Sharon Carter/Agent 13 Appreciation 2021

[justanotherclassic]

Hopefully this isn't the cast going forward

Honestly, my favorite MCU film in regards to the writing of female characters is by far Black Panther. The women were allowed to have different strengths and interests -- Nakia the diplomat, Shuri the scientist, Okoye the warrior -- and none of those interests were framed as wrong or ill-fitting. They also provided value to the overall plot and themes. I definitely want more writing like that.

[Darkspellmaster]

This seems especially true in FATWS. Although Karli and Sharon were given semi-prominent roles, there were the most poorly-written and least nuanced of the main cast. Obviously, Sam and Bucky deserved plenty of development. But to compare Sharon to John Walker, for example, shows he was handled more delicately as a character than her. He was offered more sympathy and a chance at redemption. Even Zemo, the mastermind behind Civil War and a Nazi in comics, was given more a sympathetic and kind portrayal than Sharon -- who is essentially boiled down to Shady McShaderson. Karli was painted as more sympathetic, sure, but for the main "villain", her character was certainly all over the place and was fated to die in the end.

So although the show had more female characters, they still felt comparatively weak compared to the writing of the men.

I get the idea of updating John's chatacter and that they Cut some of Karli's story due to covid, but for Sharon I would have thought her being the third partner in this would have made some sense. And it's like they wanted to not do her Aunt again because they gave a lot of Sharon to Peggy.

And while I like Revenge as a show, I don't think Emily Van Camp needs to keep playing the scorned woman out for revenge again.

[CosmiComic]

Honestly, my favorite MCU film in regards to the writing of female characters is by far Black Panther. The women were allowed to have different strengths and interests -- Nakia the diplomat, Shuri the scientist, Okoye the warrior -- and none of those interests were framed as wrong or ill-fitting. They also provided value to the overall plot and themes. I definitely want more writing like that.

I liked the presentation of female characters in BP. Although I didn't think Nakia was at all interesting next to Okoye or Shuri. She still felt a bit "meh". But Shuri and Okoye were consistently entertaining to me and in other movies

[justanotherclassic]

I liked the presentation of female characters in BP. Although I didn't think Nakia was at all interesting next to Okoye or Shuri. She still felt a bit "meh". But Shuri and Okoye were consistently entertaining to me and in other movies

That's fair. I'm eager to see how the writing of female characters will develop. With the return of the rights to the X-Men to the MCU, Marvel can adapt some of their most interesting ladies -- Storm, Emma Frost, Rogue, etc.

[Hypestyle]

at least now Sharon has something else to do besides... well, clearly she wasn't going to be Steve's expected love interest anymore.. and Bucky was likely out because of his lingering PTSD, and Sam was probably not an option for implicit racial reasons..

This new status for her at least pushes her into more of a zone to interact with various individuals or teams, especially if the adventure is Earth based. She's more of a manipulator now, so don't expect her to actually participate in any robberies, etc.

[Frontier]

This seems especially true in FATWS. Although Karli and Sharon were given semi-prominent roles, there were the most poorly-written and least nuanced of the main cast. Obviously, Sam and Bucky deserved plenty of development. But to compare Sharon to John Walker, for example, shows he was handled more delicately as a character than her. He was offered more sympathy and a chance at redemption. Even Zemo, the mastermind behind Civil War and a Nazi in comics, was given more a sympathetic and kind portrayal than Sharon -- who is essentially boiled down to Shady McShaderson. Karli was painted as more sympathetic, sure, but for the main "villain", her character was certainly all over the place and was fated to die in the end.

So although the show had more female characters, they still felt comparatively weak compared to the writing of the men.

We also had Sara, Sam's sister, who while having her own perspective and beliefs was still ultimately in a supporting role for her brother and Walker's wife who...had, like, only three lines.

[CosmiComic]

That's fair. I'm eager to see how the writing of female characters will develop. With the return of the rights to the X-Men to the MCU, Marvel can adapt some of their most interesting ladies -- Storm, Emma Frost, Rogue, etc.

True, but the MCU already has interesting female characters.

at least now Sharon has something else to do besides... well, clearly she wasn't going to be Steve's expected love interest anymore.. and Bucky was likely out because of his lingering PTSD, and Sam was probably not an option for implicit racial reasons..

This new status for her at least pushes her into more of a zone to interact with various individuals or teams, especially if the adventure is Earth based. She's more of a manipulator now, so don't expect her to actually participate in any robberies, etc.

Racial reasons?

We also had Sara, Sam's sister, who while having her own perspective and beliefs was still ultimately in a supporting role for her brother and Walker's wife who...had, like, only three lines.

Plus Sara kinda got bossed around by Sam in a way

[GenericUsername]

at least now Sharon has something else to do besides... well, clearly she wasn't going to be Steve's expected love interest anymore.. and Bucky was likely out because of his lingering PTSD, and Sam was probably not an option for implicit racial reasons..

This new status for her at least pushes her into more of a zone to interact with various individuals or teams, especially if the adventure is Earth based. She's more of a manipulator now, so don't expect her to actually participate in any robberies, etc.

Sharon had plenty with SHIELD without Steve. The villain bat isn't the only option to making characters interesting nor giving them their own thing. Her being more a manipulator is dangerous because it could allow them to keep her out of the story and just be there as an unseen presence. That is not better than love interest.

[justanotherclassic]

This was an interesting blog post about Sharon, with some of it comparing her writing in FATWS to Daenerys in s8 of GOT. Which I get, as both had plausible reasons for doing what they did, just the off-the-rails turns to villainy felt much too soon to fast. Relevant section:

Much like Daenerys Targaryen in Game of Thrones, Sharon’s character was sacrificed as a result of lazy writing and the need to include a shock ‘twist’ that didn’t end up being a twist at all. Even those who were not fans of the character were disappointed at a how predictable the ‘reveal’ of the Power Broker’s identity was, after a number of brief scenes showing Sharon doing shady, suspicious things over phone calls.

And, much like Dany before her, the entire thing smacks of sexism. In Dany’s case, she fell victim to the ugly, tired trope that women are too emotional to be leaders, and, given a certain amount of power, they would go insane. In Sharon’s, they chose to go down the route of a woman scorned, refusing to give her any kind of depth or insight that they gave to the PTSD-ridden antagonist, John Walker (who was even allowed to share brief moments of camaraderie with Bucky in the finale, despite his horrific actions earlier on in the show).

[CosmiComic]

I don't evwn get how women are too emotional to be leaders when men mostly cause all the wars in the world

[Frontier]

This was an interesting blog post about Sharon, with some of it comparing her writing in FATWS to Daenerys in s8 of GOT. Which I get, as both had plausible reasons for doing what they did, just the off-the-rails turns to villainy felt much too soon to fast. Relevant section:

Yeah, again, I don't think the show had the best writing for the female cast.

[responsarbre]

It's just so frustrating to me how close they came to doing something good with Sharon and then shat all over it. Like other people said, there were really strong Mark Waid-era vibes to Sharon's introduction scene, and a huge part of the show was about people who believed in their duty to their country becoming entirely disillusioned with America and what it stands for. Sharon is the only one to go full moustache-twirlingly evil as a result of her disillusionment with how this country treated her - and it's as if her refusal to forgive or emotionally reconcile the trauma caused by the government like Isaiah or John or Sam did was the entire reason why she had to be evil. There's a lot of messed-up stuff with the messaging in this show and Sharon's character was a huge part of how they **** the bed. Just huge disrespect to the character in a show that seemed like it was meant to be a course-correction with how the last Captain America movie did nothing with the actual Captain America characters.

[Frontier]

It's just so frustrating to me how close they came to doing something good with Sharon and then shat all over it. Like other people said, there were really strong Mark Waid-era vibes to Sharon's introduction scene, and a huge part of the show was about people who believed in their duty to their country becoming entirely disillusioned with America and what it stands for. Sharon is the only one to go full moustache-twirlingly evil as a result of her disillusionment with how this country treated her - and it's as if her refusal to forgive or emotionally reconcile the trauma caused by the government like Isaiah or John or Sam did was the entire reason why she had to be evil. There's a lot of messed-up stuff with the messaging in this show and Sharon's character was a huge part of how they **** the bed. Just huge disrespect to the character in a show that seemed like it was meant to be a course-correction with how the last Captain America movie did nothing with the actual Captain America characters.

Yeah, I was really expecting the show would course-correct and fix the issue of sidelining Sharon in the movies, and that was the impression I was getting from promotional material, but then she ends up becoming a completely different character.

Marvel Studios really don't seem to care about her character that much.

[justanotherclassic]

I'm just happy that the Cap editors and writers seem to like Sharon. At least we have comics.

[Frontier]

I'm just happy that the Cap editors and writers seem to like Sharon. At least we have comics.

True that. Even as someone who isn't the biggest fan of the current run (not that I dislike it either) Coates seems to really care about Sharon .