The cultural values of an establishment will determine in detail how the participants are to feel about many matters and at the same time established a framework of appearances that must be maintained.

Whether or not there is feeling behind the appearances.

And this is the central tension that black widows entire journey is concentrated on the dreams and needs of constructing an identity that may not completely correspond but projects a wolf of hopes.

And more than any other character, Nat has one of the most Fascinatingly complex arcs, because by being a supporting character during the entire Infinity saga, her whole story is able to profit off the reflections from the other characters in their arts.

And as a result, she's also able to breathe a bit more.

In order to organize this essay, I'm going to use Joseph Campbell's modern meth structure for the what six bloody time?

Because black widows journey is incredibly fragmented.

Unlike Steven Tony's arc, each phase doesn't Titley correspond to each act instead of seven.

Film journey functions almost like a form of connective tissue between each phase.

Just make something up.

What, like you?

The truth is a matter of circumstance.

It's not all things don't people all the time. 00:01:59.750 --> 00:02:0.330 Neither am I. 00:02:1.360 --> 00:02:3.310 It's tough we're not leaving. 00:02:3.310 --> 00:02:12.460 The familiar to venture into the unknown doesn't happen and Phase one, But I had to start a phase two, and her becoming the master of two worlds doesn't happen into the start of faced three.

So this analysis will primarily focused on how black widows identity moves out of different domains and, more importantly, how it's realized by various connections.

Theo, Me here to do your laundry.

Where's the other friend?

I take it back.

You get attracted to realize you're waiting.

I would have joined.

You know, I got red in my ledger. 00:02:52.750 --> 00:03:5.400 I'd like to be Oh, that's introduction and I meant to is kind of like a prologue. 00:03:5.410 --> 00:03:14.030 It's an appearance that isn't wholly necessary for the grand scheme of things, but establishes to core values of the characters and where her home is very impressive.

Individual in French, Italian, Russian, Latin, who speaks Latin.

No one speaks Latin is a dead language.

She's Tony's new assistance, and at first it seems like she's gonna be engaged in a love triangle between Tony and Pepper.

But this is subverted one.

Instead, it's revealed that she was a shield plant this whole time usedto watch over Tony, and they found her way to the V is suitable for the Avengers.

So she's defined not by her emotional connections but by a professional one.

Therefore, even though Black Widow was just a sporting character who's storytelling purposes in representing a wider context, a world of deception and unforeseen judgments. 00:03:48.990 --> 00:04:0.170 Now this, on the other hand, his agent Romanoff's assessment of you is actually a fun meditate, actual way to establish her own in universe internal ball of ideas. 00:04:0.170 --> 00:04:0.960 Intentions. 00:04:0.970 --> 00:04:10.570 She herself is deceptive and is constantly burdened with a very heavy, precarious self image that is purely sustainable from the judgment off others.

Because it's all a performance, a quiet moment that highlights to this is when Natasha is at Tony's birthday.

I should cancel the party, probably.

Yeah, cause it's, um, ill times, right since wrong message.

Inappropriate.

It's a deeply flirtatious scene where she clearly has its entire personality mapped out enough to finish all of the sentences.

But on the other hand, there's something deeply cold about this exchange.

It lacks a sense of intimacy.

I gotta say it's hard to get a read on you.

Where you from?

Legal Because he can't map her out.

It's an interaction.

There's completely one way for Natasha.

She can give a flattering social performance, but it's one that's constructed to omit much of herself.

Her character is almost like a mini metaphor for Charles coolies looking glass very where self identity is specifically defined, not by how you see yourself but how you think others see you and that's effectively Nets character.

Her identity is completely dependent on how it's socially reflected.

So entering into the Avengers, this is expanded palm by her introduction.

This reflection works both ways where she's interrogating her captors by appearing like she's the one being interrogated.

I'm in the middle of an interrogation.

This moron is giving me everything.

She's so adept at socialization that communication is like a game to her, where purpose is never obstructed by any ego.

This is effectively where are properly begins, and your actress Bunny She was five year they start that young.

I did, because Black Widow throughout the story is more relaxed.

She's in her element now.

Shield is involved, so she feels morally confident.

The villain is literally a mass murderer. 00:05:58.230 --> 00:06:0.150 He killed 80 people in two days. 00:06:0.900 --> 00:06:13.980 He's adopted, and she gets to work with the morally impeccable like Steve and Tony monitors thistles the character at home and therefore marks the boundaries between the known and the unknown.

And crossing this line is what Campbell described as destiny has summoned the hero.

This path is marked out by Hawkeye and the Hulk, who maps out a fun continuity of what the familiar domain means from Tasha's reality, Monsters and Magic and nothing we were ever trained for.

Clinton's like an anchor because whatever she did in the past and however unredeemable it was, he's her ideal self.

He was willing to give her a second chance, so this is the sole logic that pins her world together.

I'm need Don't don't do that to yourself.

While Bruce resembles more of her own self image, are lonely monster that was corrupted by an inner force. 00:06:53.870 --> 00:07:1.410 A moment that highlights this dynamic is one Bruce struggles from stopping himself from turning to the Hulk, and she swears to help him. 00:07:1.420 --> 00:07:4.610 She tries to give him what Clint gave her, but it fails. 00:07:5.740 --> 00:07:6.920 They're on my life. 00:07:7.110 --> 00:07:7.880 I will get you out. 00:07:9.510 --> 00:07:16.000 And that failure momentarily immobilizes her, and it's something that is lingered on in the directing.

Her anxiety with the Hawk is to an extent reflective off her fear of not having any redemption that her identity is fixed in unmoving.

He reflects something incredibly bleak Back to her, I've seen worse.

Sorry, no, we could use a little worse.

Subsequently, black widow in 80 lives in a space where her sense of self feels extremely precarious but ability to fight regardless of the Avengers.

And to be the one that, despite exhaustion, closes the portal is the one thing that allows you to live in a world of such limited balance. 00:07:50.750 --> 00:08:0.230 Doing the job gives her a sense of gravity In one soldier, Black widow is now finally forced to walk from the known into the unknown. 00:08:0.240 --> 00:08:9.310 The contacts that held her precarious world has now stripped away not just by the hydra twist but also by Steve, who becomes her new reference points. 00:08:9.740 --> 00:08:18.300 He is what Campbell defined as the supernatural Aid or the threshold guardian slash mentor figure who helps her along with her journey.

He specifically said, not infrequently.

The supernatural helper is masculine inform who appears to supply the amulets and advice that the hero will require.

In this case, to emulate she's given is a new pair of eyes to see the world worth.

I guess I can tell the difference anymore.

There's a chance you might be in the wrong business because at the heart of the story is the tale of a sincere liar that is transformed by a man who struggles to deceive.

That sounded a lot more poetic than I planned.

The most crucial moment that encapsulates not only this park in her identity but in her entire journey is from the intimate scene between her and Steve, where she asks him if it was the other way around. 00:08:59.400 --> 00:09:2.120 It was down to me to save your life and be honest with me. 00:09:3.140 --> 00:09:5.670 What, you trust me to do it, I would. 00:09:5.670 --> 00:09:10.600 Now it's a moment that mirrors have seen with Clint from the Avengers.

But instead of looking for meaning in the past, she desperately consults the present.

Steve totally didn't trust her because as much as he's charmed by her wit, he maintains a professional distance out of an old fashion sense of courtesy.

And she also represents everything he doesn't like about the new culture of fear.

I didn't want you doing anything you weren't comfortable with.

Agent Romanoff is comfortable with everything.

I can't lead a mission when the people I'm leading admissions of the room butts by the sincerity that he gives to something that's deeply alien and I'm always honest.

Nat's precarious sense of balance is re balanced because she's given hope and because it isn't coming from Clint's. 00:09:50.300 --> 00:10:0.410 But from Steve Romanoff, Captain Rogers, she's now given a sense of progression in time that exposes something new and exciting inside her. 00:10:0.990 --> 00:10:4.590 And that's what the ending of Winter Soldier celebrates the beauty of this junction. 00:10:4.650 --> 00:10:7.010 Natasha is hopeful of her possibilities. 00:10:7.010 --> 00:10:9.230 She happily takes the steps into the new front. 00:10:9.230 --> 00:10:10.610 It blew all my covers.

I gotta go figure it might take a while if you some always Natasha's journey.

In her first set of appearances, this is a story about the struggle off disguise.

She's a character who exists at foremost as a reflection as a secretary for Tony.

She's a mystique.

You can deceive others as a superhero of the Avengers.

She's a paragon that doesn't know it.

She doesn't know she's deceiving herself, and as a liar turns truth seekers.

She discovers a new world and a world to travel in it.

She's excited to be honest with herself now, and so she finds a new entrance in life and enters it. 00:10:50.740 --> 00:11:7.790 Ordinarily, in the second act of a story, the protagonists has to face a set of trials pressures and have to slay dragons in such as, Campbell said the ordeal is a deepening off the problem off the first threshold and question is still in balance. 00:11:8.220 --> 00:11:10.510 Can the ego put itself to death?

For Natasha?

This comes in the form of temptations.

Black Widow is trying to short cut the construction of her identity by pursuing a relationship with Banner, because now that she has a new sense of interest in building a new life, falling in love off the hawk is her re evaluating the gap in her identity between who she thinks she is against who she wants to be And this is what's so interesting about Age of Ultron.

Despite the goofy humor, it's actually an incredibly nihilistic interrogation of these characters.

Because Clint's family is used to scrutinize each member of the Avengers.

Clint has been expanded pond by not only representing an idea itself but also an ideal life, which then is used to expose each character's connection with the future and what's ultimately relevant in their life.

If you strip everything away.

Gentlemen, this is Laura. 00:12:0.740 --> 00:12:1.980 I know all your names. 00:12:2.290 --> 00:12:6.150 Tony identifies for the smaller world, and it's what he finds solace in. 00:12:6.690 --> 00:12:11.350 Steve has no connection because it's happy endings torn out from the moment he sacrificed himself.

And it's simply a reminder for thought that he has a duty as a protector in spite of his own confusions and fears.

But it's the most tragic for black widow, because this is something she desperately wants but can't ever make tangible.

Subsequently, this is where the one divisions come into place.

These flashes are like different forms of punishments used to tear into the foundations of each character.

For Steve, he sees the pastor can never happen.

That is to end game for Tony he sees the future that could totally happen onto endgame and for thought.

He sees the future that is going to happen and then did happen.

Dead cannot see.

Natasha has a flash of her origins, butts never clear enough to provide detailed events. 00:12:58.370 --> 00:13:0.910 Instead, it provides a feeling of how she felt. 00:13:0.920 --> 00:13:3.600 It's communicated as the form of trauma. 00:13:4.110 --> 00:13:15.430 And since I'm defining trauma for, like the 100th time, I might as well use Emily Quietly and Michael Pickering's S a Trauma Discourse and Communicative Limits, which said foreign individual suffering from traumatic experience.

There is a mark's difficulty sometimes for found in making the experience story a bowl and knowable, and that if courting communication for matters articulated by a connection with the hook, because his image as a monster is able to symbolize and externalize something that is difficult to put into words for how she sees herself versus how she sees Bruce is not really comparable.

But that's the point.

And this is where the body judgment scene lays its most important foundations because it's an attache at the most characteristically naked.

She finds harmony with Banner because she hasn't let go off her own distorted reflection.

They have a graduation ceremony.

They sterilize you. 00:13:57.030 --> 00:14:8.330 It highlights that there's an entanglement of old logics against a new world, and the language he uses is evidence of not only how traps years, but how un communicable, her sense of time and identity are. 00:14:8.340 --> 00:14:10.390 You still think you're the only monster on the team.

Therefore, Bruce Banner is a temptress, more or less that's implicitly stray Natasha away from reconstructing her identity, because by just simply being around, he actively incentivizes her to orientate her imagination backwards, fixed on a trapped meaning.

Consequently, it's ironic that Bruce Banner leaving is actually the best thing that could have happened to her, because she's forced to concentrate her efforts in constructing a new continuity.

A new narrative that can context relies for painful pasts into something usable in the present.

And just as Steve meant Order and when soldier, it's fitting that he's the one that leads throughout with a joke staring at the wall or do you want to go to work?

I mean, it's a pretty interesting Tony.

We're still gazing into each other's eyes and into a new destination as to co leader of the avenges. 00:14:59.140 --> 00:15:9.910 She finds a new reflection from her sense of duty purpose, which is a lesson that Steve himself learns, and it's something that they now in still with the new avenges. 00:15:9.920 --> 00:15:14.010 In this one moment, she's finally happy.

Lou Natasha's life is now at a stable place, while Steven Tonio struggling with their lives.

She's the only person operating at full capacity.

She's the main representative off the Avengers.

She's there for Steve during Peggy's funeral, when she backs up Tony's attempt to keep the Avengers together area.

She's self actualized to a large extent because the new identity that she's crafted is defined by her ability to hold on to hope.

She even mentors her mentor.

What you doing?

I didn't want you to be alone.

There is a point with the film Floods, with the notion that her signing this Cove in Accords and siding with Tony was her taking a short cut, as she did with Bruce Banner.

But the story rebukes to this. 00:15:57.670 --> 00:16:6.120 When she is technically the person who disbands de avenges as we know it, she would rather have the Avengers fall apart, then lose her grip of her own beliefs. 00:16:6.340 --> 00:16:12.170 In this case, friendship is more important hubris, a scene that highlights this change.

Natasha is her small confrontation with Tony before she leaves, which also makes for a fun comparison with the scene from fine men, too.

Because now the exchange isn't one way.

On one hand, they're not just colleagues.

They've developed into friends who can map out each other's thoughts in an argument.

It must be hard to shake double agent thing sticks in the DNA, and on the other hand, her identity is not dependent on the reflection off someone else.

It's not performance, it's truly her, and she can fight for it.

Are you incapable of letting go of your ego from one goddamn second? 00:16:47.680 --> 00:17:3.350 This is what Campbell called the ultimate Boone, where finally the mind breaks the bounding sphere of the cosmos to a realization transcending all experience, off form Age of Ultron and Civil War is a story of Nat leaving her cocoon to take this sentimental metaphor seriously. 00:17:3.840 --> 00:17:21.780 It's her reconcile ing with her trauma by making new meaning with her new purpose in life, and that is ultimately hurt even the goal in her life, someone who's not preoccupied with the past nor anticipating the future but can live in the present with a sense of freedom and assurance that was never felt before.

With the third act of the story, there's ordinarily a stage where the hero has to come home and face the world as someone who's changed.

Joseph Campbell presented this as crossing of the Return Threshold, An Infinity War.

She returns to being the commander of the Avengers side by side of Steven Sam again, and her introduction is her jumping in fighting for born to envision, which on one hand makes for an awesome opening.