Kicking off our now twice-monthly posting schedule (new posts go live now on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of each month — sign up for email updates!) is a new “first impressions” post. If you’re unfamiliar with this series, let me remedy that: these posts focus on more current films that I have watched in theaters that include reel librarians and/or library or archives scenes. The resulting “first impressions” posts are necessarily less detailed, as I don’t have the luxury of rewatching scenes and taking notes.
*MILD SPOILERS AHEAD*
I recently enjoyed watching Captain Marvel, the next movie in Marvel’s Avengers movie series, starring Brie Larson in the title role. I straight-up and unapologetically LOVED this movie. LOVED LOVED LOVED. How much? Let me count the ways:
- Larson’s easy camaraderie with Samuel L. Jackson as a younger, pre-eyepatch-wearing Nick Fury (the digital erasure of Jackson’s naturally age-lined face was seamless, and I honestly didn’t even think about it while watching the film)
- The ’90s setting with its cheeky pop culture references and soundtrack
- Larson’s warm friendship with fellow pilot Maria Rambeau (played by Lashana Lynch) and her daughter, Monica (played by Akira Akbar) — I’m realllllllly hoping for Monica’s character returns as a character in the next Avengers movie!
- Ben Mendelsohn’s rogue-ish charm evident even under several pounds of makeup in the character of Talos
- The sight of Annette Bening looking bad-ass AF in a leather jacket
- That last scene between Jude Law and Brie Larson
- The film’s unapologetically feminist focus
- That the film was co-directed and co-written by women
- And last but not least, I felt SO SEEN whenever Nick Fury fell all over himself cooing and petting Goose the cat. This is the correct behavior around cats, and I am here for it. #FlerkensForever
I also was surprised — and appreciative! — of an archives scene that popped up about halfway (?) through the film, and you can spy glimpses of the archives scenes starting at 1:26 into the trailer embedded below:
This scene is vital to the plot, as it provides clues to the essential question of the film: Who is Carol Danvers? This question is the center of the film’s second-released trailer, seen above, when you hear Ben Mendelsohn’s voice asking:
“Would you like to know what you really are?”
And over the flashes of the archives scene, you can hear Brie Larson’s voice say:
“I think I had a life here.”
Using bits of fractured memories, Vers/Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel and Fury go to a U.S. Air Force base to look up “Project Pegasus.” In the archives — which feature rows and rows and rows of neatly organized archival boxes — Vers easily finds the file she’s looking for. (I think she pulled down a box labeled “P” for “Pegasus,” but it might have been “L” for Bening’s character Wendy Lawson, but regardless, it was super easy to find — and further evidence for why an organizational system MATTERS, y’all!)
In that archival box — props to the propmaster for highlighting proper storage of archives, as this type of archival box would look familiar to any archivist or librarian — Fury and Vers discover evidence that she was a pilot presumed to have died in 1989 while testing an experimental jet engine designed by Lawson. This helps trigger more memories, as she starts putting together the pieces of her long-lost identity.
After this pivotal fact-finding scene in the U.S. Air Force Archives base, a S.H.I.E.L.D. team led by Talos (in disguise) tries to capture them. Cue the chase-and-fight scene in the archives! I also appreciated the automatic lighting used in the archives setting, as this detail is not only realistic to large archival collections (automatic lighting saves money), it also provides cinematic DRAMA during the entire scene, as Fury can’t move without triggering the lights and revealing his hiding spot. Long rows of bookshelves are always cinematic in scope, but adding automatic lighting is the cherry on top of this archival sundae. And they used this lighting effect in the trailer, too, set to beats of music.
Alas, there is no archivist in this scene — I guess they didn’t need one since the archives were so well organized?! 😉 Therefore, this film lands in the Class V category, films with no identifiable librarians and/or archivists, although they mention them and/or have scenes set in libraries/archives.
To sum up, a library/archives scene — once again — provides pivotal clues to propel the plot forward. Just one more reason to love this action movie!
Have you seen Captain Marvel yet? What are your thoughts? Did you perk up during the archives scene? Are you #TeamFlerken? Please leave a comment and share!
Sources used:
- Captain Marvel. Dir. Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. Perf. Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Annette Bening, Ben Mendelsohn, Jude Law, Lashana Lynch. Disney, 2019.
- “Captain Marvel (film)” via Wikipedia is licensed under a CC BY SA 3.0 license.
REEL LIBRARIANS 
“Nick and Carol go fact-finding”?
Ahem:
Carol Danvers: “You have three names. What do people call you?”
Nick Fury: “Fury.”
Carol Danvers: “Just Fury?”
Nick Fury: “Yep. Not Nicholas. Not Joseph. Just Fury.”
Carol Danvers: “What does your mother call you then?”
Nick Fury: “Fury.”
Carol Danvers: “What do your friends call you?”
Nick Fury: “Fury.”
Carol Danvers: “Kids?”
Nick Fury: “If I ever have them? Fury.”
😉
Hah! Well played. 😉