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one of stan lee's most famous quotes was
marvel has always been and always will
be a reflection of the world
right outside our window this is
especially true with the disney plus
show the falcon and the winter soldier
so let's discuss some of the grown-up
issues the show tackled in its debut
season
in the first episode sam wilson goes to
a local bank with his sister sarah
to get a loan to save their family
business despite the fact that sam is
recognized as one of the avengers who
literally
saved the universe they are denied
though the banker claims that this
decision was made due to the end of the
blip
and the return of several billion people
the fact remains that in the world right
outside our window
black americans are denied loans and
mortgages at a significantly higher rate
than white americans
this is true even when they do
everything right have a good credit
score and salary
and can place a sizable down payment
traditionally bank malfeasance has been
one of the key methods
used to segregate communities through
practices like redlining and predatory
loans
even though he's an avenger sam can't
escape this reality
during the first episode bucky barnes
relives one of his many missions as a
winter soldier
during a nightmare after killing an
innocent bystander in the dream
bucky wakes up and the viewers discover
that he has been sleeping on the floor
of his apartment
fans of captain america the winter
soldier might remember when this exact
phenomena was referenced by steve rogers
and sam wilson in their first
conversation when i was over there i
sleep on the ground use rock for pillows
like a caveman
now i'm home lying in my bed and it's
like lying on a marshmallow
it's the first point of real connection
between the two and it makes sense for
this series which acts almost as a
spiritual successor of that movie
in many ways to reference it it also
fits perfectly in line with the show's
determination
to incorporate real world issues into
its narrative
bucky is clearly suffering from ptsd and
being unable to sleep is one of the most
significant health concerns
veterans have to face after returning
from deployment
after meeting the flag smashers in
episode 2 and discovering their super
soldiers
bucky takes sam to meet isaiah bradley
to discover how the super soldier serum
might have returned
isaiah is a super soldier who in the
comics was the second person to become
captain america
isaiah bradley was one of a handful of
black soldiers who were experimented on
in the 1950s
and given different variations of
potential super soldier serum
replacements
the scientists lied to them telling them
they were being given tetanus vaccines
before sending them off on missions in
the korean war
during which isaiah even managed to
defeat and literally disarm the winter
soldier
this narrative is the exact premise
behind the real world tuskegee syphilis
study
a medical research project that examined
the effects of syphilis
over the course of 40 years by
purposefully injecting hundreds of black
men
in order to observe the cause of the
disease throughout their lives
they were lied to just like isaiah was
and as a result
more than a hundred of the men died
because of the study and many of their
partners were unwittingly infected with
the disease
as well during his talk with sam isaiah
also directly references
men in the red tails the famous 332
these are the real world tuskegee airmen
the famed all black fighter squadron who
fought in world war
ii isaiah mentions how they didn't come
home to fame or thanks
but to racist persecution after meeting
isaiah bucky and sam begin walking
through the neighborhood
as sam struggles with what he's just
learned their discussion is stopped in
his tracks when two policemen pull up
ask bucky if sam is bothering him
and then demand to see sam's id the
police don't back down until bucky
finally points out samus a falcon
and one of the police officers
recognizes them as avengers
the police stand very calmly politely
and apologetically arrest bucky for
missing his court-mandated therapy
session
a stark contrast to the hostility they
had just shown sam
racial profiling is one of america's
oldest problems and this scene is an
excellent example of how inescapable it
can be a person's appearance
status and clothing doesn't matter it
can happen to anyone
and there are many real world examples
that show this the esteemed georgia
congressman john lewis was arrested more
than 40 times
throughout his life even after he became
a member of congress
in 2009 harvard professor dr henry lewis
gates jr was arrested after accidentally
locking himself out of his house
more recently a black army officer in
virginia was threatened by police
officers
and arrested in virginia while in
uniform
by far the most shocking image in the
entirety of the falcon and the winter
soldier
is the shot at the end of episode 4 the
whole world is watching
john walker is standing and staring at
hundreds of people while holding captain
america's shield
now covered in the blood of the
defenseless an armed man he just
murdered in a heated rage in broad
daylight
until this moment marvel has taken great
pain to portray captain america and his
shield
as symbols of pure heroism that
represent the highest ideals that
america often perports to stand for
by literally bloodying that very symbol
the image reminds the viewers of the
many ways that america has fallen short
of those values throughout its existence
more specifically the entire sequence is
reminiscent of one of the most
constant news topics of the last year
police violence in america
and the use of excessive force and
violence walker killing a citizen of a
foreign nation in a place where he
likely had little or no jurisdiction
also calls to mind the many instances of
american interference and foreign policy
in episode 5 john walker loses the
shield is found guilty by military court
and is stripped of the title of captain
america during the hearing he lashes out
at the panel
and exclaims that he lived his life by
and dedicated it to their mandates
that he had been what they told him to
be and done what they had trained him to
do
you built me in walker's eyes the
government is punishing him for doing
exactly what they wanted
not for murdering a man but for doing it
where others could see
for saying the quiet part out loud this
continues the idea that
unlike steve rogers walker's captain
america symbolizes the often dark
reality
of what america is rather than the dream
of what it could be
john walker's crumbling mental state and
his feelings of abandonment in that
scene
also speak to common failures of care
that veterans experience
when they return from deployment
veterans with post-traumatic stress
disorder are often left untreated
and many are completely unaware of how
to access the mental health resources
they have at their disposal in episode 5
a brief look at a painting is used as a
transition shot before showing sharon
carter speaking on the phone
the surface implication is that this is
one of the many paintings that carter
has to sell on the black market
but as reddit user guy erebus explains
there is a wealth of symbolism behind
the use of this painting
and its relation to the themes of the
series the raft of the medusa by
theodore jericho
depicts the aftermath of the wreck of
the medusa a french navy vessel that ran
aground in 1816
due to incompetence of his captain he
would only receive the position because
of his connections to the french
government
the captain used the ship's only
lifeboats to save himself and the other
officers
leaving the working-class sailors to
starve on a hastily made raft for 13
days
before they were finally rescued when
the painting was unveiled in 1819
it proved highly controversial for many
of the same themes
embracing the falcon and the winter
soldier the painting's apex features a
black man working hand-in-hand with a
white man while waving a flag
making its feature in this show quite
appropriate additionally john walker is
literally an
incompetent captain chosen by a corrupt
government who are withholding resources
from and persecuting the working-class
refugees created by the blip
when sam wilson debuted in captain
america the winter soldier
the first and most telling trait they
established for his character was that
he was a councillor for veterans
this propels the entirety of his first
conversation with steve
and forms a significant part of the
foundation of their friendship
steve even seems to want to sam in
avengers end game by working as a
counselor himself
the series uses this background to shape
sam's character
and his responses to the events
surrounding him when he first meets
carly he empathizes with her
and uses his training as a counselor in
an attempt to talk her down
and convince her to pursue her goals
without violence similarly when he
practices
using the shield with bucky in episode 5
sam helps him work through his issues
you got to stop looking to other people
to tell you who you are
[Music]
these scenes are some of the best
moments in the series showing audiences
exactly why samuel makes such a good
captain america
as he says in episode 6 he believes in
the good in people and his
is that he genuinely believes we can all
do better
after his debut as the new captain
america at the end of the series
sam wilson visits isaiah bradley once
again and explains why he took up the
shield
some explains that after the pain and
suffering people like isaiah had
gone through before sam that after so
many african americans had bled for the
united states
he was not about to let anyone tell him
that he couldn't fight for his country
we built this country bled for it
the 13 british colonies that would
eventually become the united states were
created
in part with the use of slave labor when
those 13 colonies became states their
struggling economy was boosted
and aided by the now extensive and
entrenched use of slave labor
especially in the south this even
continued after the american civil war
via the practice of sharecropping the
falcon in the winter soldier has
multiple themes running throughout its
six episodes
but at the heart of it all is one
question who makes someone a good
captain america
by focusing on this theme the show pays
homage to cap's mcu debut in the first
avenger
everything leading to steve's
transformation into a super soldier
revolves around what makes someone a
good choice for the program
as dr erskine says the serum takes what
is already inside a person
and amplifies it by giving them the
power to finally act as they've always
wished to
good becomes great bet
becomes worse this is why dr roskine
rejects one soldier early in the film
though he was a great soldier
he was a bully who would likely abuse
any power he was given
dr erskine urges steve to remain quote
not a perfect soldier
but a good man these ideas force the
foundation of the entire series
and explain why when all is said and
done sam wilson is captain america
the government chose john walker because
he was the perfect soldier
and it played out exactly as dr erskine
had feared
even bucky couldn't do it because he's
still trying to figure out who he is
after spending decades as a winter
soldier
sam wilson however is a good humble
person who just wants to help everybody
he meets become better people
it's hard to argue with the idea that
we'd all like to see that character
trait amplified
in those around us check out one of our
newest videos right here plus
even more looper videos about the falcon
and the winter soldier are coming soon
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a single one
[Music]