Movie review
March 6, 2019 · 124 min · PG-13
Woke Score
Lower is better
Review
The movie follows Carol Danvers, a cosmic warrior who rediscovers her past on Earth as a military pilot. She gets caught in a war between the Kree empire and the shape-shifting Skrulls. The story features a strong "girl power" theme about a woman finding her inner strength. A key montage shows her overcoming male doubts throughout her life, and the plot emphasizes female friendships over romance.
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Captain Marvel.
Woke representation / casting
The casting choices focus heavily on female power. The main hero is a very strong woman. Her best friend is a Black female fighter pilot who is also a single mother. The main mentor character, Mar-Vell, was changed from a man to a woman. The movie completely avoids any romantic stories. Instead, it focuses entirely on female friendship and female mentors. This casting style was a main selling point for the movie.
Woke political dialogue
The movie does not use preachy activist words. Still, some lines show a struggle against male control. The biggest example is during the final battle. The male villain challenges the heroine to a fair, physical fight without her cosmic powers. Instead of agreeing, she blasts him away with her energy powers and says, "I don't have to prove anything to you." This line rejects his rules and the need for male approval.
Identity-driven story themes
The main story is all about female empowerment. The core theme is a woman breaking free from the limits placed on her by men. This is shown in a key scene where Carol falls down as a young girl, a teenager, and a military recruit, always with men telling her she cannot do it. The plot reveals that her male mentor has been holding her back and keeping her weak. The story is about her realizing this and taking her power back.
Western institutional / cultural critique
Production
The movie critiques powerful nations that take over other lands. The advanced Kree empire is shown as dishonest and greedy colonizers who lie to their own soldiers. Meanwhile, the shape-shifting Skrulls, who are usually the bad guys in the comics, are changed into helpless refugees fleeing from the Kree. This storyline directly mirrors modern real-world debates about refugees and strong Western nations.
Woke character or canon changes
The movie makes a major gender change to a classic comic book character. In the original comics, Mar-Vell is a male hero who guides Carol Danvers. In the movie, this character is changed to a female scientist named Wendy Lawson, played by Annette Bening. Marvel bosses admitted they did this late in the writing process. They wanted to make sure Carol had a female mentor to guide her instead of a man.
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
This movie faced some of the biggest anti-woke backlash ever seen. Before the release, lead actress Brie Larson said she wanted fewer white men interviewing her on press tours. This caused huge anger, boycott calls, and massive negative reviews online. The backlash was so big that the movie site Rotten Tomatoes had to change its rules to stop people from posting reviews before a movie comes out.
Creator track record context
The key creative team has very low woke scores in our database. Writers like Anna Boden, Geneva Robertson-Dworet, Meg LeFauve, and Nicole Perlman score between 11 and 14. The movie's fifteen editors also have low scores between 16 and 23. These creators usually keep their personal politics quiet and do not do activist work. The movie's themes seem to come from studio decisions rather than the creators.
