How can you make the two greatest assassins in the universe completely useless and boring?
For how much fun Guardians was, yes, no one in that film had any motivation to be doing what they were doing. Especially these two.
Aight, nah—normally I’m ALL ABOUT ripping apart lady-tropes, especially when they’re in media I care a lot about. (You wanna talk Disney with me bitch ‘cause I’ll fuckin GO; I love me some Disney more than anything but I’ll rip their sexist shit to shreds.) But none of this is correct.
********** Lemme preface this whole thing by apologizing that I can’t quote verbatim lines from the movie. I’ve seen it three times, but shit, I won’t be able to quote things for you until the DVD. So. Prepare for summaries.
The whole “Hold Peter’s hand and remind him of his mom ughhh” thing is something I’ve seen a few tumblr-peeps complain about, so lemme lay it down for all y’all: one of the central themes of Guardians was family. Everyone’s family. Family was a core theme and a consistent motivator—for all characters. But since you brought it up, I’ll start with Gamora first.
Gamora lost her family (and later was stuck in an abusive family-situation), and that was literally her motivation for beating the Big Bad: because she refused to let more families die like hers had. Like. Literally, that was her stated motivation. She refused to let anyone else lose their family like that. Once she found out what the orb was, and what it was capable of, her FIRST FUCKIN REACTION was that they could not let Ronin have it, or else he’d wipe out more families.
That’s actually why Gamora may be my new favorite Marvel lady—because yeah, she’s badass as hell and can probably kick through your face, but she’s also allowed to have an incredibly solid moral core that has deep ties to her own trauma. For her, there was no other option: they HAD to protect the infinity stone, because it was their duty not to let more families die. Because she’s seen that shit firsthand, and she KNOWS that hurt. They could have written Gamora as an Action Girl trope, and made her all ~~~cool and badass and emotionless~~~~~~~~~~~ but instead they gave her this fuckin intense and believable emotional center stemming from her own personal losses.
Now moving on to Peter. Peter fuckin Quill kind of had the same goddamn issue—he lost his fucking family, and it fucked him up. Shit, he didn’t just lose his family, he was, for all intents and purposes, (at least in the Marvel Cinematic Universe) kidnapped by really shitty (and arguably abusive) people and royally fucked over by the experience. Jesus, that’s an intrinsic part of his character arc, of his reason for being a goddamn space-outlaw: because he has nothing left.
Peter Quil has nothing left on Earth to return to. His family is gone, and the filmmakers remind you of that constantly. It’s been 26 fucking years, and Peter still can’t open the gift his mom gave him. Until the end of the movie, that is, when he’s able to confront his loss because he finally has the support of a family again. (To the affirming tune of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” at that.) Do you think it was coincidence that scene’s song started with the lyrics, “If you need me, call me/No matter where you are/No matter how far/Just call my name.” He’s got people to depend on now. He’s got a family.
But wait! It’s not just Peter and Gamora who fit into the family motif. Drax’s stated motivation throughout literally the entire movie was avenging his murdered family. He’s prepared to die, because he has nothing left to lose—his family is already gone. But oh, what’s this, by the end of the movie he’s prepared to stick with this random-ass bunch of outlaws for the long-haul, because he may have lost his family, but he’s gained a new one. He’s found people he’s willing to die for—something that could previously only be said about his wife and daughter.
The whole movie touches on it. From Rocket’s “I DIDN’T ASK TO BE MADE” line (which, ouch, I remember saying to my mom in my really shitty teenage years…) to Groot’s ultimate sacrifice and “WE are Groot” line, all of it is based on a solid foundation of examining and dealing with your own beginnings; your family.
You don’t fuckin believe me? THAT’S ALRIGHT SON, I’VE GOT MORE TO SAY: When Nova Prime was trying to make a point about how horrifying Ronin was, about why it was so imperative he be stopped, her reason was, "He’s slaughtering FAMILIES."And the emotion Glenn Close packed into that line was chilling, because it was meant to be—because someone threatening your family, people you love, THAT’S some ultimate evil.
When John C. Riley’s character thanks Peter Quill for saving the universe, he doesn’t say, “You saved me,” he says, "You saved my family." In the aftermath of the movie, we don’t see destroyed buildings or ruined landscapes, we see John C. Riley’s character joyously reuniting with his family.
And when Peter Quill reaches for Gamora and briefly sees his mother, he’s not making a statement about Gamora. He’s saying, "These people are my family."
And at the end, when he says Yondu was the only family he had, Gamora corrects him: no, he wasn’t. We’re family now. We’ve created a family for ourselves, from all these lost, lonely people. Because in the end, that’s what family is.
Thanos was not Gamora’s family. Yondu was not Peter’s family. Drax and Rocket and, shit, even Groot…they aren’t alone, aren’t abandoned—they’ve found a family in this team, in these Guardians.
And for me, that’s why Guardians was so beautiful—while The Avengers focused on the individual overcoming differences and working together as a team, Guardians focused on overcoming trauma to create family, and that hit so fucking hard that they were able to make a theater full of people CRY over characters they’d only known for two hours as opposed to five full-length movies. Because whoever you are, wherever you are, whatever GENDER you are, you know how fucking important family is—biological or otherwise. When you create a space full of people you love that dearly, no one’s gonna fuck with it.
Gamora was such a successful female character because she was deeply affected by her trauma, but used that as a motivator for good. Yeah, she’s an assasin. A mercenary. A stone-cold no-names-taking badass green bitch from hell who’ll knock your ass out and not even blink. But she’s still allowed to care deeply, act emotionally, and have a heart that ultimately drives her to fight Ronin, fight Thanos, and team up with a ragtag group of misfits because she’s made these people her new family, and that fucking means something to her.
So fuck off outta here with this shit. Marvel is far, faaar from perfect, and goddamn, don’t even get me started on how much it irks me we still, in 2014, don’t have a female-led movie. There is no excuse. That’s some sexism at work. But Gamora was not part of the problem. Gamora was a solution, and an optimistic step (along with Black Widow) toward writing strong female characters who are allowed to be flawed, allowed to have softness, allowed to have trauma and loss and depth, without having their strength or validity as heroes called into question.
Gamora wasn’t a device for Peter Quill. Gamora wasn’t a device for ANYONE. Gamora was just another character affected by loss of family, and dealing with it in a way unique to her character. She starts off with the motivation of wanting to make a shitload of money, but then these motherfuckers threaten family, and she ain’t having that shit.
*** (Meanwhile, Nebula was Chaotic Evil. She doesn’t need a motivation beyond “fuck everything and watch the world burn,” so. Not…not sure why it’s so shocking that her loyalties only go as far as, “Which one of y’all motherfuckers is gonna kill the most people for me?” Although if you wanted to get real deep and rant-y, I could probably go off on how that’s a maladaptive response to trauma, but.)
- Guardians was about family
- Gamora was fuckin solid as hell
- Y’all are wrong