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.
- Via NPR: James Gunn’s ‘Superman’ movie is corny. Which is why it gets Superman right.
- Via Deadline: It’s A Bird, It’s A Plane, It’s A Box Office Hit: ‘Superman’ Opening To $123M – Sunday AM Update.
- Via Den of Geek: Superman Post-Credits Scenes Explained.
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.
- Via The Experiment: Waiting for Superman.
- Via The UnPopulist: MAGA Pundits Are Triggered That Superman Is an Immigrant.
- Via The Bulwark: Trump vs. Truth, Justice, and the American Way.
- Via NBC News: Superman or ‘Superwoke’? Right-wing critics of the new DC movie say the latter.
- Via The Wrap: Former Superman Dean Cain Says James Gunn Calling Hero an Immigrant Will Hurt Box Office: ‘I Don’t Like That’.
- Via Forbes: Superman’s An Immigrant? Director James Gunn Faces Right-Wing Backlash For Claim.
- A meme:
- A New Yoker cartoon:
