One Landed Punch Does Not a Badass Make

(WARNING: Here be spoilers for Iron Man 3.)

I recently saw Iron Man 3. So many things were great about it. I loved the quick-paced, snappy dialogue and the vulnerability of Tony Stark as he tried to be heroic out of the suit. Guy Pearce makes a great bad guy and although there were some holes, it was for the most part, a rollicking good time.

One thing that I found slightly uncomfortable is the praise that’s floating around for what Pepper Potts got to do. Don’t get me wrong: Pepper is great. She’s whip-smart, she can handle Tony and although she screams a lot, she’s ultimately brave. However, I have heard people call her a badass and even a hero in her own right. That’s just not true.

Having a few badass moments is not the same as being a badass character. Yes, Pepper’s turn in the suit was visually interesting (with her protecting Tony in a man-shaped suit) but it was extremely brief. It’s also notable that Pepper did not choose to be in the suit – Tony put her in the suit to protect her.

Yes, Pepper got to cut down Killian while wielding superpowers, but only after she had been kidnapped for over half the movie and had her body violated with strange chemicals. Despite her superpowers, she still needed to be rescued. Only after Tony failed in that attempt did she rise.

I’m not saying that these things weren’t very cool. I liked them very much. However, entirely too much weight is being given to these all-too-brief moments. Not only that, these moments are a tiny fraction of the movie. If you line them up next to the real badasses of the movie (Tony and Rhodey) she falls far short.

Yes, Pepper is a support character by nature. She’s the personal assistant (or was) and the girlfriend. It is part of the lot of those characters to not be in the spotlight and to support the story of the hero. I’m not contesting that. I’m not saying they should have pushed Pepper out of her long-established (both in films and comics) characterization.

I’m saying, don’t call her a badass.

We have been trained as viewers to accept any small bit of badassery from a female character, any small bit of heroism and say, well, she’s clearly good enough, she’s clearly badass enough. She got to do these one or two things. The danger is that filmmakers and writers might stop there, instead of pushing forward and making female characters who are heroic on-par with their male counterparts.

In the end, Pepper is a victim. Things happen to her, not because of her. Just because she had two moments of being strong does not mean she’s suddenly a kickass heroic woman. It takes more than that to be a hero.

I give the filmmakers credit for trying to move Pepper beyond the role of bait and emotional support. They can only do so much while still staying true to her essential role and her established character. I’m not saying we should radically change Pepper and stick her in an Iron Man suit full-time. I’m saying we should be critical of how much weight we give small actions of female characters. No matter how pivotal one action is, it doesn’t make up for a pattern of being reactive and being in distress.

One landed punch does not a badass make.

 

(NOTE: I am aware that in the comics, Pepper did in fact spend time in an Iron Man suit. I am however, strictly discussing the films. They can stand alone and a critique of them doesn’t require deep knowledge of their source material. The movies and the comics exist in separate continuities, so any development that happens in one has no relevance in the discussion of the other, unless of course your point is to compare and contrast portrayals.) 

Review: Doctor Who, Cold War

Doctor Who – Cold War

Cold War was miles better than last week’s Rings of Akhaten and is the latest episode written by Mark Gatiss. Gatiss’ deft, experienced hand at writing Doctor Who episodes made this one of the better ones of the last season or so.

This episode was tense, claustrophobic and atmospheric. It was also refreshing in that it dealt with a nationality on Earth that was something other than British (even though all the Russians still had British accents. An hilarious nod to cinema in general, even if it was unintentional.)

I actually cared about and liked the supporting characters. The Russian professor reminded me a bit of Donna’s father, Wilf. I hoped (though I knew it was futile) that the Doctor might bring him along for an adventure or two. The villain was threatening in just the right way, and showed just enough erratic behavior to remind the audience that this is an alien mind that we’re dealing with. I am not familiar with the Ice Warrior’s previous canonical outings, but I do love when writers show enough respect for canon that they dig up old baddies instead of creating new ones (though new ones can be great, too!) Reusing old ones, especially ones from the Doctor’s early days, gives Who a sense of continuity and history.

Bringing up an old baddie also gave the Doctor a chance to do one of my favourite Doctor-things: prove how much shit he actually knows. He demonstrated his knowledge of the universe and his long, long life by understanding the Ice Warrior’s motivations and mindset. I do also love it when Who shows the Doctor being incredibly respectful of alien creatures. He isn’t quick to judge or condemn the Ice Warrior for his martial behavior, the same way he doesn’t condemn humanity for the cruel acts he witnesses humans doing. His compassion for creatures vastly different shone through in the way he handled his adversary. He is the master of walking miles in the shoes of others. The only thing I wish had happened was a bit more conscious showing off. That was something of a hallmark of Eleven in the past, and has been somewhat absent in recent episodes. The lack of peacock-feather preening could be explained through him mellowing after losing Amy and Rory, but the lack of it makes him a bit too stable. He’s lost some of his eccentricity, and also some of his charm.

I’m still not sold on Clara. She did nothing to distinguish herself or show herself to be more clever or compassionate than an ordinary person. Sure, she was brave when she approached the suit, but other than that, she didn’t shine. Gatiss also didn’t give her any clever lines to say. I was worried they were making Clara a super-genius or pushy like her previous incarnations, but they seem to have gone too far to the other side and made her a rather bland everywoman. It’s a shame because Jenna Louise Coleman has proven she can snap out quick and witty one-liners and rattle off clever things. But in order for her to deliver said zingers, the writers have to write them for her.

So far, in her first two adventures, Clara’s yet to set herself apart. Right now, she feels like Amy minus the stubbornness and minus Rory, which is not a good thing. A companion shouldn’t be plain toast (humanity)  with butter (ordinary.) A companion should be toast with some kind of fascinating spread on top. You can still have the companion be the stand-in for the audience without making her a total empty shell.

Favourite line of the episode:

“Hair, shoulder pads, nukes…it’s the ’80s. Everything is bigger.” – The Doctor

Alternate title:

“The Hunt for Red Planet Aliens in October.”

 

Misfits (UK)

Being Human, another UK series, examines the difficulties of transitioning to adult life when you’ve got secrets, hurdles and a past, and does it through the lens of the supernatural. Misfits does the same sort of thing, but with superheroes and disadvantaged youth.

The setup is as silly-sounding as Being Human. Five young people are on probation and are fulfilling their community service. They get hit by a freak lightning storm and develop superpowers. This premise is hackneyed, and the creators know it – we all know this trope, so we’re expected to accept it and move on. The characters are aware of, and even poke fun at the fact that the whole thing is rather ridiculous.

Misfits is Heroes, UK-style. The similarities are too many for it not to be deliberate. The storm, playing with being costumed superheroes, the plot lines involving fate – even the name is a call-out. (I suppose you could argue that both are just playing with the tropes of the superhero genre, and you may be right. But at the very least, I’m convinced the creators watched Heroes and decided how they were going to be similar and how they were going to do things differently.)

Instead of epic, worldwide ramifications, inescapable fate and shadowy government conspiracies, we’ve got a group of kids just trying to look out for themselves and each other. They save their world every episode, rest of the world be damned. It’s closer to Heroes’ first season, which is a compliment.

Where Misfits really shines is in making you care about a bunch of little shits. The audience dismisses them at first, as we’re supposed to. We’ve got a shallow princess who gets caught drunk driving (Alicia), a rough and tumble girl who gets sent up for punching another girl (Kelly), a creepy, weird kid who tried to set a bully’s house on fire (Simon), a promising Olympic-calibre runner who throws it all away by being caught with coke (Curtis) and a foul-mouthed, insulting asshole who…well, his story’s too good to be spoiled. Let’s just say that even before the storm, Nathan’s superpower is making things much worse for himself by simply failing to shut up.

The creators of the show have managed to take this unlikely group and make them likeable and make you care about them. Not to give things away, but events transpire to bind them all together. These kids are not heroes. I had to pull myself back a few times and realize how horrible some of their actions are. As terrible as they are though, you believe their actions are necessary in the context of the situation – or at least true to the characters.

Misfits is also saying something. By setting the audience up to judge these kids, but then making us care about them, it’s making a commentary about the state of disadvantaged youth. When they try to be good, when they try to care and look out for each other, they still fuck up, because the way they’ve learned how to deal with their problems is fundamentally flawed. Their shortcomings are a product of their environment and upbringing. At the core of each of them, you see the good person they try to be. So when they do triumph, when they do something truly heroic or good, you applaud for them even more. Never is this more in stark contrast when Kelly, the tough girl, tries to be more than she is and has the talent to back it up. Instead of looking at her work, they judge her immediately by her accent and dress, and she’s dismissed.They believe her incapable of being successful, and that’s how the whole world sees these kids. It’s rather heartbreaking.

I’m currently watching the third season. In contrast to Being Human and its attempt to reinvent itself along with cast changes, Misfits seems to be drifting back to its old formula, despite opportunities to move things forward. It remains to be seen whether this will be successful or not. I’ll stick it out until the end of season 3, at least.

I will warn that the show is very raunchy, very violent and at points, offensive – all of which feels true to their world rather than gratuitous. There are a couple of stand-out episodes, specifically one in the second season where they fight back against being mind-controlled and to be ‘good’ in the way society wants them to be. There is also an excellent episode at the beginning of season three when one of the male characters walks a mile in a woman’s shoes.

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