https://www.readtpa.com/p/theyre-literally-angry-at-superman
"So apparently Superman believing in “basic human kindness” is now
controversial. Who knew?
James Gunn, director of the new
Superman film hitting theaters this Friday,
recently sat down with
The Times of London for an interview about his take on
the Man of Steel. His crime? Describing
Superman as “the story of America” —
specifically, as an immigrant story centered on the apparently radical notion
that being kind to people is good, actually.
“I mean,
Superman is the story of America. An immigrant that came from other
places and populated the country,” Gunn told the newspaper. “But for me it is
mostly a story that says basic human kindness is a value and is something we
have lost.”
Pretty anodyne stuff, right? The most famously wholesome superhero represents
wholesome values. An alien refugee who becomes Earth's greatest champion might
have something to do with immigration. Real “water is wet” territory here.
But in the right-wing media ecosystem, Gunn's comments were treated like he'd
just announced Superman would be spending the entire movie reading
The
Communist Manifesto while wearing a pussy hat.
Fox News immediately branded
the film “Superwoke.” Jesse Watters suggested Superman's cape should read
“MS13.” Breitbart called it “terrible,” “superficial,” and “overstuffed” —
which is impressive considering they hadn't seen it yet. One
OutKick writer
declared that Gunn was “obviously upset that President Donald Trump is
deporting illegal immigrants by the millions.”
All because a director pointed out that Superman — a character literally
created by the children of Jewish immigrants — is an immigrant story about
being nice to people.
The manufactured outrage machine kicked into overdrive so fast, you'd think
Gunn had suggested replacing the S on Superman's chest with a hammer and
sickle. But this isn't really about Superman. It's about how conservative media
takes the most innocuous statements and transforms them into culture war
ammunition. It's about how the right-wing ecosystem has become so reflexively
oppositional that even “basic human kindness” reads as a partisan attack.
And perhaps most tellingly, it's about what happens when you've built an entire
media apparatus that needs a constant supply of things to be mad about — even
if that means getting upset that Superman, of all characters, stands for truth,
justice, and helping people."
Via Molly White’s
[citation needed] Issue 88 – The stockchain
https://www.citationneeded.news/issue-88/
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
