4 ms·

Something that for many years I've seen as "Ur-Fascist" in our culture is the popularity and continuous production of relatively vapid superhero movies. The maj

by api 6y ago

Something that for many years I've seen as "Ur-Fascist" in our culture is the popularity and continuous production of relatively vapid superhero movies. The majority of these are power fantasy porn, and like porn the only focus is really on the fetish and the orgasm. There's little characterization and little plot, and the villains are always cast as either pure evil or as a straw man representation of some other point of view. The rough cop and action movies of the 1980s and 1990s are far more subtile and intelligent than most superhero flicks. Watch Die Hard for example. It has actual characterization. You get at least a bit of a sense for who the characters are, their motives, and their flaws. I'm not saying it's high art but compared to the average comic book flick it's quite deep. The hero is a divorced cop who has obviously thrown himself into his work to numb his emotional pain. The villain comes off like a narcissist whose crimes are motivated by a burning desire to become the moneyed aristocrat he believes himself entitled to be. Throughout the film you can see the hero at least indirectly confront some of his personal demons while the villain's narcissism drives him further into depravity and in the end is his ruin. I wonder if the rise of fascist thinking of the 4chan /pol variety among younger people can in part be explained by their entire generation having been raised on a steady diet of comic book flicks and of course similar "fanservice" Anime.

rexpop 6y ago
I agree with this deeply. The Marvel Cinematic Universe, and its ilk, are propaganda projects designed to push manipulative falsehoods into the public's understanding of reality. I am not talking about Dr. Strange's magic, or Superman's laser vision; those fantastical elements are such pure fiction that they stand in contrast to the allegedly "realistic" elements on which the world rests. This contrast has always been a mechanism of science fiction[0], but in these super hero movies, what's left to be assumed as "reality" against which fantasy contrasts? Fascist tropes, such as: - the patronizing Übermensch (literally "Superman") on whom "the weak" must rely - moral nihilism of the "good" guys winning by force - patriarchal masculinity left and right - the untarnished benevolence of the Pentagon Their entire purpose is to help American audiences perform the mental gymnastics (pun intended) of differentiating "good" Populist Nationalism from "bad" Populist Nationalism. 0. (e.g. the replicator is entirely fantastical, but allows Starfleet to make allegedly realistic points about the politics of abundance and deprivation)
dashwav 6y ago
There was a really interesting paper [1] being circulated a bit last week in the circles I frequent on a few sites that dug a bit deeper into this. The villains are often very superficial and the consequences of the ensuing fight is very rarely shown in the movie itself, and if it is mentioned only in passing. There is this 'cleansliness' to the fight scenes that give you all of the enjoyment while removing any of the dirty human tragedies from the context. Really interesting read, and something that I have thought about quite a few times while seeing how popular these movies are nowadays [1] https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4429&context=gc_etds https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4...
trynumber9 6y ago
It's interesting you say that because 4chan is in general very critical of "capeshit" as they call it. https://boards.4chan.org/search#/capeshit https://boards.4chan.org/search#/capeshit
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
adnzzzzZ 6y ago
>I wonder if the rise of fascist thinking of the 4chan /pol variety among younger people can in part be explained by their entire generation having been raised on a steady diet of comic book flicks and of course similar "fanservice" Anime. 4chan is a contrarian website. The "rise of fascist thinking" is directly related to younger people being brought up on a steady diet of social justice nonsense being forced on them from every direction, for which the obvious opposite and most contrarian stance is the one held by the one and only, the late Adolf Hitler.
- heavyset_go 6y ago
  Literal Nazis and fascists were on 4chan far before the social justice movement was popularized in the US.
  - adnzzzzZ 6y ago
    That is wrong, given that the social justice movement in the US has been a thing since before 4chan existed.
- rexpop 6y ago
  How can "social justice" be "nonsense" if it's the opposite of Adolf Hitler's Fascist Nazism? Surely it's _sensible_ to diametrically oppose Fascism.
hansjorg 6y ago
I think this is spot on. It certainly seems like a lot of super hero franchises were started as outright far right propaganda, even if now, the profit motives of the licensee corporations have dulled the messaging somewhat. I think 'The Incredibles' is an interesting movie in this regard. It's probably the most family friendly pro fascist romp ever made. The protagonists are literally Ubermensch held back by an ignorant and fearful society. The evil goal of the bad guy is to give everyone super powers. It wouldn't be possible to spell this out any clearer.

by api 6y ago

rexpop 6y ago

I agree with this deeply. The Marvel Cinematic Universe, and its ilk, are propaganda projects designed to push manipulative falsehoods into the public's understanding of reality. I am not talking about Dr. Strange's magic, or Superman's laser vision; those fantastical elements are such pure fiction that they stand in contrast to the allegedly "realistic" elements on which the world rests. This contrast has always been a mechanism of science fiction[0], but in these super hero movies, what's left to be assumed as "reality" against which fantasy contrasts? Fascist tropes, such as: - the patronizing Übermensch (literally "Superman") on whom "the weak" must rely - moral nihilism of the "good" guys winning by force - patriarchal masculinity left and right - the untarnished benevolence of the Pentagon Their entire purpose is to help American audiences perform the mental gymnastics (pun intended) of differentiating "good" Populist Nationalism from "bad" Populist Nationalism. 0. (e.g. the replicator is entirely fantastical, but allows Starfleet to make allegedly realistic points about the politics of abundance and deprivation)

dashwav 6y ago

There was a really interesting paper [1] being circulated a bit last week in the circles I frequent on a few sites that dug a bit deeper into this. The villains are often very superficial and the consequences of the ensuing fight is very rarely shown in the movie itself, and if it is mentioned only in passing. There is this 'cleansliness' to the fight scenes that give you all of the enjoyment while removing any of the dirty human tragedies from the context. Really interesting read, and something that I have thought about quite a few times while seeing how popular these movies are nowadays [1] https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4429&context=gc_etds https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4...

trynumber9 6y ago

It's interesting you say that because 4chan is in general very critical of "capeshit" as they call it. https://boards.4chan.org/search#/capeshit https://boards.4chan.org/search#/capeshit

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

adnzzzzZ 6y ago

>I wonder if the rise of fascist thinking of the 4chan /pol variety among younger people can in part be explained by their entire generation having been raised on a steady diet of comic book flicks and of course similar "fanservice" Anime. 4chan is a contrarian website. The "rise of fascist thinking" is directly related to younger people being brought up on a steady diet of social justice nonsense being forced on them from every direction, for which the obvious opposite and most contrarian stance is the one held by the one and only, the late Adolf Hitler.

heavyset_go 6y ago
Literal Nazis and fascists were on 4chan far before the social justice movement was popularized in the US.
- adnzzzzZ 6y ago
  That is wrong, given that the social justice movement in the US has been a thing since before 4chan existed.
rexpop 6y ago
How can "social justice" be "nonsense" if it's the opposite of Adolf Hitler's Fascist Nazism? Surely it's _sensible_ to diametrically oppose Fascism.

hansjorg 6y ago

I think this is spot on. It certainly seems like a lot of super hero franchises were started as outright far right propaganda, even if now, the profit motives of the licensee corporations have dulled the messaging somewhat. I think 'The Incredibles' is an interesting movie in this regard. It's probably the most family friendly pro fascist romp ever made. The protagonists are literally Ubermensch held back by an ignorant and fearful society. The evil goal of the bad guy is to give everyone super powers. It wouldn't be possible to spell this out any clearer.