Film And TV Critic Says ‘Secret Invasion’ Series Pushes “Disney’s Not So Secret Agenda That Men Are Women And Women Are Men”
John F. Trent
|
Film and TV critic Price of Reason recently shared his thoughts that the latest Marvel Studios Disney+ series Secret Invasion pushes “Disney’s not so secret agenda that men are women and women are men.”
Kingsley Ben-Adir as Rebel Skrull leader Gravik in Marvel Studios’ Secret Invasion, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2022 MARVEL.
After giving a brief recap of the series’ first episode, Price of Reason shared his three main reasons why he believes that “Secret Invasion manages to be less than the sum of its parts.”
First, he said, “1. Agenda. One thing that becomes very clear within the first few minutes of this show it seems to want to deconstruct the character of Nick Fury almost in a Luke Skywalker Last Jedi type of way. Perhaps not as badly, but badly nevertheless.”
“Fury no longer wears his trademark eye patch, and at least three times during the first episode people repeatedly tell him he’s a broken man. He’s weak and that he’s not on top of his game anymore. And he seems uncharacteristically subdued and miserable too,” Price of Reason shared.
Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury in Marvel Studios’ Secret Invasion, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2022 MARVEL.
Addressing potential critics of his view, the YouTuber noted, “Now, I know some people may claim that this is merely a creative choice, but given Disney and Marvel’s recent track record in the department of weakening every single established male character this doesn’t feel like much of a coincidence anymore.”
“And while it’s possible that throughout the series Nick Fury will somehow get his groove back, honestly, I’m just tired of this whole trope,” Price of Reason opined. “Nick Fury was always shown to be a tough, confident, pragmatic, and wisecracking leader. Making Fury a miserable bum doesn’t help the series in any way.”
On the contrary, the main thing that it had going for it is that people like Nick Fury because he’s Nick Fury, but now that’s somehow considered problematic,” he said.
Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury in Marvel Studios’ SECRET INVASION, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Gareth Gatrell. © 2023 MARVEL.
Notably, the director, producer, and even Samuel L. Jackson made it very clear they planned to subvert Nick Fury’s character in the series. Jackson told Vanity Fair, “Even Nick Fury can be shaken, you know? He’s up there trying to process what the f**k happened, you know? And what his place in the world is.”
As for why he would be shaken, Jackson explained, “The death of Iron Man, the death of Black Widow—with that stuff going on, he just kind of checked out.”
Jackson would also explain they wanted to make this abundantly clear to viewers by having him remove the eye patch, “He just doesn’t wear the patch. The patch is part of who the strong Nick Fury was. It’s part of his vulnerability now. You can look at it and see he’s not this perfectly indestructible person. He doesn’t feel like that guy.”
Don Cheadle as James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes in Marvel Studios’ Secret Invasion, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2022 MARVEL.
The series executive producer Jonathan Schwartz would tell Total Film via The Direct, “ick Fury is going through something very internal in this show. On our first call together, Sam said to me, ‘I don’t know this Nick Fury.’ He’s lived the badass Nick Fury. And suddenly, he’s a Nick Fury who’s a little broken and a little older, and wondering what’s his place in all of this and does he have the juice?”
And the series’ director Ali Selim shared in the show’s production notes, “It goes back to Nick Fury. It’s the Nick Fury story. And Nick is a human. Whatever we think about his trench coat and his eyepatch and how cool Sam Jackson is, Nick Fury is a
human. He’s a human with a certain kind of power, but not a superpower like Captain America or Captain Marvel. So, that immediately demands a more grounded, gritty series.”
Selim continued, “I think that the series has a really interesting subversive Marvel tone that takes it and flips it on its head, which I think will challenge and surprise and please the audience and give them something unique and different.”
Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury in Marvel Studios’ SECRET INVASION, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Des Willie. © 2023 MARVEL.
Price of Reason then moved on to the depiction of Maria Hill, “And another odd thing happens here. This series brings back the usually likeable Maria Hill character only for her to tell Fury that he’s a bum and then die with no emotional build up whatsoever. It’s such a disappointing send-off for a character that’s been around for over a decade.”
“And to add insult to injury this production even goes out of its way to make actress Cobie Smulders look shabby for some reason,” he continued. “And just to be clear it’s not just me saying that they made her character look shabby. The actress herself has mentioned in a few interviews that they didn’t want her to wear heels and spandex in the past.”
(L-R): Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill in Marvel Studios’ SECRET INVASION, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Gareth Gatrell. © 2023 MARVEL.
He then shared an interview Smulders gave with Entertainment Tonight telling the outlet, “From the spandex to the jeans and tee. It’s been a journey. From the spandex and stiletto high heels running through tunnels to combat boots and blue jeans. … She said, ‘Guys, I’m not wearing the heels anymore. I blipped, I came back, I’m not wearing heels.'”
Following this, Price of Reason shared, “Basically, as usual in recent times, Kevin Feige wanted to make sure an established male character is less masculine than before and an already established female character is less feminine.”
“I supposed this may have something to do with Disney’s not so secret agenda that men are women and women are men and they are exactly the same in every single aspect and you better love that idea or else,” he concluded.
(L-R): Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill in Marvel Studios’ Secret Invasion, exclusively on Disney+. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2022 MARVEL.
Back in February, The Walt Disney Company’s promotion of transgender ideology was made public when Christopher Rufo leaked a number of videos from the company’s Reimagine Tomorrow conference.
In one of the videos , the company’s Diversity & Inclusion Manager at Walt Disney Parks & Resorts Vivian Ware revealed, “Last summer we removed all of the gendered greetings in relationship to our live spiels.”
She explained, “So we no longer say, ‘Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls.’ We provided training for all of our cast members in relationship to that. So now they know it’s, ‘Hello, everyone’ or ‘Hello, friends.’”
Kingsley Ben-Adir as Rebel Skrull leader Gravik in Marvel Studios’ SECRET INVASION, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Gareth Gatrell. © 2023 MARVEL.
Ware continued saying, “We’re in the process of changing over those recorded messages, and so many of you are probably familiar when we brought the fireworks back to the Magic Kingdom, we no longer say, ‘Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,’ We say, ‘Dreamers of all ages.’”
“So I love the fact that it’s opened up the creativity, the opportunity for our cast members to look at that. We have our cast members working with merchandise, working with food and beverage, working with all of our guest-facing areas, where perhaps we want to create that magical moment with our cast members, with our guests,” she said.
Ware then added, “And we don’t want to just assume because someone might be, in our interpretation, may be presenting as female, that they may not want to be called ‘princess.’ So, let’s think differently about how do we really engage with our guests in a meaningful and inclusive way that makes it magical and memorable for everyone.”
SCOOP: Disney diversity and inclusion manager Vivian Ware says the company has eliminated all mentions of “ladies,” “gentlemen,” “boys,” and “girls” in its theme parks in order to create “that magical moment” for children who do not identify with traditional gender roles. pic.twitter.com/OWsGTUoeCA
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) March 29, 2022
The company’s President of Disney General Entertainment Content Karey Burke also shared her plan for the company is to ensure they have more LGBTQIA+ stories.
“We have many, many, many LGBTQIA characters in our stories and yet, we don’t have enough leads and narratives in which gay characters just get to be characters and not have to be about gay stories.” Burke said.
“That’s been very eye-opening for me,” she said. “I can tell you it’s something that I feel that perhaps had this moment not happened, I as a leader and me as my colleagues would not have focused on. Going forward, I certainly will be more so.”
SCOOP: Disney corporate president Karey Burke says, “as the mother [of] one transgender child and one pansexual child,” she supports having “many, many, many LGBTQIA characters in our stories” and wants a minimum of 50 percent of characters to be LGBTQIA and racial minorities. pic.twitter.com/oFRUiuu9JG
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) March 29, 2022
What do you make of Price of Reason’s thoughts on Secret Invasion?
More About:Television