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
Yeah Jawal, you are coming off as saying you just hate people analyzing for politics in media in general with that statement.
As this notes, there were people who discussed politics back then, even in the newsletters that come out with each comic.
Edited by RedHunter543 on Mar 16th 2023 at 9:11:19 PM
"The Black Rage makes us strong, because we must resist its temptations every day of our lives or be forever damned!"Yeah going to a thread like this to specifically say you miss an era where supposedly no one took comics politics seriously is not exactly productive.
Seriously, Unknown Supergirl in 1961 has some interesting stuff we can glean from the writer.
Like no one in the comic is insisting Supergirl should Stay in the Kitchen, and Superman treats her as an equal not a sidekick like Robin.
This was a pretty bold statement back in 1961.
Edited by RedHunter543 on Mar 16th 2023 at 9:20:00 PM
"The Black Rage makes us strong, because we must resist its temptations every day of our lives or be forever damned!"Here's an article partly about Superman fighting the clan in that 1946 radio serial.
According to that article, it did indeed have a deep impact on how the public viewed the Klan.
It's also an interview with the author of a more recent story where Supes fights the Klan.
Keep in mind, the Klan underwent a resurregence just a few decades before thanks to The Birth of a Nation.
Edited by SilentColossus on Mar 16th 2023 at 9:25:18 AM
Here's an image from the comic I was talking about.
See? Even the Silver Age has moments like this, and people did praise it in the letters.
Edited by RedHunter543 on Mar 16th 2023 at 9:27:25 PM
"The Black Rage makes us strong, because we must resist its temptations every day of our lives or be forever damned!"Sure you are entitled to your opinion. But I doubt hanging out in a thread just to complain about it's entire purpose and wax nostalgia for an era that supposedly had no political commentary or that no people took it seriously and looked for messages is very productive.
People are allowed to analyze politics in media in a thread dedicated to analyzing politics in media.
Why do you find it so annoying anyway? What's the point in going to this thread specifically to complain and offer nothing else?
Edited by RedHunter543 on Mar 16th 2023 at 9:31:59 PM
"The Black Rage makes us strong, because we must resist its temptations every day of our lives or be forever damned!"Yeah, you've said previously that people shouldn't look at the political stances of a work that's not explicitly meant as political, which seems to spit on the entire field of media analysis.
Why are you here, in this thread, if you don't seem to want to talk about the topic of the thread?
Further, you complain about people taking comics too seriously. Whenever did they not? Do you have evidence people who read them didn't take them seriously? Because I'm fairly sure people who read them took them seriously.
...O.K, I kinda want everybody to let up on jawal so as to not dogpile on them too much but I do want to say one thing.
"Nothing more to say to you on the subject except that I am entitled to my opinion. Regardless if you like it or not.
Same as everyone else."
Sure, everybody has a right to their opinion (within reasonable standards of civility and basic decency as dictated by the laws of this website, of course) but this is also a discussion forum. It's not very constructive or adds much to the conversation to state an opinion and just end it at that. You should expect some level of response from saying something in a public conversation space, especially when, well, it involves asking for comics that don't have cultural implications or reflections in a thread exactly about that level of analysis.
I don't want to push you away, jawal, I do think there is room for fruitful conversation with you and you seem to be acting in good faith and open-minded enough to be willing to be persuaded. But...how do I phrase this? It feels like, well, you asked for your own opinions to be taken as they are but sometimes, it feels like when people try to discuss deeper implications or not-so-obvious parallels they see in books or games, some responses come off like pushing a little bit hard against their own opinions, a "live and let live" attitude that's a bit absent on the subject of political or cultural discussion about fiction.
Again, I'm not trying to push you out, I do want you to stay as I have seen plenty of people learn more and even often change their opinions after being on these forums for a while and, honestly, we need as many new people as possible in this thread. And, yes, while I do think that the very concept this thread rests upon should be up for debate as well, I'm also on record on noting the odd frequency of having to defend the basis of this thread within this thread.
If you want to talk about it, alright, let's get in the boxing ring and square up (in a civil manner), that's what makes a thread fun and lively.
But, I don't know. Be prepared for some pushback when somebody questions the idea of consuming as more then just general entertainment here (never mind that having political/cultural "points of interest", so to speak" and being entertaining aren't mutually exclusive or that everybody analyzes everything in their life, that's how you form opinions)? It kinda comes off like questioning why people care about politics in a politics thread?
Edit: Let's try this again so we can try to get a better understanding on each other: what do you think the phrase "politics in media" means?
Edited by fredhot16 on Mar 16th 2023 at 7:22:03 AM
Trans rights are human rights. TV Tropes is not a place for bigotry, cruelty, or dickishness, no matter who or their position.![]()
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The mailed in letters had some interesting discussion.
Like the story with Supergirl had some of the fans astonished that Superman was chill with his female cousin being stronger than him.
This story was written by Jerry Siegel BTW.
So yeah, we have proof that fans back then took comics seriously.
Edited by RedHunter543 on Mar 16th 2023 at 10:43:12 PM
"The Black Rage makes us strong, because we must resist its temptations every day of our lives or be forever damned!""They think of themselves as the necessary evil."
Not always, most of the time they see themselves a good guys who atack bad guys and is not helping by the perception towards the police: people often dont see cops as public servance or that they have specific jobs but rather they see it as guardians or bad guy takers and therefore as long it make you feel safe, they are doing their jobs, a description so abroad that very much means "if some people(usually white people) feel ok then everything is ok".
is probably why military often seen to behave better.
"My Name is Bolt, Bolt Crank and I dont care if you believe or not"![]()
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fredhot16
Thank you so much for your kind post.
But I think it is better for me to drop the subject, at least for now because:
1-I think the point about this being POLITICS in media thread is a fair point, even if It was expressed rudely.
2-No fruitful discussion can be had without a certain level of civility
So I will not follow it further, and it was a single post anyway.
Edited by jawal on Mar 16th 2023 at 3:53:04 PM
Every Hero has his own way of eating yogurtFor what is worth, I think it bears to mention that a story can have what we could call implicit politics and explicit politics.
Implicit politics are often the assumptions the author make for their worldbuilding, characterisation or story structure, they range from the unintentional to the unassuming. For instance, the term basement dweller used to hit double not just because of the nerd stereotype, but also because it implied a harsh degree of laziness since getting a house was easier for a young adult in the 80's and early 90's.
The explicit politics are what often comes up as commentary or fourth wall leaning that the audience might catch easier. This is what we often refer to as "politics" because it's just more on the front of a story, but how much can that seem explicit depends on how controversial it might be for an audience at the time of release and onwards.
The reason why there has been a greater analysis of politics in past media is because people are becoming more aware of the implicit politics that permeated those works and would probably be lost on someone who is not from said era.
Instead of focusing on relatives that divide us, we should find the absolutes that tie us.Does anyone feel like the tendency to treat guys being rescued by women as humiliating or funny is kind of defeating the point of normalizing that kind of thing?
Even this article
about the new Dungeons & Dragons movie ends up making the idea of the female lead being the action-oriented one instead of the guy uses a clickbait headline that obscures the real idea behind the choice.
Well, you saying him not being a fight is emasculating isn't going to help matters now is it?
since the days of Dragnet, police script consulting has always come with the more and less explicit right to rewrite. My persnal bugbear has been that a lot of the shows are very literally propaganda when they take a case law enforcement was criticized over, and rewrite the plot to make it more clearcut and obvious. Early 2000's CSI and Criminal Minds were full of these episodes. Also, Law and Order SVU apparently takes place in an alternative universe where the NYPD actually investigates and prosecutes sex crimes.
[ed.]
"emasculate" is one of those words when it shows up in critcism of anything my eyes glaze over and I stop reading.
Edited by JethroQWalrustitty on Mar 17th 2023 at 11:31:59 AM
@ windleopard
On personal level, I think if you want to make a point on equality, it would be better to make the male and female leads both capable of saving each other while also being aware of each others competence in the field so they know when to lend a hand and when not to.
Instead of focusing on relatives that divide us, we should find the absolutes that tie us.

My entire post was
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
Can you please tell me when did I say:
"I miss it BECAUSE IT WAS NOT POLITICAL".
Instead of:
"I miss when people did not take comic so seriously as if it was a Dostoyévskiy novel"
Edited by jawal on Mar 16th 2023 at 2:11:01 PM
Every Hero has his own way of eating yogurt