#and of course we mix and match traditionally 'male' and 'female' things. that's the building blocks we have

[saviourkingslut]

SICK of academics saying shit like "non-binary is a step backwards people are just creating a third gender category while we should be working towards eradicating the differences and inequalities between men and women entirely" that is LITERALLY what we're doing here. the eradication of gender as a social construct isn't going to happen in a day and it's not going to happen without people taking action and saying "gender is fluid and my expression is whatever i want it to be, im purposefully disregarding the binary and challenging traditional beliefs to change people's ways of thinking abt gender". we are in the trenches and y'all refuse to see it. "most people don't feel fully man or woman that'd make us all non-binary" yes that's the point the binary doesn't exist and we're actively trying to deconstruct it. and we're going to keep being non-binary until the work is done

[theladyfromplanetx]

Wonder Woman Vs. Captain Marvel: What the Critics Are Saying (and yes, some of them are women)

“The perfectly written, directed, acted and produced Wonder Woman should have been nominated for an Oscar. It paved the way for Captain Marvel to succeed as an art form, at the box office and with a female protagonist in a predominantly male genre. WW casts a shadow so big that any similar film that follows will have to bring its A game to equal it and an A+ game to beat it. Captain Marvel rates a C. It’s distinguished from other MCU movies by its female lead. Otherwise it is way too ordinary and middle of the pack.”

                                                                    - Dwight Brown

“Perhaps it’s unfair to hold the MCU’s latest feature up alongside the first woman-led film in the rival DC Extended Universe, but a comparison to Wonder Woman (2017) is nonetheless instructive. Where Patty Jenkins’ film expressed its unabashedly female worldview through burning conflicts and graceful characterization, co-directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck seem content to sneak fist-pumping girl-power bromides in between the lines of a generic imperial space-war plot.”

                                                                      - Andrew Wyatt

“It's no match for Wonder Woman, and that's a shame, because Captain Marvel deserves better.” - Akhil Arora

“Leaping off of the final scene of "Avengers: Infinity War" that gave us all a glimmer of hope, we are immediately made to wonder: Why didn't Nick Fury ever call on Captain Marvel before? When aliens attacked New York, or when a giant robot made an entire country levitate, that wasn't enough "danger" for Captain Marvel to be called on? This doesn't pass the eyeball or the smell test for even the most casual of MCU fans. By all accounts, Fury should have used his magic pager and called on Captain Marvel several movies ago. That truth underlies the whole premise of this movie, making the whole thing just feel...silly.” (I had to add this even though it makes no references to Wonder Woman because it makes you say “ah-ha!”) 

                                                         - Tom Santili

“It took 21 movies for a solo female superhero film to make it into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Know what else happened over 21 movies? The formula got stale. That Captain Marvel is easily on the weaker end of this sprawling franchise has zero to do with a woman being at its center, it has to do with the center she inhabits feeling unimaginative and repetitive. If Marvel really wanted their first female-led film to have an emotional impact (like, say, Wonder Woman did), they probably shouldn’t have made 20 films that mostly look and feel the same before trying it.” 

                                                      - Matt Dougherty

“Really, much of the film’s feminism has a hollow, “rah-rah” element that rings as simplistic in a world where Wonder Woman was more overt. Carol’s discovery of her power and besting over the men in her life is good, but it’s a movie that falls back on a 1995 definition of Girl Power, and in 2019 hearkening back to 1995 doesn’t work.

                                                         - Kristen Lopez

“Wonder Woman smartly threw Diana into a world of oppressive (and inferior) men, allowing the character to overcome obstacles and succeed in spite of them. Captain Marvel throws Vers into a world of plot holes and “Happy Days” lunch boxes.

                                                      - Johnny Oleksinski

“I was bored watching Captain Marvel. I mean, I wasn’t bored like this during the superheroine movie Wonder Woman.” - Matthew Lickona

“Unlike Wonder Woman, which offered a rich, well-thought out backstory and an interesting mythology, Captain Marvel relies on confusing exposition and a scattershot method of universe building that’s not adequate to the task at hand. Wonder Woman had heart and easily forged an emotional connection with audiences; neither is the case here, where the focus is on technical bravura, rat-a-tat-tat pacing, humorous quips, and big “moments.””

                                                     - James Berardinelli

“Captain Marvel: Woman, but no wonder.” - Joe Morgenstern

“Instead of treating feminism as a structuring ideology to jump off from – like Wonder Woman so winningly did – Captain Marvel can’t seem to see beyond the idea that Carol is a woman.” 

                                                     - Radheyan Simonpillai

“And if it came down to a one-on-one between rival franchise uber warriors Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel, there is no doubt who would inspire the heavy betting.”     - Todd McCarthy

“Two years ago, Wonder Woman proved a female-led superhero movie could reach the highest levels of the genre, with Gal Gadot proving robust and redoubtable, yet also charming and feminine. I spent Captain Marvel waiting for Gadot. What I got was Brie Larson: charmless, humorless, a character so without texture that she might as well be made out of aluminum.” 

                                                   - Kyle Smith

“Marvel not only finds itself lagging behind DC with its first female super hero, but utterly losing the contest.” - Laura Clifford

“While Larson won a Best Actress Oscar for Room, she’s no Wonder Woman.”

                                                    - Susan Granger

“Let’s get the bad news over with quickly: Captain Marvel is no Wonder Woman.  Ever since superhero mania took hold of movies, DC Comics has had one, and only one, advantage over Marvel — a great female, feminist superhero. Marvel Comics couldn’t touch that. Marvel still can’t.”

                                                   - Mick LaSalle

“To be blunt, it’s insulting that Marvel felt simply making its first leading woman “one tough chick” would be enough to placate female fans. All the male Avengers' origin stories feature character flaws, physical weaknesses, and romantic interests who complicate their missions. Captain Marvel has none of these things. It’s impossible not to compare her to DC’s leading lady, Wonder Woman, who proved so winsome, warm, and witty she alone breathed life into the flailing Justice League franchise. Diana Prince’s Amazonian strength and agility, combined with her traditionally idealized feminine traits like innocence and beauty, create a nicely complex mix. Her chaste romance with self-sacrificing soldier Steve Trevor only compliments her loveliness. Over the course of the story, Steve helps her learn some hard lessons about her own naiveté that ultimately make both of their heroics more meaningful. Captain Marvel, in contrast, has nothing to learn beyond discovering that even those supposed flaws some man-mentor kept yammering at her to restrain are really strengths. Every challenge she faces is because someone with an XY chromosome is trying to box her in. She overcomes them by throwing off her male-forged shackles. So Wonder Woman willingly leaves the Eden-like perfection of Themyscira to grapple with humanity’s capacity for evil and weigh whether their fallenness still makes them worthy of her sacrifices. Captain Marvel returns to Earth on a journey of self-actualization to struggle with the idea that she’s even more awesome than she thinks she is. Which one sounds like a real role model for girls?” - Meghan Basham

“Carol Danvers, could not be any duller compared to Gal Gadot’s goddess-like DC Wonder Woman if she tried.” 

                                              - James Vernier

“Captain Marvel’s message feels corporate, ultimately coming across as if Marvel knows they’re playing catch up. It only took DC four movies in four years to make a solo, female-led superhero movie. Marvel’s been doing this for ten years.”  

                                              - Kendra James

“But this busy, uneven origin story also feels like too little, too late. Audiences have already been thrilled to the sight of a super-she-ro in 2017’s Wonder Woman. What might have been a cathartic thrill a few years ago now takes the form of a question: What took you guys so long?”

                                                    - Ann Hornaday

Then there’s this video.