0
submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by UlyssesT@hexbear.net to c/askchapo@hexbear.net

I don't even mean a bad thing, necessarily. I mean a thing that is made to normalize the status quo, pave over inherent contradictions in late stage neoliberal capitalism, make even the idea of changing society somewhat seem evil or impossible, and have lots of performative gestures that hide the stench of affluent arrogance. :zizek-preference:

I know it came out well before 2020, but I finally got around to seeing Iron Man 2 and I stopped at the instant Tony Stark said "I've successfully privatized world peace." It was bad. Very bad. The original movie was entertaining even if it had some painful deliberate adjustments to the comic book character to make him more like :my-hero: but the sequel played out like Ayn Rand fanfiction, especially the big smart awesome genius giving a speech about how the evil government and the ungrateful moochers were taking the sweat from his brow and so on and so on. :zizek:

The flood of MCU movies wore me out to the point that I stopped watching them and because of that I have only seen maybe half of them by now. Maybe it was a mistake returning to try watching Iron Man 2 because I now have even less interest in seeing anything MCU ever again. :zizek-fuck:

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] Sen_Jen@hexbear.net 1 points 2 years ago

Lol yeah. Two of the heroes are cops, one is a girlboss CEO, the other is a war profiteering capitalist who incited a civil war so he could sell arms.

Meanwhile, the villains are all people who "meant well but were too extreme". Like apparently wanting equality for people without magic can only manifest as Amon, who wants to take away everyone's magic, and is actually magic himself. Caring for the environment can only manifest as Unalaq, who actually doesn't care about the environment and wants to destroy the world. There are no alternatives - support the oppressive status quo or be a villain.

The portrayal of anarchism actually baffles me in Korra, because they pretty much had it correct with the air nomads. In ATLA, the air nomads were peaceful, freedom loving people with very little hierarchy and no bigotry. But in Korra, anarchism is when there's no rules and no bedtimes and everything is chaos and it's completely individualistic. Like, Zaheer kill the earth queen and literally tear down the walls separating the rich and the poor - and then they go off to commit genocide against the airbenders for some reason? That is a completely incoherent ideology, yet the show treats it as the only outcome of anarchism.

Also Kuvira is an actual fascist who puts people in concentration camps, but she's the one villain who gets mercy. You want to dismantle unjust hierarchies and remove barriers between nations? We are going to fucking murder you. You want to ethnically cleanse your nation? No biggie, house arrest with your family. The last straw for the good guys is when Kuvira tries to retake land that was colonised for fucks sake

this post was submitted on 05 Apr 2022
0 points (NaN% liked)

askchapo

22747 readers
328 users here now

Ask Hexbear is the place to ask and answer ~~thought-provoking~~ questions.

Rules:

  1. Posts must ask a question.

  2. If the question asked is serious, answer seriously.

  3. Questions where you want to learn more about socialism are allowed, but questions in bad faith are not.

  4. Try !feedback@hexbear.net if you're having questions about regarding moderation, site policy, the site itself, development, volunteering or the mod team.

founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS