"Agent Carter" by Marvel CFT

2. Title: Agent Carter
Directors: Lawrence Trilling, Ken Marino, and James Chory
Executive producers: Tara Butters, Michele Fazekas,
Stephen Mcfeely, and Chris Dingess

3. Agent Carter Summary
● I’m gonna be focusing on season one of Agent Carter while using the critical feminst theory.
Season one focuses on Peggy Carter trying to prove herself as an agent and not just a lady who
grabs coffee for her male coworkers. Agent Peggy Carter has just lost the love of her life. To top
it off, billionaire Howard Stark is accused of Treason, he secretly employs her to clear his name.
With the help of Stark’s butler, she embarks on a whimsical journey full of deciet and murder.
She’s doing all of this in secret and back in her office no one really takes her seriously because
she’s a women.

4. The Critical Feminst Theory
● Feminism is the belief that all people, regardless of gender or sex, are equal.
● The feminst theory came after feminism and was simply a way to push the movement into a
theoretical and philosophical area.
The feminst theory questions a set of ideas that are coming from the belief that women are
not subordinate to men or only valuable to men in relationships. This theory also tries to
understand gender inequality and does focus on gender politics, power relations, and
sexuality. Much of the feminist theory focuses on the promostion of womens rights and
interests.

5. The Feminist Film Theory
The Feminsit film theory by Cynthia A. Freeland / forthcoming from Oxford University
Press, edited by Michael Kelly.
According to this article it is stated, “Added to this theory by Laura Mulvey's now-classic
essay, "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema" [Mulvey, 1975], was the feminist claim that
men and women are differentially positioned by cinema: men as subjects identifying with
agents who drive the film's narrative forward, women as objects for masculine desire and
fetishistic gazing.”

6. Season One: Episode one:
Before she gets her high position she has to struggle against her colleagues at work. In the
first episode of the show, it’s already shown that her coworkers don’t take her as serious as
they do with their male workers. As the only female in the agency, she has been asked by
her fellow coworkers to do menial chores like serving coffee and some snacks too. They
don’t even allow her to join in on office meetings and when she gives her opinion, no one
pays attention to her and all of this because she’s a women.
An article by Friska Anggreanika states, “As a female secret agent who has a routine office
works in New York City in the year of 1946, Peggy Carter must fight for her life in a
patriarchal environment.” This is true because no one treats her as an equal agent and
because of this she goes behind the agency's back to prove Howard Stark’s innocence but
much rather to show her ability as a good agent.

7. Season one episode one:
3:42-4:00
5:32-6:00
14:50-15:44
https://youtu.be/S-gJf5bsR0E (3:42-4:00) Everyone is having to get to hear about the latest news and
instead of having agent Carter they want her covering the phones
something she isn’t very fond of.
(5:32-6:00) While the male agents are going over the Howard Stark case
Agent Carter pitches in her opinion and gets shut down rather quickly.
They think now that the war has ended Peggy has no use.
(14:50-15:44) We get to see Agent Carter serving coffee while the other
agents are going over their plan to find Howard stark. One of her
coworkers even makes the joke of her staying in the room just to actually
learn something. Peggy even uses the excuse of having to leave work for
lady reasons and they let her go immediately. Her boss even says “Yeah
sure, take today go shopping whatever makes you feel better.’ Just
because she’s a women they think that going shopping is automatically
going to make her feel better.

8. (21:50-22:00) While Agent Jack Thompson is interrogating a suspect on the Howard Stark case be begins to hit the man to
get answers and Chief Dooley suggest Peggy go home because “Ladies shouldn’t be seeing this.” Again he doesn’t think she
can handle watching anything violent or shouldn’t be allowed to watch anything such as an interrogation because she’s a
women. This connects to the critical feminst theory because isn’t treating her as equal as he would to a male worker. We see
how the gender system work and notice how society’s gender arrangements aren’t fair.
https://youtu.be/3Ta1BCd2rXo
Season one: Episode three:
(17:32-18:28) Agent Carter is getting yelled at by her chief because she was interrupting an interrogation of an innocent man, Stark’s
butler but of course they aren’t aware of that just yet. “For the love of evil can somebody tell me what I did who I’d cheesed off to have
you doped in my lap and you wonder why you never catch any actual assignments.” Chief Dooley is really going off on Agent Carter
and even begins to question what he did to get her at his agency. He obviously doesn’t think she’s much help and even tells her that’s
the reason she never gets any actual assignments. He even proceeds to make her apologize to Agent Jack Thompson because she
apparently ruined his “good work” by interrupting his interrogation. But, she simply only did it to save Jarvis, stark’s butler who’s she
formed a tight bond with.
https://youtu.be/-aD1GE_1kBQ
Season one: Episode two:

9. I find it interesting how, the writer is
interested in the way Peggy Carter breaks the
male-dominated world in her workplace. She
is so inspiring and motivating for women
working in the area dominated by men. For
the writer, Peggy Carter is an independent
woman icon represented in movies and
comics. At the end of this serie, she receives
her high position that is worth struggling.

10. Conclusion
Explain the importance of your analysis
The importance of this analysis was to study Peggy’s gender stereotyped experiences
and the aspect of her proving she’s more than a pretty face like the male agents think
of her as. She proves herself many times through her actions and the way she’s able to
put up a fight.
Why is it important to look at something through a critical lens?
It is important to look at something through a critical lens because looking at
something through any lens can bring certain images into focus or even show us the
importance of certain actions. A critical lens could also bring conflicts and issues into
light to widen the importance of our thoughts.

11. Conclusion
What have you learned as a result of this analysis?
I have learned more about the critical feminst theory. I’d say it made me focus more on
looking at a certain issue while rewatching the show. That certain issue being the way Peggy
gets treated differently from her fellow coworkers. It opens a perspective of ideas and
thoughts while going through this critical lens. I know for me I had a lot to say and think
and doing this project certainly improved the way I express my ideas for a topic.
What takeaways should your audience have?
I hope that everyone gets a clear understanding of what the critical feminst theory is and
how it plays out in the show Agent Carter. I certainly hope that everyone agrees with the
examples I have chosen and everyone getting to understand something new about the
feminst theory.

12. Cites And Sources
● https://uh.edu/~cfreelan/courses/femfilm.html
http://repository.unika.ac.id/16343/6/13.80.0034%20FRISKA%20ANGGREANIKA
%20baru%20BAB%20V.pdf