Category: Movies

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Movies

Carol Danvers vs Steve Rogers

I have some Thoughts on our two Captains. The similarities and differences between Carol Danvers and Steve Rogers.

This will probably be a bit long and rambly and there’s a chance for spoilers, so, consider yourself forewarned.

Both Steve and Carol were born with Fight Me in their veins, and dismissed by the world around them.

Now, one big difference is that, aside from boot camp, Steve became a soldier after he got the serum. Of course, his time in boot showed he was different, but aside from that he didn’t really have the army experience until he got the serum.

On the other hand, Carol did join the military, became a pilot. And she did it all on her own, no matter the obstacles. She got powered up AFTER all of that time and experience.

After his brief stage career, Steve did get his chance to fight. After that, I strongly suspect people looked at Steve, saw the physique and just assumed he was in charge. He was expected to lead, so he did.  He was expected to know how to fight, so he did. Most of what he learned he probably learned on the job.

For Carol, people always looked at her and saw ‘girl’ first. People didn’t expect her to be an airman. People certainly wouldn’t have expected her to be a pilot. She probably had to scratch and fight for every inch because nobody was going to give her anything.

Now Steve did have some of that, growing up a scrawny, sickly kid in Brooklyn, but I bet once Steve was buff nobody ever tried to take something from him and try to carry it because it was ‘too heavy.’ Nobody ever told Steve to smile more. Nobody ever assumed he couldn’t do his job.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Steve had some imposter syndrome from time to time. Because he wasn’t trained for any of this, not really. But Carol has all of the training, US Military and Kree.

So I’m going to be interested to see them work together. Carol was clearly reveling in her newfound powers at the end of her movie. She’s had time now to get used to them. They have some similarities, but it’s Carol with the greater military experience. And the greater powers.

(Plus she can fly a plane)

Categories
Movies

Working with Surprises and Mistakes: What the 2017 Oscars Can Teach Us

The Event

As I write this, people are still reeling and talking about what happened last night at the 2017 Oscars with the Best Picture award. The wrong envelope was handed out, the wrong movie was read, and then there was a frantic correction. It almost felt like a plot twist from a Hollywood movie; the underdog coming from behind  to take the top prize after all.

People will be talking about what went wrong and who’s fault it was for some time to come. Warren Beatty clearly felt something was wrong when he opened the envelope, Faye Dunaway just read out the movie name without looking twice. Nobody rushed out until after the people from La La Land were on the stage.

And the La La Land people were gracious. Jordan Horowitz, the producer, announced that they had not actually won and called the Moonlight people to the stage. He snatched away the card with the correct winner and showed it to the audience and cameras. He said he was happy to give the Oscar to the correct winner. And, finally, Moonlight got it’s moment and the chance to make their speeches.

What can we learn?

As we can see, mistakes can happen. Even at the biggest award show with the biggest award. Mistakes can be handled with humor and grace. Sometimes things don’t go as expected. This is true in life and well as award shows. It can also be true in our writing.

In fiction, as in real life, there are consequences for actions. If a character behaves with no consequences, then the audience will quickly grow bored. How someone reacts to a mistake can be as revealing as the mistake itself. Warren Beatty tried to explain what happened with the envelopes. Today the accounting firm in charge of the Oscars is trying to figure out what went wrong.

Oftentimes the best thing one can do is to simply acknowledge the error and move on. It can’t be undone. Life itself gives us plot twists, from time to time. Maybe crack a joke, give a smile and react with humility. The 2017 Oscars give us an example we can follow, as often the best Hollywood movies do.