Super Sunday Tabs

Look, up in the sky!

Because I watched Superman on Friday, recorded a podcast about it yesterday, and then QA’d that podcast this morning, there has been a lot of Superman rolling about in my brain and filling up my tabs.

First, purely movie tabs.

But then, yes, politics are involved (it is a political blog, after all).

Why are politics involved, you ask?

Well…

And yes, that’s real. It was apparently in response to James Gunn saying the following.

“I mean, Superman is the story of America,” Gunn says. “An immigrant that came from other places and populated the country, but for me it is mostly a story that says basic human kindness is a value and is something we have lost.” I ask if he has considered how differently the film might play in say, blue state New York — aka Metropolis — and Kansas, where Kent grew up? “Yes, it plays differently,” Gunn admits. “But it’s about human kindness and obviously there will be jerks out there who are just not kind and will take it as offensive just because it is about kindness. But screw them.”

If all of that sounds “woke” then I’m totally down with being woke. That some people find it politically offensive to state that America was built by immigrants and that a foreign-born person could come here and be a true hero is deeply saddening to me. It is a sign of the poison of ultranationalism.

And then there is the reminder that part of the official White House media strategy is trolling.

  • A New Yoker cartoon:
FILED UNDER: Nerd Corner, Popular Culture, Tab Clearing, US Politics, , , , , , , , , ,
Steven L. Taylor
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science and former College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog). Follow Steven on Twitter and/or BlueSky.

Comments

  1. Flat Earth Luddite says:

    Unfortunately (due to financial constraints and crowded dark spaces being triggering) I’ll wait for it to hit my local tele. But that being said, OF COURSE it’s an immigrant story, you ignorant Fox adjacent bleeps!

    Sheesh, all y’all are giving Luddite’s and Crackers a bad name. Behave, people!!!

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  2. Kathy says:

    Not just an immigrant, but in right wing modern parlance an illegal one. He arrived in a tiny lifeboat, a refugee from a natural (or non-natural*) disaster, an unaccompanied minor, from a nation not known much less recognized by the US, not at a port of entry, and didn’t even request asylum. He just lived there, his true origins hidden, and took up spots in Smallville elementary and Smallville high that should have gone to real Americans.

    But there’s more. The Kents must have obtained papers for him, passing him off as “Clarke Kent.” You know, birth certificate, Social Security number, etc. What lies did they tell, as we know they did not reveal his true, illelgal origins.

    They should all be rounded up by ICE and deported off the planet.

    *Not sure what the current Superman canon is.

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  3. @Kathy: All correct. Clark would be the ultimate DREAMer.

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  4. Kathy says:

    Maybe the MAGAts can convince DC to write an Elseworlds comic where Superman lands in Germany rather than Kansas or Ukraine.

    Reich Son of Krypton.

    Guaranteed not to be woke.

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  5. Gromitt Gunn says:

    These are the same unserious people who feel obligated to ask “When did Star Trek go woke?” and seem shocked that the answer is “September 8, 1966.”

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  6. @Gromitt Gunn: It really is amazing. I hope to do an episode of the podcast about it at some point.

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  7. Slugger says:

    Woke has been an issue in American literature for a long time. The harpoonists in Moby Dick are Queequeg, a Pacific islander, Tashtego, a native American, Dagoo, an African, and Fedallah, a Zorastrian from India. James Fenimore Cooper had lots of native Americans. I don’t dare mention Mark Twain or William Faulkner.

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  8. EddieInCA says:

    I can tell you from first hand knowledge that there are champagne corks popping all over Burbank, California today. The first few reviews were brutal for “Superman”, but the audience has spoken and the public has told those early critics “Screw you.”

    I’m thrilled for Peter Safran, who I know, but am not super close with, and who has always been very, very good to me over the years, and James Gunn – for having the guts to pull off this franchise reboot. I’m pissed that Zaslav will get some credit, as the quicker he leaves WB the better it will be, but kudos to him for hiring Safran and Gunn.

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