Sometimes the television is a parallel world to the real
one. Sometimes it meshes almost perfectly with the real world, and sometimes it
is seen so fragile, so detached, so out of it that it is simply sad. Case in
point – the premiere of “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” made by Joss Whedon himself
with Marvel’s™
support.
What can be said about this show? “Agents” are heavily tied
into the “Avengers”-universe, almost to the point of spamming and/or product
promoting. Fair enough, Marvel™
is one the one paying the piper, live with it.
The characters are well designed...to a point of being a cliche.
Agents Phil and Maria are agents Phil and Maria from the movie and the rest of
them? Grant Ward has all the personality of a CIA agent from Deadliest Warrior
(a show on Spike) and Melinda May lacks even that; agents Fitz and Simmons
(FitzSimmons, ha-ha) are your typical semi-idealistic intellectuals, bringing
forth high level tech and whatnot. You can almost taste the chemistry (the one
that is used in volcano school projects) Connor and Abby from “Primeval” were
done in the same style and much better. As for Skye... she sounds inane and is,
of course, a hacking genius, perfect to fit into the agency’s new sky fortress
(a trademark of Marvel’s™
comics).
Does that make the show bad? No: first of all this is the
first episode of a brand-new series, so it is far too early to make a judgement
about the show’s quality. What I want to point out is how the “Agents” fall flat
against the reality. The show is supposed to be grounded in reality, that is
the trick: J. August Richards makes a wonderful performance of an ordinary man
(an “everyman” if you will) who gains extraordinary powers for a price (there
is always a price) and has to learn that having those powers does not necessarily
means that there will be a difference; it’s what inside that counts. And
inside, of course, is the all-American spunk and apple pie, as opposed to
Russia, which is supposedly as corrupt as the security camera files that the S.H.I.E.L.D.
first acquired from the destroyed lab. Oh boy. Cue real life.
While in the Marvel™-land
America is wonderful, it is the superpower and the stronghold of democracy and
great people of all races, in real-life the States have been diplomatically
outmaneuvered by Russia into not invading Syria as they did with Egypt,
Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan for example; the Navy Yard had been invaded by
Aaron Alexis with or without accomplices and Kenya’s mall hostages was worse.
Cue imagination.
Well, not exactly. Cue a Democratic senator, who, when Putin
went out to criticize the American government, wrote him a ‘scathing’ letter
that basically suggested that since the States are a superpower Putin should
put up and shut up. That showed him.
Or not. Putin’s government gets similar letters from
Russians and other ethnic groups (often from quite important public people) on
a rather relative basis and all they amounted was are didly and squat. The good
senator’s letter (you can find it on PolicyMic) was met with the same fate from
Putin. From karma, on the other hand... several days later Aaron Alexis took
over the Navy Yard, showing to the world that America is not that formidable
and the Kenya terrorist attack was worse. The good senator’s letter had
many good points: Putin really is ‘living’ in a glasshouse; his government is
as corrupt as in any banana republic...but Obama’s
government had not done anything about it, other than the occasional criticism,
indicating that they don’t have issues with it. In this case they should
put up and shut up when Putin occasionally criticizes them: this just the price
they pay for keeping Putin in power.
On top of this, the good senator’s approach – ‘put up or
shut up, for we’re a democratic superpower’ – is also is not very democratic. One
of the aspects of democracy is the freedom of speech, which means that Putin
has at least some sort of a theoretical right to speak his mind, for that is
how democracy works and when the good senator (who is from the Democrats as for
as political parties go) tells him to shut up, this isn’t very democratic
either; needless to say, when PolicyMic put this letter onto their site, the
comments weren’t very encouraging for the senator, mainly it was “pot calling
kettle black” and similar phrases.
But what does this mean to the “Agents”? Mainly that they
are selling America’s power and might – everyday superheroes, “everyman” and “everywoman”
who fly around in their amazing airplanes and flying cars righting wrongs and
saving the day. Joss Whedon is an amazing and experienced director and
scriptwriter (he, in part, wrote the pilot of the show) and the actors do what
they must do: show how the Americans kick ass using various high-tech gadgets.
The trick is to see just how much the show will jar with the real life and if “Agents”
will avoid turning into a propaganda vessel. I, however, certainly know that I
will continue to watch them simply to enjoy them and to follow their
adventures.
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