It wasnât the explosive action sequences, the shout-out to Blockbuster Video, or even the old lady getting punched in the face that resonated with some viewers of the new Captain Marvel trailer.
It was that star Brie Larson isnât shown smiling much.
The Marvel Studios , which has racked up more than 36 million views in less than a week, led some social media users to onto the actressâ face. In response, other users posted images of Marvel men not bearing their teeth. Others countered with their own Photoshop wizardry, upturning the mouths of , .
Larson, who won an Oscar for Room in 2016, posted those images without comment in . The call for her superhero to âsmile moreâ echoes what some women have called a form of sexist harassment that implies a womanâs expression should be controlled for the pleasure of men. The outrage spawned the social media hashtag ââ in which mostly women and young girls shared pictures of themselves sporting a variety of facial expressions.
âAbout time Marvel gives us a solo female superhero lead with an actress that fights for whatâs right on and off screen,â . âBe a HERo with or without a smile.â
The actress hasnât commented explicitly about the outrage, but wrote about the #selfiesforbrie hashtag .
âI loved seeing all your expressions. Moody or smiling or coy or fierce or whatever is YOU," she wrote. âThank you. It was truly a highlight of these few wild days.â
I want to talk about -the hashtag I didnât know I needed.
â Brie Larson (@brielarson)
. put these pics on Instagram story. Legend
â Geeks of Color (@GeeksOfColor)
I saw some dude use an app to make Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel smile more, so I thought Iâd do the same with the male Marvel superheroes.
â David Chen (@davechensky)
I think we can all agree that this is a totally normal, non-creepy thing to do.