#loki: marginalisation is an actual thing

[cryptovalid]

The Centrist Politics of the MCU

One of the most central themes of the MCU is its attitude towards authority and violence. It’s a very interesting topic, but I think it’s worth discussing the pattern.

Long story short, the MCU is all about using the aesthetics of revolution, while undercutting the substance of it. It is uniquely effective at marketing the idea of rejecting authority, while also reinforcing the status quo.

Captain America is depicted as defying orders in almost every property he’s in. Carol Danvers frames her entire character arc around questioning authority. Thanos and Kang are specifically framed as genocidal despots that justify their actions by claiming to protect the people. Ultimately, this is even Hydra’s justification. 

Freedom vs. Authoritarianism is often framed as a tension between ethics and security. And on a dramatic level, this works. It gives heroes a nice internal conflict and character arc, and can be repeated for every single threat. 

The problem is that the MCU consistently frames the authoritarian as both sincere and ultimately correct. And it consistently frames actual soldiers like Sam, Carol and Steve as agents of critical resistance.

Thanos’ plan is a good example: at multiple junctures, heroes call out the cruelty of his actions. But they never question whether or not his belief that eradicating half of all life would solve food shortages is true, or whether he believes it. The characters all take for granted that this really would prevent starvation.

In reality, of course, this idea is called Malthusianism and is fundamentally incorrect. It is also a cynically convenient justification for policies that hurt and kill marginalised and poor communities.  

Meanwhile, freedom fighters are repeatedly depicted as both insincere and naive. Often, their causes are so appealing that the movie makes them wanton killers for no reason just to give the protagonists reasons to oppose their plans. Imagine what Killmonger would be like if he didn’t kill any defenseless women, for instance. Imagine if Karli Morgenthau just really believed refugees should be treated better and didn’t randomly blow people up to make a point.

This would immediately make their goals extremely difficult to argue against. Killmonger is presented as an indiscriminate killer and manipulator, and Karli as a misguided idealist whose actions endanger people rather than save them. Unlike Thanos, they are depicted as being incorrect or deceitful.

In the recent Loki season 1 finale, we see another example of a mass murderer and despot who seems to truly believe there is no better way, and it seems like the story is set to vindicate his beliefs.

The villains in the MCU are generally either autoritarians who understand the way the world really works and are willing to do seemingly immoral things to achieve truly good ends, or they are revolutionaries who are naive or selfish in some way. 

A similar dynamic is present in the heroes of the MCU, particularly in Tony Stark. He is all about creating weapons of mass destruction. He seeks control. He does this with the Hydra carriers, he does this with Ultron, and he does this with EDITH. In all three cases, his weapons clearly put the power to spy on and murder people in the hands of a very small group of people. In all three cases, the weapons fall into ‘the wrong hands’ within weeks of completion, causing massive casualties. He blackmails Peter, a teenager, into fighting for him against Captain America, and then gives thim the responsibility to control deadly, powerful weapons with no oversight. And not once does this cause Tony Stark or anyone else to question whether or not this is generally a good idea. Whether there is such a thing as ‘the right hands’. Time and time again, the MCU vindicates the idea that Tony Stark’s arms race is at worst a zero sum game, but mostly a necessary thing. It does a lot of work to make Tony Stark into a martyr, whose paranoia saved the world.

This leads to an incredibly centrist worldview. Yes, dictatorships are bad. government overreach is bad. But if people are good, you can trust them with the ultimate power to spy on and murder people.  Meanwhile, revolution sounds good, but it’s never realistic or sincere. 

These are not openly stated beliefs of characters, but they are constantly reinforced by the narrative. It’s pro-status quo. Legitimate concerns are made unpalatable by having unreasonable, naive assholes voice them. And incorrect bullshit is presented as a sincerely held belief by smart people who can’t afford to be moral. Your moral compas as a viewer is being manipulated.

The narrative is manipulated to make the MCU marketable to all demographics and not to offend any government that could subsidize or ban it. 

This is why you will never see an anarchist in these movies that is both smart and sincere: because their arguments would endanger the interests of the Disney corporation itself. But at the same time, its heroes will be ‘rebels’ in that they will resist ‘authority’ when it tells them what to do (purely as metaphor of course, this will have no direct bearing on actual controversy) while also mostly being unsupervised unaccountable paramilitary operatives. Anyone who seeks to change the status quo pro-actively is going to be either deceitful or incorrect.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that Disney narratives are bad or not worth following, but it does feel important to keep track of the values and worldview that the MCU reinforces.  

#MCU critique #MCU meta

[saintlewis]

I was tagged by my lovely @querencva! Thanks love 🤍

What colour are your eyes? Brown

What instantly tells you if a person is good? I have a hard time answering this question because of past trauma but I think you can tell deep in your gut if a person has good intentions

Do you have a recurring dream? Sometimes?? No I don’t dream, which I really appreciate because when I do dream, it gets really weird and sleep becomes hard

What is the most interesting class you have taken? Definitely my sexual studies class in uni, you learn so much about yourself and the marginalised communities around you

How often do you find yourself day dreaming? Lol every second of every damn day, it’s unhealthy but it’s a coping mechanism

Name/Nickname: Just Tina

Zodiac: Aquarius

Height: 5’2

Nationality: I’d rather not say 😅

Favourite colour: Black, gold, purple

Favourite season: Definitely the Autumn days nearing Winter

Favourite animals: Horses and wolves!

Favourite fictional characters: Tony Stark, Yelena Belova, Embry Call!!!

Tea, coffee or hot chocolate: Matcha~

Average hours of sleep: Lately it’s been 4-5 hours (which is REALLY bad but I’m working on it!)

Cat or dog person: Both!

Number of blankets slept with: Just the one

Places ancestors are from: I actually have no clue 🙃

Dream trip: New York and Monaco baby!!!

Blog established: 2020 but I’ve been an avid user of Tumblr since its inception.

Random fact about yourself: I'm lactose intolerant but I love ice cream and pastries 😩

Three ships: CHARLOS SUPREMACY BABEY!!!!! But also slight Carlando (minus the whole babying Lando thing cause he’s a full grown adult). And Ironfrost (Tony x Loki in the MCU).

Last song: Streets by Doja Cat (cause I’m a whore)

Last movie: Justice League Snyder’s Cut

Currently reading: Kintsugi by Tomas Navarro, Calm by Fearne Cotton AND FANFICS!!!!!

Currently watching: What If

Currently craving: Sleep, rain and feeling certain about life 🥴

#tag game #personal

[thefirstknife]

@loki-the-warlock here, side blog so I gotta tag myself 🤷🏾‍♀️. I’d just like to say to the “we don’t need you” Anon. We do need white and straight allies. Racists, transphobes, and homophobes aren’t always going to listen to us. People who whitewash Osiris, condemn O-14 because they are gay, don’t listen to the fact that Oryx is trans. They don’t always listen to the people who are directly linked to those issues. In fact they rarely actually listen to us….. but they may listen to the people more like them. They might listen to peer pressure from the community that’s also white, straight, cis etc. allies are important and we do need allies so why don’t you get off your high horse anon and realize she’s just trying to boost voices that are already speaking on this matter…..

Good points! That also reminds me that, as someone who isn't personally affected, I also cannot be directly hurt by it. So I can engage with the discourse when others might not be feeling well enough to participate. It can be extremely taxing and emotionally draining to have to constantly explain why things are harmful.

Also, as someone who can't be affected, I can take the punches instead of marginalised groups being harassed.

#ask #discourse #loki-the-warlock