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Director Cate Shortland Wants To Go Beyond Black Widow’s Objectification


Marvel fans might gush over Black Widow's exceptional fighting skills and intelligence in all of the Marvel movies that she appears in, but there's a whole lot more to Natasha (Scarlett Johansson) than just her ability to take down enemies left and right.

Speaking in an interview with Entertainment Weekly,Black Widow director Cate Shortland opens up about tapping into the trauma that Natasha had to go through to become the hero that fans get to see in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. According to the filmmaker, Natasha's narrative as a survivor is one that everyone can find catharsis in.

"We just bonded over stories about trust and about intimacy and about women surviving," Shortland said, "You didn't have to be a superhero to identify with a woman who has had a really tough childhood and has survived and has a huge heart and helps other people."

In Black Widow, Shortland tries to feature the complexity of Natasha Romanoff. The director wants to go beyond all of the objectification and feature Natasha when she takes off her "action-hero facade." Shortland wants to peel back the tough outer layer that Black Widow has been holding up for years.

"When I looked at the past [MCU] films, there's a lot of sitting outside of the character, so that she is seen and kind of objectified," she continued. "Oftentimes we don't really get to see who she is when she's by herself — who she is when she takes off the action-hero facade."

It's definitely going to be exciting to get a chance to have such an intimate look at Black Widow, especially after the sacrifice that she made in Avengers: Endgame.

Black Widow premieres on May 1, 2020.

Read: Kevin Feige and Scarlett Johansson Explain the Long Wait for a Black Widow Solo Film

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