Welcome To aBlackWeb

In the first episode, “New World Order,” Sam declines to succeed Steve and returns his shield to the U.S. government. Sam is reluctant to appropriate a symbol that belongs—prohibitively, in Sam’s mind—to Steve. He also seems to doubt the political appetite for a Black Captain America, at one point even saying, “Every time I pick this [shield] up, I know there are millions of people out there who are going to hate me for it … No blond hair or blue eyes.” The series’ plot line means to show Sam rethinking his reluctance, overcoming his perceived inadequacy, reclaiming the shield, and redefining the role of Captain America.

Ultimately, though, that’s not quite what the series does.

Instead, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier discounts and debases Sam. Here’s a hero who fought alongside Rogers in the world’s darkest hours, an Avenger in his own right, and yet the series assumes that Sam’s own call sign and legacy as the Falcon doesn’t count for anything. Rather, the title Captain America counts for everything. Until he takes up the shield, Sam has no place in the pantheon or even the Smithsonian; he can’t even get a small business loan. At no point does Sam interpret this belittlement of his own identity and legacy as the ultimate disrespect. Instead, he gradually capitulates, and he doesn’t even make his selling out look good. By the season finale, Sam hasn’t become Captain America by overcoming some unique and urgent threat to national security or world peace. He’s a poor combat fighter who becomes Captain America after a shadowboxing montage in which he tosses the shield like a glorified frisbee among the trees in his backyard.


 
In the first episode, “New World Order,” Sam declines to succeed Steve and returns his shield to the U.S. government. Sam is reluctant to appropriate a symbol that belongs—prohibitively, in Sam’s mind—to Steve. He also seems to doubt the political appetite for a Black Captain America, at one point even saying, “Every time I pick this [shield] up, I know there are millions of people out there who are going to hate me for it … No blond hair or blue eyes.” The series’ plot line means to show Sam rethinking his reluctance, overcoming his perceived inadequacy, reclaiming the shield, and redefining the role of Captain America.

Ultimately, though, that’s not quite what the series does.

Instead, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier discounts and debases Sam. Here’s a hero who fought alongside Rogers in the world’s darkest hours, an Avenger in his own right, and yet the series assumes that Sam’s own call sign and legacy as the Falcon doesn’t count for anything. Rather, the title Captain America counts for everything. Until he takes up the shield, Sam has no place in the pantheon or even the Smithsonian; he can’t even get a small business loan. At no point does Sam interpret this belittlement of his own identity and legacy as the ultimate disrespect. Instead, he gradually capitulates, and he doesn’t even make his selling out look good. By the season finale, Sam hasn’t become Captain America by overcoming some unique and urgent threat to national security or world peace. He’s a poor combat fighter who becomes Captain America after a shadowboxing montage in which he tosses the shield like a glorified frisbee among the trees in his backyard.



DAMN

they roasted the hell outta Sam in the excerpt you posted.
 
DAMN

they roasted the hell outta Sam in the excerpt you posted.
The big problem with this dramatic tension is that society and politics (beyond a couple senators and diplomats) don’t exist in the Marvel Cinematic Universe; it’s hard to pin down who, exactly, objects to regarding Sam as Captain America. The biggest detractor in Sam’s pathway to promotion isn’t any particular white person, but rather the old Black man Bradley, who believes the title and its patriotic obligations to be more trouble than they’re worth.
 
A more daring series might have emboldened Sam to decline the title and honor Rogers by forging his own legacy, with his own principles, under his own name. Such a series might have dared the U.S. to take the Falcon on his own terms, earning his sacrifices and thus doing right by Isaiah. Instead, Isaiah gets a statue at a museum exhibit dedicated to him, and Sam gets to relinquish his own heroic identity so he can become a glorified mascot. That’s the problem with entrusting this sort of civil rights empowerment fantasy to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, isn’t it? Sam Wilson has to be Captain America, and that’s that. His own call sign gets erased from the title of his own show. The Falcon’s own legacy meant nothing. Isaiah was right


Yikes, that was a damning analysis of the finale and series as a whole.
 
The big problem with this dramatic tension is that society and politics (beyond a couple senators and diplomats) don’t exist in the Marvel Cinematic Universe; it’s hard to pin down who, exactly, objects to regarding Sam as Captain America. The biggest detractor in Sam’s pathway to promotion isn’t any particular white person, but rather the old Black man Bradley, who believes the title and its patriotic obligations to be more trouble than they’re worth.


I think they did a good job of conveying that he knew how the world would feel about him being Captain America. Not too mention the bullshit that politician did when Sam turned in the shield thinking it would be in the Smithsonian exhibition.

of course some folks could look at what the politician did as more so having a person they (thought but was misguided) can control instead of it being a race.

I do agree with your premise that it wasn’t overtly spoken or beaten into the viewers mind but they definitely touched on white privilege (John Walker was the epitome of it throughout the whole damn show) and a lot of black folks subconscious fear of not being acceptable to the masses. When I say masses I’m not just talking about white people either. Shit, they touched on how black folks look at each other (especially folks in leadership or authority positions) also in the show.

I thought the ending could have been better but I appreciated what they were trying to do with the show because it took guts in this medium to try and speak on some of the issues they did. Could they have dug deeper, for sure.
 
A more daring series might have emboldened Sam to decline the title and honor Rogers by forging his own legacy, with his own principles, under his own name. Such a series might have dared the U.S. to take the Falcon on his own terms, earning his sacrifices and thus doing right by Isaiah. Instead, Isaiah gets a statue at a museum exhibit dedicated to him, and Sam gets to relinquish his own heroic identity so he can become a glorified mascot. That’s the problem with entrusting this sort of civil rights empowerment fantasy to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, isn’t it? Sam Wilson has to be Captain America, and that’s that. His own call sign gets erased from the title of his own show. The Falcon’s own legacy meant nothing. Isaiah was right


Yikes, that was a damning analysis of the finale and series as a whole.

Ah damn, I thought you wrote the other post and this. LMAO.

I get where they are coming from 100% but I still think they expected too much from this like I stated in my other response and they under played some of the stuff the show touched on.
 
My issue with the finale was they threw pacing and character development out the window lol. The Power Broker reveal fell flat imo (not that it was revealed to be Sharon cause that became obvious after a few episodes, just the way it happened). Walker's redemption arc in the finale happened rather quickly for a guy who tried to kill Sam in the previous episode
 
My issue with the finale was they threw pacing and character development out the window lol. The Power Broker reveal fell flat imo (not that it was revealed to be Sharon cause that became obvious after a few episodes, just the way it happened). Walker's redemption arc in the finale happened rather quickly for a guy who tried to kill Sam in the previous episode

I agree with you 100%
 
In the first episode, “New World Order,” Sam declines to succeed Steve and returns his shield to the U.S. government. Sam is reluctant to appropriate a symbol that belongs—prohibitively, in Sam’s mind—to Steve. He also seems to doubt the political appetite for a Black Captain America, at one point even saying, “Every time I pick this [shield] up, I know there are millions of people out there who are going to hate me for it … No blond hair or blue eyes.” The series’ plot line means to show Sam rethinking his reluctance, overcoming his perceived inadequacy, reclaiming the shield, and redefining the role of Captain America.

Ultimately, though, that’s not quite what the series does.

Instead, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier discounts and debases Sam. Here’s a hero who fought alongside Rogers in the world’s darkest hours, an Avenger in his own right, and yet the series assumes that Sam’s own call sign and legacy as the Falcon doesn’t count for anything. Rather, the title Captain America counts for everything. Until he takes up the shield, Sam has no place in the pantheon or even the Smithsonian; he can’t even get a small business loan. At no point does Sam interpret this belittlement of his own identity and legacy as the ultimate disrespect. Instead, he gradually capitulates, and he doesn’t even make his selling out look good. By the season finale, Sam hasn’t become Captain America by overcoming some unique and urgent threat to national security or world peace. He’s a poor combat fighter who becomes Captain America after a shadowboxing montage in which he tosses the shield like a glorified frisbee among the trees in his backyard.




Fuck Bill Simmons and The Ringer

That's their 2nd hating ass story.


tenor.gif
 
Not gonna lie, some pretty good points are being made in these analyses

Of all these complexities and contradictions, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier invests the most time in Sam’s inner conflict: whether it’s possible to represent America without condoning its flaws. Even then, most of this struggle was confined to the penultimate episode, freeing the finale to go all in on big battles. Yes, the country Sam wants to fight for has mistreated people who look like him in ways both big (Isaiah’s experience, an echo of the infamous Tuskegee Experiments) and small (the bank loan he’s denied in the premiere). But Sam decides that turning down the job would invalidate their sacrifices, turning his dilemma on its head. Becoming Captain America isn’t selling out; not becoming Captain America is, in fact, what’s selling out.

The “sacrifice” rhetoric already rings false. Last week, the Speaker of the House was rightly raked over the coals for applying the term to George Floyd, and while the stakes are far lower on a fictional TV show, it’s inaccurate for the same reasons. A sacrifice is a voluntary decision; the vast majority of racism is simply inflicted, often by the same apparatus Sam now wants to represent. There’s also a difference between the American people and the American government, making it possible to serve one without serving the other, but it’s not one The Falcon and the Winter Soldier ever chooses to acknowledge. These are harsh notes for a superhero show, but they’re ones The Falcon and the Winter Soldier brings on itself by invoking issues it’s not fully equipped to explore.
 
Back
Top