Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Way too politically uber-correct?

[Marvel]

There's an interesting post over on IMDB that makes the point that the show is frankly TOO politically correct for its own good. I couldn't exactly argue the point.

Vespet2000 in IMDB writes:
I liked this and that in the show, but Manhattan and Agent Carter are so injected with ideology and political correctness that you wonder what kind of people operate Hollywood these days? They are becoming more and more like political propaganda from the Stalin's 1950's.

The only reason the guy in 2.01 and 2.02 is black (genius) is to show the segregation back in these years. The Hollywood cliche "good guys" in these series are who - a British woman who is subject to sexism anywhere she goes, a British butler, and a Latino. All white male characters are evil, dumb, careerists without exception. And they now injected another stupid H-wood cliche - the 31,536th cabal in the history of Hollywood, which is of course exclusively an old white male villains' club.

In the first season Peggy, "shined" through with her anti-capitalist and anti-corporate tirades, and after chasing the blood of her former boyfriend, to save it for humanity, finally decided to destroy it. Why? Because whatever good could have come out of it for humanity, couldn't match the stupid cow's anti-corporate bias.

The silly humor between Peggy and the butler evolved into silliness with only microscopic traces of "humor this season and the introduction of the butler's wife doesn't anything of value.

Teen angst - instead of offering something new of real quality, the creators are throwing at us what - teen angst - finding a romantic partner for Souza and surely attaching Peggy to this and that male character until the glorious finale when the couple will get together. Because the creators are afraid if they get them together earlier, the show will lose whatever viewers are still around. Can it become any more pathetic than that?

The only thing that I expect more of this show is for the creators to find a way to inject Obamacare and global warming ... and Bernie Sanders. Then everything will be perfect.

Is this tone (consciously injected or otherwise) the reason why the rating have sunk and why the show already feels stale? Are the writers being held back by ABC political correctness or are they just bad? I liked the first two episodes far more than this guy but what he mentioned did resonate with me.

 

[famicommander]

I don't have a problem with feminist undertones or racial equality as a theme, but Agent Carter is much like early episodes of Supergirl in that it's very on the nose. That's my issue. I feel like I'm being beaten over the head with these motifs; there is absolutely no subtlety about it.

I don't know who the showrunner for Agent Carter is but they would do very well to sit down and watch Buffy the Vampire or, for a contemporary example, iZombie. Those shows do an excellent job of portraying strong, confident female and minority characters without making all the straight white dudes in the series come off as either ridiculously incompetent or straight up terrible people. And they also aren't afraid to show their female protagonists being flawed or needing assistance without stripping them of their agency or independence.

 

[coluanprime]

??? Sousa, Thompson, and Dooley were actually very well developed interesting characters during the first season of the show. Also I wouldn't take the writer too seriously since he couldn't be bothered to learn that Enver Gjokaj is albanian not latino.

 

[Marvel]

I don't have a problem with feminist undertones or racial equality as a theme, but Agent Carter is much like early episodes of Supergirl in that it's very on the nose. That's my issue. I feel like I'm being beaten over the head with these motifs; there is absolutely no subtlety about it.

I don't know who the showrunner for Agent Carter is but they would do very well to sit down and watch Buffy the Vampire or, for a contemporary example, iZombie. Those shows do an excellent job of portraying strong, confident female and minority characters without making all the straight white dudes in the series come off as either ridiculously incompetent or straight up terrible people. And they also aren't afraid to show their female protagonists being flawed or needing assistance without stripping them of their agency or independence.

They can't have it both ways, however. I really do like the feminist undertones and racial equality elements especially since its 1947. They are simply handled in a ham-fisted way. Everything is cleaned up to a PC 2016 level. (There's not even a cigarette in sight.) It's just strikes me as oversensitive writing to the point of tipping it to an unrealistic politically correct utopian and revisionist agenda. In other words, there are very few shades of gray in character writing and development and that IS boring.

 

[R_Hythlodeus]

There's an interesting post over on IMDB that makes the point that the show is frankly TOO politically correct for its own good. I couldn't exactly argue the point.



Is this tone (consciously injected or otherwise) the reason why the rating have sunk and why the show already feels stale? Are the writers being held back by ABC political correctness or are they just bad? I liked the first two episodes far more than this guy but what he mentioned did resonate with me.

wow, this must be the most reactionary, dumbest ***** I've read all day

 

[BullMcGiveny]

I don't understand what part is the supposed political correctness.

This show is a feminist show, it sets out to be a feminist show, and it tackles feminist themes. Might as well complain about a comedy not being serious.

Does it lay it on too thick? Arguably. I especially found it stretching belief that Peggy went from 2IC of the SSR to a secretary. But that's still better than not laying it on enough, IMO.

When it comes to racial themes, I'm actually waiting to be impressed. Jury's out on Jason Wilkes and his arc, but so far it feels like a belated and half-hearted response to the criticism of season 1, where Thompson would go from belittling Peggy to paling around with Asian and Latino SSR agents who don't appear to suffer any for their ethnicities.

 

[gildedmuse]

If the sexism seems overt compared to contemporary set pieces couldn't it possibly be a result of, I don't know, people in those days generally being more overtly sexist/racist? I don't know. Too be honest the sexism that Whitney Frost experiences in the 3rd episode - minus the age related comments but with plenty appearance related ones to replace them - is all stuff I have or r finally had happen to me in the 21st century so it's hard to dismiss it as being played to overtly. I can see some of the conversations coming off as too on the nose, but it's not beyond all believability that people who are treated as 2nd class citizens might possibly want go share or just rant about that experience openly. I did have some issues with the episodes, especially the latest one which I felt was poorly . Paced and could have been better with improved directing, but blaming the feminist tone of the show seems like an easy out.

 

[Reaver027]

I think that the sexism/raceism is much better handled here than in Supergirl.
But i expect such themes from a show that takes place in the late 40s.
Supergirl uses a sledgehammer to make sure everyone unterstands how the writers think about males.

 

[Vildayyan003]

There's an interesting post over on IMDB that makes the point that the show is frankly TOO politically correct for its own good. I couldn't exactly argue the point.

I love the Peggy Carter character A LOT but the show is getting harder and harder to stomach. Episode 3 must have been the most "in your face" politically correct episode yet. We all get it by now, all rich when men are pure evil and treat women like trash. Now they are making off hand jokes about how pale white people are, ha ha okay. Yup, if you were a women in the fifties you were treated like a dog, I guess, but please continue to remind us every episode. We are 11 episodes into her series and it's getting more and more blatant.

 

[BestGirl]

The sexism angle is actually rather understated this season compared to last season.

 

[Golgo-13]

Well the season has just begun, and Carter is not working directly working for a boss who doesn't respect her.

 

[Fincher]

The racial element of the new season lacks nuance. The one black character (well, in the first two episodes, anyway) is so comfortable and confident and doesn't give pursuing a white woman a second thought while we're told mostly through dialogue that racism is prevalent and something he had to work against. You could chalk it up to his individual personality, but since there's no one else to compare him to, it comes off like a segregated, racist society amounts to a bunch of jerks, but no big deal.

As for Sousa, that's a Portuguese name, but I don't know what kind of discrimination a Portuguese American would have faced in that time period.

 

[Golgo-13]

The racial element of the new season lacks nuance. The one black character (well, in the first two episodes, anyway) is so comfortable and confident and doesn't give pursuing a white woman a second thought while we're told mostly through dialogue that racism is prevalent and something he had to work against. You could chalk it up to his individual personality, but since there's no one else to compare him to, it comes off like a segregated, racist society amounts to a bunch of jerks, but no big deal.

As for Sousa, that's a Portuguese name, but I don't know what kind of discrimination a Portuguese American would have faced in that time period.

If you weren't a white male, in that time period, you recieved some level of discrimination/bias. That was the status quo.

 

[Fincher]

Well, the Portuguese are white, just an "ethnic" white. But white people weren't all exempt from racism, so...

As for this:

The only reason the guy in 2.01 and 2.02 is black (genius) is to show the segregation back in these years. The Hollywood cliche "good guys" in these series are who - a British woman who is subject to sexism anywhere she goes, a British butler, and a Latino. All white male characters are evil, dumb, careerists without exception. And they now injected another stupid H-wood cliche - the 31,536th cabal in the history of Hollywood, which is of course exclusively an old white male villains' club.

It sounds like those who are against racial minorities ever playing badguys, except taken to a further extreme because apparently the British aren't white. So, like, does there need to be a token American-born white Anglo-Saxon Protestant male who's a goodguy to show that someone doesn't need to be a minority of any kind to be good? Better make him straight while you're at it.

 

[BarryAllen]

The racial element of the new season lacks nuance. The one black character (well, in the first two episodes, anyway) is so comfortable and confident and doesn't give pursuing a white woman a second thought while we're told mostly through dialogue that racism is prevalent and something he had to work against. You could chalk it up to his individual personality, but since there's no one else to compare him to, it comes off like a segregated, racist society amounts to a bunch of jerks, but no big deal.

Exactly this. I could imagine Wilkes acting that way if it were the '60s - as integrationism really started becoming more and more accepted then - but in the '30s? Unbuyable.

 

[Asharad]

Exactly this. I could imagine Wilkes acting that way if it were the '60s - as integrationism really started becoming more and more accepted then - but in the '30s? Unbuyable.

AC is set in the late 40s.

 

[TalismanRing]

It's also set in late 1940s Los Angeles not Alabama. There's a difference. It would be like believing 1970s San Francisco was the same for homosexuals as 1970s (or even 2000s) Kansas.

Interracial couples existed long before anti-miscegenation laws were declared unconstitutional in Loving v Virginia in 1965. Anti-miscegenation marriage laws (Asian, Black, White) were repealed in California in 1948, in significant part because interracial couples fought for it.

In Carter and Wilkes we also have people who have lived through war so their mindset on what is dangerous, unpleasant or uncomfortable is not of the civilian kind.

 

[BestGirl]

This show does not represent a literal take on history anyway so I don't sweat anything.

 

[gildedmuse]

I love the Peggy Carter character A LOT but the show is getting harder and harder to stomach. Episode 3 must have been the most "in your face" politically correct episode yet. We all get it by now, all rich when men are pure evil and treat women like trash. Now they are making off hand jokes about how pale white people are, ha ha okay. Yup, if you were a women in the fifties you were treated like a dog, I guess, but please continue to remind us every episode. We are 11 episodes into her series and it's getting more and more blatant.

Howard Stark. Actually, hey, Howard actually does treat some women pretty poorly and yet is still completely a good guy. Also, Jarvis. I mean he's not filthy rich but he's certainly well off and he yet to be evil. And if we're counting the white middle class there is also Sousa and Thompson one of whom is a completely sexist jerk and yet on the good guy team.

Not all white rich men treat women like trash, but if you do treat woman like trash chance are you're a jerk so, yes, that is most of the bad guys. Since Peggy is not involved in street level crime but in the kind that tends to be international and political in nature than and it's the 40s than of course most of the people that have that power are white men. So if you need a couple of jerks with lots of power than, yeah, you're going to end up with a lot of white men. It's not so much a constant reminder as, you know, truth in television.

 

[YJ1]

A show based in the 1940's can't ring true if it's overly worried about appeasing the 2016 overly sensitive PC police.

Little factors like cigarettes do matter but even how they refer to black people in that era. The word "negro" was ALWAYS used to classify blacks. Look at other shows depicting that era in non-PC times. M*A*S*H for example. That was a show made in the 1970's but depicted Korean War era events. They always used the word negro to refer to black characters. They certainly brought up social injustice and showed how their lead characters (Hawkeye, Sherman Potter, etc) were disgusted by racism. That's the problem with this show. You can take a stand on issues without being fake as a PC cartoon. Not being true to the era while making a point rings false and makes EVERYTHING feel shallow.

Plus, having Peggy be the only real competent agent while every white man is either incompetent or a letch just makes a person roll their eyes after a while.

The rating are decreasing every week and it's the writing and shallow tone that's to blame. The PC nature of this series is really starting to be a negative factor.

 

[SuperT]

Heaven forbid a show cater to people other than white males.

 

[Angryfantasyfan]

Little factors like cigarettes do matter but even how they refer to black people in that era. The word "negro" was ALWAYS used to classify blacks. Look at other shows depicting that era in non-PC times. M*A*S*H for example. That was a show made in the 1970's but depicted Korean War era events. They always used the word negro to refer to black characters. They certainly brought up social injustice and showed how their lead characters (Hawkeye, Sherman Potter, etc) were disgusted by racism. That's the problem with this show. You can take a stand on issues without being fake as a PC cartoon. Not being true to the era while making a point rings false and makes EVERYTHING feel shallow.

Colored and negro are equally anachronistic and un-pc, so I don't get that argument.

Plus, having Peggy be the only real competent agent while every white man is either incompetent or a letch just makes a person roll their eyes after a while.

Neither Sousa nor Thompson, the two agents that have gotten screen time this season, are lechs or incompetent. The only other agents that weren't just background extras were the ones from the season premiere who were impressed by how good an agent Peggy was.

Peggy is the most capable SSR agent, just like Gibbs is the most capable NCIS agent, and Neal Caffrey is the most capable white collar criminal.

 

[famicommander]

Heaven forbid a show cater to people other than white males.

Most scripted shows on television skew female in terms of audience. That's not what this complaint is about. It's about a show that lacks subtlety and seemingly has no purpose except beating the audience over the head with its chosen message. It isn't the message, it's the delivery. Thematically shows like Buffy and Veronica Mars are similar, but they're executed much better and are thus not met with the same backlash. They understand how to explore feminist topics without necessarily alienating other viewers.

 

[Webfoot Hero]

I just chalk the lack of subtlety on the fact that the producers and writers think the audience is too dumb to know what they're trying to accomplish so make it too obvious and on-the-nose. I think that has caused some of the ratings decline but also because the storyline isn't as good as S1.

 

[BarryAllen]

I just chalk the lack of subtlety on the fact that the producers and writers think the audience is too dumb to know what they're trying to accomplish so make it too obvious and on-the-nose. I think that has caused some of the ratings decline but also because the storyline isn't as good as S1.

That, and the fact that there a bunch of moments where the characters feel less like real people and more like *****ty fanfiction written to by a Tumblr user or to appeal to that crowd. There was some Peggy/Jarvis snark early this season that was unbearable.

And I think not having comic book characters/follow-up to last season's Hydra is also a downside. A lot of people say not having comic book characters isn't a big deal, but I'm pretty sure a big part of the hype generated of a comic book property set in a comic book media universe is the types of comic book characters that appear. There's plenty of Golden Age characters that waiting to be used, and yet we continue to get made-up characters or INO versions.