumbed to her battle with Alzheimers. After Peggys funeral, Cap and Sharon immediately launch themselves into a relationship, a relationship that had been annoyingly hinted at since Captain America The Winter Soldier. I think you can tell what makes this so disgusting its Peggys freaking niece, plus the fact that Peggy wasnt even cold in the ground yet before Steve decided to put the moves on a woman who, in an alternate universe where he and Peggy stayed together, could have very well been his own granddaughter. Its a move many reviewers had issues with, including Vanity Fairs Joanna Robinson, who writes  Doesnt Captain American Civil War go out of its way to define Bucky and Steves relationship when Cap smooches Sharon Carter Emily Van. Camp while Bucky looks on approvingly Wheres the room for interpretation in that moment And, leaving aside the vague creepiness of Steve making a move on Peggys very willing niece, the moment itself wasnt necessary to the flow of the movie at all. Even Hayley Atwell, who portrayed Peggy in the MCU said that Peggy would be turning over in her grave. What also makes this relationship insidious is that it occurs in a film in which Steve is dealing with two other close relationships, both of which are with men. Hes caught between his allegiance to Bucky, his old childhood friend who had been turned into the Winter Soldier by HYDRA, and his new friendship with Sam, aka The Falcon, who has been by his side since their first meeting in Captain America The Winter Soldier. Both of these relationships, as youll read about later, have been speculation fodder for Steves sexuality. How interesting that, in this of all the MCU films, Captain America is written to uncharacteristically go after a woman his former flames relative, no less in such a lecherous fashion. Even without the fragile masculinity overtones, the move is just gross. But when put in the context of gender and sexual studies in the media, it becomes apparent that Marvel wanted to put an end to the Cap is queer speculations. However, they only made fans that much louder. Pages 1 2. 3Next page. Cool Posts From Around the Web. The Zookeepers Wife Review Hollywood Reporter. Uncomfortable as it is to admit, there have been so many mediocre Holocaust movies post Schindlers List that a certain fatigue has set in. Exceptions exist, of course films like Roman Polanskis The Pianist or Lajos Koltais Fateless, which, through their clarity of vision and lack of sentimentality, force us to see the horror with fresh eyes. But most screen depictions of this defining 2. Life Is Beautiful, Jakob the Liar, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The Book Thief, Woman in Gold. Jewish suffering and Nazi evil tend not to be grappled with so much as presented in glossy, gussied up cinematic packages, ready for mass consumption. Even more ambitious works like Quentin Tarantinos Inglourious Basterds or 2. Son of Saul, which challenge this status quo by innovating with tone and narrative the former or style the latter, feel distinctly calculated. They may go for shock rather than tears, but theyre still pulling our strings exploitation of a historical tragedy, and of the viewers revulsion, can take various forms. The Zookeepers Wife is the latest example an extraordinary true story of terror and heroism turned into a polished, conventional drama featuring a lovely movie star, Jessica Chastain, and an array of adorable animals. The director is Niki Caro, who made 2. Whale Rider and then the rousing but risk averse dramas North Country and Mc. Farland, USA its no surprise that Zookeepers Wife, while competently crafted, is on the safe and snoozy side. The New Big Hero 6 Sequel Movie there. As with many other portrayals of this ugly period, the movies central figures and their experiences have been cleansed of complexity, embalmed in a sort of hagiographic glaze that makes even the pain look pretty. Harrowing things happen, but its the easiest kind of tough watch we know exactly what were supposed to feel and when were supposed to feel it. Adapted from Diane Ackermans book based on the diary of Antonina Zabinska, who, with her husband Jan Zabinski, sheltered 3. Polish Jews at the Warsaw Zoo during World War II, Zookeepers Wife opens on an idyllic note. Its the summer of 1. Antonina Chastain, who runs the zoo alongside Jan The Broken Circle Breakdowns Johan Heldenbergh, is doing the morning rounds Good morning, sveethart, she coos to a tiger in a vaguely Melania Trump esque Eastern Euro accent. Then all hell breaks loose. Germany invades Poland and bombs land on the zoo, sending animals scurrying into the city. Shots of a camel trotting down a debris strewn street and a tiger sniffing a pile of rubble as dazed civilians look on are among the films most striking images though the sight of Nazis gunning down an elephant is sure to make even non animal lovers flinch. Enter chief Nazi zoologist Lutz Heck Daniel Bruhl, who offers to transport the zoos surviving prize animals to Germany until the war is over he wants to use them for selective breeding to create genetically superior animals. But rather than allow the zoo to be shut down in the meantime, Antonina and Jan convince Heck to let them run it as a pig farm to provide meat for German soldiers. The pigs are to be fed with garbage that Jan will collect daily from the Warsaw Ghetto. What the zookeepers dont tell Heck, of course, is that Jan will also sneak Jews onto his truck, hiding them under the litter. And so a sort of underground railroad is born, with Antonina rushing new arrivals into the basement of the house she shares with Jan and their young son Ryszard played first by Timothy Radford, then Val Maloku. A human zoo, Antonina sighs, a notion thats visualized with typical literal mindedness in a scene that finds her tending to a traumatized Jewish teen Shira Haas cowering amid hay piles in one of the cages. I was raised with these people, Jan later tells Antonina. Jews, Gentiles, it never mattered to me. The line exemplifies the films tendency to telegraph its main characters goodness. In its broad outlines, The Zookeepers Wife recalls Agnieszka Hollands In Darkness, another recent movie about a Polish World War II hero, Leopold Socha, a Warsaw sewer inspector who hid a group of Jews underground for over a year. But in that film, the people Jewish and Christian alike, including the protagonist were compellingly, convincingly flawed sometimes honorable, yet occasionally wretched and desperate, the horrific circumstances bringing out both the best and worst in them. Caro and screenwriter Angela Workman, by contrast, display little interest in the often messy interactions between history and humanity. The Zabinskis heroism in Zookeepers Wife is a given deprived, for the most part, of drama or depth. These two people may actually have been as uncomplicatedly virtuous in real life as they appear onscreen, but that doesnt necessarily make for gripping cinema. It takes a more incisive filmmaker to turn decency into something interesting in and of itself, as Jeff Nichols did to some extent in last years Loving. No wonder the pic feels most alive when it casts the tiniest of shadows over Antoninas saintly glow. Knowing that Heck has fallen for her, Antonina flirts with him, using her wiles to earn his trust and making Jan jealous. Its the movies soapiest touch, but at least it brings the central couple down to earth a bit, giving them a welcome frisson of good old fashioned dysfunction. In one scene that stands out in its vividness and specificity, Antonina pulls Heck into an embrace, covering his ears so he wont hear the noises being made by the children hiding in the basement. Caro knows how to amp up the tension, which she does in the third act, as Polish Resistance fighters including Jan battle German soldiers in the street. And you can sense her trying to keep the bombast in check Harry Gregson Williams somewhat syrupy score is deployed with discretion, and the movie doesnt rub your nose in Nazi sadism or Jewish agony aside from one shameless fake out involving an off screen gunshot and a key character. That said, some of the most visually arresting bits are also the most manipulative, the ones where you feel the filmmakers fishing for gasps and sighs a sequence in which Caro cuts back and forth between the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto and a Passover seder, and another in which the ashes of the burnt down Ghetto flutter and float picturesquely through the sky Its snowing Ryszard exclaims. The Zookeepers Wife is smoothly made, with assured contributions from DP Andrij Parekh and production designer Suzie Davies. Most impressive of all are the zebras, monkeys, wolves and cuddly lion cubs with twitchy ears CGI is used minimally, mainly in the animal fatality scenes. Its hard for the human performers to compete, though Chastain is, as usual, fine, ably conveying the steel behind Antoninas fragile facade. Heldenbergh has little to do, but his long, expressive, Modigliani esque face does a lot of it for him. And Bruhl adds a few intriguing notes of desire and mercy to what otherwise might have been a cartoon villain. On the other hand, the fact that the Jewish characters are all so sketchily drawn that they barely register is perhaps the most unfortunate of the movies shortcomings. Production companies Scion FilmsCzech Anglo ProductionsLD EntertainmentRowe Miller Productions. Distributor Focus Features. Director Niki Caro. Screenwriter Angela Workman based on the book by Diane AckermanCast Jessica Chastain, Johan Heldenbergh, Daniel Bruhl, Timothy Radford, Efrat Dor, Iddo Goldberg, Shira Haas, Michael Mc. Elhatton, Vad Maloku. Producers Jeff Abberley, Jamie Patricof, Diane Miller Levin, Kim Zubick. Executive producers Marc Butan, Robbie Rowe Tollin, Mike Tollin, Jessica Chastain, Kevan Van Thompson, Mickey Liddell, Pete Shilaimon, Jennifer Monroe. Cinematographer Andrij Parekh. Production designer Suzie Davies. Editor David Coulson. Music Harry Gregson Williams. Casting Elaine Grainger, Maya Kvetny.