The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is Marvel’s newest TV show on Disney Plus. It chronicles the adventures of Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes after the death of their best friend, Steve Rogers, A.K.A Captain America at the end of Avengers: Endgame.
The show is a look at the Marvel universe after the world turned upside down in Endgame. Both Bucky and Sam start out struggling to get back to ‘normal’ after the need for them to be heroes dies off a little and they have to start dealing with their own problems. This can be a very timely parallel to our world, starting to come out of COVID-19 restrictions.
What really sets this show apart is the social issues that are tackled. Captain America is seen less in this show as Steve Rogers himself, but more as a position to be filled. When he died, Rogers gave his shield to Sam Wilson and passed his legacy on. This show shows Wilson’s struggle to pick it up and become Captain America.
The problems he faces show the struggle of an African American taking on the symbol of America. Many people had problems with that as even he himself seems to have been taught that America is white. He meets an older African American man who had been mistreated by the justice system for 30 years. That man discourages him, saying that there is no way that people will let him be Captain America.
The show features a beautiful first look at Sam Wilson’s family and community that works to relate to everyone. Family and community are extremely important to us as humans and this helps us see the human in our superheroes. This kind of relatability is important even in fictional characters because they are role models, especially to the younger generation.
There is also a struggle with his partner being a white man. In one scene in an impoverished neighborhood, a pair of white policemen stop Bucky and Sam because they are arguing. As we know, Bucky is a dangerous man, but what the cops see is a black man attacking a white man. These kind of assumptions are a show of modern racism and discrimination that Marvel hasn’t really gone into in the past.
The show also touches on the mental damages that soldiers can carry, through Bucky. He spends the first few episodes trying to make amends for the problems he caused in the past and the lives he took. In this case, he was being controlled when he hurt people, but it also talks about the damage of violence on both ends when that isn’t a factor.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier also has a new group of adversaries that grew from the ‘Blip’. The leader and her many followers are refugees. When half the population disappeared, the world coped by banding together and basically getting rid of borders and separate countries. They moved into abandoned homes and grew closer to one another. When all the people suddenly came back, they were the priority for the world and were given back their homes, despite people living in them. This created many refugees, some of which became ‘The Flag Smashers’. Their goal was to put the world back together and get rid of borders once again.
This tackles another prominent social issue, refugees. In our world, most refugees are displaced from their homes and countries because of wars that make it unsafe for them or deprive them of needed resources. The refugees in the show are largely unsupported by the governments, but are able to band together and provide for themselves, though they do so in drastic measures that show what people will do when they are desperate.
The show also works hard to showcase the ‘Flag Smashers’ group as the evil side, but not villainizing them. It shows the good side of the group and how they are coming from a positive goal. Sam and Bucky end up actually sympathetic towards their enemy, but make it clear that they shouldn’t be taking such violent steps to get what they need. This is a good summary of how no one is all evil or good. Sometimes people with good intentions can get things out of hand. It encourages a good balance of striving towards equality and solutions in non-violent ways.
This show is highly recommended and a great way to bring social issues to the attention of younger generations and connect them in a more personal way. It is really well done and full of strong symbols and relatability.
Written by: Kylie Broce
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