Yelena Belova’s storyline about having joy as a kid is for the “happy kids”
In Thunderbolts*, Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) admits that she feels lonely and lost. She opens up to Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour) how she’s feeling and we get one of the most relatable scenes in the entire movie.
**slight spoilers for Thunderbolts* ahead**
The beauty of Thunderbolts* is that everyone can find someway to relate to these characters. But, as someone who often finds Yelena to be relatable, one thing Alexei said about her really hit. He explains that she wanted to be the goalie on her soccer team as a kid because she wanted to be the person that the team could rely on. He said she had a light in her and was a joyful kid.
If you’ve ever been called a “happy” kid, you understand how much this scene hurts. Growing up, I was always labeled as happy and carefree. It makes feeling sad or darker emotions as an adult a bit different because I feel like that’s not what people expect from me. They want me to be happy and carefree always.
It’s a little different from Yelena’s journey, who doesn’t remember when she was that joyful kid. But the idea is still there. You get labeled as something and you don’t know how to function outside of what people expect from you. It makes those darker moments feel so much worse because you’re still trying to be the “happy” person people expect.
With Yelena, she’s funny and charming and has the energy of a kid sister that you either know or you are. But as Alexei said, he doesn’t see her mistakes. He sees that joy he always saw in her and I think that’s a really poignant and beautiful way of looking at those of us who have been the “happy kids.”
Sometimes, your joy can be a good thing
Maybe it is a baby sister thing but being the youngest, I was always smiling and happy. But it did make the days when I didn’t want to be joyful or happy feel a lot heavier because I knew people were expecting something of me. Yelena admits to Alexei that she doesn’t remember when she was happy but her sadness reminds me a lot of my own.
Throughout all of Thunderbolts*, Yelena is still there for others. Bob (Lewis Pullman) is clearly sad and upset and she’s the only one to ask him how he is. She looks out for Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) and she’s the one who looks at John (Wyatt Russell) to check in on him when Bucky (Sebastian Stan) tells the group about his wife and kids. She’s taking care of everyone else but herself.
That, to me, is what happens when you go from the girl everyone looked to to be “fun.” That happiness and joy that Yelena felt as a kid is one that I know well and to see her not be okay and someone recognize that he still sees the light in her meant a lot to me.
(featured image: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
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