Tag: ca:tws

septembriseur:

One thing I was thinking about today was Alexander Pierce. I feel like one thing that’s been under-discussed in Cap 2 meta (at least, from what I’ve seen on my dash– maybe it’s been talked about elsewhere!) is the privilege of Alexander Pierce, a privilege that is very deliberately communicated onscreen.

Pierce, as a character, is visually distinctive: he’s not just an older white man, but a very specific genre of older white man. His three-piece suits and tortoiseshell glasses suggest a fondness for the styles, at least, of some happier past: the gentlemen’s era (to me located sort of vaguely pre-Philby) when men like him knew how to be graceful with power, because it was something that came naturally to them, something they would never have to demand. His charm, his generally pleasant demeanor are of a piece with this– after all, as he himself tells Steve, he’s the diplomat: the one who keeps his hands clean while Nick Fury does what needs to be done.

Continua a leggere

buckycurtis:

The design of Bucky’s muzzle in the film is so aesthetically/symbolically pleasing because of how much it tells you. I mean, there’s posts and posts going around about how expressive The Winter Soldier managed to be while having like 6-7 lines totaly, but it’s also what he doesn’t say and what he can’t say that’s telling.

What seemed so startling to me was that the mask wasn’t cloth or leather or something that is easily taken off, but hard and confining and tight on his face. Bucky isn’t supposed talk. He’s supposed to carry out his orders like good little attack dog that he is.

The mask- or muzzle- keeps him tight on a leash and anonymous. He’s not supposed to say much, because he’s not supposed to be there. He’s the ghost story, he doesn’t have a voice he has a legacy and a trigger finger.

The rest of his face is uncovered (Unless you count the war paint, but you can still see everything there), because none of that’s a threat to the people who own Bucky. They don’t care about his looks and they don’t care about how safehe is, they just don’t want him to have a voice (consent) or to spill their heinous secrets. They want to keep him tight to them and dependent.

I mean, there’s a reason he was okay with taking the goggles off on the bridge, but didn’t even think to touch the mask. Didn’t take it off. It was Steve who took it off. 

Which. It was Steve who gave him a voice again. Steve removes Bucky’s mask and we have a face to point to the figure, we have more than just a shadow and a ghost, but a person, something that can show the audience and the world his autonomy. We see his emotions more clearly when his mouth is open in slack-jawed confusion, when his jaw is set and furious in the bank.

The first thing he learns after his mask is removed is his name. Bucky has a name, and the next thing he says is asking about Steve. 

Steve removes Bucky’s muzzle- removes some of his shackles and restraints- and we already see a man- albeit a shell of one- rather than the vicious brutal attack dog that Hydra molded and forged from Russian winters and blood.