There was a time when a Marvel movie would not only draw in fans but also dominate the box office. However, in recent years, coinciding with the onset of “Phase 4” featuring TV shows, the fervour has somewhat cooled. Which is a shame, because the latest release, The Marvels, is actually a fun superhero film that will probably have you leaving the cinema with a smile on your face.
The film’s modest box office haul of only US$187mil (RM874mil), speculated to be less than its production cost, has been attributed to various factors, including contentious social media chatter surrounding its release. Some people argued that the underperformance is due to a female-led cast, and on top that, only one white actress. An X (formerly Twitter) user bluntly stated, “Go woke, go broke” after the movie’s disappointing opening weekend. A video blogger called the Marvel Cinematic Universe the “M-She-U” and said the movie was “AWFUL” (in all caps, no less). Conservative American pundit Ben Shapiro previously declared the female-led Captain Marvel movie in 2019 as "virtue signalling", yet still took the time to watch some of the sequel so that he could call The Marvels "more woke garbage".
None of this dissuaded me from watching (and enjoying) The Marvels. I didn’t even know about these criticisms. In fact, I’ve seen many people on the Internet praise the movie, making me feel less of a deluded superfan.
The Internet makes it possible to hear what people from half a world away think. Consider the Malaysian student in Britain who criticised an afterparty following a Malaysian student sports event. “Clubbing, drinking, and partying have never been a part of the Malaysian culture, we have our own means of celebration, so why indulge in activities that are not even part of our culture to begin with?” she claimed, sparking widespread online debate recently.
Of course, in the old days, a student complaining about the student body wouldn’t have been news. But now, social media platforms and their algorithms ensure that like-minded individuals see and amplify opinions.
This dynamic is a byproduct of social media companies thriving on controversy. A University of Delaware study in the United States focusing on political opinions about minority groups, particularly how social media consumption has heightened anti-Muslim views, concludes that social media creates information bubbles that echo and amplify views. It found a “strong and consistent association between reliance on social media and support for anti-Muslim policies”.
In the echo chambers of the Internet, “maybes” can quickly become facts. The study concluded that when political information is unregulated, false and prejudicial content shapes the views of social media consumers.
However, for me, the issue with the Malaysian student was that it engulfed and subsumed the Internet conversation for days, reminiscent of the debates about healthcare during the Covid-19 pandemic. Everyone sticks to their side of the argument and never listens to each other.
For me, we’re such a diverse country, that in a large enough group, somebody will have an aversion to anything. However, I believe that before you come to a final decision, you’ve got to consider all sides.
This complexity is not new. Consider the controversy in the 1980s with Captain Marvel (then Ms Marvel) in the comic books. In Avengers #200, Ms Marvel is coerced into a non-consensual relationship, resulting in a pregnancy. After giving birth, she inexplicably falls in love with her manipulator, a development celebrated by some of the Avengers.
Something like this today would generate so much heat online that it would burn the Internet down. But it happened in 1980, at a time when comics were for "nerds" and not part of the zeitgeist, so it went largely unnoticed.
One who did sit up and take notice and do something was author Carol Strickland who wrote a strongly-worded condemnation of that storyline for a fan magazine in an article titled, “The Rape of Ms Marvel”. She later said she was shocked that there seemed to be no real outrage from the community at large, with even some feedback (through the letters column of the fanzine) that, in her words, "told me that I needed to get laid to get my head on straight".
However, a year after the publication of that issue came Avengers Annual #10 (1981) written by Chris Claremont, the award-winning writer of the acclaimed Uncanny X-Men series. When his version of Ms Marvel is rescued, she berates the Avengers for letting her leave with her assailant saying, “When I needed you most, you betrayed me”. In a later interview, Claremont pointed to Strickland’s article as proof that women comic book readers recognise that women “get very short shrift in comics”.
Before the Internet, opinions took time to circulate and evoke responses. Yet, they mattered. Strickland’s article contributed to a shift in narrative, and years down the line, many see the “woke” 2019 Captain Marvel movie as a sort of atonement, dealing with issues of manipulation and gaslighting of women.
I suppose what I’m saying here is that words and opinions do matter. What is important is that you listen beyond your sphere of “me too” voices, lest you become another echo yourself, repeating a mantra that is unverified and untrue.
Regarding The Marvels, before you heed my recommendation, consider this: CinemaScore, which surveys filmgoers in the United States, has given it a B rating, in joint bottom three of the lowest of all Marvel Cinematic Universe movies.
So now I invite you, armed with this these pieces of conflicting information, to watch the movie yourself, and make your own mind up.
In his fortnightly column, Contradictheory, mathematician-turned-scriptwriter Dzof Azmi explores the theory that logic is the antithesis of emotion but people need both to make sense of life’s vagaries and contradictions. Write to Dzof at lifestyle@thestar.com.my. The views expressed here are entirely the writer's own.
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