Although it is predominantly an action movie, Captain America : Civil War has managed to sneak in some anarchist ideas that are not very commonly heard in the mainstream media. I think this is an extremely positive sign and I hope a good percentage of those who saw the film had at least the seed of Anarchist thought planted in their brains.
In the interest of watering those seeds a bit, or pointing out the seeds to those who missed them completely, I’d like to point out what I found to be the most interesting parts of the movie.
The scene where the Avengers are discussing the agreement they have been asked to sign should seem very familiar to anyone who’s tried to talk someone out of Statism:
Tony: “There’s no decision making process here… we need to be put in check! Whatever form that takes, I’m game. If we can’t accept limitations, we’re boundry-less, we’re no better than the bad guys.”
This is just the usual Statist argument that we need to be “Governed”. We can’t just be Free.
Steve: “Tony, someone dies on your watch, you don’t give up.”
Tony: “Who said we’re giving up?
Steve: “We are, if we’re not taking responsibility for our actions. This document just shifts the blame.”
Steve is clearly pushing the anarchist point of view here on personal responsibility.
Rhodes: “Sorry. Steve, that is dangerously arrogant. This is the United Nations we’re talking about. It’s not the World Security Council. It’s not Shield. It’s not Hydra.”
Wow, personal responsibility is “dangerously arrogant”. YOU can’t just take responsibility yourself. You must have a governing body or some consensus from people who know better than you.
Steve: “No! But it’s run by people with agendas, and agendas change.”
Tony: “That’s good! That’s why I’m here. When I realized what my weapons were capable of in the wrong hands, I shut it down and stopped manufacturing.”
Steve: “Tony, you CHOSE to do that. If we sign this, we surrender our Right to Choose! What if this Panel sends us somewhere we don’t think we should go? What if there is somewhere we need to go, and they don’t let us? We may not be perfect, but the best hands are still our own.”
Here Steve spelled it out for Tony. Loosing one’s right to choose means becoming a slave to the State.
Tony: “If we don’t do this now, it’s going to be done to us later. That’s the fact. That won’t be pretty.”
Here Tony is just appealing to fear, as the Statist alway do.
…Later, after Steve is arrested, the conversation continues, but Tony is still trapped in fear…
Tony: “Give me a break! I’m doing what has to be done… to stave off something worse.”
Steve: “You keep telling yourself that.”
The way forward is also suggested in this film, when Sharon Carter is speaking at the funeral of one of Steve’s close friends:
Sharon Carter: “..She said compromise where you can, where you can’t… don’t. Even if everyone is telling you that something wrong is something right, even if the whole world is telling you to move… It is your duty to plant yourself like a tree, look them in the eye and say… No. You move!”