By Chris Snellgrove | Published
James Gunn Superman Was a shameless success: not only is it the most successful Superman solo film, but he managed to beat the two Thunderbolt And The Fantastic Four: First steps At the box office. One aspect of Gunn’s film that many fans and criticisms hated, however, was that the rival nations of Boravia and Jarhanpur seemed to be fictional stand-over for (respectively) Israel and Palestine. However, this approach could actually be the key to recording superhero films.
For the record, James Gunn argued that the Superman The script was written before the start of the Gaza conflict in 2023, so that any fictitious resemblance to Israel or Palestine is purely fortuitous. This did not prevent fans from seeing Boravia (the technologically superior country wishing to invade its weakest rival) as a replacement for Israel, which made points of the plot like Hawkgirl killing the president of Boravia who seems that Gunn took one side in this in progress. Whether true or not, the simple fact is that Superman resonated more with the public specifically because It seemed that the film had something to say about a real problem.
When you think about it, some of the best superhero films have also been a major success in part because they have offered criticism of major problems as well as colored punches. For example, The black knight was released during the war against terrorism, and the Joker explicitly stressed that no one cares that soldiers were jumping halfway around the world because their life is considered more consumable than that of the mayor. The film also presents Lucius Fox criticizing Batman for his surveillance tour on the city level, essentially reflecting the discourse of the Bush era on the Patriot Act and our desire to sacrifice freedom of security.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier is even more strident in his criticism of the love of the government’s espionage government, with a major point of the intrigue revolving around Nick Fury’s desire to prevent security threats in the world. Finally, Cap discovers that Shield was infiltrated by Hydra, and he must run to stop the Insight project for direct assistance from Good Guys worldwide. The message is clear: you cannot believe that the government is full of nice people or will only target bad people, which is one of the a lot Reasons why you should not want a state of surveillance.
Somewhere along the way, however, superhero films have ceased to make political statements or criticism of real questions. Iron Man 3For example, used terrorism as the plot of the plot, but that transformed the revelation of the realistic terrorist leader into a bad punchline. In Black pantherKillmonger becomes a bad guy to twirling mustache in the last act because it is the only way to bring the public to hate a character who, Magneto style, was right on almost everything.
According to standards of The black knight,, Captain America 2And other openly political superhero films (devil, the first X-Men films were making a fictitious movement of civil rights!),, Superman Play relatively safe things. But James Gunn is an intelligent man, and I refuse Believe that he has noticed any of the parallels between Israel and Palestine in his representation of Boravia and Jarhanpur. In all likelihood, he noticed and decided to take a bet that making a veiled comment on a real conflict would help make Superman relevant again.
The bet worked, and Superman has become the greatest successful success of summer. This film is proof that superhero films will be much more successful if they are willing to approach the social and political problems that are really passionate about their fans. If future writers and directors adopt this approach, it could well save superhero films as we know them; Otherwise, this kind of film could finally collapse under your own weight, afraid of taking creative risks for fear of annoying certain “fans” online online that were going to hit the film whatever happens.
