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Tony Stark is a low-power chump, not a hero (Iron Man case study)
Alright, the title is a bit exaggerated.
But still quite true.
Among the traits and behavior that make him low-power:
- He chases her
- He is unassertive
- He never tasks, but executes her tasks
- He needs her (emotional) approval (=he's a victim of judge frames, rather than being him the judge)
- He over-jokes, and:
- Uses irony to defuse tension
- Uses irony to avoid true emotional connection
Some of the scenes that show it:
The last one is especially telling. She promises a sexual reward if he does something that she wants, and he goes all "woooow", like a 14 YO virgin.
I personally really dislike this character.
He is presented under a fake guise of cool and power, probably because of the actor that plays him. But in truth, he's quite pathetic.
Also Tony Stark changes over time
Hey Orion,
You seem to be quite an expert on this character.
The original message was an analysis from a power dynamics perspective, based on a few scenes from the movie.
He provides a good role model... On what to avoid.
And since he is a superhero on the screen, some people might think that he is also a role model for high power / high-quality behavior. He's not. That was the point of that quick analysis.
Ended up making a short about it:
Yep, great point Power Duck.
I'm not an expert, haven't seen those movies, and not going to.
I've seen a few video critiques on YB though and it seems now it's reached a much higher level.
The interesting thing though is that Iron Man came before this last wave of "exaggeratedly woke" type of movies.
As far I've seen, Iron Man was never criticized for being too low power.
Instead, from what I've seen, it was often framed as a cool guy, with Elon Musk fans saying he was the "real-life iron man".
Well, in some ways, he was... But not in a positive way :).
I find these "under the radar" poor examples even more damaging since fewer people spot it.
Yes, there are subtleties that are missed by less power aware folks and obvious to more power-aware folks. I personally learn by looking through your eyes Lucio. So I think these kind of videos are quite valuable to learn power awareness. “You thought that iron man was high power rich badass. Well think again.”
I think It reinforces the myth that the beautiful woman is entitled to anything and everything in this case.
I agree with you Power Duck there are social level manipulation in every society. Norms that are beneficial to a group and not to another group/individual.
Hence the red pill (or any other movement deconstructing social constructs). The issue is that some people become and stay bitter (same with feminism). Which I think is disempowering. It’s more empowering to look at it from a rational POV: “Alright, so that’s how it is. Interesting. Now how am I going to navigate this?”
Yeah, it's interesting how they constructed that character.
It has plenty of cool lines and some traits that SEEM high-power.
For example, he's supposed to be a player, including scenes where he meets an ex one-night stand.
And he's not so INCREDIBLY low-power and subjugated that it's super obvious.
For example, he talks back to her and says "the man says "no"".
But the simple fact that she yells on top of him and he lets her, it's a clear sign that he is NOT in charge -not by a long margin- and she doesn't respect him or consider him a leader.
And even that scene where he meets an ex one-night stand and he's supposed to be a player, he still comes across as a low-power, small-time narcissist.
OFF-TOPIC ON SOCIETY-LEVEL
Yeah, when it comes to social level it's easy to be swayed by personal biases and only see what you focus on.
Right now, it seems that the feminist-side is dominant.
But if you read feminists, they (still) see anti-female everywhere.
And if you look at red pills, they over-see anti-male everywhere.
TPM's general take is that it doesn't really matter that much what the overall culture does because you're an individual and you can buck the trends, be the exception, find people/partner(s) around you who are more to your liking, etc. etc.
OFF-TOPIC
Or take this scene:
She became some sort of a mutant.
So it's expected one may be fearful.
And making a joke in tense situations to relieve the pressure is often "cool' and high power.
So you're supposed to laugh about it and you either think he's cool, or the subjugation go under the radar.
But still, his words and the fact that he could even imagine there is a world where he must fear her being angry at him tells you that they're either at the same level, or that she has judge power over him.
For comparison, a man who leads the relationship in that (imaginary) situation would just think "WTF is wrong with her" (or a more aggressive one would think "WTF she thinks she's doing" in the sense of "how dare she").
I get your annoyance. I feel the same when I see a man who gets (redacted).
I have a friend like this and with all my love for him I cannot help but tease him. Not in the sense of he’s not a man or masculine. Rather because he lets someone else control him. In this case a woman. If it would be his boss I would say the same. It’s more a desperate attempt to have him open his eyes as he’s not aware of it. Talking about it openly does not work. It backfired when I tried. So it’s one of those cases as you say in PU where passive-aggression is an acceptable/adequate option.
So it’s about “how can you let yourself be a doormat”. It goes back to “we need you to be empowered”. In the case of man/woman dynamics it’s just more visible.
Whatever people believe and think I observed most women admire strength in a man. Just like most men look for beauty in a woman. So in this sense he’s doubly disempowered: as a person and as a man in his relationship.
