#morebehindit

[wordsturnintostories]

Steve and Peggy

So, I rewatched all three Captain America films during the last five nights and I noticed something I haven’t read in any post so far, so I’ll quickly scribble it down for you guys.

So. Do you all remember that (heartbreaking) interview with Peggy Carter (full interview here) that Steve Rogers watches in the Smithsonian (Captain America: The Winter Soldier)?  Peggy says, "He saved over a thousand men, including the man who would...who would become my husband as it turned out. Even after he died, Steve was still changing my life." That last line is a great line. It says so much about her as a character and about her emotions towards Steve. Also, it depicts Steve’s influence on her life, even in major life decisions like marriage. Wow.

But now, let’s go and jump ahead to her funeral (Captain America: Civil War). The Avengers are under pressure, the NATO wants them to sign the Sokovia Accords that threaten to split up their team and Steve knows exactly what he wants. He knows the consequences to his decision and I think he’s a little afraid of getting back out of the team. In fact, he was quite lonely before he joined the Avengers Initiative (just look at the deleted scenes in The Avengers), not ready to just leave his past behind, a past full of people now dead. In Avengers: Age of Ultron, he sees Peggy in his vision and she says "Steve. The war is over. We can finally go home." I think that's what his heart wanted and still kind of hopes for the most (of course, he had realized that’s not possible, but I think he somehow keeps this wish for a happy ending to the war buried deep inside his heart), but from this post (I’m so sorry - I’ve been searching for almost an hour now, but I can’t find it. I’ll put it in when I do.), I gather and agree that Steve doesn’t see his home in a specific place, but in the people he lets into his life. So, he does see the Avengers as his family - he leads them, but he takes care of them too. Just look how naturally Steve gets up and joins Wanda in her room to comfort her. He doesn’t look uneasy getting into her personal space; he’s done this a couple of times before. Steve cares very much about his guys, about Tony and all the others (of course, Bucky is a different story still). So basically, Steve has to make a major life decision. Will he stay with his new family? Or will he do what in his heart feels right but what will undoubtedly hurt because there is separation on the horizon? And then Peggy dies and Steve sits in that church in London and Sharon Carter quotes her aunt Peggy on her wise words. And those wise words are exactly the words Steve needs to hear.

Let’s imagine Steve has to do an interview about Peggy, because the American and British government decided to honor her and her achievements. Steve sits on a sofa, stiff, mind still in that church near the Thames. He feels the tears inside his heart. His voice is a little shaky, but he steadies it, just like when he practiced. He looks into the camera, a shy, nostalgic smile on his lips. "Even after she died, Peggy still changed my life."

[wordsturnintostories]

My take on Steve's Beetle in Civil War

Omg I was always like "Goodness. Why did Steve have to squish himself into this tiny car!?" Of course, tall, wide man + tiny car = tall man looks even bigger, which is helpful in preparation for a fight scene (if you want to show the audience the sheer physique of a character without having them get naked; great way to do it, honestly, because it was a different approach that totally worked (for me, at least)). But right now, it clicked and I'm thinking "yes, it totally made sense to give Steve this car."

Because, the thing is: This little Beetle, Volkswagen oldie, is a car that was built first in 1938. It was a car that the Nazi government encouraged as a car that every German could afford. It was a car for everybody, specifically built for two adults and two to three children. Steve was "built" in 1942, during the same time, with the goal to give something to everybody in the States: protection.

It is my theory that the Volkswagen Beetle was chosen very intentionally for Steve in this scene. It is a lot like him, old and a result of the war (many people gave their savings so the government could build cars, the government used the money for war armament, though, so the motor and inner device could be developed for the big machinery, like planes and tanks). The funny part is that although promised to thousands of civilians, barely any cars were given to them until much later, after the war, when the allied forces were in Germany and a British officer reopened the production plant. See the parallels to Steve? The super soldier created for the war, a special commission by the government, the first of many, but suddenly, the only one. Although they had many soldiers like him in mind, the government couldn't give them to the army.

Also, the boss of Volkswagen himself criticized the car, saying it had as many flaws as a dog had fleas, leading to many reinventions and improvements of the car after the war. It reminds me of the one scene in The First Avenger, where Colonel Phillips says "I asked for an army and all I got was you. You are not enough." That's a 4F, right there. Unfit. But they both became national icons. Steve, like the car, was frozen for a while (the car's production during the war, Steve's Captain America tour and his body, during the war too, but closer to the end, of course), but both have created war bonds and helped their country to make a step forward in development and war armament.

Additionally, I want to come back to the special instruction to fit two adults and two to three children into the car, so that the whole family could go on trips together. I believe that this Beetle represents what Steve could never have; what he lost. Just imagine him sitting in this car with Peggy and three children in the back row. Family. We see that Peggy was married and that she had children (two, if I remember correctly), so what if she had been with Steve? They would've been a family, probably, and it is historically probable that they could've had a Volkswagen Beetle, no matter if they lived in the States or in the UK. The car is a reminder of what still aches in Steve's heart. We don't know who chose the car (right? or do we?), so if Steve chose it, what if it is a representation of his dreams, of his wishes that he, like many people of his generation, has difficulties expressing?

So, now, Steve drives Bucky and Sam around, his (new) family. They meet up with the others, Clint, Wanda and Scott, the other part of his family. And even though he recognizes them as such, I believe that the car is supposed to highlight who is closest to his heart, the persons he trusts the most. (My theory is that if Natasha had been on his side, she would've been placed in the car as well.)

As last point, I want to note that there have been more versions of both Steve and the Beetle; we see Bucky and the other Winter Soldiers, who have all been treated with a version of the serum used on Steve. If we look at the Beetle successors, we can clearly see the origin of them, the original Beetle. The same goes for Steve and the other super soldiers; they are all comparable strength-wise and body-wise. Yes, I agree, the most important part, their heart and their morals are not the same, but look at the Beetle: while most of the car looks similar to the old Beetle, they changed the motor that drives the car (plus the furniture). Isn't that what Hydra did? They changed everything inside. (So, the car fits for Bucky too, to a certain degree.)

So, we see two of the greatest icons of that past era together and you wanna tell me the car had been chosen randomly and just didn't fit into the scene? I gotta say, I disagree.

There’s two articles you can visit to read up on all this stuff, one of them a nice comment on a picture and the other the regular Wikipedia article on the VW Beetle.

As said before, this is my theory. You are free to interpret the VW Beetle in whatever way you want, you are even free to say that this is all bullshit and that the car shouldn't have been in the film at all. That's alright, it's your opinion. Please do respect mine. I would love to hear your opinions, though. Have a great day, all of you sweet people :D