In Defense of Iron Man 3 (unlocked post)

[pretty_panther]

It has come to my attention that Iron Man 3 is taking a lot of heat for being racist and ablest among other things. I don't agree fully with all the opinions and this is why.

~ this post is now unlocked so feel free to link. lots of meta floating about so yeah, made mine available too.

Comments

[euphonious_13]

I agree with these viewpoints. Personally, I thought Pepper's storyline (especially the end) was extremely progressive as she saved herself. How often does that happen in Hollywood?

I enjoy what you said about the Mandarin. I thought it highlighted our racist thinking as viewers rather than being inherently racist itself. It was a reflection of what we are doing as a government, country and society. It draws attention to it and shows us that we are wrong to assume that only foreigners are evil.

[pretty_panther]

Yep, it is very progressive to see Pepper save herself when it came down to it. It say a lot that female characters get ignored when they do awesome things. Natasha in Avengers basically brought the group together and got Loki's plan out of him and people never remember that either.

Yep, I think that is the whole point of it and it says a lot about people that so many are missing it. The fact that the guy isn't the right ethnic group to be the 'Mandarin', that he turns out to be an actor, that he has a drug problem so questions nothing as long as he gets his fix, it is ALL making a point about society. It worries me how many miss it, it really does.

[interchanges]

We have so many problems with sexism and racism in society that it kinda pisses me off when people make things out to be sexist/racist when they're not. I agree with you that Pepper's plot was realistic and that the Mandarin was actually a commentary on our racism.