Thanks for the comment! I've honestly had a hard time answering it, because I agree with what you're saying, and I'm trying to figure out what it is that we're actually disagreeing on. ^^;
I certainly don't want to downplay what women do in the context of such films because they didn't accomplish it on their own. But I feel like they're often downplayed for me, because the canon doesn't recognize what they do on their own, or dooms it to failure. Also there's the fact that when one of the guys does something, the film often presents it as something that he managed to do because of something innate, something he knows and does well. Best example that comes to mind was Rhodey, during the scene where they save the president - he's shown to be a good action hero, even without a suit. He manages to make some great shots and gets the president out of trouble without even needing his suit, and it's all presented very much as him doing awesome things because he himself is competent and cool, even though he did need a boost at the start from Tony. But when you see Pepper, earlier in the film, saving Tony's life with the Iron Man suit, it's very clearly Tony that gave her the suit in the first place, and it becomes less about what she did and more about what he gave her. And I just wish that we could've seen her being competent, not just being given competence to show off someone else's accomplishments, because we know she's a competent woman in ways that we're just not often allowed to see.
You have a great point with the other examples, though, especially Steve! I honestly wasn't thinking outside of Iron Man 3 when I wrote this. It was more a critique of the film's writing and directing, I think, than anything else. Does that make more sense?
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I certainly don't want to downplay what women do in the context of such films because they didn't accomplish it on their own. But I feel like they're often downplayed for me, because the canon doesn't recognize what they do on their own, or dooms it to failure. Also there's the fact that when one of the guys does something, the film often presents it as something that he managed to do because of something innate, something he knows and does well. Best example that comes to mind was Rhodey, during the scene where they save the president - he's shown to be a good action hero, even without a suit. He manages to make some great shots and gets the president out of trouble without even needing his suit, and it's all presented very much as him doing awesome things because he himself is competent and cool, even though he did need a boost at the start from Tony. But when you see Pepper, earlier in the film, saving Tony's life with the Iron Man suit, it's very clearly Tony that gave her the suit in the first place, and it becomes less about what she did and more about what he gave her. And I just wish that we could've seen her being competent, not just being given competence to show off someone else's accomplishments, because we know she's a competent woman in ways that we're just not often allowed to see.
You have a great point with the other examples, though, especially Steve! I honestly wasn't thinking outside of Iron Man 3 when I wrote this. It was more a critique of the film's writing and directing, I think, than anything else. Does that make more sense?