This thread's purpose is to discuss politics in works of fiction/media. Please do not use this thread to talk about politics or media in isolation from each other.
REMINDER: US politics is a banned topic. Mentioning or alluding to it will get you thumped or suspended
I was thinking of asking what people thought were the most interesting post-election Trump related media.
The Good Fight on CBS Access devoted their entire second season to dealing with the subject.
Edited by kory on Feb 26th 2025 at 5:46:51 AM
The Punisher is a character that works best when seen through the idea of "hunting evil is not the same as doing good".
And yeah, the issue is that conservatives in general have been hit by a wave of reaffirming complexity in the last decades as the age of information has taken hold.
Dan Olsen did a video on this and the reason behind this conflictive polarization is that the people who lean conservative or reactionary resent the idea that the reality of the world is a complex matter and thus will shun reality for not matching up with their wishes.
The Punisher is a character who works best when he's an antagonistic foil to an actual hero, and not the lionized protagonist of a comic that romanticizes extrajudicial murder.
And it is romanticizing even if you occasionally pay lip service to the idea that Frank's not a good person. Cops don't think of themselves as good people either. They think of themselves as the necessary evil. Sheep, wolves, and the sheepdogs who kill wolves to protect sheep. When you write, "Frank is a bad man, actually," in a comic after spending 22 pages gloriously murdering human traffickers, you're just calling him a sheepdog.
Edited by TobiasDrake on Mar 16th 2023 at 3:08:13 AM
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.That doesn't work, because the original superheroes were created by Jewish authors as direct and very on-the-nose commentary on anti-Semitism, isolationism, and fascism. That continued even into the Silver and Bronze ages in a different form. Like basically a huge chunk of what Stan Lee and Jack Kirby wrote during that time.
It just doesn't seem like deep commentary because a few of those things may seem quaint and normal to us in the present, but back then it was as Anvilicious as could be.
Edited by AlleyOop on Mar 16th 2023 at 3:41:06 AM
![]()
![]()
Remember that Captain America punched Hitler in his first comic cover. When America wasn't in the war yet.
And when Spider Man fought a fascist politician running on a Law and Order dog whistle campaign.
The second was a Silver Age comic.
Yeah look at this "non political Silver Age comic".
Edited by RedHunter543 on Mar 16th 2023 at 6:56:50 PM
"The Black Rage makes us strong, because we must resist its temptations every day of our lives or be forever damned!"
(x8)
Currently watching that video (currently @ 30mins). As of now, I have to say that the mindset of "resent[ing] the idea that the reality of the world is a complex matter" is far from a specifically right-wing thing. It's something that motivates zealots of just about every political leaning (yes, this includes centrists), and it's something that non-zealous people of any political alignment are less common to act like.
(x6)
Back then it was just adult men wearing their underwear over their pants punching bank robbers and mad scientist.
And were not taken so seriously as if they were deep commentary on the political situation of the U.S.A.
Bruh, if you really think media in the USA in the 1950s as politics-free, I assume you're talking about a different 1950s and different USA.
JustForFun.How To Be An Anti HeroOne of Marvel's myriad secret conspiracy organizations, the Secret Empire, was run by Richard Nixon.
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Also, and I cannot stress this enough, Superman fought and defeated the KKK. Like, the actual Klan. In our world. In 1946, he did untold damage to the Klan's recruitment by just airing their dirty laundry on one of his radio shows. He publicly humiliated the Klan by delivering real, actual information about their secret codewords and stupid rituals and intense bigotry on the air, causing a sharp drop-off in membership.
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
But it's clearly a supervillain metaphor for Nixon.
Comics in the Silver age have been political bro.
![]()
I'd also like to point out that when people say comics weren't political back then, they clearly haven't read the old ones much.
Seriously, I can give a couple of good examples from Silver Age Superman stories.
Edited by RedHunter543 on Mar 16th 2023 at 8:44:11 PM
"The Black Rage makes us strong, because we must resist its temptations every day of our lives or be forever damned!"
But you clearly saw an example of a Silver Age comic being political with Spider-Man going up against a fascist politician who profiles black people and uses the law and order dog whistle.
Edited by RedHunter543 on Mar 16th 2023 at 8:45:14 PM
"The Black Rage makes us strong, because we must resist its temptations every day of our lives or be forever damned!"Oh also I guess it's worth mentioning that the debut issue of Captain America is literally him punching Hitler.
◊ It's hard to get any more political than that. Even in the Silver Age I think he was still doing routinely doing political storylines.
Edited by Draghinazzo on Mar 16th 2023 at 9:47:51 AM
People often confuse “Not politically contentious to them the modern reader” for “not a political story making a serious political statement at the time of publication”.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ CyranI hate politics in comics, but I've long since accepted that they've always been a part of comics.
There's room for both, but like anything, you have to be careful with how you integrate it.
Sometimes you get Star Spangled Man with a plan punching Hitler on the cover of his book, which says so much with one scene. It was probably a pretty powerful statement back in the day.
And sometimes...you get Civil War.
But if there's one thing I've come to recognize: politics is in everything, and can't (and shouldn't be) ignored. Also, it's up to the the creators on how to implement it.
I won't lie. I'd be all for simpler Hitler punching style politics, that says everything that needs to be said in one scene. But it's all about execution, so if someone tries something like Civil War again and actually does it well, then fine.
One Strip! One Strip!
(5)
Yes, the politician from that comic you posted seem to be clearly a conservative.
I like to point out, that what my post said is:
I am talking about the fact, that comics then, were not taken so seriously but regarded BY THE PUBLIC more as cheap entertainment for children.
At least not until the seduction of innocents book. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seduction_of_the_Innocent
So Captain America punching Hitler or KKK appearing in a story seems irrelevant, since I talked about the PUBLIC reaction.
Edited by jawal on Mar 16th 2023 at 1:57:51 PM
Every Hero has his own way of eating yogurt![]()
![]()
But even then, there were messages that would make the modern alt-right youtuber froth at the mouth.
Like the unknown Supergirl. Where Superman is on the record when saying he's fine with the possibility of Supergirl being stronger than him, and tells the entire world that Supergirl is to be treated as his equal.
Heck, it's Mister Mxyzptlk's scheme to humiliate Superman by making Supergirl stronger than him, assuming Superman would be embarrassed if a girl was stronger than him.
It fails for the above reasons.
But you were saying you missed the Silver Age because it wasn't political and just men in underwear fighting robots.
Edited by RedHunter543 on Mar 16th 2023 at 8:59:15 PM
"The Black Rage makes us strong, because we must resist its temptations every day of our lives or be forever damned!"

Yeah polarization require a huge demand for doublethink
And in punisher case is simple: the atractive is "to make scum pay for what they did by killing then" and that it. Is a simple and kinda powerfull fantasy in the sense of "if you can grab a rapist or a pedo and hurt him for what they did and put a bullet in his head, wont you do it?" the same of course, is why many side with light for a while.
Edited by unknowing on Mar 16th 2023 at 4:22:30 AM
"My Name is Bolt, Bolt Crank and I dont care if you believe or not"