"The Nolan Batman films are really Republican/Conservative, guys!"

Alduin

Hello, the main character is a rich white male who operates outside of the corruption-and-bureaucracy-plagued legal system in order to achieve better results. 

Of course a Batman film's going to have a conservative bent.

Odradek

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2012/07/the-dark-knight-is-no-capitalist/

nanananananana

Tachyon

is it weird that associating conservatism with negative portrayals of the establishment is really counterintuitive to me?

like i follow the reasoning and understand why the association exists but it seems, i dunno, kind of topsy turvy

Alduin

,My favorite part of the Nolan trilogy is at the end, where they unveil a statue of a man dressed in a bat costume and the characters all take it completely seriously

Hexartes

I think it's possible to make Batman have a liberal bent (preface: I have never read any Batman thing other than The Killing Joke so keep that in mind)

like say what if he was acting outside the law because police officers were always intent on killing the villains/putting them in the ridiculously ineffective American prison system and all he really sought to do was give them the rehabilitation they need

Alduin

Eeeeh, it still has to deal with the fact that Bruce Wayne is pretty much one of the 1%

Haven

A version of Batman that didn't rely on wealth would be pretty interesting. Less high-tech gadgets and more jury-rigged stuff, less kung fu and more street brawling, less forensic analysis and more deductive reasoning.

The problem with making Batman left-wing, though, is that a lot of the conceit is that once someone breaks the law, they are subject to any level of violence. Similarly, there's the idea that the mentally ill are always both incurable and extremely dangerous. You'd have to change a lot about him to make it palatable.

Superman was always the more working class hero, a lot of his early stories had a huge bent towards labor (even now, his archnemesis is a CEO, although I can't remember the last time I saw a Superman story where the class angle was really played).

Tachyon said:

is it weird that associating conservatism with negative portrayals of the establishment is really counterintuitive to me?

like i follow the reasoning and understand why the association exists but it seems, i dunno, kind of topsy turvy

Yeah, conservatism (at least in America) is this weird blend of authoritarianism and the idea that the government is always terrible. See George W. Bush campaigning on "small government" and then signing the Patriot Act.

Tachyon

i don't think that's quite how it is over here but i'm not sure.

The idea of making Batman liberal is kind of weird to me... the thematic association of mental illness with crime is kind of hard to get around without substantially changing the premise i think.

i don't think rich guy punching bad guys has to equate to fascism though, at least not in principle.

Hexartes

It's workable, but I don't know if anyone's gotten the right spin on it yet.

Hexartes

At any rate, I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with him being rich, though.

Obā-san

perhaps he's wondering why you'd shoot a man before reading him the wealth of nations

Obā-san

doctor pavel im heritage foundation

Calica

you say that like the cia isn't pretty conservative itself

Obā-san

if i took you off obamacare would you die?

Calica

it would be extremely painful

Alduin

naney said:

if i took you off obamacare would you die?

You do not fear death, you welcome it.

Calica

for you

Alduin

So as I terrorize Gotham, I will vaccinate its people to poison their souls. And when it is done, then you will have my permission to die.

Tre

Haven said:

A version of Batman that didn't rely on wealth would be pretty interesting. Less high-tech gadgets and more jury-rigged stuff, less kung fu and more street brawling, less forensic analysis and more deductive reasoning.

If I ever get around to writing more stuff in the Sparks 'verse, I'm totes doing something similar to this with Tre since he doesn't have powers.

Tooootes.

Corvina

I've always wanted a Left-Wing Batman. The fact that Batman is nigh-inherently a conservative figure has plagued me for a long while.

I once thought of this superhero called Caurinus, a highly intelligent university student who learns martial arts in his spare time. He becomes a superhero after witnessing the massive injustices perpetrated by the American law enforcement and justice system, both first-hand and through the news. He thus dons a dark cloak and resolves to be "the people's detective"--and is thus hunted down by the police....

Haven

Relevant.

glennmagusharvey

hey guys, is Fresh Pretty Cure libertarian?

Obā-san

Acererak said:

So as I terrorize Gotham, I will vaccinate its people to poison their souls. And when it is done, then you will have my permission to die.

this was not a reference to the good part of the movie 0/10

Corvina

Haven said:

Relevant.

I liked that

Calica

glennmagusharvey said:

hey guys, is Fresh Pretty Cure libertarian?

is Wario a libertarian

Alduin

WarioCare

Obā-san

impeach wario

Alduin

Haven said:

Superman was always the more working class hero, a lot of his early stories had a huge bent towards labor (even now, his archnemesis is a CEO, although I can't remember the last time I saw a Superman story where the class angle was really played).

That makes me wonder what a Nolan Superman movie would look like

glennmagusharvey

Calica said:

glennmagusharvey said:

hey guys, is Fresh Pretty Cure libertarian?

is Wario a libertarian

i was about to say "this was a serious question on my part" and then i realized that some sentiment discussing Wario's political leanings was also serious

Calica

yeah i don't know enough about the politics of your precures

Tachyon

i feel like Tingle is a Republican with mostly liberal friends.

Like he would probably vote Republican, but other Republican supporters would be unwilling to associate with him.

Odradek

Haven said:

Relevant.

This pitch brought to you by the author of Dial H for Hero.

Corvina

The Scrapped Man sounds like it would be a good title for an existentialist poem/song/short story/novel