The teaser trailer for the long-awaited Black Widow movie is out and I can barely get excited about it. I have been a Marvel fan for a long time now, but Scarlett Johansson absolutely killed my hype for the Black Widow movie.
The timing of this prequel seems belated, perhaps a litmus test for female-led superhero films. Despite this, my anticipation persists, especially with Yelena Belova’s introduction and Budapest’s cinematic backdrop. Yet, Scarlett Johansson’s controversies, from whitewashing to supporting Woody Allen, taint the experience. Watching online movies (ดูหนังออนไลน์) becomes a dilemma when confronted with such ethical quandaries.
There are other reasons as to why my excitement for the Black Widow movie is desaturated.
First is the obvious one: they killed Natasha Romanoff in Endgame.
Marvel never so much cared for Natasha Romanoff and her characterization. She was introduced as the diversity point in the Avengers movies, her back story was never explained besides a few magic-induced flashbacks in Avengers: Age of Ultron, she was a monster because ‘she was unable to bear a baby’. They once made a good move and established a personality for her in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and immediately destroyed it in Captain America: Civil War. And lastly, Natasha Romanoff killed herself on screen, sacrificing her soul, so that her death can further improve Hawkeye’s man sadness plot!
This movie, as the IMDB suggests, takes place between the events of Civil War and Infinity War. Civil War came out in 2016, what is the point of waiting four years to make a prequel story? Oh yeah – they needed to see if female-led superhero movies would make money!
All of these aside, I would still be excited about this movie. Natasha Romanoff is one of my favorite Marvel characters despite the on-screen slaughter of her identity. This movie will also bring Yelena Belova to the MCU. David Harbour is always a win and lastly, parts of the movie is shot in Budapest, where I call home nowadays.
Of course, if it wasn’t for Scarlett Johansson. She has been extremely controversial in the past and she seems like she won’t be stopping any time soon.
The first stir-up was when Scarlett Johansson joined the cast of the movie adaptation of ‘Ghost in the Shell’. This movie is an adaptation of a Japanese anime and in the movie, ScarJo’s character is a canonically Asian person. If you don’t understand why this is a problem, I would recommend Googling ‘whitewashing’. Later, joined the cast of the movie ‘Rub and Tug’ where she would be playing a transgender man.
Her response? “You know, as an actor, I should be allowed to play any person, or any tree, or any animal because that is my job and the requirements of my job.” Sure honey, the systematic dehumanization and whitewashing of POC and LBTQA+ roles in film is definitely the same as playing a tree or a cat! Hey, here’s a movie for you: the abomination named “Cats (2019)” is right there!
And that’s not where it ends! She is an open, loud and brave supporter of Woody Allen! Johansson many times stressed her opinion that Allen is a good person because she has a close friendship with him.
The reason why she won’t stop doing this is very obvious: she is very well aware of the privilege she has. She is the epitome of white feminism and she can show up at a rally, hold a pink flag and then get away with all this. She is one of the highest-paid female actors in Hollywood. What’s a controversy or two for ScarJo?
So this is basically it. I can’t stand to see her in any shape or form. I can’t enjoy watching someone who supports a rapist openly, who undermines the importance of representation and who never learns and apologizes. This flippant and reckless behavior from the lead star of the movie absolutely kills my excitement.
RIP Natasha Romanoff, you will always be in my heart as you are before the MCU.
