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FATW had a lot of issues that I think agree come as a result of never addressing race and systemic issues as explicitly. It’s kind of a game of whack a mole that we’re not really expecting these corporations to consider in the first place. I will say his apology was a decent start but it’s sandwiched between other weird decisions the show made that made it feel flat for me. Another great vid 🔥🔥
Whqt weird decisions or issues? I think in Sam Wilson's speech he did bring up systemic issues but rather from systemic racism explicitly it's more of lack of representation and what decisions the politicians make effect regular folls
I was kinda fascinated by people (out of verse) thinking that this version of Bucky deserved the shield OVER/before Sam. The entire point of Sam's character is that he is Steve's ideals and personality reincarnated in the 21st century, and that Steve's "Captain America"-ness is neither inherent to Steve, Steve's time period OR the supersoldier serum. i.e. "Don't ask me. I do what he does, just slower." Also, AWESOME SPONSOR. We keep saying "why don't we make our own," but not supporting when we do "make our own."
I can see it. Bucky was heavily favoured to take the shield early on (if I remember right, Bucky was Cap before Sam in the comics.) I was surprised when Sam got it, but not really. Bucky’s on a very different path in the MCU than he was in the comics, and I think in the MCU as it stands, Sam Wilson is the best man for the job. I’m so ridiculously excited to see him officially as Captain America, but I do hope we get Bucky there at some point just because I love their chemistry.
The show was the weirdest of the MCU shows for me to get through, because it really seems like they didn't realize that they accidentally made the bad guys the good guys until they were nearly done filming and had to add completely out of character moments for the Flag Smashers to make them seem like bad people. Sam's speech at the end just felt like a poorly executed attempt to bridge the gap. As to Bucky's apology... I can see why some people were less than trusting of it, but given the era he came from and that he spent most of his current time as a withdrawn shut-in, it makes sense to me that it wasn't exactly perfect, and Sam's just a good enough dude to understand and appreciate the intent behind it.
But the flag smashers more specifically Karli rather than the others are bad guys. They are terrorists. You and I might agree with their cause but Karli is a supremacist and willing to murder innocent people to achieve her political goals. Definitely a bad guy. It's like saying killmonger or Loki aren't bad guys.
Media has been doing this a lot with sympathetic antagonists. They are vaguely or sometimes obviously left leaning who see a problem of the world and they fight back against the powers at be. But because they do it the "wrong way" they are the villains. The writers fall back on the liberal idea that the best way to deal with injustice is through speeches and pacifistic protest.
The thing is it's not a bad guys and good guys show. The only "bad guys" in the show are Zemo, the French parkour enthusiast, Elaine from Sienfeld, Captain Middle America, and the girl from Captain America 2 who turns out to be an international crime lord and arms dealer. The flag smashers aren't bad guys. They're an oppressed group that's being pushed out of society. And when you push people hard enough they push back. The UN security council or whatever white privilege meet and greet got attacked at the end are closer to being the bad guys than the flag smashers ever were. Sam's speech at the end rings hollow because he's literally trying to reason with real world evil people that we as viewers all know will never listen to or even acknowledge the argument he's making.
I think the areas where Falcon + the Winter Soldier fell short are due to the fact that marvel tried to have its cake and eat it too so to speak. They wanted to appeal to everyone, to discuss these big, weighted issues without alienating anyone. They did a great job of developing Sam's character and exploring his complex experience as a super hero and black American. It's just so hard when they are also very consciously trying to "teach" the white part of their audience about systemic racism without making them feel too guilty, and doing that by making Bucky the audience surrogate for white viewers. He is wrong, but he means well, right? Essentially, they seem to make a huge effort to protect Bucky's sanctity as a misguided but well meaning ally, because giving him any true sentence of fault or clear error might cause discomfort for the white portion of their audience. Thus, Bucky's narrative and place as a second main character (rather than side character) seemed to take a lot of focus away from Sam, who I believe deserved and needed the screen time so that the writers could accurately and meaningfully explore the themes they seem to desperately want credit for addressing.
I think the failure was trying to target a lecture at there audience. They failed on several levels. 1. They didn't properly explain Sam's issue, and where it actually comes from. The issue is that America's history is very dark, and full of bigotry that is still fresh in some of our minds. That fear causes people to doubt their place as Americans. When you treat people like they aren't deserving of something, they will start to think they don't. I guarantee a major fear of Sam's was the backlash towards his carrying on the mantle. The idea that such a thing would most likely stir unease with the public, maybe even within the Avengers themselves. This is a valid fear, modern reactions to casting choices highlights that, and I agree that a race swap of Steve Rogers to a black man would be met with controversy. That being said, the problem is with those toxic people who see race as so important to get upset about it. To get upset with Rogers and Bucky, is almost as toxic. They are not making a decision based on race, because it doesn't matter to them, and to most people. This isn't to dismiss the concerns about public response, but it is to highlight a major problem with this show. 2. This show is incredibly lacking in self awareness: They portray the villains as victims, when they act as violent colonizers; and play a similar "us against them" game as most racists do. How are they colonizers; they took land and belongings that weren't theirs, and now fight the original owners and residents who want it back. They have a well thought out story about black visibility and the mistreatment of African American veterans; only to forget about Lamar, who was viciously murdered. His death is mentioned twice after it, and never addressed. 3. Only one character grew. Bucky learned to trust himself and people with the truth of his past. The rest stayed the same or regressed. The villain dies, thinking themself correct. Sam does accept the mantel of Captain America, but uses it as a platform to arrogantly talk down to other people, instead of trying to bring people together, above petty superficial nonsense. This show was garbage, and shat on a character I looked up to growing up as a comic reader, Sam Wilson, The Falcon.
Idk why they seem to forget that trying to appeal to a universal audience means you have to ignore some racism, etc and that shouldn’t be happening in shows like this.
@@bmwjourdandunngoddess6024 I don't think you would have to ignore anything, just handle it in a less preachy, one sided way. They had a lot of potential, they just missed the mark because the focus was on an agenda, not telling a story.
The internment of people in the US during WWII was not Japanese Citizens, they were Japanese American Citizens, and this event ruined their lives and livelihoods. They were fellow Americans, and their own government locked them up because of their ancestry, not all that long ago either.
From the video and the comments, I gather that Bucky's "I don't see color" apology to Sam shows his subconscious racial bias, due to his segregated upbringing and former Nazi Hydra membership, because a lot of insincere white allies say that, before saying hate speech or discrimination against POCs. In the original comics, Bucky was brainwashed by the Soviets during the Cold War, instead. He was also written as anti-racist and possibly Jewish, since he was Steve Rogers' childhood buddy and Steve was retconned as Jewish, to explain his Nazi-hunting as Capt. America. Steve also had a gay childhood friend, whom the Red Skull kidnapped, dressed in drag and forced to declare his lifelong crush on him. Several RUclips videos criticized _ Falcon and the Winter Soldier_ and _Capt. America: Civil War_ for queerbaiting between Steve and Bucky and later Sam and Bucky. Under the Comics Code Authority censorship, racism and other social problems were taboo, hence Cap and Bucky lacked social prejudices in the Civil Rights Era and afterward. In "Capt. America: Sentinel of Liberty," Dr. Erskine chose Steve over a Southern bigot because of his mellow racial tolerance. The MCU should have first made Cap and Bucky more comic book accurate. For social themes, such as racism, closet life and gay relationships, the writers should have researched underground comics, which better handled such political subjects, since they were written for a hippie audience. They also should have hired a more diverse writing staff. Making the Captain America movies R-rated and graphic, like "Schindler's List," "Inglorious Basterds," and "Saving Private Ryan" and "Falcon and the Winter Soldier" TV-M rated and graphic, like the "Sopranos," "Game of Thrones," "The Walking Dead," " The Boys" and "Queer As Folk," would make the franchise more realistic about the Holocaust, segregation, terrorism and homophobia of the WWII eras to the Present Day. Steve and Bucky's anti-racism could more plausibly stem from their Jewish Nazi-hunting and jazz fandom in WWII, like Magneto and the Rat Pack's Civil Rights sympathizing.🤔🤓😎
I side eyed the apology because did he have to see it to believe it? Forget that he came from the Jim crow era. He came from hydra and I know they weren't colorblind and he knew about Isaiah Bradleys history. Also kept up with Isaiah to a point he knew where Isaiah lived. Was that not the wake up call? Plus not only did Sam look for Bucky for two years. they were on the run for two extra years and not one time did a race thing come up? Was he really that blind to the point where Zemo was more understanding about black american issues than him? and Zemo is not even American. It just killed me and it's one of the things I wish the show examined. It does feel like Steve knew the problems that could occur. But just didn't care as long as Sam had the shield he could care less. But Bucky man just no excuse man.
It's another reason I like Zemo so much, that and his speech on supremacist ideals not being separated from the desire for powers. Then again perhaps, this was a writing oversight? I mean the character spent time in Wakanda. With all that therapy or deprogramming, surely this would have came up? Still forgotten as things tend to be between projects I appreciate your comment c:
@@Planag7 I believe it's an oversight of the writing too. Because they don't watch every MCU thing so alot of context gets lost and that's why so many awkward moments like the apology take place.
I do believe it’s an oversight in the writing cause this version of Bucky is written a lot closer to a centrist with liberal leanings, because he so clearly believes there can’t be anything wrong with the system because a person of color is in a station of power, a form of denialism if you will and it’s clear that’s who the writers are targeting with this arch, rather than out and put racists.
@@Thed538dhsk marvel had a comic of when they had to break Sam out of jail and head to wakanda. They didn't just fly there. That's the 2 extra years of running I'm talking about.
I'd noticed how the first Captain America movie ignored the segregation of the American military that still existed all through World War II. I liked that the Falcon and the Winter Soldier show addressed modern-day and historical racism in a relatively more realistic way. Also, I liked how this antagonists-to-buddies show included quite interesting minor characters who had their own opinions. I thought that Sam's sister Sarah was smarter than Sam and Bucky put together. 😄 And I appreciated the Dora Milaje. From what I understand, some good-sized chunks of the show needed to be rewritten or otherwise redone because of the pandemic? That would explain certain choppiness in some of the plotlines. But I thought Sam's arc was done well. And many of the actors were amazing.😄 I fell into the "glad that Bucky realized the issues" camp, but the eliding of racism in previous MCU movies added to the awkwardness. I enjoyed your analysis of the awkward apology, though.
As a white guy who grew up watching every episode of every X-Men cartoon at least 4 times, I loved Falcon and Winter Soldier. It and Luke Cage are two great shows that don't get the recognition they deserve because too many whites "don't see race." My favorite scene was "Is this man bothering you?/Do you know who this man is?" For me Bucky's apology rings true and shows the pervasiveness of white privilege. Whites don't always acknowledge the existence of systemic racism because we have the privilege of being not just allowed but socially encouraged to live in ignorance. Whites don't see the 500% greater likelihood in being stopped, harassed, and murdered by cops. They don't see the red lining. Until a Rodney King, Trayvon Martin, or George Floyd incident happens. Then they can't pretend racism ended 15 minutes after Martin Luther King got shot. They are forced to either accept reality, or bury their heads further in the sand and scream "La, la, la! I can't hear you. I don't see color." Bucky, even though he was brainwashed by nazis and kept as a pet assassin for decades, simply doesn't think about the day to day problems black folks face because they are black. So when it's thrown in his face by some nobody pissant cop literally seconds after they were told about the Tuskegee Syphilis experiment allegory, he's forced to acknowledge his privilege. It didn't happen because Ike Perlemutter was still at marvel at the time, but Avengers 1 really needed a scene where Steve was reading a newspaper and then got up and said "Wait! You people are living in the future and you still have racism? Who the hell let that happen?" Followed by Sam, Rhodey, and Fury slowly turning and looking at the lone billionaire in the room.
Him and Steve were both in Brooklyn in the depression, which was a primarily black neighborhood (at least what I can find.) So I can see the “I don’t see colour” sounding right to *him*, even if it comes off hollow now. First Avenger doesn’t show either of them at all out of sorts to have Gabe fighting with them as part of the Commandos. But you’re 100% right when you talk about his white privilege. He was/is a good looking, cisgender, heterosexual (?) white man. The privileges he got compared to a black man of that time (or even Steve) were probably beyond what I can find a number for. I think him being the only white guy in Wakanda probably attributed to the “I don’t see colour” statement too. I don’t know how long he was there (did he ever say?) but look at the way he reacts to the Dora Milaje. (“Looking strong, John!”) He only got involved in the fight because Sam asked him to. Also I really need that scene to happen in Avengers 1 (though not written by Joss Whedon, please.)
I think all of this is also heightened for Steve and Bucky by the fact that they have existed out of time for a good whole chunk. So, while they are behind and trying to catch up with modern sociopolitical issues, they might double down on the "good foundation" they already know to be the decent thing to do, and then build on it. Like a "I have a lot of learning to do to really understand how the systemic inequalities of this modern time functions but in the mean time, at least I know what NOT to do, and that is treat or even think differently of people because of their race, gender, sexuality, ability etc. I know that much and it is a timeless truth of basic decency that I must always hold myself to." Which leaves some massive blind-spots as you beautifully articulated.
Given that the first Captain America movie is set in the European theatre, I had always assumed that Morita was one of the Japanese Americans who got out of an internment camp by enlisting, since I believe those who enlisted were sent to fight, but in Europe because they definitely weren't trusted in the Pacific theatre. I do wish they specifically acknowledged it though, particularly since, based on the Fresno comment, when he returned after the war, there was a pretty high likelihood that he would have found any of his family's property stolen. If I recall, a lot of the political push for internment of Japanese Americans came from whites in Central California who took up the first chance available to snatch up recently vacated farms. It's a super f'ed up part of history even outside of the y'know, internment camps, and yeah, just glossed over.
Growing up the "i don't see colour" approach seemed like how to be a non-racist. Now as an adult I understand how that actually is super racist as in you don't "see" the struggle people have gone, and are still going, through... Like many have commented, this seems to be something Marvel is trying to address but awkwardly and with many fails.
Right.. Because *every* single person of color in America deals with systematic oppression because of their race am I right? My own Japanese mother is just "ignorant" to how others have mistreated her and others "like her." So is my lower class Hispanic best friend. And my black friends. They must all see my white dad in a particular way right? And me too as a result right? I'm also just being "ignorant" by not assuming they are bitter about how their race is or has been treated. I'm ignorant for seeing them as people first/foremost and treating them as such before trying to assume their racial struggle am I right? Well I'll tell you now, everyone is different. Not just in a racial diversity way, but as people too. Some of my friends have their racial and cultural identity at the front of their minds and some honestly just don't. And I respect both mindsets. Wouldn't it have been incredibly racist of me to have assumed their struggles when I met them just because of what they looked like? That would be like me assuming that races work like hiveminds. My belief is that people are people first, no matter what.
@@lucaspoon4202 sounds like you acknowledge it happens, but now are actively down playing it. Going for a numbers game. "Oh it doesn't happen to everyone!" Meaning ......
“Can’t really call Steve Rogers Captain America anymore because it’s Sam Wilson.” I mean, Chris Evans agrees with you wholeheartedly. “Then he was wrong about *me*.” Is *so* perfect for where Bucky’s head is at during the series. Goddamn. If I keep writing while I watch, I’m gonna be writing forever. This is such a good video. I’m five minutes in and this is a sub from me, man. Thanks for the content for me to binge.
Steve will always be captain America. Sam is also captain America. It’s not really a title. It’s a type of person. When shit gets crazy and you have the guts to do whats right and fight, you are captain America.
This show did a lot for me. Something just really struck a chord with me as a person of color on the levels of both wanting to do good in the present day but also understanding the history of atrocities committed against people like me. In my opinion, Sam’s personal journey to becoming Captain America and Isaiah’s story were both really well done. Both are inspiring heroes for me and Sam is a character I really love and want to see more of. I know people are already writing off his next movie because Sambra is in it for some reason but I just want to see this character succeed. I would describe myself as pretty far to the left I’m certainly no centrist (ugh) but part of me can’t help but feel guilty having enjoyed this show for what it was and looking around me and seeing almost all of my fellow liberals find it to be not enough. I dunno, I see where people are coming from but I guess I still want to hold on to what I got out of the show. Looking at critically, I think the two things I enjoyed the most: Sam’s journey and Isaiah’s story, were the two main concerns behind the scenes and everything else was secondary. And I think you can do a story that’s just about Sam becoming Cap, Isaiah’s story being told, the impact of a black man becoming Captain America, and some personal growth for Bucky on the side, is fine. But the villains needed to just be HYDRA or something and the Flag Smashers I think would’ve been better served being saved for a story where Sam is already established as Cap and we can focus on analyzing those issues without arcs for the main heroes this big taking up most of the oxygen that might’ve been afforded to them. More episodes could also have worked honestly. Streaming shows why are you like this. Also, I didn’t personally feel significantly queerbaited (im bi) as much as I felt the show acknowledged that shipping the two leads was a I think I could do. I’m good with that. If the two actors ever become 100% comfortable performing explicitly queer scenes between their characters say go for it, if not I understand and just hope the MCU makes sure to include queer identities in other spaces.
It concerned me that the heroes allied with a Fasch Super-Villain against Anarchists. The choice to turn the Flag Smashers into murderers at the end seems like codling the viewer.
Wasn’t there like 5 seconds in the First Avenger when Steve initially rescues the howling commandos where the kinda bring up some reservations about also releasing a Japanese POW before it was revealed he was from like Colorado or something?
He was from Fresno! He gets referenced in Spider-Man: Homecoming as well, where Peter's school principal is the Commando's grandson, played by the same actor. Edit: and to clarify, the guy they free in the scene you mention becomes one of the Commandos.
@@Thed538dhsk I wasn’t implying Steve was the one who said it I was just pointing out that some of the soldiers would have racist reservations about someone who was Japanese in that situation. And I know Steve “doesn’t see race” cause he’s a white northerner and just so gosh darn perfect 🤩
I enjoyed it but it was a depressing reminder that the politics of a show out in modern times lags behind the politics of a comic from the 70s. which is my issue w the mcu in general. The comics (barring recent years and Remender's centrist as hell writing) always felt on the slight left of liberal....but the movies feel a lot more centrist leaning. Like you said falcon and the winter soldier was a step in the right direction (esp compared to their cementing the white and Christian washing of wands w wandavision ) I'm tentatively excited bc we nvr got a lot of Good Cap! Sam because of Remender's involvement and then the going back to status quo not long after he stopped writing the book
great sponsor! I'll definitely check them out! really anytime I watch anything now involving acknowledging race and race division, I go in a bit skeptical. I assume the audience the conversation is for is a general audience, so the nuances may be missed or skipped over. From my very hazy memory lol, I remember wanting more from Sam's character - how it felt like he was trapped in everyone else's troubles but couldn't say anything of his own (which now that I write that, it feels pretty black to me lol). And I also wanted more than just the queer/romance coding of their characters - more than just a joke or framing that was never talked about ever again.
I feel like this is the best of what could have come out of that situation ( the apology). There had to be a lot of PASS for that script to move forward. Many times we forget there is a mountain of white people guarding these shows because of profit to be claimed and social popularity, so when we get these moments of "Black Feels" I embrace it. Also look for it in other related media. Lets call a spade a spade, these moments in media will always be ...Awkward... and it will never be enough. BUT... Moments like this with the right script, the right actors, the right person in charge and the right network gives us the slight breath of air to exhale on. Great video BTW
This is suuuuuch a good video, there are so many amazing points, but around 18:30 is when everything really started to come together. It's kind of...embarrassing?? watching the MCU clumsily walk back the "I don't see color" whitewashed version of history they gave us in phases 1 and 2. You brought up how presumably they'll bring up the Holocaust when they introduce the X-Men, but it's frankly wild that they completely ignored it during Cap 1 and had him in a fully integrated battalion, while also using the iconic Cap-punching-Hitler imagery in the same movie. They really went out of their way to cover up the Jewish history at the heart of Marvel comics (we saw it with Wanda too). Now that they're walking that back and acknowledging anti-blackness, colonialism, etc, it feels funny cuz it's like they're trying to have their cake and eat it too? They tried the whitewashed warm fuzzy version of history with "colorblind" casts, but then they figured they could make more money by being their version of "progressive." So now we're stuck in this awkward place where it feels disingenuous that all of this exists in the same universe, and the progressive stuff isn't actually gonna shake the table enough to feel meaningful. Speaking of which: we don't know how Cap 4 is gonna play out yet but good LORD it's looking bleak, which really really sucks. I also think TFATWS fell kinda flat because of Steve. They pulled their "have their cake and eat it too" thing with him as well. The show's not technically about him cuz he's not in the show, so he's not overshadowing Sam, but he hovers too much over the narrative to ignore outright. But at the same time, because the MCU is allergic to male characters genuinely opening up to each other without lampshading (especially THESE male characters) the show can't be ~enough~ about Steve to actually make a difference for Sam or Bucky's storylines. First there's the obvious that Steve is a white "ally" who chose to go back in time and live during segregation and not worry about changing history because he could comfortably do that. More than that though, since we saw so little of Sam and Bucky interacting with Steve in Endgame, the show thinks it can get away with the two of them treating Steve like a symbol like the other characters do, and not as...their best friend?? Like it's weird enough that he'd happily live his retirement without them, but even if Sam and Bucky were all on the same page about Steve's weird time travel retirement, they don't...miss him? Bucky's apology to Sam lacks that raw emotion he showed during the therapy scene, which was the only time we really see the loss of Steve as a close friend weighing on them, not the loss of Steve as a hero. Sam isn't just burdened by the weight of the shield, he should be grappling with the fact that his close friend made that choice for him. But we KNOW why the show can't take it there, can't acknowledge their friendship. But they CAN show Sam and Bucky rolling through a field of flowers together, and going to couples therapy as a joke. Marvel wants to tell me these male characters are close, but they refuse to show it for fear of, well...we all know what happened with the Cap movies. And then they turn around and throw in queerbait jokes and lampshade couples therapy to deflect criticism, and all the while the character writing suffers cuz they can't have a real conversation with each other about what's actually going on in the story. TFATWS was such a letdown after Wandavision. I think the suffocating neoliberalism would've been an easier pill to swallow if not for how stilted Sam and Bucky (and Steve's) dynamic was. Like, c'mon Marvel at least give us SOMETHING.
Don't drag me but I was just happy that the MCU decided to even tackle the concept of being a black man in America and the implications of having a black man become Captain America. Even better was that it didn't feel like the "race" episode in a 90s cartoon. It built into something of a real plot point and conflict for multiple characters. Bucky came across to me as someone that finally stepped back from their own trauma to see someone else's and understanding it for the first time. Yeah, I could see the "I don't see race" agenda buried in it but based on his character development from Winter Soldier onwards I think it's more the trauma angle for him. He could only see through the lens of his trauma until he was forced to do otherwise.
Great vid-I clicked on it unable to remember what apology this was referring to. Watching it again I recalled how I interpreted it while watching the first time, which (SuBjeCtivEly) was: Bucky not saying oops I didn’t realize racism was such a big deal my bad, but rather, I knew it was really bad, but I thought that taking up a mantle like this would be something you’d want to do, I assumed that it would make you feel empowered and powerful, and like a step forward for everyone. I didn’t think about how you might feel like a sellout and an assimilationist by adopting this symbolism, sorry man, do what you gotta do. That was just me though. I didn’t think Bucky was surprised by the racial profiling though, just mad about it. Maybe I was watching the show with rose-glasses tho. Karli was done dirty, her storyline made no sense. Honestly (as someone who knew nothing about the comics at all) I was surprised Sam kept the stars & stripes aesthetic. It worked I guess. But I think he would have been justified in repainting the shield or something. Contrast that with US Agent with a fake shield in the original design and juxtapose the two thematically…… idk. There was a lot left undefined in that show.
I'm white and I'm gunna say -- I don't know how to be a good ally. I'm gunna keep on watching these and other poc creators, I'm gunna listen, I'm gunna try to do good where I see an opportunity. I'm gunna screw up, but I'm gunna try. I'll do what I can and I'll try to be open about it. Feeling that white guilt right about now.
Thanks prof. People who say “I don’t see colour” are like the people who say “I don’t gender” yet would doubt and argue with every word out of a singular woman’s mouth at a board meeting. In defence of Bucky’s character, dude spent a lot of time frozen and then in Wakanda that was untouched. Even Steve spent two whole years in hiding with Sam looking for Bucky. Bucky is more a person of action than words. After the Dora said to make himself scare in Wakanda because Bucky delivered on Zeemo too late, Bucky did the opposite and asked for a favour for Sam. Sam whose wings got broken when they took down John Walker, to outfit Sam with vibranium wings. I wished for Sam and Bucky that their conversations they had with one another nonetheless had more room to breathe and pause for more understanding between the two. I feel like the show rushed those. It could have made it even greater. P.S. There is a scene in Captain America: Civil War where Steve’s team got thrown into prison and Sam’s face was the only one that was shown as messed up by the guards. They spent five appreciative seconds on that and I chuckled. They’re getting there on racism being a systemic issue, and it’s okay for us to want more.
Fuck, I thought I imagined that in Civil War. Even the woman with the psychic powers got out without a bruise. I would have loved to see more of Bucky’s time in Wakanda. (And not just because I think scenes with him and T’Challa/Shuri could have been really entertaining.) I keep wondering if he learned Xhosa or if HYDRA implanted languages in his head and that’s just one of the things they left in. But seeing the scene in the comics where T’Challa asks Shuri if it was difficult to undo the brainwashing and her response being like “lol sure jan” is perfect. But the scene we did get with Ayo was so damned good that I can’t complain.
I wasnt a huge fan of FatWS as a whole show, it fails in a ton of areas, but I was very excited to finally see some discussion of race enter the MCU. I really enjoyed seeing Sam talking with Isaiah Bradley and eventually make his own decision about how he wanted to move forward. I just wish the show as a whole was something I could recommend to friends.
To be fair, Bucky didn't actually spend a lot of time out in the modern world in America. After breaking free of HYDRA, he went into hiding in Romania, so he didn't see it there, and after that, he went to Wakanda, where again, he didn't get to experience any systemic racism. He was just minding his business and farming and getting his head cleared of HYDRA, I doubt Shuri or T'Challa sat down with him at some point and gave him a history lesson about how things are in America now. Then he got dusted. And the show takes place only six months after Endgame, and during that time, he was still recovering from his past and trauma. So he should really be cut some slack for not being hyper aware of the social and political racial issues of modern day America. And in Steve's case, he spent several years in the modern America, so he should have gotten a better idea over the years, but like it was said in the video, the thing about his character is that he sees everyone equal, and it makes a lot of sense in his case, because he was a minority: his parents were poor immigrants and he was disabled and poor for most of his life. So it's not like he's just some ideal honourable white guy for the sake of him being that, his values and the way he sees others comes from his own life experience. I think a lot of people tend to forget those aspects of his life a lot. All in all, Bucky's not a perfect character and person, he's got flaws, and his apology is awkward, but the intent is genuine, and Sam understands and appreciates it.
You summed my thoughts up perfectly, Bucky has essentially only recently started living in present day America, so he would see more of the positive than the more subtle racial issues. Plus since he’s still adjusting to the fact his best friend is probably dead or close to death, spending a majority of 70 years in cyrostatsis with the remaining as a brainwashed killer, I doubt a person would really be doing that much studying on something that doesn’t affect them on a daily basis and this is coming from someone who’s half African American and Half Creole.
Bucky gets a pass for hos apology because for him to come from the time period of his origin to now and years of mental reconditioning, racism wouldn't be as obvious to him.
I don't think that TFATWS or Marvel in general is perfect talking about these things, however the fact that they even make the attempt creates its own value imo, if only because then we end up having conversations about it. I like that Bucky's apology was phrased as 'I was doing this thing that is flawed (acting like I don't see color) and I am admitting to you that I was wrong, that I'm growing, and learning, and will continue trying to do better'. There are definitely worse ways he could have phrased it, but the fact I'm struggling to think of an example just proves that it isn't done enough on TV in the first place, and while it came off clunky there was clearly an arc of discovery there that to some degree the audience was meant to go on with him. Marvel tested the waters with Sam being Cap in 2016, and the Captain America: Sam Wilson run (although also flawed in some respects) goes into more of what it means for him to accept (or reject) the shield both from his own perspective and the kids he inspires (they show that a tiny bit in TFATWS with his nephews playing with the shield). The entire Secret Empire run is Sam Wilson's story, not just specifically in becoming Captain America, but in making the role his own; what that means, and how it will be different. There's a great podcast on YT titled 'Why Most Secret Empire Takes Are Wrong' which discusses Sam's becoming Captain America arc in the comics and I highly recommend it, because there's a lot more nuance and hearing it interpreted by black readers gave me a lot to think about, and I reference people back to it constantly as a result. Re. Bucky and Steve specifically, I just wanted to add that they're in a very unique position for, again, things they specifically didn't write into the canon. It's made obvious that Bucky and Steve had no problem getting employed and living comfortably in their (bizarrely Hollywood backlot clean-looking, immigrant-free) version of 1930s Brooklyn, but if you research into the era the specific disabilities Steve had were the focus of campaigns at the time calling him out as a "burden on society", "draining the value out of the economy", "better off dead" etc. In that context Bucky's empathy for Steve (and Chris Evans does mention this in one of his interviews), is clearly a large part of what formed him into being a good, just human being rather than the other way around, i.e. Steve is good because of Bucky, rather than Bucky being good because of Steve. What little we see of their past is Bucky being there for Steve trying to lift Steve's mood and raise him up pre-serum, and while it doesn't really change anything re. the upstanding northerner narrative device, I do think it's an interesting thing to reflect on, not just on Bucky's characterization at present and going into future projects, but the other ways Marvel sanitized previous projects in order to sell their utopia. All in all I think it's... good in general? to see them dial it back on the Good Feels Anti-Prejudice Paradise of it all in terms of storytelling even if (as per the reactions to D23 and the title of the next Cap project) it does open whole other cans of worms for them to do so. If it means people talk about these projects with more nuance than just a shallow interest in the CGI and the costumes, I can only believe that's got to be a good thing.
Honestly, I missed that there was even this much nuance in Falcon and the Winter Soldier. I mostly just remember the end, where Sam just rants about how the Senators need to better. The show just wasn't holding my attention to follow any meaningful messaging.
Wow! I didn't properly watch the show because it wasn't really my thing, but your video about it held my interest the whole way through! Your part about Marvel seeming to have written its world as being without certain forms of bigotry and discrimination only to start adding them in later down the road really resonated. On the one hand it feels a bit like they're backpedaling, on the other maybe it's just a necessarily awkward bridge into making good stories that fully tackle these issues. I no longer watch much Marvel content but your videos about the MCU are always captivating!
Agreed. That “apology” was so CRINGEY. I kept thinking “why is Bucky even apologizing?” Bucky and captain America are MEANT to be the best ppl; they represent what America SHOuld Be. Of course they wouldn’t exactly know what it is to be a nonwhite American, but what matters is how they treat ppl. As you said, THEY don’t react badly to big players like Nick Fury and Black Panther. The reason why the McU really hasn’t examined how certain aspects don’t make sense as you pointed. AND COmbined with the failure to make a really compelling captain American prequel movie where racism WPULD absolutely make sense to show, it didn’t. Seriously the comics have done better at looking at this. There are three comics. 1)there’s an issue where captain America and black panther first meet. One of the capt’s teammates is Black and he is not happy with America for obvious reasons but he is surprised that Steve accepts him with no question. It’s why he has a connection to Black Panther. Quick ending-he continues serving America but becomes a prominent civil rights leader.2)isiah-the first Capt America. Steve finds out the truth and goes to isiah’s home where years of neglect and extermination has ruined his mental state. Ina. Touching scene-Steve states that he cannot undue the injustice but he can give him the respect he deserves by handing the old captain America costume to him. Also, captain America has a conversation with isiah’s wife about her religion to Islam; and it’s very respectful-no mans-planning. 3)Sam Wilson gets sent back in time. He decides to make his life in the 40s due to his inability to go back. He becomes a friend of captain again. He loves a good life-being a activist. Years later, Steve Rogers (who went through the whole iceberg thing) tells him that Sam WAS his hero-because Sam always helped others despite systemic racism. And that’s something. Steve admired and took to heart.
As A Latinx person who’s ancestors were enslaved by Spaniards I love and can relate to your content Readus. Still waiting for a Hispanic Marvel character that is not a white hero’s criminal best friend. America Chavez would be great if they made her Hispanic/Latinx instead of you know an alien. Considering my people are derogatorily called “Illegal aliens” to dehumanize us as a people. Oh and thrown in literal cages and separated from our children. But you know happy Hispanic/Latinx heritage month. Keep up the awesome content. Look forward to every video you post.
I'm a latino, proud of my heritage, so let me tell you something, You are either Latino or Latina. Calling yourself "Latinx" make you sound like an animal. Someones pet. Try to be better.
The actress is great but yeahAmerica Chavez was a big big fumble. She’s an alien in the comic - and it wouldn’t have been a big deal if she weren’t the first major Latinx person brought into the MCU. My biggest issue is them erasing her ethnicity. Many Black Puerto Ricans and Boriquas wrote her like that and they cast someone whose Mexican American and not Black. It would have felt less bad if like I said before with Latinx characters if Black women in the MCU weren’t sidekicks so much, green/blue, or supporting characters for white men. Wakandans, Valkyrie, Gamora, Monica, MJ, Maria, … even of those who the actress is Afro Latina - all aliens.
I really liked FATWS. Bucky is one of my favorite MCU characters (I can do a whole essay on him) and it made me happy that he could acknowledge his systematic racism, try to apologize for it and (hopefully) in the future we'll see he's learned and is trying to be better
thank you for this, you've given a lot of insight and angles that i wasn't really conscious of. i'm asian australian, so historical/modern tensions in the states aren't something i know a lot about. at least not to the deep/nuanced level you discuss. i honestly just read the scene and show as it was because i'm totally removed from any cultural context, but i really appreciate your deconstruction of the skepticism of audiences other than myself very keen to continue perusing more of your videos
So, one of my thoughts on the show and it's reception is how people reacted to different characters being violent. John Walker we openly see as unnecessarily hostile and only gets more so, but is offered a redemption of sorts at the end. Mirrored in Bucky coming to terms with his past actions which we see with brutal clarity. But Karli's violence is seen as specifically reprehensible despite trying to oppose a powerful force seeking to exterminate her and her people. And the capstone: Sam's violence. In the cold open of the show, we see Sam kill 5x as many people as Karli ever did, and under a whole host of base assumptions. The mercenaries MUST be bad, Libya couldn't possibly have reason for wanting this army captain, who himself couldn't POSSIBLY have done anything to MERIT extra judicial extraction (oh wait, when non-Americans do that they just call it kidnapping). But we're prompted to see any violence done by Sam as being blessed by both "the State" and Steve Rogers. But the show also openly calls into question how much wiggle room we should be giving to state, military, and police action. I feel like it was intentional, but I don't see a lot of people talk about it.
Wanted to add: a part of it is just how non-chalant that cold open treats the death and mayhem that is in progress versus so much of the threat and violence portrayed later on.
@@hartthorn Sam defends Karli on multiple occasions and even at the end tries to take her down without killing her. The show could've probably done more but this idea people have that Karli was simply in the wrong kind of ignores all of Sam's points.
@@jasonjones3328 oh yeah. Outside of the other Flag Smashers, Sam shows the most sympathy to Karli's issues out of anyone. But I was more talking about audience reactions and how the show's framing shaped it.
Could also be a doubling down on Steve's privilege as not just a white guy, but as a famous person with historical clout. He's never really had to address any of it because he's on the moral high ground so that's all that should matter, I guess.
They definitely should have made a distinction between how the Commandos treated those minority members compared to how everyone else at the time treated them. Great video, La'Ron. It's also opened my eyes to my own way of viewing the world, but I think there is something that's missed here. To lay a bit of groundwork, I was raised to be as "character first" as is possible (white, religious minority), yet also raised around the "be on guard" nervous reaction when seeing a group of young aduls (usually non-white) hanging around. It's left a very strange mark on how I interact with those around me. While trying to not toot my own horn, the people I interact with are almost enitrely (I'm human, 100% is impossible) looked at by character first, ethnicity second. But this video has allowed me to put into words the disconnect I was aways aware of. That is, outside of those people I interact with in any way, perfect strangers are not always looked at in the same way depedning on circumstances. And the reverse is very much true and what relates to this video. Namely, I would be shocked and horrified if a person of minority I knew/was friends with got racially profiled by the police, despite actively knowing such things happen. There's a vagueness to the knowing and understanding that F&tWS failed to get across. Bucky is probably fully aware of the issues of racial profiling, but this is Sam Wilson. And as you said, _he_ knows Sam, so why the hell are these idiot racists being idiot racists? Like Bucky, I've not connected the issues other minorities have faced in society with the struggles the minorities I know have had to go through. If there's one thing that this video has taught me, is that "I don't see colour" is not a phrase I'll be using in the future.
FATW had so many issues that Bucky's apology was really low priority for me. Sam's naivete at the end with "DO BETTER," the show's U-turn for 'terrorists' (you know, the only ones who are trying to help the displaced peoples) as murderers to paint them as TRULY wrong/going about it the wrong way smacks of 'can you protest in ways that are less inconvenient for me?' energy, and so on.
Happens a lot with social change villains. Either their actions are seen as too extreme by the main characters or the leaders of said movement are revealed to be liars with ulterior motives. It’s been a thing in comics since Magneto was rewritten to be a holocaust survivor. However, it also appears a lot in animation. Bismuth in Steven Universe is a good example on the individual being seen as too extreme and almost every villain aside from Zaheer in Legend of Korra, plus Adam from RWBY, comes in the latter.
I remember watching the show and not looking at it to critically so I actually just really enjoyed the ride, in the same kinda of way I liked Woman king, just watch cool black people beat people up. But watching a lot of stuff around it after was kinda demoralising as I realised it wasn’t quite the step forward I was hoping for.
I saw it as a different four word phrase: not all white people, but you nailed it in more detail. Edited to add: because of course Some People were mad about the apology, by which I mean white people.
I’ve been in Michigan for a year and I saw a sundown town list on Twitter the other day. Apparently 2 of the 4 cities that surround me were sundown towns and I’m literally right outside of majority black Detroit.
Are we counting fandoms? Because it takes me a long time to trust anyone in a fandom until I respond to them and even then I'm waiting for a shoe to drop and I'm booted out.
I only recently learned my hometown (Antioch, Calif) was a sundown town. They discriminated against Chinese people specifically but yeah. It’s a sundown town regardless. I always knew that place was off but couldn’t put my finger on why. After learning this it made so much sense
I think Steve sure as shootin' thought about it. Bucky clearly never thought about it. But Steve knew all about the fight of the underdog and the evils of racism. He always chose to treat people as their best selves. But he chose Sam to be his successor, even though Bucky was his best friend, even though Steve was willing to throw everything else he held dear to help that friend. He chose a man of color to be his successor--because it was the right thing to do. And he also felt that Sam could handle the pressure. Maybe Steve misjudged Sam, thinking of him as the best version of Sam. But I don't think he would, or could, not notice racism. After all, he watched it all in Germany, in Japan, in New York. Just my thoughts.
I agree with you that Steve's perspective would be different from Bucky's. For the first 24 yrs of his life, Steve was sickly & weak in a time when "survival of the fittest" was no joke.
Thanks for this - I didn’t watch FATWS (the genre it’s in just isn’t my thing) but I appreciate your take and the nuance. It’s nice to see on this ol internets, I.e. the graveyard of nuance lol
You dropped bars all up and down this video. The sanitization of northern whites also sticks out to me a lot in Stranger Things. Someone is only racist when the show wants to emphasize that they are a villain character and now it's Lucas' problem. But then there's scenes like Nancy in the gun store and you see a Black mom and her son casually walking around the showroom floor?? Among all those rednecks and munitions lmao I'm like oh so racism isn't like baked into the culture of rural 80s Indiana?? Satanic Panic is endemic, but Jason's violent racism in no way reflects the society he lives in? Sure, Jan.
I thought the harm in F&WS outweighed the good. I didn’t even catch this aspect and already hated the show for it’s fumbling of the end, the plot (which is understandable if the rumors are true about a Covid rewrite), and the absolute lack of empathy for the flag smashes who were almost caricatures.
Love your vids! I admit that allot of political change has been that I'm ok with overthrowing the government. I won't pretend that makes me a "better white",but that's my shift from the 90's.
FatWS was a mess. All the series can be summed up as "evil anarchists extremism is bad we need centrism and moderation and have a hard talk to sensible politicians who actually want to solve things. Also, more diversity in the imperial US army would be nice".
just shit! awesome fantastic analysis as always and now im even more concerned that the MCU is supposedly replacing Anthony Mackie with Danny Ramirez in 2024 like first off let the black man hold the job for more than one season; like damn! and then its like to them obviously they don't see color because all people of color are interchangeable. Like why can't they bring that latino boy to be one of the countless other white heroes? god knows there's enough of them! like damn make him the winter soldier! why he gotta be Captain America? afraid we coming to take your jobs?!
Sam Wilson will still be Captain America onwards. Joaquin Torres (Danny Rameriz) have not yet recieved the mantle of Captain America in the comics, let alone in the movies or series.
Danny Ramirez isn’t playing Captain America? What are you going on about? Joaquin Torres is literally a comics character, Danny is playing an existing comics character who works alongside Sam as a friend and partner and taking on the mantle of Falcon. He’s a young legacy hero. He’s not there to steal the role from Sam.
Personally my biggest frustration with F&TWS is it doesn't contextualize any of the actual reasons behind racial conflicts in America with the story in order to properly convey the core message the show seemed to want to go for: what is America to a black man? Instead it seemed to go for a more color blind view of it and asked what America meant to anyone it could've hurt, using border disputes and bureaucracy as the central force in its conflict despite the ways that could be much more applied to other white superpowers in the world. Not to mention in its critique of America it reinforces the MCU's longstanding praise of the military, arguing that US Soldier's character is what made the serum turn him bad despite all of the extremely valid reasoning he gave during his defense speech. That was the only moment of the show I felt they had something to say, governments telling white men to go kill people, rewarding them for it, and then turning their backs on them when they stepped over a line they didn't think existed is a real sentiment that leads people in this country (specifically cops and soldiers) down dark irredeemable paths. All of the commentary moments on America the show makes seems to fully argue that no black man should have to be patriotic or wave the flag to prove their character or their worth, but by the end of it it seems to prove the opposite by making the Captain America persona a literal shield for Sam to hide behind so he can defend himself from attacks on his skin color. A proof that he is valid on the terms that Sam, Bucky, and the rest of America set for him as opposed to on his own. It comes off a lot like the Obama argument, that once a good black man takes up an American position of authority, things will change for the better. And it's not that things won't get better, but as long as you operate under that traditional American banner you're always going to be operating under the cishet white patriarchy and the most you can do is go "do better, Senator" and hope they listen. I wish he had just melted the shield down and made some new wings out of it or something, prove that he's enough as Falcon and that they can either respect him as being Cap's equal or get out of his way. Because the new world doesn't need Captain America.
Talking on the point of the military, let’s also not forget that Sam, despite being retired from the military, still takes contracts from them and kills “terrorists” for them, and the show presents this with cheering triumphant music. Not once critiquing Sam for it. Basically saying, the military is cool if the right hero is doing the military’s work. It makes any of their critique of the military through John Walker fall entirely flat. Because Walker kills people, that’s bad because people saw it. But Sam can kill people out of the public view and that’s just cool. The show has no interest in doing real criticisms because to do so, they’d have to actually question why their heroes are not so heroic as they are portrayed to be.
I loved Falcon & the Winter Soldier! It gave me a chance to talk with my son (white presenting interracial 11 year old) about historical references, how to be culturally competent, & global issues of displacement & colonization. It also allowed my white presenting partner from the south to understand (& see through a different lens) the subtleties of racism & bigotry. Not just the overt racism he grew up witnessing. I also was able to witness the generational gaps & shifts, that made some but not always enough progress. Thank you for this amazing video! Keep being awesome! 💜🙌🏾💜
I was mostly frustrated with how in the end there is absolutely no critique of the system by either bucky or sam. Even if he is faced with his reality as a black man in america he still wishes for Isaiah to become a part of it's history against his wishes. His abuse by that very country is framed as "a service" for that country, or diminished to it. and it is played off as a great honour. But we are faced with an america that clearly has not changed much for the better, why then does sam hold this same idealism and blind spot for the country of his birth that seems ro be at the very root of steve and bucky's colirblindness? The flag smashers embodied real political critique, and as a result they were never truly sympatised with. Sam for me still feels too much like captain america, not that he must be bitter but there is no reason to be this patriotic either without the revolutionary spirit of the flag smashers. And thus i feel like sam could've shaken Bucky out of his dated idealism in a way more agressive way. why do we need to tolerate it so placatingly? Isaiahs anger was neutralised when in fact it was wholly justified. or maybe i just dont get i cause i'm not american 🥴
As a white army brat, I was told everyone was green, a whole similar "I don't see color," but I still felt the pain of slavery, emotionally, I was apart of the disability rights children, when it was taught to me, and as mostly southerner I feel the Northern racism erasure make me irate, simply because there was Reconstruction and "The New Negro" but nothing on how the North handled the diaspora of African Americans to their cities and towns, only how Southerners were awful racists folk (not to say that race riots or bigots or good ol' boys didn't exist, just that somehow the North didn't have any of that of any kind.) If this makes you mad please feel free to delete this post. I do adore your work La'Ron Readus.
Not the audience that gets a say in any of this, so I get the intent behind Buckys words, but it does feel like it comes too late in the game. I don't know if it's meant to demonstrate that he's been struggling with it a while, but after he served alongside Steve in a segregated military, yeah, it's a stretch that he just didn't get it.
I think FATWS, along with all of the Marvel show and movies, need to be more overt in their political and social issues. The comics do and Disney shouldn't be afraid to let the live action stuff do so, as well.
I'm not really American so maybe someone can enlighten me on this, but what is so "systemic" about racism in the US? I don't see how the term applies considering where I live we have actual racist policies based on skin colour and ethnic heritage that put up significant economic barriers for particular groups. 9:48 If you paid attention in The First Avenger there's a scene where Morita has to establish he's from Fresno when one of the 176th asks cap if "they're really freeing everyone"
Start with the Trail of Tears and Indian Removal Act. Fast forward to today, American Native women disappearing or murders are seldom investigated by FBI.
Just because policies are not outright racist and based on skin color doesn’t mean it isn’t systemic. There are many policies that are thinly veiled racist things, but they just don’t come out and say it. When we say systemic racism in America, we are talking about new rules and policies that are built off of historical rules, they’re just newer versions, modified to fit a modern world. It also comes from attitudes towards certain groups, or stereotypes, or the way that people of color are not promoted, or not interviewed for certain jobs but that racism is hidden behind “well this other person was just better” as an excuse. It’s also things such as realtors not selling to black families but if you have a white family calling for the same house they’ll sell. These are systemic things, not just one offs. It may not be the outright systemic problems of where you are, but it is still institutional issues that are the results of long decades of racist policies.
Bucky and Steve are both poor (?) white guys from 1910s Brooklyn who were then frozen in time before being thrust into the modern age. Even worse, Bucky doesn't seem to really engage with modern culture too much as he's too busy being traumisted from his time as a eugenist pawn. They're both good guys, genuinely so. I can trust an apology from (MCU) Bucky just fine. It's all the people IRL I can't really trust. they don't have the incredible excuse of being a "man out of time" lol. The show had such good potential, but was so muddled by everything Marvel and real world politics. (and yes, that is Ayo from a still of the show. i love her)
I havent watched the show. Maybe I will pirate it one Day as I dont like to give too much money to Disney. But it remindef me of my feelings about black Panther. I was very thrilled, as an white european girl, that grew up reading biographie from black americans and some problematic romantic novels of the colony time, was looking foreward to a black superhero movie. And I dident like it. But I guessed that was the case bc it wasent for me. After reading some bad news from the Afrika continent I got pissed about all the implication that were there if there is Wakanda. It doesent make any sense that they would do nothing, about their continent beeing exploited and stolen from till the present Day! They could have at least helped on the political Parkett and to some shadow work to help find a african politicsystem that suited each Region. Maybe help the tribes to negoate and stuff. An United and stabile continent has way more Power to defend their intrests... Thats way the big Power like the current state... All stuff where they wouldent need to reveal their technology. And then I got it. For who was the movie? Black americans, who was the Protagonist? An african prince from an selfish isolated country. Who was the bad guy? An african american from the ghetto, deeply traumatised and very aggressive. All the bad steriotypes isent he? Killmonger could be called an anti hero but I think he should have been the Protagonist. The movie should have been about his struggels and rise to defend his people. If you would go a step further, Wakanda should have been in the US. Maybe an isolated (under ground? ) City build by escaped slaves and refuges from the racial oppression. Maybe build up by people from the original Wakanda that found an smaller meteroit with that fantasy Metal. There is so much history of black americans that you could go over to find something that is halfway believeable. You could have the secound movie where they connect with Wakanda, the country search for common ground, force them out of Isolation und stuff. But I do think to get that story right would be hard. I think it would be worth it. But I also dont know if that idea of mine truly is as unproblematisch as I think it is 😵. Even after informing myself I dont think I will ever truly get it. In my country one of the most mistreated groups are refugees, even more so if the gouverment assumes that they came here for monetary gains....many of them are black. Sorry for rambling like that, hope I dident make a complete ass out of myself.
This is one of the reasons I didn't like this show and I don't like the mcu no actual depth just lip service. The mcu is all sunshine and rainbows except one line in black panther and the speech in falcon and winter solider
While I certainly can't disagree with pretty much anything said in this video I do feel like you're neglecting one major point regarding Bucky - he has spent the VAST majority of his hundred or so years of existence either in suspended animation or as a brainwashed weapon. He doesn't even have the benefit of Steve's time in modern day.
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FATW had a lot of issues that I think agree come as a result of never addressing race and systemic issues as explicitly. It’s kind of a game of whack a mole that we’re not really expecting these corporations to consider in the first place. I will say his apology was a decent start but it’s sandwiched between other weird decisions the show made that made it feel flat for me. Another great vid 🔥🔥
Whqt weird decisions or issues? I think in Sam Wilson's speech he did bring up systemic issues but rather from systemic racism explicitly it's more of lack of representation and what decisions the politicians make effect regular folls
I was kinda fascinated by people (out of verse) thinking that this version of Bucky deserved the shield OVER/before Sam.
The entire point of Sam's character is that he is Steve's ideals and personality reincarnated in the 21st century, and that Steve's "Captain America"-ness is neither inherent to Steve, Steve's time period OR the supersoldier serum.
i.e. "Don't ask me. I do what he does, just slower."
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We keep saying "why don't we make our own," but not supporting when we do "make our own."
I can see it. Bucky was heavily favoured to take the shield early on (if I remember right, Bucky was Cap before Sam in the comics.) I was surprised when Sam got it, but not really. Bucky’s on a very different path in the MCU than he was in the comics, and I think in the MCU as it stands, Sam Wilson is the best man for the job.
I’m so ridiculously excited to see him officially as Captain America, but I do hope we get Bucky there at some point just because I love their chemistry.
The show was the weirdest of the MCU shows for me to get through, because it really seems like they didn't realize that they accidentally made the bad guys the good guys until they were nearly done filming and had to add completely out of character moments for the Flag Smashers to make them seem like bad people. Sam's speech at the end just felt like a poorly executed attempt to bridge the gap.
As to Bucky's apology... I can see why some people were less than trusting of it, but given the era he came from and that he spent most of his current time as a withdrawn shut-in, it makes sense to me that it wasn't exactly perfect, and Sam's just a good enough dude to understand and appreciate the intent behind it.
But the flag smashers more specifically Karli rather than the others are bad guys. They are terrorists. You and I might agree with their cause but Karli is a supremacist and willing to murder innocent people to achieve her political goals. Definitely a bad guy. It's like saying killmonger or Loki aren't bad guys.
Agreed.
Media has been doing this a lot with sympathetic antagonists. They are vaguely or sometimes obviously left leaning who see a problem of the world and they fight back against the powers at be. But because they do it the "wrong way" they are the villains. The writers fall back on the liberal idea that the best way to deal with injustice is through speeches and pacifistic protest.
Well said, that's the way I feel as well. Bucky deserves some slack considering everything he has been through.
The thing is it's not a bad guys and good guys show. The only "bad guys" in the show are Zemo, the French parkour enthusiast, Elaine from Sienfeld, Captain Middle America, and the girl from Captain America 2 who turns out to be an international crime lord and arms dealer.
The flag smashers aren't bad guys. They're an oppressed group that's being pushed out of society. And when you push people hard enough they push back. The UN security council or whatever white privilege meet and greet got attacked at the end are closer to being the bad guys than the flag smashers ever were. Sam's speech at the end rings hollow because he's literally trying to reason with real world evil people that we as viewers all know will never listen to or even acknowledge the argument he's making.
It really boils down to the MCU never bringing up race and injustice because they were playing it “safe” during the early phases.
I think the areas where Falcon + the Winter Soldier fell short are due to the fact that marvel tried to have its cake and eat it too so to speak. They wanted to appeal to everyone, to discuss these big, weighted issues without alienating anyone. They did a great job of developing Sam's character and exploring his complex experience as a super hero and black American. It's just so hard when they are also very consciously trying to "teach" the white part of their audience about systemic racism without making them feel too guilty, and doing that by making Bucky the audience surrogate for white viewers. He is wrong, but he means well, right? Essentially, they seem to make a huge effort to protect Bucky's sanctity as a misguided but well meaning ally, because giving him any true sentence of fault or clear error might cause discomfort for the white portion of their audience. Thus, Bucky's narrative and place as a second main character (rather than side character) seemed to take a lot of focus away from Sam, who I believe deserved and needed the screen time so that the writers could accurately and meaningfully explore the themes they seem to desperately want credit for addressing.
I think the failure was trying to target a lecture at there audience. They failed on several levels.
1. They didn't properly explain Sam's issue, and where it actually comes from. The issue is that America's history is very dark, and full of bigotry that is still fresh in some of our minds. That fear causes people to doubt their place as Americans. When you treat people like they aren't deserving of something, they will start to think they don't. I guarantee a major fear of Sam's was the backlash towards his carrying on the mantle. The idea that such a thing would most likely stir unease with the public, maybe even within the Avengers themselves. This is a valid fear, modern reactions to casting choices highlights that, and I agree that a race swap of Steve Rogers to a black man would be met with controversy. That being said, the problem is with those toxic people who see race as so important to get upset about it. To get upset with Rogers and Bucky, is almost as toxic. They are not making a decision based on race, because it doesn't matter to them, and to most people. This isn't to dismiss the concerns about public response, but it is to highlight a major problem with this show.
2. This show is incredibly lacking in self awareness:
They portray the villains as victims, when they act as violent colonizers; and play a similar "us against them" game as most racists do. How are they colonizers; they took land and belongings that weren't theirs, and now fight the original owners and residents who want it back.
They have a well thought out story about black visibility and the mistreatment of African American veterans; only to forget about Lamar, who was viciously murdered. His death is mentioned twice after it, and never addressed.
3. Only one character grew. Bucky learned to trust himself and people with the truth of his past. The rest stayed the same or regressed. The villain dies, thinking themself correct. Sam does accept the mantel of Captain America, but uses it as a platform to arrogantly talk down to other people, instead of trying to bring people together, above petty superficial nonsense.
This show was garbage, and shat on a character I looked up to growing up as a comic reader, Sam Wilson, The Falcon.
Idk why they seem to forget that trying to appeal to a universal audience means you have to ignore some racism, etc and that shouldn’t be happening in shows like this.
@@bmwjourdandunngoddess6024 I don't think you would have to ignore anything, just handle it in a less preachy, one sided way. They had a lot of potential, they just missed the mark because the focus was on an agenda, not telling a story.
@@fettbub92 Flagsmashers should have never been portrayed as heroes lol. Whole show would have been different.
@@murk4552 agreed
The internment of people in the US during WWII was not Japanese Citizens, they were Japanese American Citizens, and this event ruined their lives and livelihoods. They were fellow Americans, and their own government locked them up because of their ancestry, not all that long ago either.
They love to quote MLK. Specifically that one sentence. Nothing he said before that or after that in the same speech matters lol
From the video and the comments, I gather that Bucky's "I don't see color" apology to Sam shows his subconscious racial bias, due to his segregated upbringing and former Nazi Hydra membership, because a lot of insincere white allies say that, before saying hate speech or discrimination against POCs. In the original comics, Bucky was brainwashed by the Soviets during the Cold War, instead. He was also written as anti-racist and possibly Jewish, since he was Steve Rogers' childhood buddy and Steve was retconned as Jewish, to explain his Nazi-hunting as Capt. America. Steve also had a gay childhood friend, whom the Red Skull kidnapped, dressed in drag and forced to declare his lifelong crush on him. Several RUclips videos criticized _ Falcon and the Winter Soldier_ and _Capt. America: Civil War_ for queerbaiting between Steve and Bucky and later Sam and Bucky. Under the Comics Code Authority censorship, racism and other social problems were taboo, hence Cap and Bucky lacked social prejudices in the Civil Rights Era and afterward. In "Capt. America: Sentinel of Liberty," Dr. Erskine chose Steve over a Southern bigot because of his mellow racial tolerance. The MCU should have first made Cap and Bucky more comic book accurate. For social themes, such as racism, closet life and gay relationships, the writers should have researched underground comics, which better handled such political subjects, since they were written for a hippie audience. They also should have hired a more diverse writing staff. Making the Captain America movies R-rated and graphic, like "Schindler's List," "Inglorious Basterds," and "Saving Private Ryan" and "Falcon and the Winter Soldier" TV-M rated and graphic, like the "Sopranos," "Game of Thrones," "The Walking Dead," " The Boys" and "Queer As Folk," would make the franchise more realistic about the Holocaust, segregation, terrorism and homophobia of the WWII eras to the Present Day. Steve and Bucky's anti-racism could more plausibly stem from their Jewish Nazi-hunting and jazz fandom in WWII, like Magneto and the Rat Pack's Civil Rights sympathizing.🤔🤓😎
I side eyed the apology because did he have to see it to believe it? Forget that he came from the Jim crow era. He came from hydra and I know they weren't colorblind and he knew about Isaiah Bradleys history. Also kept up with Isaiah to a point he knew where Isaiah lived. Was that not the wake up call? Plus not only did Sam look for Bucky for two years. they were on the run for two extra years and not one time did a race thing come up? Was he really that blind to the point where Zemo was more understanding about black american issues than him? and Zemo is not even American. It just killed me and it's one of the things I wish the show examined. It does feel like Steve knew the problems that could occur. But just didn't care as long as Sam had the shield he could care less. But Bucky man just no excuse man.
It's another reason I like Zemo so much, that and his speech on supremacist ideals not being separated from the desire for powers.
Then again perhaps, this was a writing oversight? I mean the character spent time in Wakanda. With all that therapy or deprogramming, surely this would have came up? Still forgotten as things tend to be between projects
I appreciate your comment c:
@@Planag7 I believe it's an oversight of the writing too. Because they don't watch every MCU thing so alot of context gets lost and that's why so many awkward moments like the apology take place.
I do believe it’s an oversight in the writing cause this version of Bucky is written a lot closer to a centrist with liberal leanings, because he so clearly believes there can’t be anything wrong with the system because a person of color is in a station of power, a form of denialism if you will and it’s clear that’s who the writers are targeting with this arch, rather than out and put racists.
Bucky wasn't on the run with Sam, he was chilling in a black and most advance nation on mcu earth-wakanda.
@@Thed538dhsk marvel had a comic of when they had to break Sam out of jail and head to wakanda. They didn't just fly there. That's the 2 extra years of running I'm talking about.
When it comes down to it, there wasn’t any one else that could’ve taken that shield but Sam.
I'd noticed how the first Captain America movie ignored the segregation of the American military that still existed all through World War II. I liked that the Falcon and the Winter Soldier show addressed modern-day and historical racism in a relatively more realistic way. Also, I liked how this antagonists-to-buddies show included quite interesting minor characters who had their own opinions. I thought that Sam's sister Sarah was smarter than Sam and Bucky put together. 😄 And I appreciated the Dora Milaje. From what I understand, some good-sized chunks of the show needed to be rewritten or otherwise redone because of the pandemic? That would explain certain choppiness in some of the plotlines. But I thought Sam's arc was done well. And many of the actors were amazing.😄 I fell into the "glad that Bucky realized the issues" camp, but the eliding of racism in previous MCU movies added to the awkwardness. I enjoyed your analysis of the awkward apology, though.
I still can't get over how dirty they did Isaiah Bradley
As a white guy who grew up watching every episode of every X-Men cartoon at least 4 times, I loved Falcon and Winter Soldier. It and Luke Cage are two great shows that don't get the recognition they deserve because too many whites "don't see race."
My favorite scene was "Is this man bothering you?/Do you know who this man is?"
For me Bucky's apology rings true and shows the pervasiveness of white privilege. Whites don't always acknowledge the existence of systemic racism because we have the privilege of being not just allowed but socially encouraged to live in ignorance. Whites don't see the 500% greater likelihood in being stopped, harassed, and murdered by cops. They don't see the red lining. Until a Rodney King, Trayvon Martin, or George Floyd incident happens. Then they can't pretend racism ended 15 minutes after Martin Luther King got shot. They are forced to either accept reality, or bury their heads further in the sand and scream "La, la, la! I can't hear you. I don't see color."
Bucky, even though he was brainwashed by nazis and kept as a pet assassin for decades, simply doesn't think about the day to day problems black folks face because they are black. So when it's thrown in his face by some nobody pissant cop literally seconds after they were told about the Tuskegee Syphilis experiment allegory, he's forced to acknowledge his privilege.
It didn't happen because Ike Perlemutter was still at marvel at the time, but Avengers 1 really needed a scene where Steve was reading a newspaper and then got up and said "Wait! You people are living in the future and you still have racism? Who the hell let that happen?" Followed by Sam, Rhodey, and Fury slowly turning and looking at the lone billionaire in the room.
Haha! I would have loved to see a scene like that.
Him and Steve were both in Brooklyn in the depression, which was a primarily black neighborhood (at least what I can find.) So I can see the “I don’t see colour” sounding right to *him*, even if it comes off hollow now. First Avenger doesn’t show either of them at all out of sorts to have Gabe fighting with them as part of the Commandos. But you’re 100% right when you talk about his white privilege. He was/is a good looking, cisgender, heterosexual (?) white man. The privileges he got compared to a black man of that time (or even Steve) were probably beyond what I can find a number for.
I think him being the only white guy in Wakanda probably attributed to the “I don’t see colour” statement too. I don’t know how long he was there (did he ever say?) but look at the way he reacts to the Dora Milaje. (“Looking strong, John!”) He only got involved in the fight because Sam asked him to.
Also I really need that scene to happen in Avengers 1 (though not written by Joss Whedon, please.)
I think all of this is also heightened for Steve and Bucky by the fact that they have existed out of time for a good whole chunk. So, while they are behind and trying to catch up with modern sociopolitical issues, they might double down on the "good foundation" they already know to be the decent thing to do, and then build on it. Like a "I have a lot of learning to do to really understand how the systemic inequalities of this modern time functions but in the mean time, at least I know what NOT to do, and that is treat or even think differently of people because of their race, gender, sexuality, ability etc. I know that much and it is a timeless truth of basic decency that I must always hold myself to." Which leaves some massive blind-spots as you beautifully articulated.
Given that the first Captain America movie is set in the European theatre, I had always assumed that Morita was one of the Japanese Americans who got out of an internment camp by enlisting, since I believe those who enlisted were sent to fight, but in Europe because they definitely weren't trusted in the Pacific theatre. I do wish they specifically acknowledged it though, particularly since, based on the Fresno comment, when he returned after the war, there was a pretty high likelihood that he would have found any of his family's property stolen. If I recall, a lot of the political push for internment of Japanese Americans came from whites in Central California who took up the first chance available to snatch up recently vacated farms. It's a super f'ed up part of history even outside of the y'know, internment camps, and yeah, just glossed over.
Growing up the "i don't see colour" approach seemed like how to be a non-racist. Now as an adult I understand how that actually is super racist as in you don't "see" the struggle people have gone, and are still going, through... Like many have commented, this seems to be something Marvel is trying to address but awkwardly and with many fails.
Right.. Because *every* single person of color in America deals with systematic oppression because of their race am I right? My own Japanese mother is just "ignorant" to how others have mistreated her and others "like her." So is my lower class Hispanic best friend. And my black friends. They must all see my white dad in a particular way right? And me too as a result right?
I'm also just being "ignorant" by not assuming they are bitter about how their race is or has been treated. I'm ignorant for seeing them as people first/foremost and treating them as such before trying to assume their racial struggle am I right?
Well I'll tell you now, everyone is different. Not just in a racial diversity way, but as people too. Some of my friends have their racial and cultural identity at the front of their minds and some honestly just don't. And I respect both mindsets.
Wouldn't it have been incredibly racist of me to have assumed their struggles when I met them just because of what they looked like? That would be like me assuming that races work like hiveminds.
My belief is that people are people first, no matter what.
@@lucaspoon4202 ok white privilege, calm down.
@@lucaspoon4202 this ^^^
@@lucaspoon4202 sounds like you acknowledge it happens, but now are actively down playing it. Going for a numbers game. "Oh it doesn't happen to everyone!"
Meaning ......
“Can’t really call Steve Rogers Captain America anymore because it’s Sam Wilson.”
I mean, Chris Evans agrees with you wholeheartedly.
“Then he was wrong about *me*.” Is *so* perfect for where Bucky’s head is at during the series.
Goddamn. If I keep writing while I watch, I’m gonna be writing forever. This is such a good video. I’m five minutes in and this is a sub from me, man. Thanks for the content for me to binge.
Steve will always be captain America. Sam is also captain America. It’s not really a title. It’s a type of person. When shit gets crazy and you have the guts to do whats right and fight, you are captain America.
This show did a lot for me. Something just really struck a chord with me as a person of color on the levels of both wanting to do good in the present day but also understanding the history of atrocities committed against people like me. In my opinion, Sam’s personal journey to becoming Captain America and Isaiah’s story were both really well done. Both are inspiring heroes for me and Sam is a character I really love and want to see more of.
I know people are already writing off his next movie because Sambra is in it for some reason but I just want to see this character succeed.
I would describe myself as pretty far to the left I’m certainly no centrist (ugh) but part of me can’t help but feel guilty having enjoyed this show for what it was and looking around me and seeing almost all of my fellow liberals find it to be not enough. I dunno, I see where people are coming from but I guess I still want to hold on to what I got out of the show.
Looking at critically, I think the two things I enjoyed the most: Sam’s journey and Isaiah’s story, were the two main concerns behind the scenes and everything else was secondary. And I think you can do a story that’s just about Sam becoming Cap, Isaiah’s story being told, the impact of a black man becoming Captain America, and some personal growth for Bucky on the side, is fine. But the villains needed to just be HYDRA or something and the Flag Smashers I think would’ve been better served being saved for a story where Sam is already established as Cap and we can focus on analyzing those issues without arcs for the main heroes this big taking up most of the oxygen that might’ve been afforded to them.
More episodes could also have worked honestly. Streaming shows why are you like this.
Also, I didn’t personally feel significantly queerbaited (im bi) as much as I felt the show acknowledged that shipping the two leads was a I think I could do. I’m good with that. If the two actors ever become 100% comfortable performing explicitly queer scenes between their characters say go for it, if not I understand and just hope the MCU makes sure to include queer identities in other spaces.
It concerned me that the heroes allied with a Fasch Super-Villain against Anarchists. The choice to turn the Flag Smashers into murderers at the end seems like codling the viewer.
Wasn’t there like 5 seconds in the First Avenger when Steve initially rescues the howling commandos where the kinda bring up some reservations about also releasing a Japanese POW before it was revealed he was from like Colorado or something?
He was from Fresno! He gets referenced in Spider-Man: Homecoming as well, where Peter's school principal is the Commando's grandson, played by the same actor.
Edit: and to clarify, the guy they free in the scene you mention becomes one of the Commandos.
@@EricChoiniere thanks
No. Steve would never in the mcu. It was one of the captured soldiers the one with the bowler hat that had made the comment. Steve didn't see race
@@Thed538dhsk I wasn’t implying Steve was the one who said it I was just pointing out that some of the soldiers would have racist reservations about someone who was Japanese in that situation. And I know Steve “doesn’t see race” cause he’s a white northerner and just so gosh darn perfect 🤩
@@cratwane And he lived in Brooklyn
I enjoyed it but it was a depressing reminder that the politics of a show out in modern times lags behind the politics of a comic from the 70s. which is my issue w the mcu in general. The comics (barring recent years and Remender's centrist as hell writing) always felt on the slight left of liberal....but the movies feel a lot more centrist leaning. Like you said falcon and the winter soldier was a step in the right direction (esp compared to their cementing the white and Christian washing of wands w wandavision ) I'm tentatively excited bc we nvr got a lot of Good Cap! Sam because of Remender's involvement and then the going back to status quo not long after he stopped writing the book
great sponsor! I'll definitely check them out!
really anytime I watch anything now involving acknowledging race and race division, I go in a bit skeptical. I assume the audience the conversation is for is a general audience, so the nuances may be missed or skipped over. From my very hazy memory lol, I remember wanting more from Sam's character - how it felt like he was trapped in everyone else's troubles but couldn't say anything of his own (which now that I write that, it feels pretty black to me lol). And I also wanted more than just the queer/romance coding of their characters - more than just a joke or framing that was never talked about ever again.
I feel like this is the best of what could have come out of that situation ( the apology). There had to be a lot of PASS for that script to move forward. Many times we forget there is a mountain of white people guarding these shows because of profit to be claimed and social popularity, so when we get these moments of "Black Feels" I embrace it. Also look for it in other related media.
Lets call a spade a spade, these moments in media will always be ...Awkward... and it will never be enough. BUT... Moments like this with the right script, the right actors, the right person in charge and the right network gives us the slight breath of air to exhale on.
Great video BTW
This is suuuuuch a good video, there are so many amazing points, but around 18:30 is when everything really started to come together. It's kind of...embarrassing?? watching the MCU clumsily walk back the "I don't see color" whitewashed version of history they gave us in phases 1 and 2. You brought up how presumably they'll bring up the Holocaust when they introduce the X-Men, but it's frankly wild that they completely ignored it during Cap 1 and had him in a fully integrated battalion, while also using the iconic Cap-punching-Hitler imagery in the same movie. They really went out of their way to cover up the Jewish history at the heart of Marvel comics (we saw it with Wanda too). Now that they're walking that back and acknowledging anti-blackness, colonialism, etc, it feels funny cuz it's like they're trying to have their cake and eat it too? They tried the whitewashed warm fuzzy version of history with "colorblind" casts, but then they figured they could make more money by being their version of "progressive." So now we're stuck in this awkward place where it feels disingenuous that all of this exists in the same universe, and the progressive stuff isn't actually gonna shake the table enough to feel meaningful. Speaking of which: we don't know how Cap 4 is gonna play out yet but good LORD it's looking bleak, which really really sucks.
I also think TFATWS fell kinda flat because of Steve. They pulled their "have their cake and eat it too" thing with him as well. The show's not technically about him cuz he's not in the show, so he's not overshadowing Sam, but he hovers too much over the narrative to ignore outright. But at the same time, because the MCU is allergic to male characters genuinely opening up to each other without lampshading (especially THESE male characters) the show can't be ~enough~ about Steve to actually make a difference for Sam or Bucky's storylines. First there's the obvious that Steve is a white "ally" who chose to go back in time and live during segregation and not worry about changing history because he could comfortably do that. More than that though, since we saw so little of Sam and Bucky interacting with Steve in Endgame, the show thinks it can get away with the two of them treating Steve like a symbol like the other characters do, and not as...their best friend?? Like it's weird enough that he'd happily live his retirement without them, but even if Sam and Bucky were all on the same page about Steve's weird time travel retirement, they don't...miss him? Bucky's apology to Sam lacks that raw emotion he showed during the therapy scene, which was the only time we really see the loss of Steve as a close friend weighing on them, not the loss of Steve as a hero. Sam isn't just burdened by the weight of the shield, he should be grappling with the fact that his close friend made that choice for him. But we KNOW why the show can't take it there, can't acknowledge their friendship. But they CAN show Sam and Bucky rolling through a field of flowers together, and going to couples therapy as a joke. Marvel wants to tell me these male characters are close, but they refuse to show it for fear of, well...we all know what happened with the Cap movies. And then they turn around and throw in queerbait jokes and lampshade couples therapy to deflect criticism, and all the while the character writing suffers cuz they can't have a real conversation with each other about what's actually going on in the story. TFATWS was such a letdown after Wandavision. I think the suffocating neoliberalism would've been an easier pill to swallow if not for how stilted Sam and Bucky (and Steve's) dynamic was. Like, c'mon Marvel at least give us SOMETHING.
I disagree about tge white washing of history as well as the dislike of Steve's influence in the shiw
I really enjoyed this video. I think Falcon and the Winter Soldier is an underrated Marvel Disney+ show.
Don't drag me but I was just happy that the MCU decided to even tackle the concept of being a black man in America and the implications of having a black man become Captain America. Even better was that it didn't feel like the "race" episode in a 90s cartoon. It built into something of a real plot point and conflict for multiple characters. Bucky came across to me as someone that finally stepped back from their own trauma to see someone else's and understanding it for the first time. Yeah, I could see the "I don't see race" agenda buried in it but based on his character development from Winter Soldier onwards I think it's more the trauma angle for him. He could only see through the lens of his trauma until he was forced to do otherwise.
Great vid-I clicked on it unable to remember what apology this was referring to.
Watching it again I recalled how I interpreted it while watching the first time, which (SuBjeCtivEly) was: Bucky not saying oops I didn’t realize racism was such a big deal my bad, but rather, I knew it was really bad, but I thought that taking up a mantle like this would be something you’d want to do, I assumed that it would make you feel empowered and powerful, and like a step forward for everyone. I didn’t think about how you might feel like a sellout and an assimilationist by adopting this symbolism, sorry man, do what you gotta do.
That was just me though. I didn’t think Bucky was surprised by the racial profiling though, just mad about it. Maybe I was watching the show with rose-glasses tho.
Karli was done dirty, her storyline made no sense.
Honestly (as someone who knew nothing about the comics at all) I was surprised Sam kept the stars & stripes aesthetic.
It worked I guess.
But I think he would have been justified in repainting the shield or something. Contrast that with US Agent with a fake shield in the original design and juxtapose the two thematically…… idk.
There was a lot left undefined in that show.
Thanks for your relevant, much needed content and enlightening me with more Black comic book publishers! Keep Shinning, king! Peace
I'm white and I'm gunna say -- I don't know how to be a good ally. I'm gunna keep on watching these and other poc creators, I'm gunna listen, I'm gunna try to do good where I see an opportunity.
I'm gunna screw up, but I'm gunna try. I'll do what I can and I'll try to be open about it.
Feeling that white guilt right about now.
Thanks prof. People who say “I don’t see colour” are like the people who say “I don’t gender” yet would doubt and argue with every word out of a singular woman’s mouth at a board meeting.
In defence of Bucky’s character, dude spent a lot of time frozen and then in Wakanda that was untouched. Even Steve spent two whole years in hiding with Sam looking for Bucky. Bucky is more a person of action than words. After the Dora said to make himself scare in Wakanda because Bucky delivered on Zeemo too late, Bucky did the opposite and asked for a favour for Sam. Sam whose wings got broken when they took down John Walker, to outfit Sam with vibranium wings.
I wished for Sam and Bucky that their conversations they had with one another nonetheless had more room to breathe and pause for more understanding between the two. I feel like the show rushed those. It could have made it even greater.
P.S. There is a scene in Captain America: Civil War where Steve’s team got thrown into prison and Sam’s face was the only one that was shown as messed up by the guards. They spent five appreciative seconds on that and I chuckled. They’re getting there on racism being a systemic issue, and it’s okay for us to want more.
Fuck, I thought I imagined that in Civil War.
Even the woman with the psychic powers got out without a bruise.
I would have loved to see more of Bucky’s time in Wakanda. (And not just because I think scenes with him and T’Challa/Shuri could have been really entertaining.) I keep wondering if he learned Xhosa or if HYDRA implanted languages in his head and that’s just one of the things they left in. But seeing the scene in the comics where T’Challa asks Shuri if it was difficult to undo the brainwashing and her response being like “lol sure jan” is perfect. But the scene we did get with Ayo was so damned good that I can’t complain.
I wasnt a huge fan of FatWS as a whole show, it fails in a ton of areas, but I was very excited to finally see some discussion of race enter the MCU. I really enjoyed seeing Sam talking with Isaiah Bradley and eventually make his own decision about how he wanted to move forward. I just wish the show as a whole was something I could recommend to friends.
The show was very "both sides are bad" and "I know things are bad but any action is too extreme, let the government handle it".
To be fair, Bucky didn't actually spend a lot of time out in the modern world in America. After breaking free of HYDRA, he went into hiding in Romania, so he didn't see it there, and after that, he went to Wakanda, where again, he didn't get to experience any systemic racism. He was just minding his business and farming and getting his head cleared of HYDRA, I doubt Shuri or T'Challa sat down with him at some point and gave him a history lesson about how things are in America now. Then he got dusted. And the show takes place only six months after Endgame, and during that time, he was still recovering from his past and trauma. So he should really be cut some slack for not being hyper aware of the social and political racial issues of modern day America.
And in Steve's case, he spent several years in the modern America, so he should have gotten a better idea over the years, but like it was said in the video, the thing about his character is that he sees everyone equal, and it makes a lot of sense in his case, because he was a minority: his parents were poor immigrants and he was disabled and poor for most of his life. So it's not like he's just some ideal honourable white guy for the sake of him being that, his values and the way he sees others comes from his own life experience. I think a lot of people tend to forget those aspects of his life a lot.
All in all, Bucky's not a perfect character and person, he's got flaws, and his apology is awkward, but the intent is genuine, and Sam understands and appreciates it.
You summed my thoughts up perfectly, Bucky has essentially only recently started living in present day America, so he would see more of the positive than the more subtle racial issues. Plus since he’s still adjusting to the fact his best friend is probably dead or close to death, spending a majority of 70 years in cyrostatsis with the remaining as a brainwashed killer, I doubt a person would really be doing that much studying on something that doesn’t affect them on a daily basis and this is coming from someone who’s half African American and Half Creole.
Bucky gets a pass for hos apology because for him to come from the time period of his origin to now and years of mental reconditioning, racism wouldn't be as obvious to him.
I don't think that TFATWS or Marvel in general is perfect talking about these things, however the fact that they even make the attempt creates its own value imo, if only because then we end up having conversations about it. I like that Bucky's apology was phrased as 'I was doing this thing that is flawed (acting like I don't see color) and I am admitting to you that I was wrong, that I'm growing, and learning, and will continue trying to do better'. There are definitely worse ways he could have phrased it, but the fact I'm struggling to think of an example just proves that it isn't done enough on TV in the first place, and while it came off clunky there was clearly an arc of discovery there that to some degree the audience was meant to go on with him.
Marvel tested the waters with Sam being Cap in 2016, and the Captain America: Sam Wilson run (although also flawed in some respects) goes into more of what it means for him to accept (or reject) the shield both from his own perspective and the kids he inspires (they show that a tiny bit in TFATWS with his nephews playing with the shield). The entire Secret Empire run is Sam Wilson's story, not just specifically in becoming Captain America, but in making the role his own; what that means, and how it will be different. There's a great podcast on YT titled 'Why Most Secret Empire Takes Are Wrong' which discusses Sam's becoming Captain America arc in the comics and I highly recommend it, because there's a lot more nuance and hearing it interpreted by black readers gave me a lot to think about, and I reference people back to it constantly as a result.
Re. Bucky and Steve specifically, I just wanted to add that they're in a very unique position for, again, things they specifically didn't write into the canon. It's made obvious that Bucky and Steve had no problem getting employed and living comfortably in their (bizarrely Hollywood backlot clean-looking, immigrant-free) version of 1930s Brooklyn, but if you research into the era the specific disabilities Steve had were the focus of campaigns at the time calling him out as a "burden on society", "draining the value out of the economy", "better off dead" etc. In that context Bucky's empathy for Steve (and Chris Evans does mention this in one of his interviews), is clearly a large part of what formed him into being a good, just human being rather than the other way around, i.e. Steve is good because of Bucky, rather than Bucky being good because of Steve. What little we see of their past is Bucky being there for Steve trying to lift Steve's mood and raise him up pre-serum, and while it doesn't really change anything re. the upstanding northerner narrative device, I do think it's an interesting thing to reflect on, not just on Bucky's characterization at present and going into future projects, but the other ways Marvel sanitized previous projects in order to sell their utopia.
All in all I think it's... good in general? to see them dial it back on the Good Feels Anti-Prejudice Paradise of it all in terms of storytelling even if (as per the reactions to D23 and the title of the next Cap project) it does open whole other cans of worms for them to do so. If it means people talk about these projects with more nuance than just a shallow interest in the CGI and the costumes, I can only believe that's got to be a good thing.
Honestly, I missed that there was even this much nuance in Falcon and the Winter Soldier. I mostly just remember the end, where Sam just rants about how the Senators need to better. The show just wasn't holding my attention to follow any meaningful messaging.
Wow! I didn't properly watch the show because it wasn't really my thing, but your video about it held my interest the whole way through! Your part about Marvel seeming to have written its world as being without certain forms of bigotry and discrimination only to start adding them in later down the road really resonated. On the one hand it feels a bit like they're backpedaling, on the other maybe it's just a necessarily awkward bridge into making good stories that fully tackle these issues. I no longer watch much Marvel content but your videos about the MCU are always captivating!
How does it feel the mcu has no bigotry when literally racism and bigotry and experimentation similar to the Tuskegee experiment is all shown?
*white girl who lives in livonia* " I live in a WHAT?" apparently I have some research to do
Agreed. That “apology” was so CRINGEY. I kept thinking “why is Bucky even apologizing?” Bucky and captain America are MEANT to be the best ppl; they represent what America SHOuld Be. Of course they wouldn’t exactly know what it is to be a nonwhite American, but what matters is how they treat ppl. As you said, THEY don’t react badly to big players like Nick Fury and Black Panther. The reason why the McU really hasn’t examined how certain aspects don’t make sense as you pointed. AND COmbined with the failure to make a really compelling captain American prequel movie where racism WPULD absolutely make sense to show, it didn’t.
Seriously the comics have done better at looking at this. There are three comics. 1)there’s an issue where captain America and black panther first meet. One of the capt’s teammates is Black and he is not happy with America for obvious reasons but he is surprised that Steve accepts him with no question. It’s why he has a connection to Black Panther. Quick ending-he continues serving America but becomes a prominent civil rights leader.2)isiah-the first Capt America. Steve finds out the truth and goes to isiah’s home where years of neglect and extermination has ruined his mental state. Ina. Touching scene-Steve states that he cannot undue the injustice but he can give him the respect he deserves by handing the old captain America costume to him. Also, captain America has a conversation with isiah’s wife about her religion to Islam; and it’s very respectful-no mans-planning. 3)Sam Wilson gets sent back in time. He decides to make his life in the 40s due to his inability to go back. He becomes a friend of captain again. He loves a good life-being a activist. Years later, Steve Rogers (who went through the whole iceberg thing) tells him that Sam WAS his hero-because Sam always helped others despite systemic racism. And that’s something. Steve admired and took to heart.
Experimentation*not extermination
As A Latinx person who’s ancestors were enslaved by Spaniards I love and can relate to your content Readus.
Still waiting for a Hispanic Marvel character that is not a white hero’s criminal best friend. America Chavez would be great if they made her Hispanic/Latinx instead of you know an alien. Considering my people are derogatorily called “Illegal aliens” to dehumanize us as a people. Oh and thrown in literal cages and separated from our children. But you know happy Hispanic/Latinx heritage month.
Keep up the awesome content. Look forward to every video you post.
If your Latinx your ancestors were Spaniards.
I'm a latino, proud of my heritage, so let me tell you something, You are either Latino or Latina.
Calling yourself "Latinx" make you sound like an animal. Someones pet. Try to be better.
There is namor coming as well as Luis and Sam's military liason
@@jackdoyle7453 not necessarily and that doesn’t negate what they said even if it was true.
The actress is great but yeahAmerica Chavez was a big big fumble. She’s an alien in the comic - and it wouldn’t have been a big deal if she weren’t the first major Latinx person brought into the MCU. My biggest issue is them erasing her ethnicity. Many Black Puerto Ricans and Boriquas wrote her like that and they cast someone whose Mexican American and not Black. It would have felt less bad if like I said before with Latinx characters if Black women in the MCU weren’t sidekicks so much, green/blue, or supporting characters for white men. Wakandans, Valkyrie, Gamora, Monica, MJ, Maria, … even of those who the actress is Afro Latina - all aliens.
La’Ron really mastered the comic pause->camp re-gather->go on cycle. Like, mm how can a pause be so maximized for meaning?
I really liked FATWS. Bucky is one of my favorite MCU characters (I can do a whole essay on him) and it made me happy that he could acknowledge his systematic racism, try to apologize for it and (hopefully) in the future we'll see he's learned and is trying to be better
thank you for this, you've given a lot of insight and angles that i wasn't really conscious of. i'm asian australian, so historical/modern tensions in the states aren't something i know a lot about. at least not to the deep/nuanced level you discuss. i honestly just read the scene and show as it was because i'm totally removed from any cultural context, but i really appreciate your deconstruction of the skepticism of audiences other than myself
very keen to continue perusing more of your videos
Interview with the Vampire TV show is insanely good. You should review that.
Yesss
So, one of my thoughts on the show and it's reception is how people reacted to different characters being violent.
John Walker we openly see as unnecessarily hostile and only gets more so, but is offered a redemption of sorts at the end.
Mirrored in Bucky coming to terms with his past actions which we see with brutal clarity.
But Karli's violence is seen as specifically reprehensible despite trying to oppose a powerful force seeking to exterminate her and her people.
And the capstone: Sam's violence. In the cold open of the show, we see Sam kill 5x as many people as Karli ever did, and under a whole host of base assumptions. The mercenaries MUST be bad, Libya couldn't possibly have reason for wanting this army captain, who himself couldn't POSSIBLY have done anything to MERIT extra judicial extraction (oh wait, when non-Americans do that they just call it kidnapping). But we're prompted to see any violence done by Sam as being blessed by both "the State" and Steve Rogers.
But the show also openly calls into question how much wiggle room we should be giving to state, military, and police action.
I feel like it was intentional, but I don't see a lot of people talk about it.
Wanted to add: a part of it is just how non-chalant that cold open treats the death and mayhem that is in progress versus so much of the threat and violence portrayed later on.
@@hartthorn
Sam defends Karli on multiple occasions and even at the end tries to take her down without killing her. The show could've probably done more but this idea people have that Karli was simply in the wrong kind of ignores all of Sam's points.
@@jasonjones3328 oh yeah. Outside of the other Flag Smashers, Sam shows the most sympathy to Karli's issues out of anyone.
But I was more talking about audience reactions and how the show's framing shaped it.
Excellent analysis!
Maybe Steve was aware of the conflict Sam would have, but hoped he'd come to the conclusion he did
Could also be a doubling down on Steve's privilege as not just a white guy, but as a famous person with historical clout. He's never really had to address any of it because he's on the moral high ground so that's all that should matter, I guess.
They definitely should have made a distinction between how the Commandos treated those minority members compared to how everyone else at the time treated them.
Great video, La'Ron. It's also opened my eyes to my own way of viewing the world, but I think there is something that's missed here. To lay a bit of groundwork, I was raised to be as "character first" as is possible (white, religious minority), yet also raised around the "be on guard" nervous reaction when seeing a group of young aduls (usually non-white) hanging around. It's left a very strange mark on how I interact with those around me. While trying to not toot my own horn, the people I interact with are almost enitrely (I'm human, 100% is impossible) looked at by character first, ethnicity second. But this video has allowed me to put into words the disconnect I was aways aware of. That is, outside of those people I interact with in any way, perfect strangers are not always looked at in the same way depedning on circumstances. And the reverse is very much true and what relates to this video.
Namely, I would be shocked and horrified if a person of minority I knew/was friends with got racially profiled by the police, despite actively knowing such things happen. There's a vagueness to the knowing and understanding that F&tWS failed to get across. Bucky is probably fully aware of the issues of racial profiling, but this is Sam Wilson. And as you said, _he_ knows Sam, so why the hell are these idiot racists being idiot racists? Like Bucky, I've not connected the issues other minorities have faced in society with the struggles the minorities I know have had to go through.
If there's one thing that this video has taught me, is that "I don't see colour" is not a phrase I'll be using in the future.
FATW had so many issues that Bucky's apology was really low priority for me. Sam's naivete at the end with "DO BETTER," the show's U-turn for 'terrorists' (you know, the only ones who are trying to help the displaced peoples) as murderers to paint them as TRULY wrong/going about it the wrong way smacks of 'can you protest in ways that are less inconvenient for me?' energy, and so on.
Killing people is more than inconvenience
Happens a lot with social change villains. Either their actions are seen as too extreme by the main characters or the leaders of said movement are revealed to be liars with ulterior motives. It’s been a thing in comics since Magneto was rewritten to be a holocaust survivor.
However, it also appears a lot in animation. Bismuth in Steven Universe is a good example on the individual being seen as too extreme and almost every villain aside from Zaheer in Legend of Korra, plus Adam from RWBY, comes in the latter.
I remember watching the show and not looking at it to critically so I actually just really enjoyed the ride, in the same kinda of way I liked Woman king, just watch cool black people beat people up. But watching a lot of stuff around it after was kinda demoralising as I realised it wasn’t quite the step forward I was hoping for.
Another great entry to your lessons Prof! Thank you!
I saw it as a different four word phrase: not all white people, but you nailed it in more detail. Edited to add: because of course Some People were mad about the apology, by which I mean white people.
I’ve been in Michigan for a year and I saw a sundown town list on Twitter the other day. Apparently 2 of the 4 cities that surround me were sundown towns and I’m literally right outside of majority black Detroit.
I never thought I would see Isaiah Bradley in the MCU, the series did all right by him IMO
Are we counting fandoms? Because it takes me a long time to trust anyone in a fandom until I respond to them and even then I'm waiting for a shoe to drop and I'm booted out.
I only recently learned my hometown (Antioch, Calif) was a sundown town. They discriminated against Chinese people specifically but yeah. It’s a sundown town regardless.
I always knew that place was off but couldn’t put my finger on why. After learning this it made so much sense
What's s sundown town?
I think Steve sure as shootin' thought about it. Bucky clearly never thought about it. But Steve knew all about the fight of the underdog and the evils of racism. He always chose to treat people as their best selves. But he chose Sam to be his successor, even though Bucky was his best friend, even though Steve was willing to throw everything else he held dear to help that friend. He chose a man of color to be his successor--because it was the right thing to do. And he also felt that Sam could handle the pressure. Maybe Steve misjudged Sam, thinking of him as the best version of Sam. But I don't think he would, or could, not notice racism. After all, he watched it all in Germany, in Japan, in New York.
Just my thoughts.
I agree with you that Steve's perspective would be different from Bucky's. For the first 24 yrs of his life, Steve was sickly & weak in a time when "survival of the fittest" was no joke.
Thanks for this - I didn’t watch FATWS (the genre it’s in just isn’t my thing) but I appreciate your take and the nuance. It’s nice to see on this ol internets, I.e. the graveyard of nuance lol
I wonder if Sam gave Bucky a list of movies he should watch like he did with Steve?
Wuz that list all Madea movies?
@@akale2620 Bucky's been through enough...
I love every time it’s mention Detroit. It makes me smile. I love my city. ❤
9:59
Interesting enough, Jim Morita does mention he is from Fresno, California. Fresno was the location of one of the Internment Camps.
2 minutes in and I knew this was the analysis I've been waiting for since the very first episode of falcon and winter soldier
You dropped bars all up and down this video.
The sanitization of northern whites also sticks out to me a lot in Stranger Things. Someone is only racist when the show wants to emphasize that they are a villain character and now it's Lucas' problem. But then there's scenes like Nancy in the gun store and you see a Black mom and her son casually walking around the showroom floor?? Among all those rednecks and munitions lmao I'm like oh so racism isn't like baked into the culture of rural 80s Indiana?? Satanic Panic is endemic, but Jason's violent racism in no way reflects the society he lives in? Sure, Jan.
Your sass sustains me.
This is a brilliant break down
When Sam’s family let him bring the cake 😮
I liked the series but as I mentioned in other videos about it. I liked Zemo more because of it.
Really looking forward to more with Sam going forward
Plus black panther (the uncle and father) know cap technically by comics
Good points 👍🏿
Pretty sure there's still sundown towns in Oregon and Idaho.
I thought the harm in F&WS outweighed the good. I didn’t even catch this aspect and already hated the show for it’s fumbling of the end, the plot (which is understandable if the rumors are true about a Covid rewrite), and the absolute lack of empathy for the flag smashes who were almost caricatures.
Love your videos
Another wonderful video
28:06 literally She-Hulk
He didn't listen to Marvin Gaye like Zemo 🤦♂️
For the algorithm. This is a really good video more should see~
Love your vids! I admit that allot of political change has been that I'm ok with overthrowing the government. I won't pretend that makes me a "better white",but that's my shift from the 90's.
FatWS was a mess. All the series can be summed up as "evil anarchists extremism is bad we need centrism and moderation and have a hard talk to sensible politicians who actually want to solve things. Also, more diversity in the imperial US army would be nice".
just shit! awesome fantastic analysis as always and now im even more concerned that the MCU is supposedly replacing Anthony Mackie with Danny Ramirez in 2024 like first off let the black man hold the job for more than one season; like damn! and then its like to them obviously they don't see color because all people of color are interchangeable. Like why can't they bring that latino boy to be one of the countless other white heroes? god knows there's enough of them! like damn make him the winter soldier! why he gotta be Captain America? afraid we coming to take your jobs?!
Sam Wilson will still be Captain America onwards. Joaquin Torres (Danny Rameriz) have not yet recieved the mantle of Captain America in the comics, let alone in the movies or series.
@@caldeandrade69 well i hope you are right 'cause i really like Anthony Mackie as Captain America
Danny Ramirez isn’t playing Captain America? What are you going on about? Joaquin Torres is literally a comics character, Danny is playing an existing comics character who works alongside Sam as a friend and partner and taking on the mantle of Falcon. He’s a young legacy hero. He’s not there to steal the role from Sam.
Steve can still be called Captain America. Biden's president right now, but if I ever met President Obama, I would call him Mr. President.
Black falcon was an ok show
Personally my biggest frustration with F&TWS is it doesn't contextualize any of the actual reasons behind racial conflicts in America with the story in order to properly convey the core message the show seemed to want to go for: what is America to a black man? Instead it seemed to go for a more color blind view of it and asked what America meant to anyone it could've hurt, using border disputes and bureaucracy as the central force in its conflict despite the ways that could be much more applied to other white superpowers in the world. Not to mention in its critique of America it reinforces the MCU's longstanding praise of the military, arguing that US Soldier's character is what made the serum turn him bad despite all of the extremely valid reasoning he gave during his defense speech. That was the only moment of the show I felt they had something to say, governments telling white men to go kill people, rewarding them for it, and then turning their backs on them when they stepped over a line they didn't think existed is a real sentiment that leads people in this country (specifically cops and soldiers) down dark irredeemable paths.
All of the commentary moments on America the show makes seems to fully argue that no black man should have to be patriotic or wave the flag to prove their character or their worth, but by the end of it it seems to prove the opposite by making the Captain America persona a literal shield for Sam to hide behind so he can defend himself from attacks on his skin color. A proof that he is valid on the terms that Sam, Bucky, and the rest of America set for him as opposed to on his own. It comes off a lot like the Obama argument, that once a good black man takes up an American position of authority, things will change for the better. And it's not that things won't get better, but as long as you operate under that traditional American banner you're always going to be operating under the cishet white patriarchy and the most you can do is go "do better, Senator" and hope they listen. I wish he had just melted the shield down and made some new wings out of it or something, prove that he's enough as Falcon and that they can either respect him as being Cap's equal or get out of his way. Because the new world doesn't need Captain America.
Maybe repainted it or something.
Talking on the point of the military, let’s also not forget that Sam, despite being retired from the military, still takes contracts from them and kills “terrorists” for them, and the show presents this with cheering triumphant music. Not once critiquing Sam for it. Basically saying, the military is cool if the right hero is doing the military’s work.
It makes any of their critique of the military through John Walker fall entirely flat. Because Walker kills people, that’s bad because people saw it. But Sam can kill people out of the public view and that’s just cool.
The show has no interest in doing real criticisms because to do so, they’d have to actually question why their heroes are not so heroic as they are portrayed to be.
Love your videos. Not a fan of looping background music.
I loved Falcon & the Winter Soldier! It gave me a chance to talk with my son (white presenting interracial 11 year old) about historical references, how to be culturally competent, & global issues of displacement & colonization. It also allowed my white presenting partner from the south to understand (& see through a different lens) the subtleties of racism & bigotry. Not just the overt racism he grew up witnessing.
I also was able to witness the generational gaps & shifts, that made some but not always enough progress.
Thank you for this amazing video! Keep being awesome! 💜🙌🏾💜
I was mostly frustrated with how in the end there is absolutely no critique of the system by either bucky or sam. Even if he is faced with his reality as a black man in america he still wishes for Isaiah to become a part of it's history against his wishes. His abuse by that very country is framed as "a service" for that country, or diminished to it. and it is played off as a great honour. But we are faced with an america that clearly has not changed much for the better, why then does sam hold this same idealism and blind spot for the country of his birth that seems ro be at the very root of steve and bucky's colirblindness? The flag smashers embodied real political critique, and as a result they were never truly sympatised with. Sam for me still feels too much like captain america, not that he must be bitter but there is no reason to be this patriotic either without the revolutionary spirit of the flag smashers. And thus i feel like sam could've shaken Bucky out of his dated idealism in a way more agressive way. why do we need to tolerate it so placatingly? Isaiahs anger was neutralised when in fact it was wholly justified. or maybe i just dont get i cause i'm not american 🥴
The Tiger Photos were done in really bad taste and just a mean hook
It is too bad that most of new Marvel sucks so bad
As a white army brat, I was told everyone was green, a whole similar "I don't see color," but I still felt the pain of slavery, emotionally, I was apart of the disability rights children, when it was taught to me, and as mostly southerner I feel the Northern racism erasure make me irate, simply because there was Reconstruction and "The New Negro" but nothing on how the North handled the diaspora of African Americans to their cities and towns, only how Southerners were awful racists folk (not to say that race riots or bigots or good ol' boys didn't exist, just that somehow the North didn't have any of that of any kind.) If this makes you mad please feel free to delete this post. I do adore your work La'Ron Readus.
Not the audience that gets a say in any of this, so I get the intent behind Buckys words, but it does feel like it comes too late in the game. I don't know if it's meant to demonstrate that he's been struggling with it a while, but after he served alongside Steve in a segregated military, yeah, it's a stretch that he just didn't get it.
I think FATWS, along with all of the Marvel show and movies, need to be more overt in their political and social issues. The comics do and Disney shouldn't be afraid to let the live action stuff do so, as well.
👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿👍🏿
I'm not really American so maybe someone can enlighten me on this, but what is so "systemic" about racism in the US? I don't see how the term applies considering where I live we have actual racist policies based on skin colour and ethnic heritage that put up significant economic barriers for particular groups.
9:48 If you paid attention in The First Avenger there's a scene where Morita has to establish he's from Fresno when one of the 176th asks cap if "they're really freeing everyone"
Start with the Trail of Tears and Indian Removal Act. Fast forward to today, American Native women disappearing or murders are seldom investigated by FBI.
@@murk4552 historically racist? Yes, definitely. In modern day is what I'm asking.
Just because policies are not outright racist and based on skin color doesn’t mean it isn’t systemic. There are many policies that are thinly veiled racist things, but they just don’t come out and say it. When we say systemic racism in America, we are talking about new rules and policies that are built off of historical rules, they’re just newer versions, modified to fit a modern world. It also comes from attitudes towards certain groups, or stereotypes, or the way that people of color are not promoted, or not interviewed for certain jobs but that racism is hidden behind “well this other person was just better” as an excuse. It’s also things such as realtors not selling to black families but if you have a white family calling for the same house they’ll sell. These are systemic things, not just one offs. It may not be the outright systemic problems of where you are, but it is still institutional issues that are the results of long decades of racist policies.
Bucky and Steve are both poor (?) white guys from 1910s Brooklyn who were then frozen in time before being thrust into the modern age. Even worse, Bucky doesn't seem to really engage with modern culture too much as he's too busy being traumisted from his time as a eugenist pawn. They're both good guys, genuinely so. I can trust an apology from (MCU) Bucky just fine. It's all the people IRL I can't really trust. they don't have the incredible excuse of being a "man out of time" lol. The show had such good potential, but was so muddled by everything Marvel and real world politics.
(and yes, that is Ayo from a still of the show. i love her)
I havent watched the show. Maybe I will pirate it one Day as I dont like to give too much money to Disney.
But it remindef me of my feelings about black Panther. I was very thrilled, as an white european girl, that grew up reading biographie from black americans and some problematic romantic novels of the colony time, was looking foreward to a black superhero movie.
And I dident like it. But I guessed that was the case bc it wasent for me.
After reading some bad news from the Afrika continent I got pissed about all the implication that were there if there is Wakanda.
It doesent make any sense that they would do nothing, about their continent beeing exploited and stolen from till the present Day! They could have at least helped on the political Parkett and to some shadow work to help find a african politicsystem that suited each Region. Maybe help the tribes to negoate and stuff. An United and stabile continent has way more Power to defend their intrests... Thats way the big Power like the current state...
All stuff where they wouldent need to reveal their technology.
And then I got it. For who was the movie? Black americans, who was the Protagonist? An african prince from an selfish isolated country. Who was the bad guy? An african american from the ghetto, deeply traumatised and very aggressive. All the bad steriotypes isent he?
Killmonger could be called an anti hero but I think he should have been the Protagonist. The movie should have been about his struggels and rise to defend his people. If you would go a step further, Wakanda should have been in the US. Maybe an isolated (under ground? ) City build by escaped slaves and refuges from the racial oppression. Maybe build up by people from the original Wakanda that found an smaller meteroit with that fantasy Metal. There is so much history of black americans that you could go over to find something that is halfway believeable.
You could have the secound movie where they connect with Wakanda, the country search for common ground, force them out of Isolation und stuff.
But I do think to get that story right would be hard. I think it would be worth it. But I also dont know if that idea of mine truly is as unproblematisch as I think it is 😵. Even after informing myself I dont think I will ever truly get it.
In my country one of the most mistreated groups are refugees, even more so if the gouverment assumes that they came here for monetary gains....many of them are black.
Sorry for rambling like that, hope I dident make a complete ass out of myself.
This is one of the reasons I didn't like this show and I don't like the mcu no actual depth just lip service. The mcu is all sunshine and rainbows except one line in black panther and the speech in falcon and winter solider
👍👍
Lol
Sam= Sambo.
While I certainly can't disagree with pretty much anything said in this video I do feel like you're neglecting one major point regarding Bucky - he has spent the VAST majority of his hundred or so years of existence either in suspended animation or as a brainwashed weapon. He doesn't even have the benefit of Steve's time in modern day.