Natalie Portman, though? You couldn't find a female Strongman competitor who could act?
Anyway, people still aren't happy.
A number of feminist commenters complained that people were calling Portman’s character “female Thor,” saying she should be addressed simply as “Thor.”Wait a second now. Are you sure about 'her' pronouns?
I guess Thorettina is right out?
ReplyDeleteIt could be interesting if the movies return to the comics' roots.
ReplyDeleteOriginally Don Blake -- a skinny nerd M.D. -- slammed a stick into the ground to change the stick to a magic hammer and the nerd into the muscly hero Thor. Thor and Blake were as distinct as Captain Marvel and Billy Batson. If Jane Foster, (Portman) the skinney nerd Ph.D. astrophysicist, changes back and forth into Thor (Hemsworth) there are humorous possibilities.
In the early 60's version, Thor fit in well with Aquaman, Hourman, Green Lantern, Iron Man, etc ... in that there was always some sort of ticking clock that would reduce heroic power levels back to nerd-normal unless conditions were fulfilled. (Back into the water, take another pill, touch the ring to the lamp, plug in the super suit to the wall current) Having the Jane personality forget and set the hammer aside for too long (sixty seconds or so?) and revert from bulky hero to skinny nerd-ette, could also pose humorous possibilities.
Too bad the MCU destroyed the "Warriors Three" because having the Jane personality (and lack of warrior skill set) in charge of the Thor body could also provoke humorous commentary. Example: Throwing Mjolnir? "You throw like a girl!"
This COULD be very interesting. I doubt, however, that it will be.
I'm honestly a bit leery of this one.
ReplyDeleteOn the one hand, I have a lot of faith in Taika Waititi after his work on Thor: Ragnarok, which was tremendously fun and handled the character very well.
On the other hand, the "Jane becomes Thor" bit is based off of the comic book ark that was so awful it ultimately led to me dropping comics altogether.
On the third hand that I grew due to being bitten by a radioactive tripod, the people working on the Marvel Cinematic Universe have shown a remarkable propensity for taking stories from the comics and making them different, and with the exception of Captain Marvel, usually for the better. One major difference here is that in the comic version, Thor was rendered unworthy to wield Mjolnir by a deus ex machina in order to make room for Jane(who was dying of cancer at the time) to wield Mjolnir. In the movies this is unnecessary, as Thor can tap his full might without the hammer and has Stormbreaker on top of that. The fact that there's already this much difference bodes well, honestly.
The problem comes in how they decide to handle FemThor. A lot of times in contemporary fiction, whether movie, novel or comic book, a woman being designated "A Strong Female Character" is a flag that nothing bad is ever allowed to happen to this character. They don't lose fights, they don't suffer setbacks, and if they ever express a political thought the world will bend over backwards to accommodate those views as expressed. In the comics, FemThor actually won a fight because Titania, a long time archfoe of She-Hulk, decided to sucker-punch her husband over a sudden interest in female solidarity. In other conflicts the hammer would literally leap from her grasp and clobber enemies on its own, all the while people would marvel at how she was clearly a much better Thor than the old one. Meanwhile, Odin inexplicably became a very vocal misogynist despite previously having enough faith in women to leave to them the task of picking who among the dead are worthy of Valhalla. These are all examples of how to make a story with a 'strong female protagonist' both dull and irritating, and since I hear Captain Marvel got this treatment, I am lead to worry FemThor will, too.
So James Bond...must, of course, also become women.
ReplyDeleteI'm having trouble with this. How does a woman getting the 007 license make her James Bond? 007 is just one of a few licenses to kill.
It seems to me that, in the middle of a proper reaction to over-sensitivity, we're getting...oversensitive.
Eric Hines
Though, frankly, I'd rather have the latest Miss Moneypenny--Naomie Harris--go back into the field with the 007 license to kill. But she's gun-shy after shooting Bond. But that would make for an interesting return: the internal conflict from shooting the man whose license she's been assigned.
ReplyDeleteEric Hines
Not having watched a Bond movie in yearrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrs, I'm not gonna restart now.
ReplyDeleteI think one of the guys at Ace of Spades speculated that this latest Bond is going to be a one-and-done, given the number of reboots and detours that the series has seen and the almost complete lack of continuity from movie to movie. Bond retires 007, the lady picks it up but then he has to come out of retirement to save the day, and decides to keep in the game.
ReplyDeleteI’ve got it: Thor can be a transwoman, who uses female pronouns. That should satisfy everyone. Well, almost: then the demand will be that calling her “female Thor” rather than just “Thor” is obligatory. You’d only use “Thor” rather than “female Thor” for a natural-born woman, whom it is insulting to call “female.” If it’s a transwoman, of course, it’s insulting _not_ to call them “female.”
ReplyDeleteThat’s because there’s absolutely no difference between women and transwomen, you see. Their perfect identity is why you need completely opposite rules to handle the cases satisfactorily.
ReplyDeleteI am very tired of the constant degradation of white males, and the constant rejection of traditional values in the modern movies and TV. "captain America" being a perfect example. Does every one of them have to be a creep of some description? I recently watched an old BBC production, an adaptation of The Railway Children", and it was curiously refreshing to see white men who were not evil. They had idiosyncrasy's, some were rough around the edges, but mostly just like normal folks.
ReplyDeleteAnd the lack of victim-flaunting was nice also. The victim-flaunters are just like the panhandlers, they hobble on a crutch, solicit the drivers stopped at the light, then walk around the corner and leap into their Lexus for the ride home.
The "Thor" comic book character lost me when I saw he was blond. We all know he's Red Thor, and should only be portrayed by redheads, whether in comics, movies, posters, etc.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to the clear mythological record, it's also a fact that redheads are underrepresented in superhero comics, TV shows, and movies. Greater diversity is another clear argument for keeping Thor a redhead.
I know it's a controversial stance, but I would consider arguments for a trans-ginger actor playing the character. I think maybe we should be inclusive that way.
It is true that there is mythological warrant for a at least a transsexual Thor!
ReplyDeletehttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%9Erymskvi%C3%B0a
True! I'd forgotten that story.
ReplyDeleteActually, the case is even stronger for Loki, who ends up being the mother of Sleipnir.
ReplyDeleteThey're really missing out on a lot of woke material, here.
A lot of Tom Hiddleston fans will be sorely disappointed if they find out Loki was a woman all along.
ReplyDeleteHumanity is very confused right now.
ReplyDeleteThe only nation that can actually bend the genders well is Japanese bloodline authors.