Cutting the Puppet Strings: A Case Against Agenda-Driven Movies
It was roughly a year from its release date that I mustered the courage to watch Captain Marvel. The trailer didn’t do it much for me, purely because I wasn’t convinced seeing Brie Larson portray a superhero. Also, considering the not-so-good reviews and the claims that it was “one of the worst Marvel movies ever made”. But ignoring all the negativity and the brouhaha, I soldiered on with surface-level expectations. As the end credits rolled, I was left exclaiming that I had just seen one of the most forced movies in my lifetime. “Why was this?” I asked myself. This question played back and forth in my mind like a pendulum. I would plead to the gods (Kratos, where are you?!) to answer my question. What made Captain Marvel a snoozefest? Could it have been bad writing? Could it have been the visual effects? How about the direction? Bad acting? (Brie Larson had about as many expressions on her face as a wet piece of bread). Questions like these plagued my mind until it hit me, my eureka moment, if you will. Captain Marvel was awful because it relied on an agenda.
An Agenda? What is an agenda? I hear you asking yourself. Any major film which pushes a socio-political agenda or panders to any current political topic and has very little substance beyond that is an agenda-driven film — basically, all fire and no substance.
Cultural agendas in movies have become the new normal in today’s world of political correctness and wokeism. While filmmaking as a social commentary is not a new tool, there are now excessive cultural and social agendas masquerading under the guise of filmmaking.
Agenda-based films are produced to push a particular view onto the audience, whether religious, political, LGBTQ+ or any other view. Now, it is crucial to understand that I am not saying that movies can’t use these values as messages throughout their film. They can and they should. But, it is vital to remember that a well-constructed movie should have its values or agendas displayed through its message and should not be what the film revolves around. The agenda cannot be the story, rather, it should be represented by the story. That said, movies, especially now more than ever, have started to ignore this basic fact. Filmmakers are now actively pushing their beliefs down their audience’s throats in the most unsubtle, biassed and unenjoyable manner possible.
Captain Marvel v Hidden Figures: A Case Study
Image Source: HDQ Walls
Let’s take another look at Captain Marvel. As I mentioned before, the film was created as an agenda. But what was it? This movie was made to push forward an extremely heavy feminist message. Captain Marvel takes the concept of feminism and women empowerment and crumbles it into a ball, throws it in the mud, picks it back up, uncrumples it, and then sets it on fire. The film has numerous scenes where Carol Danvers is in direct conflict with men, and the filmmakers dare to outline this as a positive feminist message. These scenes play no narrative in the overarching story and exist in an attempt to deliver the message. Unfortunately, it does a lousy job of that; it attempts to push the idea instead of embedding feminist values in the plot or story, which would’ve successfully displayed the story’s message.
Hidden Figures was a film that completely blew Captain Marvel out of the water. This 2017 drama was based on the team behind the launch of John Glenn into orbit. This film scored 93% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and unequivocally demolished Captain Marvel’s 53% rating. The audiences were unanimous in their approval, with the former garnering 93% and the latter a disappointing 45%.
This happened because Hidden Figures did a better job of displaying the message of women empowerment over Captain Marvel. How, you ask?
Image Source: Disney+
For starters, Hidden Figures allows us to bond with the characters and grow with them. They are likeable, and you can’t help but root for them to win. With Captain Marvel, you are just imploring for her to be knocked off to orbit by Thanos (I’m so glad the Russo Brothers tweaked the source material for Avengers Infinity War). The second and most important reason, Hidden Figures, portrays these women as powerful and intelligent. Those who defy the belief of men that they wouldn’t get anywhere in life. But this message isn’t a situation in the story; it has been beautifully woven within the film’s theme. Nobody, not even their male scientist counterparts, believed these women would be of any help. But throughout the film, they overcome these obstacles, proving their strength, and this was achieved without belittling the opposite sex. The concept of Feminism is established and showcased throughout the narrative. And to sheer perfection, might I add.
In Captain Marvel, this uplifting message is shown in scenes such as when her father gets mad at her for getting into a go-karting accident, when her coworker tells her she can’t be a pilot, or when her drill sergeant yells at her for falling down during a training session. I mean, the movie revolves around that. While trying to show the same message, these situations only depict a different, unintended agenda: Let’s show viewers that this character is bigger than men to prove her power. The movie throws subtly out of the window in favour of blatantly obvious messaging, assuming that the audience is blind and can’t find hidden messages in the film themselves.
Filmmakers and Actors: The Prosecution’s Defence
I have seen an argument floating around by actors and filmmakers alike that movies are made for a target audience. The problem here is that THEY ARE! You cannot isolate or completely ignore certain strata of the audience and say the movie is not for them, thereby making their opinions invalid. And this is not logical. Alienating your viewers is not how entertainment works.
Movies are created for a broad audience regardless of gender, age, mental state, economic status, or religious beliefs. Filmmakers can not pick or choose who watches or absorbs their films; that is not how the movie industry works. When used effectively, social commentary can bring to attention social issues that can lead to serious discussion and debate.
Films like Hidden Figures, Set It Off (1996), The First Wives Club (1996), and Alien (1976), Atomic Blonde (2017), to name a few, have shown how well the message of women empowerment and Feminism can work if it is encapsulated within the story.
To The Jury, Judge and Prosecutors
With the above movies as examples and my case presented, filmmakers need to understand how to portray their message correctly in films. Especially in the unstable times, we find ourselves stuck in. Pleasing one section of your apparent audience will not help gain anything; in reality, it will only lead to backlash from the wider audience. Captain Marvel was annihilated by viewers and critics alike due to its lousy writing, awful execution and agenda-laced narrative.
The films mentioned above, and many others, do not portray their female characters as an agenda but as strong, likeable and well-crafted characters that we root for and feel inspired by. As cinema lovers, the film industry needs to know what we, as their audience, really think about awful agenda filmmaking and support movies that deliver the message to perfection in a fun and memorable way.
I rest my case.
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