Marvel has had some hits and misses with their Disney+ series. One clear separation is Agatha All Along vs She-Hulk. One succeeded, and one failed.
Feminism and representation are hot topics in media today. These are buzzwords that fill every article and every film/series created.
So what happened to make Agatha All Along better than She-Hulk?
Let’s find out.
Feminism
The big F-word. There are countless subtopics I can delve into with this, but we’re going to keep it brief.
She-Hulk tackles feminism in a very extremist way. The character seems to forget that feminism is saying that men and women are equal, not that women are better.
One scene that bugged me was when She-Hulk and her friend were at a bar. A man comes up to them and hits on them. They make a big deal about being objectified and how terrible men are. Did we need that scene? No. Did it add to the plot? No.
Look, I grew up female and often present in a feminine way, so I get it. I think it’s necessary to bring powerful women into cinema. The issue arises when the creators throw the ideas in our faces and add scenes with no value.
There’s another scene where Daredevil does the “walk of shame” after sleeping with She-Hulk. The show plays this scene off as men getting a “taste of their own medicine.”
Why would She-Hulk want to stoop so low as to match what men do? It doesn’t make sense, as it puts women in a negative light, portraying them as petty and immature.
Agatha All Along never points out the mostly female cast. They never even mention that the majority of witches are women. The characters just exist as themselves, strong women, without having to yell at us that they are strong women.
They don’t need to prove themselves. Whereas She-Hulk finds it necessary to shout at every opportunity about how oppressed she is.
Representation
Lately, it seems that all Disney is doing is shoving representation down our throats. Remaking old content with actors of different races, instead of creating new, original stories for POC.
Agatha All Along is a brilliant example of representation done right. The main cast consists of 85% women (6 out of 7). Three of those women are non-white. The show never points this fact out, and most certainly never shoves it down our throats.
The ages of the cast are also diverse. Disney finally realised that they don’t need young, conventionally attractive women every time, but that older women hold power too.
Then there’s the matter of sexuality. Both Agatha and Rio are either lesbian or bisexual, and Teen/Billy is gay. The writers show us this instead of outright telling us. They do make a few jokes, but the jokes flow well and don’t seem forced.
She-Hulk attempted representation with a POC best friend. Unfortunately, this falls into the category of “white main character with a POC sidekick.” I do acknowledge the representation of women, but… The lack of character flaws ruins it.
Character Flaws
A major issue I had with She-Hulk is how overpowered she is. From the get-go, she is in control of her power. Hulk took 10 years to harness his full potential. She-Hulk takes less than a week. Viewers are typically unable to relate to overpowered characters.
She-Hulk also seems to have zero flaws. Except maybe her narcissism. She constantly talks about being better than men in every way. Although she doesn’t say it directly, she acts as though she’s perfect.
On the other hand, Agatha (in this series) is the opposite of OP. She has no powers. Agatha has to rely on her wit (and manipulation) to get by. Jen also has no powers. And even Lilia’s powers aren’t at their full potential.
The only two characters we can say have OP energy are Rio and Teen/Billy. However, it makes sense for Death herself to be OP, she’s basically a God. And with Billy, he’s unaware of his power for the majority of the series.
Final Thoughts
We can all tell that I didn’t like She-Hulk. The writers tried too hard to be funny and tried too hard to create a female version of Deadpool. The series fell flat with audiences, and the ratings prove it.
The ratings for Agatha All Along prove its quality. At the time of writing, it’s the top-rated Marvel series so far, trumping Loki (Go women!).
In the end, I think Marvel is finally learning. They can be PC without constantly referring to how PC they’re being. They can just create content that’s fun to watch and makes people relate to the characters.
Let’s hope they keep this up with future female-led films/shows.
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