It's no exaggeration to call Captain Marvel the most controversial superhero film of 2019, even more than Joker, which generated its fair share of hyperbolic discussion. Entire YouTube channels are devoted to criticizing Captain Marvel, star Brie Larson and even charities raising money so children could see the movie. On the other hand, women from all over hailed the film as a triumph, seeing it as a rallying cry for female-led superhero films.
Now, many are buckling down for a similar controversy leading up to Captain Marvel 2. But for those who are preparing for an onslaught, you needn't worry: There's no way the sequel will prove as controversial as the first.
WHAT SPARKED THE CAPTAIN MARVEL CONTROVERSY?
With time passing, there might be some confusion about what sparked the controversy surrounding Captain Marvel. In order to ensure there is no ambiguity going forward, it was a group of people who expected to be catered to on a consistent basis that was enraged when they were not the primary audience for this given film.
This, of course, also happened with Black Panther and Wonder Woman. It's easy to forget, but these films also encountered a bit of controversy. But Captain Marvel featured Brie Larson, an outspoken feminist who did not hesitate to call out problematic elements as she saw it. And, as is the case with angry mobs, people hoping to twist what she said to justify their agendas. Larson advocating for a diverse body of critics was reinterpreted by the internet mob as "Brie Larson thinks men shouldn't watch her films."
Leading up to the release of Captain Marvel, many people insisted Larson claimed she didn't want "white men to watch Captain Marvel" or that "Captain Marvel isn't made for white men." Her actual quote had nothing to do with her solo movie but rather A Wrinkle in Time.
Larson said, "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...Am I saying I hate white dudes? No, I am not. What I am saying is if you make a movie that is a love letter to women of color, there is an insanely low chance a woman of color will have a chance to see your movie, and review your movie.”
WHAT DID THE HATERS DO?
Whether or not the film was any good is irrelevant. Whatever Brie Larson said was irrelevant. The haters would use any attempt to attack and criticize Larson and, in turn, Captain Marvel, including the argument that they'd show up Captain Marvel by instead watching Alita: Battle Angel the weekend of the former's release.
When that didn't work, haters tried to discourage people from seeing it by leaving a massive amount of bad reviews for the movie. This attempt to blindside Captain Marvel was made even more transparent by the sheer number of bad reviews left before the film had a wide release. The review bombing proved so severe that Rotten Tomatoes revamped their audience review procedure, only accepting reviews from audience members who could prove they actually saw the movie.
BROKEN RAGE
Ultimately, none of the controversy turned the tides against Captain Marvel. After months of mobs rallying against it, the Marvel Studios film grossed over a billion dollars. It turned out people wanted to see Larson in the role, go figure. And then, a few months later, her second appearance, Avengers: Endgame, became the highest-grossing film of all time. People seemed to generally like Brie Larson as Captain Marvel -- or, at least, showed up to see her.
People who hated Captain Marvel leading up to its release existed in an echo chamber. They would watch YouTube movie commentators who reinforced their perceived notions and, in turn, convince themselves that they were the majority of people. Many people were convinced that this film would fail. Its success led to several reactions, with some creating conspiracy theories about Disney buying out theaters to boost the film's box office because Disney could not afford such a high profile failure (ignoring the fact that many Disney films, such as A Wrinkle in Time, failed at the box office).
Other members of the hate mob appear to have been left discouraged. Engagement on anti-Captain Marvel content has demonstrably lacked the zeal and fanaticism it had leading up to the film's release. Consider the following evidence. Geeks + Gamers was one of the biggest channels advocating against Captain Marvel. Leading up to the release of the movie, their anti-Larson and anti-Captain Marvel videos would do very well, drawing in an average of 70K viewers. Now? Roughly half that amount on a good day.
There is still an audience who wants to linger in their own rage over Brie Larson's heroine. However, that audience has visibly dwindled once the hype against Captain Marvel peaked. While it's highly likely this anger will ramp up again, leading up to the release of Captain Marvel 2, the current trajectory indicates that interest will dwindle even further leading up to its release. Even more interesting, this particular channel's audience, which before flocked to daily videos surrounding the character, visibly did not care about Captain Marvel 2 news.
WHY DID THE CAPTAIN MARVEL MOB DISPERSE?
There is no one reason why hatred toward a film dies down. However, on most occasions, the biggest reason might be very simple: rage can only be sustained for so long before it burns out. While there are people and channels that remain angry over one film for a year, there's only so much content you can create surrounding a particular thing before you just run out of material. Leading up to the release of Captain Marvel, videos would come out on a daily basis criticizing the movie. Now, with less press surrounding it, there's less material.
Except, strangely enough, when there's something positive to report. Because, for the most part, news surrounding Captain Marvel has been very positive as of late. But when these channels could frame all news surrounding the film as signs of its impending doom, they succeeded.
In addition, much of the misinformation surrounding the film has been dispelled. It will be hard for them to convince new blood of misinformation with the truth being more readily available than when they started spreading rumors. You can't convince someone that Brie Larson said something about "all white men" when a simple fact check can disprove that claim.
This means that, for many, this battleground of the "culture war" is a failure. They took a stand against what they perceived to be a feminist film and demonstrably failed. No doubt hate mobs will rally against Captain Marvel 2, but that movement will likely lack the zeal of those who already failed to stop Captain Marvel from succeeding just last year.
Leave A Comment