Your opinion on Ms Marvel?

Ms Marvel completed it's first season yesterday. It's the most critically acclaimed marvel project and Disney+ show (Rated 98% on rotten tomatoes) but got the least viewership for any MCU show.

Since there are many South Asians on this forum who live in the west, how authentic do you think was the portrayal of Kamala's family as a typical Pakistani family living in US?

Unrealistic scenes in the show which I noticed as a desi (apart from fantasy and sci-fi):

• Kamala's family talking in English even in their household and also in Pakistan.😆

• Rural Indians talking in English even in 1947. 😆

• Bollywood references were cool to some degree but SRK, DDLJ and Baazigar references were only used to grab Indians attention and views. Kamala is too young to care about SRK or his old films.

• Kamala not getting grounded for sneaking out at night.

• Kamala not getting slapped by her mom after she ruined her brother's wedding and refused to tell what happened to her family.😆

• Kamala's parents being okay with her being a superhero. That won't fly with any parent South Asian or not. Kamala's parents did a whole 180° personality change by not allowing her to go to Avenger con in first episode to being completely cool with her being a vigilante superhero and breaking the law in the last episode.

In my opinion, the show is entertaining. Kamala is a likable and charming protagonist. It has a different tone than other MCU shows which is good for a change. The whole show has a fun vibe and it doesn't take itself seriously. Although the last episode and the climax became a bit too childish.

Farhan Akhtar is wasted. Fawad Khan gets a good role and screentime but it didn't make much sense to focus on the love story of Hasan and Aisha. The show started as a coming of age story in first two episodes, but then shifted focus on the history of Kamala's great grandmother and her bangle with the whole partition backdrop. Still not giving enough information about how she got her powers for episode 3, 4, 5, but again came back to being a coming of age story in the last episode.

They should've kept the story about the origin of her powers for next season and this season be only about her adjusting to her powers and showing normal teenage stuff.

I can vouch for the fact that the show is very authentic. For once they didn't rely on stereotypes for desis and have very subtle references to what it's like being a Pakistani American. To your concern about the characters speaking English, I don't think it's a loophole or mistake, it's done purposely. It's an American show and hence all characters need to speak in English for American viewers to understand, the comic it's based on is written in English, not Urdu. This is how American shows have always handled cross cultural references, including shows that show Hispanic heritage (aka Jane the Virgin, the characters spread English, when I know most Hispanic families speak Spanish at home)

^^^Agree. The fastest way to be certain it will not be widely watched is to make Americans read subtitles. LOL. There are even “artistic” films which begin with actors speaking in a foreign language and artistically morph into them speaking American English. Other times they give the actors ridiculous accents to signify their foreign language but I can’t think of any mainstream US production that used extended foreign language segments and was popularly watched by Americans. No doubt someone will think of an exception, but Disney is not about exceptions.

I usually love anything marvel, but really struggling to connect with this show

Have completed 2 episodes and really do not feel like continuing with it. Its just so boring - the humor feels so forced, the acting by the lead actress is average and the pace is quite slow. Its like an annoying teenage rom-com which is totally not my genre

Originally posted by: desigal90

I can vouch for the fact that the show is very authentic. For once they didn't rely on stereotypes for desis and have very subtle references to what it's like being a Pakistani American. To your concern about the characters speaking English, I don't think it's a loophole or mistake, it's done purposely. It's an American show and hence all characters need to speak in English for American viewers to understand, the comic it's based on is written in English, not Urdu. This is how American shows have always handled cross cultural references, including shows that show Hispanic heritage (aka Jane the Virgin, the characters spread English, when I know most Hispanic families speak Spanish at home)

I understand it's an American show and they got to talk in English, but since we very well know that's not how Indians or Pakistanis talk, it's almost impossible to suspend disbelief there. I won't say it's a "mistake", but it's not an authentic portrayal.

Originally posted by: PangaNaLe

I understand it's an American show and they got to talk in English, but since we very well know that's not how Indians or Pakistanis talk, it's almost impossible to suspend disbelief there. I won't say it's a "mistake", but it's not an authentic portrayal.

Originally posted by: DiscoDhokla

I live in us. And my American co worker watches this show and he did ask me meaning of couple of Hindi / Urdu words. Considering the audience range I think they are doing a fare job. Staying authentic as much as possible. He said he is surprised how much Hindi is used in the show.

Exactly! It's made for American audiences, why would they speak in Urdu? That's like saying the original Aladin should have been in Arabic, or even the new one. Or any show that shows any culture other than Caucasian white, should be in their native language.

As someone living in the US, it's also normal for Pakistani and Indian adults to speak English to their kids because a lot of ABCDs are not fully fluent in their native languages and do answer and talk in English with their families.

If the show is so great why does it has the lowest viewership ever...

Anyway, I have question about her nomenclature

Is it athentic?

Originally posted by: BettyA1

If the show is so great why does it has the lowest viewership ever...

Anyway, I have question about her nomenclature

Is it athentic?

A few reasons - all other marvel shows are either featuring established characters (Loki, What If, Hawkeye, Wanda Vision) or established actors (Moonknight has Ethan Hawk and Oscar Isaac).

Ms Marvel is the only show that's a completely new cast and character, not to mention featuring kids.

Originally posted by: BettyA1

If the show is so great why does it has the lowest viewership ever...

Anyway, I have question about her nomenclature

Is it athentic?

Because Disney seems to have forgotten the crucial part in the success of any show - audience. Superhero movies are watched by people who are interested in special effects and OTT action and straightforward storylines. They want macho heroes and kickass heroines who wear sexy bustiers for costumes. Comicbook come to life, in fact.

Ms Marvel is none of the above.

I don't know what Disney's intention was. If they're trying to break into the billion-plus India market, this ain't the right way. A few will watch initially for the curiosity factor. Otherwise, Indian audience has little in common with the Indian-American or Pakistani-American teenager. Disney would've been better off merging a home-grown superhero into the universe.