okay but in all seriousness i bet it’s a real hazard to cry or even sit on your bed looking unhappy at Avengers Tower because Steve “Mom At The Ready” Rogers WILL appear in your doorway wearing something soft and saying “Hey.” in a gentle, compassionate voice
“Knock knock,” Steve Rogers probably says aloud, tapping the doorjamb softly with his knuckles and gazing at you with warm maternal tenderness. How will you explain to him that you are sad because of a tumblr post about a dog who delivers the mail
Seriously, why did they take this scene from the final cut? It is so very important! And not only to explain why Steve lacked the cowl in the end of the movie, but because this tiny moment is extremely important to Steve’s development as a character. He came to be seen as a fascist, as exactly that which he fought to destroy. Captain America, who sought to fight bullies his whole life, is now seen as one. Imagine the impact that had on his head. The meaning of his actions after he saw this. Steve began to give up the Captain America identity right here. This is why in Civil War he has no problems giving up the shield. He and Captain America have long been drifting apart. In fact, they were never one to begin with:
Steve went through his whole life trying to show people he wasn’t what they thought of him. Becoming Captain America was one way to do it, and giving this identity up is another one.
Steve isn’t unaware of the symbolism Captain America entails. For good and for bad. In The First Avenger he uses the symbol in his favour, transforming it. In The Winter Soldier he owns the symbol he became, working in favour of the greater good through his public image. However, in Civil War he has to give the symbol up, for it has come to represent something he is not.
When Tony tells him he doesn’t deserve the shield, Steve is tired of having to “prove” that his actions are those of Captain America. People put Captain America in a box that doesn’t fit Steve Rogers. Tony tells him he is not worthy of being Captain America, of carrying the shield his father made, as if he had betrayed what Howard Stark worked for, as if somehow Howard was responsible for the making of Captain America, and Steve became unworthy to be part of Howard’s legacy. This is just one way people created a general idea about who Captain America is, forgetting the man behind the shield.
Steve will be that which he has to be. That which he feels in his heart and head to be his duty, the right thing. He became Captain America for that reason, and for that same reason he threw cowl and shield aside.
They cut this?! UGH. This is so important!
How traumatising must it have been for a man who gave up everything, lost everything, even died fighting Nazis, to be seen as a fascist?
To have battled the monster for so long that he was percieved as a monster?
Just for reference, sliced bread was invented in 1928. – (x)
Here’s better perspective for this…
Please notice Bucky took pre-serum Steve to that shit. Just… think about that for a moment.
Remember this post whenever you feel tempted to take the Bucky Barnes Is Overprotective joke seriously. He’s not. That’s probably what made Steve get along with him in first place.
Honestly, Bucky’s complete confidence that Steve wouldn’t drop from a heart attack is funny, alarming and utterly sweet all at once
Just imagine how pretty Bucky had to smile to get out of trouble when he dragged a nauseated, bruised, half-dead Steve back to face the righteous fury of Sarah Rogers…
(And personally, I believe that Bucky is not so much protective, as he is territorial. Steve’s not weak, but lay a hand on him and you’ll learn just how strong they both are)
i think this is my favorite post on this entire site. bless.
WHERE THE FUCK IS THE GIF OF BUCKY THROWING STEVE THROUGH A WINDOW?!
Ok so heres my take: look at his face from the text-less gif on, thats…slightly more upset than anyone should be at a girl noticing your friend and not you.
Shame and self-blaming are incredibly common parts of PTSD, and you can just imagine how Bucky felt getting captured, and after everything he went through (unlike the other Howling Commandos you see all drinking together while hes isolating himself), he’s probably blaming himself for not being smart enough, strong enough, quick enough etc.
And who saves him? His tiny little friend, the one with the huge heart, but the one that always got his ass kicked and needed Bucky to come to his rescue. Now hes this huge super soldier saving him.
I think “im turning into you” doesn’t mean “usually im the hot one and girls dont notice ur skinny ass”, i think it quite literally means, sure, he’s got a big heart, buuut hopefully his big tough bff is around or hes going to get his ass handed to him.
@bloodyneptune I noticed in retrospect that Bucky is not totally okay at any point after Zola first tortured him. Here he is, as you say, drinking by himself in the corner, not with the other guys. He’s not even wearing his uniform tie. I think you’re right that his self confidence was shaken by his experience as a POW. For instance, I think in the train, later they were going after Bucky’s torturer on that mission. He ran out of bullets and he was clearly sick with fear right before Steve tossed him the new gun. I think he was under a lot of strain trying to hold it together in those moments. Bucky saying he had them on the ropes, was trying to reassure himself. Then he falls off the train and wakes up to Dr. Zola standing over him again, and his life becomes a nightmare of continuous physical and mental abuse from then on. Poor Bucky.
Oh man, whats amazing about that (I essayed a whole thing the other day because Im batshit like that) is that Bucky has his own entire storyline going on that you only see through his expressions.
Like, instead of taking up the time to have him talk about it, they just let Seb act it out along side and in the main plot. Like, that small look of total disrepair after “lets hear it for Captain America” which is clearly a victory scene, he’s got his own side story going on. The awesome montage of the Howling Commandos being badass and fun, his little sniper bit? Tucked right between fun, and Steve jovially saluting and back to the kickassery, he looks a lot like the Winter Solder; dead eyed and focusing on the mission, loading another bullet to put in another head.
I mean, you can seen he’s repeating his name and number over and over when Steve finds him, he was clearly already in the process of brainwashing. You’re taught to repeat those things when you’re being interrogated, not experimented on. The best explanation is that he’s trying to keep a hold of his identity. So really, the Bucky we see after he’s rescued is one that already got his toes wet in the Winter Soldier project.
Even when he says he wont follow Captain America, just that ‘little guy from Brooklyn”, I think you can interpret that differently too. The last time he remembers being the big guy, the guy in control, the guy that wasn’t fucked up and was needed to protect someone was with pre-serum Steve. He’ll follow that guy back into the one place he does not want to do because thats whats going to make him feel like he’s tough enough to do it again.
I contend that he held out until they told him Steve ‘died’. He was already going through PTSD, already thinking he was weak and self-blaming for getting himself caught and nearly brainwashed the first time, his last hope had to be “of course Steve will come again, just hold out till then”. If his self confidence and sense of being able to fight was already in pieces, it must have been sort of easy once he knew nobody was actually coming to save him.
A+ analysis It’s interesting that the movie definitely doesn’t spoon feed the story to us. But it’s there all the time. Bucky’s not in First Avenger much and hasn’t got many lines but watching it after WS and CW, wow I saw so much more going on with Sergeant Barnes. I agree that the name, rank and serial number thing showed he repeated it until he put himself into a trance or dissociative state. Then he asked if it hurt when they experimented on Steve to make him a super soldier. Not something I’d think to ask necessarily- does it reflect on the fact that they were already “conditioning” Bucky? Then there’s a great post someone did about Bucky’s and Zola’s expressions when they ran into each other with Red Skull and Cap. I reblogged it a while ago and can find and link you if you want, but the basic idea was Bucky is terrified of Zola and looks right at him, not Red Skull, while Zola stares at Bucky like he’s checking the effects of his experiments, like a scientist looking at a lab specimen. That’s a great example you gave of Bucky’s grim expression when sniping and right after. There’s a wealth of foreshadowing in that first movie and a lot of it is through Sebastian’s acting.
Uggh I know right?? Theres no way they could have fit in scenes of Bucky talking about what he’s going through and keep within the time frame and pacing, really. I think its totally fascinating that instead of just cutting the whole thing, they just let him go through his own plot right along side the main one.
And you don’t really notice unless you’re specifically paying attention to Bucky, because so many of his scenes after he’s captured are within fun, kickass, or silly moments like the Peggy/Steve scene. In the middle of the fun and joking, he’s acting like the mood and tone of the scenes are completely contrary to what’s being presented by everyone elses lines, actions and the way the music and scenes play out.
Actually, I hadn’t considered how oddly out of place “did it hurt” was. I think it would be a question that came long after “what the mother fuck”, “no but what” and “you need to explain this right the hell now because what the everloving shit is happening”.
But duuuude, what they did to him was basically a Hybrid ripoff of the super soldier project, “did it hurt” and “is it permanent” just took on some terrifyingly upsetting alternative meanings. Especially when we know Bucky gets those questions answered.
See what I mean?? They slip in this entirely separate narrative in making it seem like jokes and fun moments, and you almost would miss it if it weren’t for Sebs supernatural acting abilities. It just blows my mind that this shits in Captain America movies.
Have you read about the sounds/music in Winter Soldier? I’ll find it, that shit blew my everloving mind.
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