Blade Representation

Now that the hype around Avengers: Endgame is slowly calming down a notch, it's time to talk about the movie that perhaps made it possible for the Marvel Cinematic Universe to be born at all. Who remembers the Daywalker?

_{Image by BagoGames - source: Flickr}

I love the MCU because I love sci-fi and fantasy, because I love good stories with relatable characters that allow me to temporarily get lost in an idealized fantasy universe by taking me on an emotional journey with them. I love that particular mindscape where the classic "heroes journey" meets with fantastical or futuristic technology, as it lends itself perfectly for addressing deep human questions on both a personal and sociatal level; it's the ideal "what if" environment. This is the strength of Star Trek and why it was able to last for decades on television; the future techno background is just that, background for the deeply human drama's that unfold against it. Too bad Star Trek Discovery forgets all about that...

One of the few complaints I do have against the MCU, or at least about the media-hype around it, is the recent focus on "equal media representation." Recent for the MCU at least. Brie Larson now travels around the world talking about her wish to have an all female Avenger movie, bragging about how her character, Captain Marvel, is the strongest superhero in the MCU and proclaiming that her solo movie, which was crammed between the two parts of the most successful MCU movies of all time, is the first female led superhero movie ever. It's a sign of desperation or complete ignorance, if pushing an agenda has you resort to telling such obvious untruths; I vaguely remember a movie called Wonder Woman, which starred a relatable character with a relatable backstory in a funny "fish out of water" journey toward a dramatic realisation about the real world, and her relationship to humanity as a whole as well as her male counterpart. The fact that she is a woman is coincidental: it's the strong character development and relatable story that make Wonder Woman 3000 times the superhero Captain Marvel will ever be.

When confronted with Wonder Woman many defenders of the woke agenda take one step back and claim that hers is the first female led movie with a Marvel character. Well, I'm sorry, that was Elektra in 2005, wrong again. And let's be honest here: Captain Marvel was one of the worst MCU movies on almost every front. They did much better with Black Panther, which was a movie I enjoyed very much. But the SJW media hype around it got me wondering about the MCU's direction for the first time. Before Wonder Woman, Elektra, Supergirl, Cat Woman and many more strong female characters, they seemed to have forgotten about the 1998 box office success that was Blade. Blade had a black male lead, a black female lead and was proof you can make a successful R-rated superhero movie long before Deadpool claimed to be first at that.

_{Blade Official Trailer #1 - (1998) HD}

Blade was the first successful Marvel comic book hero movie long before the MCU even got started, and in fact was the reason why Marvel finally became convinced it was possible to make money of their characters on the big screen; it made more than 130 million dollar with a budget of 45 million dollar... Yeah, don't you just love inflation? Wesley Snipes' portrayal of the half vampire protector of mankind is sublime in this first of three Blade films; yes, it was the first superhero trilogy too, but the following parts are mostly forgettable. Wesley Snipe's Blade is "cool" personified; I hadn't seen this much badassery concentrated in one person before, and the fact that he's a very capable martial artist makes for action- and fight-scenes that are engaging and nicely choreographed, without those shaky close-ups that make you lose track of what's happening on screen.

So please stop making these silly claims MCU, so I can stop making these silly posts; you're revolutionary in many ways, but not in giving women or minorities a chance to shine on the silver screen, and you don't want fans like myself endlessly discussing your films on their political merits or failures, but on their artistic and narrative victories. Blade probably is the film that got the MCU rolling and it's still fun to watch today. The CGI is horrible and dated very badly indeed, but don't let that stop you from watching it if you haven't seen it yet. Prepare for a lot of blood, techno music, swordfighting and bad language... And don't watch the RedLetterMedia video review if you don't want the plot spoiled before watching the film!

_{Blade - re:View}

---

Thanks so much for visiting my blog and reading my posts dear reader, I appreciate that a lot :-) If you like my content, please consider leaving a comment, upvote or resteem. I'll be back here tomorrow and sincerely hope you'll join me. Until then, keep steeming!

Recent articles you might be interested in:

Latest article >>>>>>>>>>>	Platform Or Publisher
Achieving Happiness	Morality And Markets
Endgame: My Final Thoughts (Spoilers!)	Evolutionary Basis Of Religion
Reptilian Marketing	Avengers: Endgame, A Quick Reaction

Thanks for stopping by and reading. If you really liked this content, if you disagree (or if you do agree), please leave a comment. Of course, upvotes, follows, resteems are all greatly appreciated, but nothing brings me and you more growth than sharing our ideas. It's what Steemit is made for!

I am a proud helpinaut! @Helpie is looking for new members! Helpie has been growing nicely and we are always on the lookout for new valuable members. We are very supportive and community oriented. If you would like to be scouted for @helpie , please drop a comment on THIS POST or contact @paintingangels on discord at paintingangels(serena)#3668.

Just for Full Disclosure, I'm invested in these crypto-currencies:

Bitcoin | Litecoin | EOS | OmiseGo | FunFair | KIN | Pillar | DENT | Polymath | XDCE | 0x | Decred | Ethereum | Carmel | XYO



@helpie is a WITNESS now! So please help @helpie help you by voting for us here!