The Captain Marvel-Effect – Plus a Marvel Studios Tour!

The Captain Marvel-Effect

Guest Post written by Tiffany Mink. You can visit her YouTube channel here!

Captain Marvel has been an inspiration to women all over the world, but perhaps one of her most impactful legacies revolves around young girls today. These impressionable ladies now have a female superhero to call their own and that effect can easily be found with two of the film’s youngest actors.

Mckenna Grace (young Carol Danvers) and Akria Akbar (Monica Rambeau) are perfect examples of how Captain Marvel is changing the way girls see themselves and the world. Even without any prior knowledge of the character, and honestly not much information about the movie before it was released, their take-aways are based solely on what they experienced while watching in the theater.

The way they reflect about Captain Marvel is the same as any of us adults would. But what’s remarkable is at only 12 year olds, they understand it on the same level. “It’s really important for this generation seeing this amazing, strong, female superhero,” says Grace. “It’s something that girls our age can look up to.” Danvers is like most heroic found characters on screen and that’s what makes her so important to these girls. They are given a well rounded story that is as developed as their male counterparts without the focus on being female. She just is.

It’s that female representation that girls like Akbar are resonating with. However, her takeaway from the story is actually more broad and non-gender specific. “It tells people that they can really do anything and be anything they want, no matter who they are or what they are,” she says. “It gives them empowerment.”

Marvel Studios’ CAPTAIN MARVEL..L to R: Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch) and Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) ..Photo: Film Frame..©Marvel Studios 2019

Not saying that Captain Marvel is empowering to little girls specifically is a pretty important piece of this mindset. It suggests that Captain Marvel is just a part of her pop-culture now- something that feels normalized- and less of a purposeful “girl power” moment. It shows that stories like hers are now the expectation for everyone growing up and consuming them.

The two even shared what they thought were the three biggest messages from the film:

1. You are incredible.
2. You can do anything.
3. When you fall back down, you can get back up.

If Captain Marvel can have such an incredibly positive impact on these young ladies today, I think we can all get on board with her being the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  Captain Marvel is available today on digital and blu-ray.

Marvel Studios Tour

On the day of the interviews, we were also given a tour around Marvel Studios in Burbank, CA! Take a look at the gallery below at our Marvel Studios tour: