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https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/culture/71842/the-limits-of-superman-james-gunn-the-definitive-history>
"The dumbest controversy of 2025—and it is a hotly contested category—came
after some remarks the film director James Gunn made about his new
Superman
movie. “
Superman is the story of America,” he told the
Sunday Times in
July. “An immigrant that came from other places and populated the country…”
If you can look past Gunn’s slightly awkward spoken grammar, you’ll spot at
once the word that triggered what was to follow. The I-one.
Immigrant. At a
time when man-babies rule the internet, and popular culture is treated as a
competitive sport, having it suggested that this all-American hero isn’t
actually all-American was, of course, enough to burst blood vessels. “Woke
nonsense!” read one of the more temperate comments on X. “Great job leftists
for making sure nobody sees this movie,” read another. “You truly are the…
worst people on the earth.”
In fairness, Gunn has baited Donald Trump and his supporters in the past. And
he was speaking, this time, during a summer of raids by the president’s
weaponised Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. So perhaps there
is additional context for the heated response.
But, on the facts alone, the director’s comments are unimpeachable. Superman’s
story, much like America’s, is unavoidably a story of immigration. Anyone who
has heard of Krypton, the doomed home planet from which he was delivered as a
baby, ought to know this. But if you read the most recent chronicle of the
character, a huge and handsome book that earns its title of
Superman: The
Definitive History, the truth will hit you around the chops with all the force
of a blow from the Man of Steel himself."
Via Frederick Wilson II.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
