Friday, June 01, 2012

The Avengers and liking your characters

So it's no secret that I'm a hugh Joss Whedon fan, and last night I finally got around to seeing the Avengers, and yes, it's as good as the hype. So go see it, you will have fun.

But my major take away from the movie is how much affection Whedon has for each of his characters and it shows. Everyone in the movie has one great moment, at least one great line and is as strong as everyone else.

And no where is this evident than in the female characters, even the minor ones, who are strong and interesting and equally as capable as their male counterpoints. And yes, Scarlett Johansen does wear a skin tight suit, but so does Captain America and the camera spent as much time focused on his butt as it did on hers.

Whedon does this, his women are always as capable as his men, it's why I've loved his work, and a fantastic contrast to the usual women as sidekick role, see anything directed by Michael Bay, where the women are lingered on by the camera, but pretty useless elsewhere, but I'm pretty sure Michael Bay hates his human characters, why else would he make them act like that?

The Avengers made me think about my current WIP, which is definitely centred on one protagonist, and whether I've given all my characters a heroic moment, a sweet moment and one where they are the star of the scene. I'm pretty sure I haven't, but I'm going to go back and fix that and I'm going to try and like all my characters equally, because I'm pretty sure I've played favourites before.

Has anyone else gone to The Avengers? What was your favourite part of the movie?

6 comments:

Eileen said...

Love that. Am in the middle of final edits on my WIP and I'm totally going to make sure they each have a heroic moment and a sweet moment. Brilliant.

Stephanie Doyle said...

I didn't see the movie - but it's absolutely what I love about Whedon... he knows how to write/direct women!

It's why I want him to do Wonder Woman.

Anonymous said...

I would fangirl over a Whedon wonder woman. Perhaps the success of Avengers will allow him to do it...

Maureen McGowan said...

I loved the puny God line. Unfortunately, I'd seen a clip of that online before I saw the movie, but it was still funny. :)

Great insight about the heroic moments.

I read an analysis somewhere of the reviews of that movie in the press and how male reviewers didn't seem to notice that Johansson's character not only is the most brave (the only one w/o a super power) but also basically saves the day. Female reviewers did notice. Male reviewers mostly noticed the suit.

Anonymous said...

Too funny... because it's so clear in the movie that she is the one that does indeed save them.

It is a nice suite, but I loved the gratuitous shots of butt in tight suits were as much male, as female...

And that of all of them, he gave the most interesting back story hints to Scarlett and made her really, really smart.. the opening scene with her was, without doubt, the best introduction

Eileen said...

I let Andy and Alex go see this together while I was off gallivanting with Josie Brown. Now I wish I'd made them wait. :-(

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