Does Elizabeth Olsen Like Superhero Movies?: A Thorough Investigation
Also my thoughts on every Marvel movie I've seen (I fell asleep during them all)
I know I said that this newsletter is about things I like, not things I dislike, so maybe I seem like a hypocrite starting this out by saying that I do not like Marvel movies. However, a caveat!
This is a real “good for you, not for me” situation. I’m not saying they’re bad or that you shouldn’t like them. I’m just saying that I fall asleep during every fight scene in any action film and that I’m extremely uninterested in how the individual stories fit into the larger world. I feel the same way about Star Wars. The only Star Wars story I like is The Mandalorian, because it’s about a stressed but hot single dad, but I don’t like the fighting and when they tied it into the larger Star Wars world at the end I was like…oh, no thank you.
Whenever I say I don’t like Marvel, people try to tell me certain Marvel movies that they think I’ll like but…you guys, I’ve given this the old college try. I’ve watched many Marvel properties, as recently as this month, and I think now at the age of 36 (oh, did you hear I had a birthday yesterday?) I’ve gotta accept that they’re simply not for me. As of this date, I’ve seen:
-Moon Knight, which I only watched because there were multiple Oscar Issacs (the dream) and one Ethan Hawke (a normal amount, I guess). I did not, at any point, know what was happening and yes, I did fall asleep two/three times!
-Ant-man, which I do think was actually a bad movie. Sorry to Ant-man.
-One of the Tom Holland Spider-man movies, which had actual jokes and was a fun high school movie but, again, I did fall asleep during the fight scenes.
-Wandavision, which I loved at the beginning when it was just about old sitcoms and filled with a steadily increasing sense of dread. But once they revealed what it was really about and quit using the sitcom format, I entirely checked out and spent the rest of the series happily living in my own mind.
And Wandavision brings us to the point of today’s newsletter. I am endlessly intrigued by the actors who take on parts in the Marvel universe. For some people, it makes total sense. Chris Evans was made to be a superhero. Scarlett Johansson clearly enjoys being in blockbusters. But at this point, most working actors of a certain caliber end up in a Marvel movie, and I wonder what that’s like for actors who typically work in indie films or weird, artsy passion projects. I’m in no way saying someone shouldn’t do a movie that offers them money or stability, but I wonder what it feels like. And, yeah, I do get sad when I think about this (tweet courtesy of Kate Goldbeck).
Granted, some people seem like they’re having fun…like the aforementioned Ethan Hawke. I’m convinced that Ethan Hawke goes through life having a great time, all the time. Sure, he’s in Richard Linklater movies, but he’ll do a horror film or be in a Marvel movie. And based on what I hear from friends, he seems to spend all his downtime just wandering around Brooklyn.
He’s clearly spent a lot of time thinking about the Marvel-ification of our current media landscape, though. He compared making Marvel films today to making Westerns in the 1950s, and had nothing but good things to say about the process. Also he and Oscar Isaac seem to really get along, and I’m not saying you should immediately forward any fan fiction you find about that to me at kerrywinfrey@gmail.com but I’m also not not saying that.
Imagine Ethan Hawke leaning in to whisper to you that you’re “lookin’ pretty good.” Imagine it.
So, yes, Ethan Hawke’s having a great time just like he always is, loving life and also Oscar Isaac. But what about Elizabeth Olsen, star of Wandavision? I’ve been interested in her from the beginning, by which I mean the very beginning.
But, more accurately, I’m referring to the movie Martha Marcy May Marlene, a super strange cult movie that kind of haunts my nights (can’t hear something hitting a roof without thinking about it!). She doesn’t seem like someone who particularly cares about action movies, but perhaps she has a Hawke-ian attitude about it?
Well, no. Which I know because I accidentally ended up reading everything about her press tour for the latest Doctor Strange movie. It was one of those things where Facebook recommended an article to me and I was like, “why?” but I still clicked on it, and now I’ve read everything there is to read about every one of her interviews. Sometimes the news you need comes to you, and oftentimes that news is a celebrity’s comments on a hot sauce show (more on that later).
The headline I initially clicked on was “Elizabeth Olsen Defends Marvel Movies: ‘I Get a Little Feisty.’” Yes, a ridiculous headline, but the information I’d been seeking. The article says: “The actress told the Independent that she understands the negativity, but also slammed those who think comic book films ‘seem like a lesser type of art.’”
However, it then goes on to quote her as saying, “I’m not saying we’re making indie art films, but I just think it takes away from our crew, which bugs me. These are some of the most amazing set designers, costume designers, camera operators ― I feel diminishing them with that kind of criticism takes away from all the people who do award-winning films, that also work on these projects.”
I wouldn’t say that’s a defense of the movies at all! In fact, I’d say that’s a careful avoidance of saying anything at all about the perceived content or quality of the movies by focusing on crew members who are, no doubt, working very hard. I’ve seen those costumes up close at a Marvel exhibit (yes I went to a Marvel exhibit…I told you I tried my best!) and they are quite elaborate. But she goes on.
“From an actor’s point of view, whatever, I get it; I totally understand that there’s a different kind of performance that’s happening.But I do think throwing Marvel under the bus takes away from the hundreds of very talented crew people. That’s where I get a little feisty about that.”
A different kind of performance, hmmm! But it doesn’t end there. I read another even more revealing article where she claimed she resented the Marvel world for stopping her from getting other roles, most notably in The Lobster.
“It took me away from the physical ability to do certain jobs that I thought were more aligned with the things I enjoyed as an audience member. And this is me being the most honest…I started to feel frustrated. I had this job security but I was losing these pieces that I felt were more part of my being. And the further I got away from that, the less I became considered for it.”
Jobs that were more aligned with the things she enjoyed as an audience member? This woman does not like superhero movies! Elizabeth Olsen continuing to make Marvel movies is me continuing to watch Marvel movies…the main difference being that she is famous and beautiful and making money, while I am not famous and sitting on my couch in sweatpants and not getting paid at all.
And then there’s the hot sauce show. She’s supposed to be promoting her new movie, I think, although to be fair maybe she did that earlier when she was eating all those hot wings (I do not know the point of this show…I just see it glide past me on Twitter, but I can’t bring myself to use my one wild and precious life to watch anyone, not even celebrities, eat hot wings). But instead she says… “I’m in New York City.”
I love it. I love her. I don’t like to stan for celebrities (note that I said I don’t like to, not that I don’t) unless they’re beautiful angel Dakota Johnson or, if this newsletter is any indication, Ethan Hawke. But forget that, I’ll start an Elizabeth Olsen stan account. I love watching famous people be awkward in interviews and say things they obviously shouldn’t be saying. I love watching them tapdance around the fact that they would never watch the movies they’re in. I love it all! I love movies!
Okay, that’s it for this week. As usual, do not forward this to Elizabeth Olsen if you know her. I don’t want to make her mad, but also I only quoted things she actually said. Also don’t get mad if you’re a Marvel person. It’s fine, you’re in the majority, I know I’m the weird one (even though Lizzie, as we called her back in the day, is on my side!). Until next week, hasta la vista, baby sista.
ok, BUT you really do have to watch Lorde eat hot wings.
I think I also saw her on a late night talk show - one of the Jimmys maybe?? recently talking about how she always expects each Marvel movie to be a flop - that she saw Endgame and thought "well, I guess this is the first flop!" hahaha I love her.