How is kindness a bad thing? I thought that was universally agreed to be a good message to have in a piece of media. I guess the excuse is they don’t want media to have messages at all but like, how would you even have a movie where the hero has no values that they stand for?

  • YappyMonotheist@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Being selfless, kind and peaceful even when powerful quite literally goes against the Western ethos and to deny it is to deny not only history but contemporary Western societies as well (from the neverending colonization of the world, native American genocide included, to the recent “empathy is a sin” take, lol).

  • BrainBow65@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Ok, I don’t think kindness is a bad thing but I do think the type of hero who’s all vanilla and too good to be true feels fake. I can’t relate to someone who always makes the right choice without fail and who has near unlimited power. I also think it makes for a more boring story. I like stories where the heroes aren’t perfect and need to learn to be better.

    • FreshParsnip@lemmy.caOP
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      5 months ago

      I kind of agree. I enjoy Superman but also prefer heroes who are more morally grey. But my post isn’t about people who dislike Superman because he’s a Mary Sue, it’s about people who are angry that Superman values kindness

    • SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca
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      5 months ago

      It doesn’t have to be boring to make a story about people who always makes the right choice it’s just more challenging to write. You need to write scenarios where it’s not clear what the ethically correct choice is and have the the hero have to figure that out.

      A large part of Star Trek (at least back when they had good writers) revolves around that. In fact movies like Captain America Civil War also revolve around a bunch of people wanting to do the right thing, just not agreeing on what that is.

      When the writing is bad, stories about a character being bad then learning to be good can be just as boring as a story about someone being good from the beginning. It’s just generally easier to write a story with character learning something because you don’t need to do all that much world building to create an interesting ethical dilemma.

    • Benedict_Espinosa@europe.pub
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      5 months ago

      Interestingly enough zero black people depicted, or any other races but white - just one dude with a dark orange complexion like the Mango Mussolini.

        • diffusive@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          Yeah you got the crux of the problem here! Let‘s correct people that are saying the same with a bit of arrogance to have a dopamine kick and then let’s make a fight about this so we are pushing the other person away

          God why everything has to be so divisive these days?!

        • voracitude@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          But it’s three syllables shorter! That’s like 75% of the syllables. Won’t you think of the savings?

        • Benedict_Espinosa@europe.pub
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          5 months ago

          Agreed, but ‘ethnicity’ means something else, closer to ‘national origin’ mentioned on the poster. All the white people pictured may well be of different ethnicities, for example. ‘Ancestries’, perhaps? ‘Different skin color’?

      • Bloomcole@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        from this article:

        Another story from 1953 called “People are People” has a Black youngster holding off an escaped lion until Superman can capture the animal. The owner of the circus the lion has escaped from wants to congratulate a white boy for his (nonexistent) heroism until Superman points out that the heroic young man was Black, and that the circus owner only wanted to congratulate the white boy because he was prejudiced.

  • michaelvile@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    The cinematic-repubLkan-universe kindness is weakness… Good doesn’t pretend to be evil. But evil does pretend to be good…ffs, 'the list is on my desk…"

  • FerretyFever0@fedia.io
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    5 months ago

    Idk, I always thought Superman was cool, but a little boring and vanilla. I normally prefer Batman. Admittedly, I’ve never dived down the Superman lore pit, but I am aware that he gets a little darker sometimes. He’s definitely one of the better role model heroes. Anyone that actually hates Superman, is a dipshit.

      • FerretyFever0@fedia.io
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        5 months ago

        Batman is definitely cool. That just can’t be disputed. He definitely spends a fuck ton of money on the city. His main obstacle, is the writing. Gotham City has to be awful. It has to be, or there is no story. He can’t kill villains regularly, because of plot. If the problems were capable of being fixed, then he’d be on of the best possible people to solve them.

        • 4am@lemmy.zip
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          5 months ago

          The problems are capable of being fixed. The people of Gotham take to crime to survive because they have been squeezed by the ruling class and it’s the only way to protect what remains of their material conditions.

          The Waynes and people like them, the owning class, prop up a system of inequality that forces these conditions to endure.

          Bruce Wayne, the richest and most powerful of all, is hurt back (his parents killed) and instead of solving the systemic issues, he doles out individualized corporal punishment as a vigilante.

          It’s the ultimate extension of “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”: Rich people will never acknowledge that the very system that provides them power is the ultimate root of all the issues they intend to solve via violence. Batman is himself the ultimate villain of the story.

          • FerretyFever0@fedia.io
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            5 months ago

            Nah, Batman is definitely cooler than Dick. Which makes sense, he’s been doing it for several more years. I don’t know too much about Bludhaven. But I’m pretty sure that it’s categorically less fucked up. Nightwing doesn’t have to be as effective as Batman imo.

            • NotASharkInAManSuit@lemmy.world
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              5 months ago

              Dick used his money to turn it from resembling Gotham to resembling Metropolis. Cool is irrelevant, Dick is ridiculously more efficient and solution focused than Bruce, who is just obsessed with punishment and subjugation of people who have done wrong, Dick is objectively a better superhero for his city, and is focused on solving problems rather than punishment, he’s also not an asshole or a fascist.

              Batman brained a guy so bad he lost his mind and became Calander Man, he is not solution oriented.

                • NotASharkInAManSuit@lemmy.world
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                  5 months ago

                  Sadly, no, the no kill rule stuck with him.

                  Don’t get me wrong, though, I love Batman, I just think Dick has had the benefit of more modern writing and more progressive writers for his solo gig, Batman’s failings are more of a side effect of the era when he was created and the specific writers that have handled his canon more than anything else. Dick ended up being a lot more morally akin to Spider-Man than Batman, his reason for doing what he does is specifically to help people and improve things, as opposed to punishing villains and those who have done wrong. I see him as less of a crime fighter/authority figure and more of a public servant.

      • Sal@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        But Batman DOES uses his billions to help Gotham. The problem is that most of his rogues gallery is composed of high ranking rich mafia bosses, and the rest are completely insane individuals (or even sane people who just LIKE being evil for no reason like Scarecrow who literally gasses people until they die of fright just to study their reactions). You can’t possibly think bribing the Joker with a billion dollars would stop him from bombing orphanages, gassing entire neighborhoods, or LITERALLY NUKING AN ENTIRE CITY.

        Investing money into Gotham isn’t gonna stop the Penguin or Black Mask from running protection rackets or bribing cops, it won’t stop Poison Ivy from commiting literal ecoterrorism, and it won’t stop Victor Zsasz from gutting people to death with knives, or Deadshot from assassinating people.

        Oh, and another thing: the city is actually fucking cursed with evil black magic. That’s not hyperbole. The city literally makes people evil.

        Batman only is a vigilante because his work as Bruce Wayne is not enough.

        • Beacon@fedia.io
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          You can’t possibly think bribing the Joker with a billion dollars would stop him from bombing orphanages

          You’re missing OP’s point. Depending on which Joker origin story you’re looking at, then the man would never become the joker in the first place. Like if we go with the recent movie version of Joker’s origin, he became the joker in large part because of an awful healthcare system and a horrible social safety net system. If he got good care and treatment all through his life then he never would become the Joker

    • Sidhean@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      In fiction, hard agree; in reality, I’d summon super man over bat man pretty quick. I think he’s boring because he doesn’t leave much room for interesting conflict. irl, I don’t want interesting conflict lol

      • 𞋴𝛂𝛋𝛆@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        I’d prefer benevolent god over tech wizard bdsm billionaire exceptionalism. The guy choosing to be small is far greater than the guy buying big shoes

    • JigglySackles@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Wouldn’t say I hate him, he just bores me, his plots are kinda lame, and I don’t like his personality. Invulnerable to everything but some supposedly rare rock that’s actually everywhere apparently with how often he finds himself encountering it. They eventually added magic I guess because kryptonite showing up like table salt was getting old. Then has the whole goody two shoes paladin act going on. Just a yawn fest imo.

  • missingno@fedia.io
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    5 months ago

    Propaganda is powerful. You convince your followers that some classes of people don’t deserve kindness, you convince them that everything out of Hollywood is part of a leftist agenda, and once they believe both of those statements it’s very easy to spin this as further proof of the narrative they’ve already bought into.

  • Lyrac@programming.dev
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    5 months ago

    I’m out of the loop here. I’ve seen something about the most recent director or writer calling Superman an immigrant, and Dean Cain hating on that take and calling it “woke”. But I haven’t seen anyone expressing that Superman should not represent kindness.

    FWIW if you are looking at reviews for an upcoming or recently released movies, and a lot of the comments are calling it “too political” or “woke”, give it a watch and come back with your own review. Those reviews are an indicator to me that it might be somewhat thought-provoking. (or also don’t watch if you have no interest in the subject)

    • wewbull@feddit.uk
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      5 months ago

      But I haven’t seen anyone expressing that Superman should not represent kindness.

      Isn’t the take more like “You think it’s super-human to be kind?!?”

    • WorldsDumbestMan@lemmy.today
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      5 months ago

      What was that post from 4chan telling aliens to fuck off, and calling them space [REDACTED]s? Magats are so fucking stupid and evil, that they would tell Superman to fuck off.

    • FreshParsnip@lemmy.caOP
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      5 months ago

      Yes, people are angry that the director talked about Superman being an immigrant (even though he has been from another planet since the character was concieved) and they are also angry about the director saying Superman represents kindness, because apparently just being nice to people is woke now

      • JcbAzPx@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Sadly not a new issue for Superman. His backstory was even retconned in the comics for a bit to have his spaceship give birth to him so he could be born in America.

        • FreshParsnip@lemmy.caOP
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          5 months ago

          I’m seeing comments on Facebook telling me “he’s not an immigrant, he’s an alien from space”. I’m so confused as to how they don’t consider someone from a different planet to be an immigrant

        • SCmSTR@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          5 months ago

          What? When? I’m not a Superman fan, but even I know he was born on Krypton or whatever his planet was, and his parents were royalty I think, and they sent him to Earth as a baby to survive, where he was raised by farmers to be a GOOD YOUNG AMERICAN WHITEBOY but then he discovers his powers and thankfully his parents were actually good people and not goddamned nazis and he goes around helping people and fighting his greatest enemy, Lex Luthor that bald guy that represents capitalism whose name is way too close to the Christian devil.

  • SolidShake@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    A. Not a shower thought.

    B. literally people just complain to complain. The movie is like the highest rated superman film in a very long time. Man of steel was cool I guess. But this newest one is much much better.

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    5 months ago

    I just came out of watching the new movie.

    In the scene in which Clark gets interviewed, seen also in the trailer, it is transparent that Superman is with Francesca Albanese on a very current issue.

    That’s what they are mad about.

    I guess WB/DC is gonna fall out of grace.

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        5 months ago

        I am not an American and I have never been a Superman fan. I had fun, I felt represented, I was entertained, cannot wait for a sequel, am looking forward for Peacemaker S2 and whatever else is planned.

        Warmly recommended. I really think all Americans should see it, as it may have a very good and stronger effect on them.

  • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    Superman fighting the klan didn’t work because adults laughed at their hand signs and shit that were disclosed…

    It’s because it got a generation of kids to see the klan as the bad guys

    If Superman hated you, how the fuck were you going to indoctrinate your kid into the klan?

    That’s why they’re always bitching about media. The people doing it are ignorant, but the ones telling them what to be mad about it are picking logical targets to fufil longterm goals.

    It’s why fighting fascism is like losing weight, you can’t reach a goal and stop giving a fuck, it’s a lifestyle.

    • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world
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      It’s why fighting fascism is like losing weight, you can’t reach a goal and stop giving a fuck, it’s a lifestyle.

      Can confirm. 330lbs I said “I’ll reach 320.”

      At 320 I said I’ll reach 310.

      At 310 I said 300.

      At 300 I said 290.

      Then 280.

      Then 270.

      Then 260.

      Then 250.

      Then 240.

      I went back up to 250. Oh no no no no no. Fuck that shit. I’m going to see 240. And when I do, it’ll set my sights on 230.

      And when I see 230, I will hug someone. Because that will be 100lb.

      Which means I’ll look to 220.

      And then 210.

      And 200.

      I don’t know where my weight loss journey ends. I don’t know when I’ll feel at a healthy weight.

      I just know I hope my journey brings me to a day when I get to punch a nazi.

      Because nazi lives DON’T matter!

      • shalafi@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Well. Your journey took real strength. Ain’t that something? Keep fighting the good fight.

        • skisnow@lemmy.ca
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          5 months ago

          The horrible thing about it all is that saying you should always punch Nazis was an uncontroversial statement even as recently as three years ago.

          The only reason it’s now considered a terroristic threat is because powerful figures have started openly identifying with fascism.

          We need to be saying it more, not less.

      • 𞋴𝛂𝛋𝛆@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Just don’t think of it as a diet or oppressive. Make it a lifestyle. I’m still around 220 after 11 years of mostly stuck in bed. 16 years ago I was 350. A part of me wishes I was still 190 at 7%, but it is super hard for me to get that low. I just don’t have that kind of pain tolerance to deal with being light headed and hungry 24/7 while counting calories, eating constantly, but never meals or more than a few bites of dry salad or chicken. Without racing and riding like 400+ miles a week, I’m just not that kind of motivated. I’d much rather be lazy and eat meals with way too many calories at once but still far fewer than most people. I have no desire to binge or eat processed food of any kind any more. Avoiding dairy has also been super helpful too because that is a good excuse to avoid most junk people make, fast food, or restaurants the few chances I ever get.