What Captain Marvel Taught Me

 Written by: Ashland H.

We just got back home from watching Captain Marvel and I couldn’t help but to immediately sit down and write all my feelings about this movie down. I am going to be completely open and honest and admit to you that there was a part of this movie where I sobbed…and I mean SOBBED!

This movie really got to me on a personal level and inspired me to write this post! With that being said, I am going to attempt to take a deep dive to explain why this movie punched me in the gut. To start off, I just want to say that Carol Danvers is a total BOSS! I mean, even before she becomes Captain Marvel she is independent, in the Air Force and there is no other description besides an overall, kick-ass woman!

 In my opinion, this movie has a HUGE, deeper message that not just every single woman should hear, but every HUMAN on the planet should hear.  I am going to warn you, there are spoilers throughout this post, so if you have not seen the movie and do not want me to spoil some scenes for you, I would suggest bookmarking this page to come back and read it later.

 As mentioned earlier, you find out from the start that Captain Marvel or Carol Danvers is, pretty much, a badass. She is tough, she can fight and from the get-go, you can tell she has a stubborn independence about her.  She starts off on this planet named “Hala” with these humanoid aliens called the “Kree” who make her believe that they have given her these “powers.” You also find out from the beginning that she is constantly told that she is “too emotional,” and that eventually, this will become her downfall.  The Kree inhabiting this planet also threaten to take her power away if she keeps being “too emotional.”

 As the movie progresses, you start to learn about her past prior to her gaining powers and end up finding out that she is actually human and that these powers were something that she absorbed, becoming part of her. There is a pivotal part in the movie where she finds out that this planet Hala that she has lived on, and these people who have always threatened to take her power away have just been lying and brainwashing her into thinking that these powers were “given” to her by them. When in reality, she had the power all along, they were just programing her into thinking that it didn’t belong to her as a way to control her. They also knew that her emotions, which made her human, would cause her to see that the Kree were actually evil and her empathy would kick in to fight for the greater good instead of blind loyalty to them.

That pivotal moment that I mentioned was the moment in the movie where I sobbed. I sobbed because I internalized what she went through. I related and I relived it on the big screen through Captain Marvel herself. In another life, I worked in Corporate America and there was a particular person who told me I was “too emotional” …and upon leaving Corporate America they told me I really never was cut out for it. Now, deep down, I always had felt that I didn’t fit in with the “Corporate America mold” that you are supposed to fit into, but I forced myself into that mold. I tried to push away my emotions, tried to hold back tears at times when I wanted to cry and tried to mimic what I was told you were supposed to become to move your way up the ladder. For years, I tried and I tried hard… I felt like I had to earn this power, achieve a position and keep working towards becoming this unemotional businessperson that cared more about profits than people. I became depressed and I became depressed because I started believing the lie, I tried not to be “too emotional” but no matter how hard I tried, I kept breaking down into emotion.

You see… the lie is all wrong because I don’t think there is such thing as “being cut out for Corporate America”.

I think that there is no Corporate America mold to be cut into. I don’t think you earn power nor do you achieve power… I wholeheartedly believe that you already own power; you were born with it. I think this rat race that we put ourselves in is a lie. I think deep down, we already have what we want.  Some people are emotional, some are quick-witted, some are creative, some are analytical, some are a little weird… and all of it is power. Being “too emotional” is your power; it means you care a lot. Which means you have empathy and that you are ethically minded. The mold doesn’t actually exist in Corporate America; it is a façade. You do not need to fit into the mold to succeed. So, I am going to give that person who told me I was “too emotional” credit. You are right, I am.

The difference between now and then though is that I realized that, that was the power that I had all along. It is what allows me to relate to people in my writing, my art and my communication. It is my compass when making the decision of right and wrong, selfish and selfless. It is my power. Like Dorothy, I got to the end of the yellow brick road clicked my heels and found out I had the power the WHOLE TIME. I was held back too long listening to the lie that this power was actually my weakness.  Leaving Corporate America was my pivot, my Captain Marvel moment… and believe me, I am just getting started.

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Ashland is a mom and lifestyle blogger based in Southern California. She worked for years as the event planner at Disneyland and has recently followed her heart and created a space to share her thoughts and dreams with her blog. To learn more about Ashland, click here. You can also follow her on Instagram.