Over the last few weeks I have had the great joy of watching super hero movies with my daughter. She doesn't love them as much as I do (I was a nerdy little white boy growing-up and needed some high power role models.) She does like the ones where the leads are strong, powerful women.
A couple of weeks ago we saw Wonder Woman on iTunes; yes it would have been better on the big screen, but one must make do. It was a great movie and part of what made it great was that Diana never had to stop being a woman to be super. Part of her power came from her empathy which in our culture is considered a more feminine quality.
Yesterday we saw Captain Marvel. It was not quite as great a movie as Wonder Woman - from a storytelling perspective. The whole memory loss thing, while doing what it needed to do, felt a little clumsy and the big surprise felt a little forced. However, it provided a whole range of strong women. Carol Danvers is a bit more of a hard ass than Diana. She clearly didn't grow up surrounded by love and encouragement. She definitely embodies the higher, faster, stronger ethos of the more typically male super hero crowd. Even better than Carol Danvers, however, is her best friend Maria Rambeau. Maria is emotional, caring, and a badass pilot without needing any super powers. The fact that she is African American and a single mother make her even more amazing.
It is a great thing that as a culture we are producing more complex and amazing woman to inspire our children.
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