So -- first of all -- WOW. Both for the thoughts, and the synopsis you did for scribble_myname.
Having written a fair bit on some of the character arcs, I'll focus on the "security" theme. The most fascinating thing for me was the interaction with foreign civilians, military and law enforcement to the Avengers' interventions. SO much parallel here to the general resentment of Western/US ideas of global security, even when it IS in the locals' interest. Having the "for your own protection, do X" delivered by robots is actually a spot of political sarcasm at its finest, but alas lost in the mayhem.
Global peace and security is not an end state but a continuum, which requires grassroots cooperation, not dictate. ("Mission accomplished" is, for many reasons, the paradigmatic cry of failure in this regard). Non-acknowledgement of that fact -- coupled with the belief that it is his job to achieve -- is Tony Stark's hubris; its understanding is Nick Fury's personal tragedy (that "trouble" quote). It's the ball you keep rolling up the hill, and when your arms buckle, it rolls right over you. Steve and Clint, I think, understand that their "job" is to help keep pushing it up; Natasha does too, especially in the end. The world will NOT stay saved.
Now in terms of architecture, the look on Pietro's face when the Helicarrier comes up to rescue his people ("Is that SHIELD? ... "That's pretty good!") says it all. There is a role for relief and protection, but attempts at "stopping wars before they start costs lives." I'm not sure I agree with that last bit (hey, I get paid to work in security threat reduction) but it's a question of the how. Nation state governments have their limitations (not to mention their own self-interests...) and with regard to threats coming from the skies, are ill equipped to deal with it in light of political divisions, So clearly there's a place for some over-arching supra-structure, like SHIELD -- but that has to come with accountability. The pre-Cap2 SHIELD had none, and failed as a result. The Avengers have little (except in the form of the Stark Relief Foundation) and people will resent that.
Civil War, in my view, will be set along that particular fault line -- attempts to impose accountability on the protection that is, in fact, needed. No doubt those efforts will go too far (remember wikileaks and the untold damage THAT did, despite people's hailing Assange as a hero), and that's where we'll find our conflict. Let's hope the Russo brothers do it justice (and give us some decently written character moments in the process).
no subject
Having written a fair bit on some of the character arcs, I'll focus on the "security" theme. The most fascinating thing for me was the interaction with foreign civilians, military and law enforcement to the Avengers' interventions. SO much parallel here to the general resentment of Western/US ideas of global security, even when it IS in the locals' interest. Having the "for your own protection, do X" delivered by robots is actually a spot of political sarcasm at its finest, but alas lost in the mayhem.
Global peace and security is not an end state but a continuum, which requires grassroots cooperation, not dictate. ("Mission accomplished" is, for many reasons, the paradigmatic cry of failure in this regard). Non-acknowledgement of that fact -- coupled with the belief that it is his job to achieve -- is Tony Stark's hubris; its understanding is Nick Fury's personal tragedy (that "trouble" quote). It's the ball you keep rolling up the hill, and when your arms buckle, it rolls right over you. Steve and Clint, I think, understand that their "job" is to help keep pushing it up; Natasha does too, especially in the end. The world will NOT stay saved.
Now in terms of architecture, the look on Pietro's face when the Helicarrier comes up to rescue his people ("Is that SHIELD? ... "That's pretty good!") says it all. There is a role for relief and protection, but attempts at "stopping wars before they start costs lives." I'm not sure I agree with that last bit (hey, I get paid to work in security threat reduction) but it's a question of the how. Nation state governments have their limitations (not to mention their own self-interests...) and with regard to threats coming from the skies, are ill equipped to deal with it in light of political divisions, So clearly there's a place for some over-arching supra-structure, like SHIELD -- but that has to come with accountability. The pre-Cap2 SHIELD had none, and failed as a result. The Avengers have little (except in the form of the Stark Relief Foundation) and people will resent that.
Civil War, in my view, will be set along that particular fault line -- attempts to impose accountability on the protection that is, in fact, needed. No doubt those efforts will go too far (remember wikileaks and the untold damage THAT did, despite people's hailing Assange as a hero), and that's where we'll find our conflict. Let's hope the Russo brothers do it justice (and give us some decently written character moments in the process).