‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ Did Not Do Justice to America Chavez or Her Lesbian Identity
Also, we need to talk about America Chavez.
Okay, we need to talk about America Chavez and the queer representation that was in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. We’ve been waiting to see how this would be handled for a while, and considering how Disney and Marvel have handled such things in the past, it has been an anxious wait. Now that the movie is in theaters, we can finally talk about how that panned out.
Spoilers for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
The representation in this movie was trash.
Okay, that’s a bit extreme. The representation in this movie was so bland, uneventful, and boring that it just made the harassment that Xochitl Gomez faced because of it utterly worthless. America Chavez, in the comics, is a lesbian and has two mothers who died sacrificing themselves to seal the black hole that was threatening their home. This selfless act inspired America to be a hero just like them.
While the film does keep America having two mothers and they share a moment of giving each other flowers (no kiss), they are “killed off” when America accidentally activates her powers when afraid of a bee. A portal opens, and they are dragged somewhere in the multiverse. Rather than heroic, proactive deaths, it’s just … Bury Your Gays 101.
As for America’s sexuality, she wears a rainbow flag pin and has “Amor es amor es amor,” love is love is love, on her jacket in faded red font. Wow. Groundbreaking. I’ve seen allies wear that pin. If they were only going to represent America’s lesbian identity with fashion, they could have done the lesbian flag. We could have gotten a “girls like girls, too” script text—something specific.
In addition to all of the above, they completely bastardized America’s character in this film. America Chavez is one of the most powerful superheroes in the Marvel Universe. She is confident, strong, fast, can fly, and is a badass fighter. Her biggest flaw as character is that she’s too confident. Yet, the entire film, she is in damsel mode. She doesn’t have full control over her powers, and they only get activated when she is scared. Rather than being the dynamic, independent character she is in the comics, she is a MacGuffin.
Women of color do not get to fulfill the role of damsel-in-distress or get to be fragile often. That is why, in general, that would not be a problem for me. The issue here is that this was just not America Chavez. When it was shown that America was going to be so young, people were worried that it would lead to this kind of vague erasure. Not only were they correct, but in order to have Doctor Strange play a paternal role, they completely turned one of the most dynamic women in Marvel Comics into a scared little girl.
Gross writing, disappointing representation, and a sad introduction to the character.
(image: Marvel/Disney)
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