{"id":114969,"date":"2016-02-07T11:45:50","date_gmt":"2016-02-07T11:45:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/2016\/02\/07\/commonly-accepted-characterizations-of-steve\/"},"modified":"2016-02-07T11:45:50","modified_gmt":"2016-02-07T11:45:50","slug":"commonly-accepted-characterizations-of-steve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/2016\/02\/07\/commonly-accepted-characterizations-of-steve\/","title":{"rendered":"Commonly Accepted Characterizations of Steve Rogers and Why I Think They Are Poppycock"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"tumblr_blog\" href=\"http:\/\/afadingoctober.tumblr.com\/post\/57662611191\" target=\"_blank\">afadingoctober<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u00a0If you\u2019re following me and you don\u2019t know it by now \u2014 though I have no idea how you possibly could have missed it \u2014 I have an announcement: I really like Steve Rogers. I like Steve because he\u2019s a great character, and it is much to my disappointment to find the fandom applying things to his character that I think are sometimes the <em>opposite <\/em>of what the evidence would suggest. <\/p>\n<p>Of course with something like Marvel when there are so many different canons, it\u2019s definitely hard to pinpoint one thing as always right or always wrong. Thus, I will focus on movieverse considering it is what I am most familiar with, as I assume you all are as well. <\/p>\n<p>A lot of these things have basically wormed their way (undeservedly, I believe) into fanon, or what is so widely spread considered canon by the fandom that it is a near irrefutable fact when discussing it with another fan. Hopefully by the end you\u2019ll understand why I feel this way.<\/p>\n<p>For each point I will state my feeling on the subject, why I understand people interpret differently and then explain my own reasoning behind it. My intent is not to get into an argument or upset anyone; this is my opinion. However I think that a lot of these things have some people coming to the conclusion that Steve Rogers is a boring character, and I hope to disabuse that as much as possible.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p><strong>Steve Rogers is not technologically challenged.<\/strong> A lot of this leans on his comment to Tony on the Helicarrier during The Avengers that \u201cIt seems to run on some form of electricity!\u201d A remark that has been interpreted as this is the only thing he can figure out. But look at that in context; Steve is quite literally talking to a tech genius at the time. Despite never having been on the Helicarrier (as far as we know), Tony is able to assess the damage and prioritize what they should do in order to avoid plunging to their deaths. <\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s hardly that Steve is stupid, Tony is just really ridiculously knowledgeable about this subject. When Tony, in the heat of the moment, forgets that not everyone on earth can look at an unfamiliar piece of tech and relay whether or not it\u2019s still working and what it says about the rest of the machinery, Steve makes a sarcastic comment to remind him that he\u2019s going to need a little more to go on in order to help. <\/p>\n<p>Later in the same scene we see Steve pushing the panel back in, implying that in that space of time, he has figured it out and shared his findings with Tony. His other tech related remark in that scene of \u201cSpeak English!\u201d is likely him trying to save time; the big explanation of <em>why<\/em> he needs to do whatever it is being not nearly as imperative as him <em>knowing<\/em> what needs to be done.<\/p>\n<p>The other thing to keep in mind is that this is fitting with what we see of his character in Captain America, where he is working closely with Howard Stark \u2014 who is represented in the movies as being just as intelligent as his son \u2014 and also taking down Hydra, who has technology that nobody has seen before. He gets a tricked out motorcycle, understands how the vibranium shield could be more useful than any of the other designs Howard has come up with, and takes control of several different kinds of aircraft that he can hardly have been expected to have been given a class on how to fly. <\/p>\n<p>Compared to Tony Stark, is Steve a technological idiot? Sure. Then again, <strong>so is everybody else<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><strong>Neither is he a blushing, virginal innocent.<\/strong> Fondue. We\u2019ve all laughed about it, about how awkward he is to the point that he can\u2019t even say something like \u201csleep together\u201d or \u201care you seeing each other\u201d. However, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.springhole.net\/writing\/captain-america.htm\" target=\"_blank\">Springhole.net\u2019s Tips and Notes for Writing Steve Rogers<\/a> has an interesting take on this:<\/p>\n<p><em>When Steve heard Howard Stark use the term \u201cFondue,\u201d he immediately assumed it was a euphemism for an intimate activity. <strong>In other words, upon hearing an unfamiliar word his mind went straight to the gutter.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>And considering the very clear tilde when Howard asks Peggy if she wants to stop for a \u201clate night fondue~\u201d, he can hardly be blamed in the least.<\/p>\n<p>Combining this with the fact that he traveled (likely for at least a month or two) with a bunch of showgirls in short skirts and plunging necklines and that he was lifelong friends with <em>Bucky Barnes<\/em> \u2014 implied to be quite the ladies\u2019 man \u2014 of all people, I\u2019m fairly certain he has no trouble understanding a dirty joke or double entendre. <\/p>\n<p>Especially when one considers essentially the only other dialogue we hear from the candidates at Camp Leheigh is a proposition to Peggy, it can easily be assumed that the language in the barracks wasn\u2019t exactly something you\u2019d want your mother to hear. And as great as the Howling Commandos are, I doubt they\u2019re above bragging over an exploit or two.<\/p>\n<p>Does this mean Steve is not a virgin? No. He very well could be and there\u2019s no issue with that characterization decision based on the information we know. <\/p>\n<p>However we <em>do<\/em> know that when Peggy came out dressed to the nines, he most definitely gave her a look over that had nothing to do with her great personality.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><strong>He isn\u2019t above breaking the rules.<\/strong> Steve disobeys direct orders on several occasions, even when it is absolutely and utterly stupid \u2014 such as singlehandedly trying to rescue several hundred soldiers from enemy territory. <\/p>\n<p>He likely would have attempted to figure out SHIELD\u2019s intentions with the Tesserect earlier on, but was without the context that would have let him know that it was suspicious. Once given it, he breaks into a storage unit. Even if it was Fury\u2019s hope that the team would pull together, it was still against orders that he stole a quinjet with two other Agents and took control of the situation happening in the city.<\/p>\n<p>Steve is insubordinate, occasionally arrogant and likely quite irritating to his superiors when he decides to go off and do his own thing.<\/p>\n<p>But then again; he never was supposed to be a perfect soldier. <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><strong>Being called Captain America does not mean Steve is American patriotism personified.<\/strong> The name he was given that sticks was a publicity stunt to sell war bonds. \u2018Captain America\u2019 is propaganda. Something that he doesn\u2019t seem to enjoy. Yes, it is what he calls himself when rescuing the 107<sup>th<\/sup>, but what else does he have to say? Not to mention the fact that it was likely another example of his very prevalent dry sense of humor.<\/p>\n<p>We see Captain America comic books being read by soldiers, and at least some of them had probably heard of the latest moral boost in the form of a soldier in red, white, and blue. In my opinion, he was mainly being a bit of a troll. Later, it\u2019s Bucky who calls for recognition for \u201cCaptain America\u201d instead of Steve Rogers.<\/p>\n<p>Even further on when he is regularly in combat, the news reels are using him as an icon rather than a person. <\/p>\n<p>When Coulson mentions he\u2019s had some design input on the uniform, Steve seems almost reluctant to step back into that role. It\u2019s also interesting to note that his uniform in The Avengers is quite a bit less utilitarian seeming than the one in Captain America, and is in a lot of ways reminiscent of the one he wears with the USO when selling bonds \u2014 implying that he is once again being used as a form of propaganda as \u201cCaptain America\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>As a last point for this, I\u2019d like to mention what he says upon his first meeting with Doctor Erskine: \u201cI don\u2019t like bullies. <strong>I don\u2019t care where they\u2019re from.<\/strong>\u201d [emphasis added] <\/p>\n<p>Steve isn\u2019t a Nazi-hating American. He\u2019s a guy who doesn\u2019t like seeing other people taking unfair advantage of others. In fact, the focus of his team\u2019s efforts aren\u2019t even with the rest of the American army, they\u2019re off doing something completely different because that\u2019s where they believe the biggest threat to <em>everyone<\/em> is, not just the biggest threat to the USA.<\/p>\n<p>If he doesn\u2019t care where the enemy is from, why should it matter what country he was born in?<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><strong>Steve has a temper.<\/strong> This is something I often see completely ignored, making him a placid, mild character that is the only thing keeping the rest of the volatile personalities of the team together. But one of the first things we ever see of his personality in Captain America is him getting into a fight over some yelled comments in a movie theater. Is he correct to find those comments tasteless? Absolutely. However he does let them get to him a little more than is probably wise, and based on his conversation in the car with Peggy a little later on in the movie; this apparently happens a lot.<\/p>\n<p>Then, when Erskine is killed, his first reaction after disbelief and sadness is something bordering on rage. Upon waking up at SHIELD in the 21<sup>st<\/sup> century, he is irritated and almost threatening when the agent attempts to tell him that he is still in the forties when he knows otherwise, and then proceeds to throw her backup through the walls. <\/p>\n<p>His initial appearance in The Avengers has him coping with the stress of war in addition to having lost everything he had and loved. By punching things. Usually this scene is focused on because of the great butt shot and the fact that he\u2019s wearing a shirt that hugs him in a way I only wish I could, and skips over the fact that he is apparently so used to breaking the equipment that he has extras lined up waiting, and then takes one home with him to continue taking his frustrations out on innocent punching bags there.<\/p>\n<p>When goaded by Tony, he doesn\u2019t even attempt to talk it out before they\u2019re trading snarky jabs and Steve soon very clearly states he wouldn\u2019t mind it in the least if they got physical. Essentially, he gets into an argument and has no trouble at all going from there to wanting to duke it out.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m not saying he has an anger issue because I don\u2019t believe he does. However it says a lot about his character that he would prefer to end a dispute by \u201cGo[ing] a few rounds\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, I think he draws the team together, but it isn\u2019t out of a lack of impulsiveness on his part.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Whenever I see someone complaining about Steve as a character, it\u2019s because they think he\u2019s boring as the straight-laced good guy. The problem with this is the assumption that in order to be a good man, you can\u2019t have vices or shortcomings, and because he has a firm moral center he must be a flat character.<\/p>\n<p>Steve Rogers is a good man. But he\u2019s also a man who would rather settle things with his fists when he gets riled up, and his first inclination after the death of a dear friend is an attempt to get plastered. He isn\u2019t the mindless soldier who always does what he\u2019s told, and he\u2019s not a bumbling idiot who can\u2019t navigate his way around the subway or cellphones. <\/p>\n<p>When you force Steve into a variety of stereotypes he doesn\u2019t deserve based on what I believe are faulty interpretations of what we know of him, you yourself are simplifying a complex character and sacrificing a lot of interesting opportunities for exploration of that character. It can definitely be humorous to write him struggling with technology, but it flattens him into a trope instead of building the character.<\/p>\n<p>Essentially; if you think Steve Rogers is boring, it\u2019s only because you\u2019ve made him that way.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>afadingoctober: \u00a0If you\u2019re following me and you don\u2019t know it by now \u2014 though I have no idea how you possibly could have missed it \u2014 I have an announcement: I really like Steve Rogers. I like Steve because he\u2019s a great character, and it is much to my disappointment to find the fandom applying &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/2016\/02\/07\/commonly-accepted-characterizations-of-steve\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Commonly Accepted Characterizations of Steve Rogers and Why I Think They Are Poppycock&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[13940,8,4],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114969"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114969\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.merindab.com\/private\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}