The Rising Tide

Did a lot of catch ups with my movies and television over the Christmas and New Year break. One of the plans was to revisit the whole Marvel Cinematic Universe, which for me includes all the Ironman, Thor, Captain America and Avengers movies, all the Marvel One-shots and the TV series Agents of the SHIELD. I was not particularly interested in Norton’s Hulk so I left that alone. For Guardians of the Galaxy I saw it twice before the holidays so didn’t watch it again. As for Agent Carter, it is not available locally so I have no access to it. 

One surprising thing that happened during this process was that I was completely hooked to Agents of SHIELD. The TV series is about ordinary people helping extraordinary people to save the world. None of the Agents in the series has superpower like the Avengers but they were dealing with some extraordinary stuff behind the scene. The series intertwines storylines with the major Marvel movies making it extremely relevant to the marvel Cinematic Universe. 

Storyline aside, what really struck me was the number of naturally strong female characters the show presents, not to mention how culturally diverse the cast was. SHIELD in the comics is a multinational organisation set up to protect the Earth from home grown or extra-terrestrial terrorists, thereby the “Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistic Division (SHIELD)”. So it is natural that its agents should come from different parts of the world, and Joss Whedon, the executive producer of the show made sure it happened. There is nothing Anglo-centric here and most actors were able to just deliver their performances in their natural accents. This completely amplified what SHIELD is about and gave it its own identity. Apart from different accents, lots of different languages were spoken during the course of the series, adding a huge transnational flavour to the storylines (although I still find it funny when some characters attempted to speak Cantonese in completely distorted tones in one of the episodes). 

As mentioned earlier what the show most impacted me was the creation of a lot of really strong female characters. None of the female characters are damsels in distress waiting to be saved but go out and kick butts either through technology, gun fights and / or close combats. Skye, the ex-hacktivist can get into virtually any computers in the world including SHIELD, HYDRA (the terrorist group in the show) and different government agencies including the Defence force. Jemma (or Simmons) is like the cocktail master of all things biochemical and nothing escaped her sharp eyes for molecular and cellar structures. May (or The Calvary) is the “Bus Driver” who kicks virtually every single character’s butt in virtually every fight. She is also cool, calm and tactical. Bobbi Morse (aka Mockingbird) is a superspy who can fight and lie her way unscathed through any mob and situation. Even supporting characters like Agent 33 and Raina are determined and skilled female characters who know what they want and go for them. This group of strong female characters contrasts hugely with a lot of token female characters in a lot of action or superhero movies or series. I think that what makes Agents of SHIELD stands out as a series. For me it is certainly refreshing to see something so different and strong for a change.

Since the start of 2016, we already seen several misogynist scandals in the news, the Australian Immigration Minister sending a text to a colleague labelling a journalist a “mad fucking witch” only to have it accidentally sent to the journalist herself; the cricketer Chris Gayle belittling a female reporter by hitting on her and telling her “don’t blush baby” when the reporter is apparently disappointed by his unprofessionalism at the interview; and not to mention another Australian Minister acted appropriately to a staffer while overseas and send her photo to other people even after the news broke and eventually had her pictures and detailed published on a right-wing newspaper.

What we see here is a lack of respect from these people who are actually in positions of power in real life. These people represent a sector of our society that refuses to change and think that male domination should be a fact of life and the female population should continue to live with it and subdue to it. This kind of mentality without a doubt was contributed by how these people were brought up and the environment they were exposed to. 

However the real world is changing. 

I am very happy to see there are more and more strong female characters being shown in popular culture and media as this is a good way to gradually change the new generation’s view of the world. Would there still be idiots like those exist? Yes definitely these people would not go away and they would want to make sure their “legacies” live on. However, with the mass changing, these people will eventually become minorities and hopefully one day became so insignificant that similar actions would just be put down on a local level instead of achieving such a media fanfare. That is similar for cultural and ethnic diversity. I look forward to one day I am going to casting for a character in a TV series or movie project and not just a Chinese character in a TV series or movie project. If Grey’s Anatomy and Agents of SHIELD can change the character name because they cast an Asian actor to play the role, I am sure one day Australia will be able to do so. Just hope that I live long and or practice long enough to see this day.