a wreck

So, I’m sure everyone in the world has noticed this already. Natasha Romanoffs hair has changed quite a bit over years.

Major Changes:

Avengers 1

Avengers: Infinity War

Avengers: Endgame  

But what I find so freakin’ incredible is the story her physical characterization tells. Forget Thor and his haircut, Cap and his beard, Tony and his ever changing facial hair–Natasha’s hair is, by far, the most symbolic of the Avengers and every time I think about what it means, it breaks my heart.

The first time we meet Natasha Romanoff, she’s under cover, sporting long dark brown hair–her hair is the job. It’s dyed, the natural color is hidden much like her past.

By Avengers one, her natural red begins to show–the color symbolizes her secrets coming through, the red in her ledger on display for all to see. She teams up with the Avengers and the hair sticks all throughout Captain America: Winter Soldier and Civil War. She doesn’t dye it or cut, but instead lets it grow.  She’s inattentive because her life has become about serving in the Avengers–she’s got a stable job and a family of teammates. She’s found people who except her for who she is and who she’s been. Her hair’s the last thing on her mind.

She even becomes a bit more jokey-jokey.

But, she’s ultimately forced to leave this new found comfort. Civil War: after battling with her morals–choosing Tony over Cap, then ultimately making the decision she knew was right all along–she cleared her ledger. But, to protect her identity, her hair’s chopped off and dyed–Her hair’s a light, clean slate.

Now we see her in Endgame. Her blonde hair has faded, her natural red has grown out. Her hair’s long and unattended again. Her life has become about serving the Avengers again. But things are different now. The world’s in chaos and half the people she’s grown to love are gone. Feeling like she’s failed, her natural red growing in isn’t a sign of comfort anymore nor of settling down. The blood red forms an ombre with pure, blonde. The ½ population that died by Thano’s snap feels like blood spilled on her hands. Again, her legers tainted.

Wonder why women are fine with this when he does it, but they find you opening a car door or offering to carry stuff for them annoying? Well, wonder no more! It works like this:

A large number of women have had to learn how to dodge and swerve and sometimes even slap away men’s hands from the time they hit puberty - and sometimes before. Ladies, cis and trans both, are unfortunately experienced at being groped, poked, prodded, “helped”, and otherwise humiliated and threatened by men. Then also there’s the condescending attitude that of course we need a man’s help, and we should be grateful he offered it.

No thanks.

Chris is doing something very different here, and you’ll see it in similar video clips of him at other events. You can read his mental process in his body language. He starts with just clapping and congratulating. He offers nothing until there is a need, which doesn’t happen here until Regina’s shoe gets caught on her dress. Since women have literally tripped up the stairs at this ceremony several times over the years (because the shoe and clothing requirements are ridiculous), it is reasonable at this stage to think that my-shoe-caught-on-my-dress is a problem that actually needs to be addressed. This is when Chris offers.

How he offers matters. He starts with an open hand toward her, but this is a big no-no. Open hands are a red flag. Open hands grope and grab and shove. He quickly corrects by flipping his arm over and offering his forearm instead. This makes it her choice whether to grab on or ignore him. She doesn’t have to contend with a potentially threatening hand while she’s also contending with her dress.

He also bends down a bit to do this. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Chris is kind of a tall, beefy guy. Guys like that can be a bit intimidating without meaning to be, at least when they’re up close. Also, his arm is a bit too high to be useful to her if he stays at his full height. So he bends down. This is even more visible in the video from him doing this for Betty White at the 2015 Oscars, because she’s shorter than Regina, I guess.

He offers his arm for exactly as long as she leans on it. When she lets go, he steps back. This is a guy who isn’t interested in showing off how much she needs his help. He’s just interested in helping, and when he’s not needed, he’s done. He goes back to sit down. He doesn’t hover.

Also, Regina King knows who Chris Evans is. His behavior at work thus far has certainly made it into the rumor mill, thus factoring into whether she accepts help from him. Is he a dudebro or jerk to women at work? That doesn’t appear to be the case.

Women are not helpless. Compared to men, our clothes are more often obstacles to getting where we need to go safely and with our dignity intact, but conversely, we’ve also learned to deal with that better than most men have. It’s not that we never need or want help; like all people, we do sometimes need a hand. It’s just that “some kinds of help are the kinds of help we all could do without.”

Mallory Bechtel, Alice Ripley, Derek Klena Will Star in Reading of New Frank Wildhorn Musical The Song of Bernadette

Tony winner Christopher Gattelli (Newsies, The Cher Show) will direct an industry reading of the new musical The Song of Bernadette March 14–15.

Dear Evan Hansen’s Mallory Bechtel will star as Bernadette, alongside Tony winner Alice Ripley (Next to Normal, Side Show), Derek Klena (Dogfight, Anastasia), and Drew Gehling (Waitress, Dave).

Thank You Christy Altomare | ANASTASIA The Musical| ANASTASIA The Musical

[a bunch of hands fly up]

“you cannot ride it, it is too small”

Anastasia On Broadway Preps For Final Show

anastasia