Captain America and the National Security State

Rating: 9/10 (4 April 2014)

When I think of Captain America what comes to mind is the image of a pro-capitalist crusader whose goal is to purse the interests of the American State and to fight against external threats to the security of the one percent. Such was the case in the early 20th century when Smedly Butler walked out of the US army in disgust when he realised that what he was not frighting for was the freedom of oppressed people, but rather the interests of the corporate elite, when he realised that he was overthrowing legitimate governments in favour of business friendly tyrants who exist only to enrich the shareholders. Thus was my opinion of the American state, and thus was my opinion of the superheroes that this state had created.
However Marvel, and in turn Hollywood (as represented by Disney) seems to be undermining its own legitimacy for the sake of a good story. In fact it is films like The Winter Soldier that seems to emphasise Hollywood's own split personality, and adds weight to the belief that the flaw of the capitalist is that they will sell you the rope by which they will hang themselves if it means they can make a buck.
So, how is it that this movie brings to light Hollywood's split personality? Well, The Winter Story has as the antagonist the national security state. In fact everything that comes to light in the film is a reflection of the danger that the military-industrial complex has wrought since the end of World War II. As is mention in the film, when the war was over Hydra (Captain America's nemesis organisation) was not dismantled, but it was rather absorbed into societies of the victors. As such the goal of Hydra to enslave humanity on the grounds that humanity cannot handle freedom has been transferred from the Nazi regime, who sought to take that freedom by force, over to the modern liberal democracy, who seeks to have the people give up their freedom through fear. As such, in this modern world in which Steve Rogers, the all Americian hero, finds himself, the enemy is not external, but rather arising from the state that he was created to protect, and the people that he believed that he trusted the most, are in fact his enemies.
This is not the first Marvel Universe movie that has gone down this road because we had the same idea in Iron Man III where a terrorist (the Mandarin) was manufactured by the military-industrial complex (the same complex of which Tony Stark is a member) in order to create fear within the people so that they would hand up their freedom for security. This is a reflection of the real world, where while September 11th was not manufactured, the fear that came about afterwards was exacerbated to the point that the pervasiveness of the national security regime is complete, and everybody's communications are effectively monitored. It is against this internal threat to our freedom and our own security – freedom from the intrusion into our own personal life, and freedom to be able to hold whatever beliefs we wish to hold (as long as those beliefs do not infringe upon the rights of others – another way that the concept of freedom cannot stand due to its own inherent dichotomy) without an external force coming in and threatening us because of these beliefs.