turned to steel in that great magnetic field

[lotesse]

jeez I really enjoyed this movie. Like, more than I have enjoyed a movie for a long time now. I don't think there was a minute that I wasn't all in for. And Tony was delicious and they didn't kill the bots (thank god, I was bracing for a tidal wave of fannish grief if Dummy had actually perished), but there are two things about Iron Man 3 that are making me really really happy right now:

1. I am utterly charmed by the faux!Mandarin reveal. They played it gorgeously with all the promo materials, and the scenario of the actor is so genuinely funny and utterly terrifying at the same time that I just can't even. But more than charmed I'm relieved - because it gave them an out for the problem of the Mandarin's character, the Orientalism, and also the issue of Ben Kingsley being white/Indian and definitely not Chinese - it wasn't them, it was the villain! I'm impressed by the dexterity of the dodge.

2. The gentleness and grace with which this film deals with mental health issues. Tony's anxiety problems, his PTSD symptoms, are narratively treated on with absolute acceptance. There's no melodramatic angsting about how his panic attacks make him useless. Tony and Rhodey and that ridiculously adorable little kid (related to Paltrow? looks like it) just kind of take it in stride when it happens: Tony's having a panic attack, get through it and then move on. But at the same time, it's also such an unusual move to let Tony have PTSD in the first place - comic book violence never seems to have that kind of long-term psychological effect. It might lead to Heathcliffian brooding, but not to actual realistic psychological symptoms. I just - I don't feel like I've seen this story told before, or not in this way: the story about how going through shit can really fuck you up, and that sucks but it's also okay, because you're still you and still strong and smart and worthy and good, that you can have panic attacks and be a superhero AT THE VERY SAME TIME. It felt really really good to watch.

Comments

[selenak]

So, so true, all of it. I think usually films only let a comic book hero be traumatized if his father/girlfriend/best friend has died in the previous film, and as you say, it leads to brooding and looking dashing against the horizon. Not to anxiety attacks the hero works through. Also, I loved that Tony didn't try to hide his issues from Pepper, that he told her when she asked. That solidified them as a romantic pairing for me after Avengers had already done a good job winning me over - that they're actually moving forwards and work as a couple, with give and take, not simply have their original boss/employee relationship plus sex.

[lotesse]

This comment kicked me off onto some whole other thoughtpath, trying to figure out what I think of Tony/Pepper, and I think I actually figured something out: I'm into it as a romantic friendship. In a sort of oldfashioned Anne Shirley/Diana Barry or Jo/Laurie way - and even though I know more girls than not shipped the latter, I tend to not want to ship romantic friendships. Um. Current example: Jay and Silent Bob, hetero lifemates. I'm into that, but I don't have any need to sexualize it. (tho weirdly if they were more sibling-y I probably would, because I've pretty much never met a sibcest ship I didn't like.) I love watching Tony and Pepper together: working together, living together, sharing a bed. I want to hear stories about that relationship. But for some reason I just can't convince myself they're having sex.

[fairestcat]

I really loved both those aspects of the movie. Taking a character like the Mandarin who's a racist stereotype and playing him as an intentionally created racist stereotype was brilliant. Someone on my reading list described it as feeling like they'd just been trolled by Ben Kingsley, and that's exactly right.

And yes, I think this is the first time I've ever seen a realistic portrayal of mental illness in a super hero film.

[lotesse]

Watching last night's Colbert report, which had a Kingsley interview, I was in awe of his totally bravura bluff - he gave nothing away, nothing. Played it totally 100% straight.

[princessofgeeks]

I really enjoyed the two points you highlight.

But unlike the fannish reviews I just read (6-8?) I seem to be in a minority of really finding the kid not at all realistic and pretty twee.

Tony's interaction with him was written and played very well, but it really took me out of the movie and made me unable to suspend my disbelief. It was just to wide eyed and perfect, even for a movie like this. Also it was so predictable and stereotypy.

But that seems to be a minority opinion.

I loved the movie too. It was so different from I and II, and yet in a believable way. Very comics-y, too, I guess, and I loved what they did with the Mandarin.

Also, PEPPER.

AND RHODEY.

[lotesse]

I see what you mean about the kid - on the other hand, though, I think I'm grateful on the whole for the lightening of tone it signals in the middle part of the movie - if the whole thing was as wrenching and difficult as the first part, it would be a hard movie to watch.

I would have been much happier if it had been a little girl. Comic books movies always seem to have insufficient quantities of little girls.

[princessofgeeks]

Yeah, I thought of that too. That would have been fun.