Bill Maher claims that the recent outpouring of superhero movies and tv shows sends the dangerous message that instead of everyone being in charge of their own destiny, we need to wait for someone more powerful than us to come and fix all our problems
No, he's a self important jew cocksucker. He's extremely condescending, and arrogant, and you shouldn't listen to a god damned word he says even if it has a modicum of truth because he doesn't deserve the satisfaction.
Carson Reyes
More like in our current world where everyone is told they are special and unique we desire to see ACTUAL special and unique characters on screen.
Joseph Bell
>we need to wait for someone more powerful than us to come and fix all our problems Something Americans are REALLY good at: Letting others fix their shit and taking credit for it.
Austin James
He's right, you know.
Ayden Bailey
Ironic, considering he's one of those technocratic faggots that think the government can solve all our problems.
Jaxson Torres
Isn't that how Liberals See Government?
Sides the only problems Trump is fixing is when the Big Strong Government has tried to help.
Ryder Gutierrez
>instead of everyone being in charge of their own destiny, we need to wait for someone more powerful than us to come and fix all our problems Religion in a nutshell
Luke Lee
That sentiment existed before the cape wave, so no.
Michael Rivera
Yeah, because atheists are all astronauts.
Ian Cook
Fun fact: Religion is the most effective means of fostering progress, while atheism only manifests itself as a force in times of social decline. So maybe you fedora-tipping freeloaders should learn your place.
Kayden Ross
Doesn't his show send the message that he's the prophet that is always right and everyone should agree with him or they're idiots
Julian Wood
Not watching that but there's also the typical theme of the hero taking charge and fixing the problems they see. And we're typically meant to relate with the hero. So nah it can easily be interpreted that capeshit wants us to feel as though we're the hero, which makes sense given how most heroes are usually in some aspect down to earth people ignoring the likes of the super millionaires.
It reminds me of that shitty video I saw years ago parroting the same exact shit.
Leo Rivera
But that is religion in a nutshell
Why are you getting triggered?
Anthony James
>it's a new episode of The Cletus Show
Brandon Gray
>the dangerous message that instead of everyone being in charge of their own destiny, we need to wait for someone more powerful than us to come and fix all our problems
That's real funny coming from a liberal who claims that we can only save the country if we get Democrats elected
Wyatt Howard
Maher is a Hillary shill who can't see her loss was the fault of everyone knowing she's a shitty person and that votets were willing to risk electing Trump, who despite clearly being full of shit, spouted some good populist rhetoric.
Why would I take his POV seriously when I can already see this a way to bash "Bernie bros".
Ayden Smith
Hollywood Hates Superhero films as much as they love money.
Hudson Myers
Because is funny when bernie bros trash Hillary and how he tries so hard to defend her
Ethan Wright
And as usual the most sensible post in the thread goes ignored.
Eli Bennett
I thought they were about the exact opposite.
Robert Russell
Capes really upset people who think things like popcorn movies and comics are somehow important.
Thomas Smith
shitty political bait thread so kill yourself OP
but yes that is a criticism of superhero stories in general, and has been a plot point in superhero stories for as long as superheroes have existed
debatable on the merits but can make for fun stories/conversations when you aren't baiting Sup Forums
Jackson Martin
...
Owen Anderson
>But that is religion in a nutshell
Religion launched the Age of Exploration, Fedoras want Black Science Man and Bill Nye the (((Science))) Giy to save them.
Hudson White
So Bill Maher's now Lex Luthor huh
Anthony Rogers
I think that's an intentionally misleading, mean-spirited and completely pointless observation.
Superheroes are all about dealing with your own problems while also helping other people. They're not about people waiting for a hero, they're about heroes putting themselves out there and doing what they can.
This theme is, sometimes actively and usually passively, explored in many cape titles and movies. Superheroes are rarely government-issue and many of them run into problems where they're not licensed or the government is trying to stop/control them in some way. Just look at Winter Soldier or Civil War, for movie examples. Both the Batman and the Superman movies have themes that touch on this as well. It's not about someone telling you what to do or fixing your problems, it's about using your own talents, whether "super" or mundane, to solve problems and not expect the cops or the government or whatever to do it for you. Batman doesn't sit back and expect the cops to get the Joker, he gets the Joker because he knows he's the best qualified to do so.
It's almost never the case that the hero is some sort of deus ex machina who swoops in and fixes the main character's problems. Rather, the hero IS the main character, and he's fixing people's problems because he can and because it's the right thing to do.
Joseph Peterson
Isn't this one of the arguments Wertham made?
Wertham, by the way, was a literal commie.
Juan Edwards
If that's the case, why are all superheroes painfully average and normal in terms of personality? Why are we always invited to feel exactly what the superhero feels when the suits try to tell him he can't do this or that? If anything, it's the exact opposite.
The only exceptions to the "averageness" rule I can think of are Batman and Iron Man, but that's because their powers come from their own planning and decisions, which means they need unusual personalities. And wads of cash, of course. They tend to be wish fulfillment characters, though, because of their vast array of toys and high social status, unlike someone like Clark Kent.
Jacob Martin
Wait, I thought one of the reasons he thought comics were so insidious in the first place is that their messages had a socialist slant?
Thomas Gray
It is the other way around. They make the public feel like heroes. That is way the average person actually being a super hero is a common theme with capes. And it is an old theme in american media too. A relatable guy becoming the hero is a common cliche in movies. Die Hard and such.
Jeremiah Miller
No, he accused them of crypto-fascism I think. I'll look it up again.
Christian Thompson
Hey quick question do you know who Giordano Bruno is
Colton Richardson
If we're just counting movies I'd say that Starlord, maybe Bruce Banner if you count the Hulk, and Paul Rudd.
Landon Murphy
when democrats are in charge >don't do anything your self, except slave away for the banks and pay taxes. let the government do everything.
democrats not in charge >row row, fight the power! everyone needs to be an activist and get out and do things.
Logan Phillips
Some LARPer who went around Europe bothering everybody with his DnD bullshit until they got sick of him.
Starlord's pretty normal outside of the space bullshit, your classic emotionally stunted manchild millennial.
Ethan Hill
Ye I'm not gonna trust this site
Colton Gutierrez
Till we stop dreaming of a time where peace and love is all we can find we need a hero.
Christian Cox
I can tell this thread is gonna have a lot of good discussion and won't be derailed by anything even remotely political.
Alexander Wilson
Isn't that 99% of protagonists?
Evan Wright
There had to be at least three more buzzwords you could have worked in there.
Anthony Bell
>these editorials by different people clearly discredit these established historical facts by this author, so I'm just going to believe whatever I read on r/atheism
Caleb Clark
He's almost right.
Anyone who says "X popular trend sends Y message" has causality backwards. Things get popular because people want to see them, not the other way around.
It's not that superhero movies send the message that we should all just wait for someone superpowered to save us, it's that people feel impotent and wish for someone with power to champion their interests.
Ayden Gonzalez
No, does he not understand what a fantastical world superheroes live in? Seriously, does he want people to get involved in eldritch horrors? Galactic war monsters? A SUPER NAZI WITH THE FACE OF A MONSTER AND SUPER HUMAN STRENGTH?
On top of that, the super heroes themselves do not wait for someone else to do these things for them. They clearly get proactive.
David Johnson
>Things get popular because people want to see them, not the other way around. Eh. It's a two-way street.
Nolan Ross
>Bill Maher claims that the recent outpouring of superhero movies and tv shows sends the dangerous message that instead of everyone being in charge of their own destiny, we need to wait for someone more powerful than us to come and fix all our problems
Meh, I'd say that this has been a big part of the US fantasy for a while. The glamorous image of the self-reliant independent homesteader. The lone gunman who can save a town because he has the guts to stand up to the bad guys. The entrepreneur who starts with nothing and creates a multi-million dollar business.
The US is very individualistic and tends to look at history/issues as being solved by small handfuls of competent individuals while the feckless majority putzes about with minimal input. Emergent/collective systems don't make as entertaining a narrative and it's easier to praise/condemn one person than an impersonal system or complex ongoing process.
Joseph Morales
...
Zachary James
Is that really a fact, however?
Carson Evans
Why can't it be that people are inspired by those fictional characters like Batman and Cap to be better versions of themselves and persevere against adversity?
Brandon Sullivan
maybe if every superhero story was from the pov of regular people and not superheros
but they arent so he isnt
once again famous assholes talking about what they dont know anything about.
when are we going to gulag these people
Hudson Scott
Yes. Secularism is a cultural dead end. Why do you think Russia has rebounded so far towards religion after being an atheist hellhole for almost a century?
Sebastian Nguyen
What? I'm not using buzzwords, that's literally his character. He's emotionally stunted because of his mommy and daddy issues, he's a manchild that clings desperately to the nostalgia of his childhood, and he was born in the 80s so he's literally a millennial. His arc is very typical "charming manchild learns to grow up and be responsible" just applied to a sci-fi action story.
Elijah Howard
because religion is the opiate of the masses and KGB Comrade Colonel Putin knows this.
Bentley Morales
What about all those religious hellholes?
Lincoln Long
Stupid goyim! Bow down to the (((chosen))), not to superheroes!
Angel Harris
>Religion launched the Age of Exploration
also started the inquisition which murdered men of science
Ryder Stewart
Capes are popular right now and talking about trump is popular right now.
Daniel Rivera
Is Bill Maher our universe's Lex Luthor?
Luke Jackson
if only we got good Superman movies...
Levi Gutierrez
no because lex is smart
Levi White
>Eh. It's a two-way street.
No, it's just that sometimes we figure out new ways to exploit what people want. Advertising/manipulation/conditioning doesn't make you want shit you naturally hate so much as it USES shit you already like to get you to like stuff that you're potentially open to not hating.
And then there's the fact that people aren't 100% rational robots. The interplay of novelty and familiarity (among other things) is a dance of emotional contradictions.
Hudson Sullivan
no.
Maher at best is a poor man's Livewire, with out the super powers or hot female body.
Musk is Luthor.
Charles Miller
The craziness thing is he uses the superhero metaphor appropriately at the end of his bit without getting what they're really about.
Levi Thomas
Lex is smart and actually somewhat cares about proving humanity's worth.
Maher is a tool with no actual skills who just virtues signals for money.
Brayden Long
filthy Jesuits did that
Josiah Bailey
You mean (((superheros)))
Levi Nelson
>Bill Maher claims that the recent outpouring of superhero movies and tv shows sends the dangerous message that instead of everyone being in charge of their own destiny, we need to wait for someone more powerful than us to come and fix all our problems >Is he onto something?
A few thoughts...
First of all, this is hardly a unique premise. It was the main premise behind the movie Waiting for "Superman" which came out in 2010 and was criticized itself as being inaccurate. (This is a tangent: but on the subject of documentaries, Maher has never addressed the controversy surrounding his own documentary Religulous about him making up an Egyptian deity called Anup the Baptizer, he claimed was a precursor to John the baptist from the Jesus story).
This is not a surprising viewpoint from a postmodern militant Marxist atheist. Superhero's and their mythologies resemble religion and myths, and myths are a part of how a culture understands itself. Superman in particular is a particularity American mythological cobbling bringing to mind parts of Moses, Jesus and Hercules.
To postmodernists, any kind of archetype needs to be deconstructed and picked apart. The story of superheros point to objective "Good" and objective "Bad" which postmodernist hate because they are against any kind of binary or system that somthing they are doing could be wrong. Which is fine, logic is not something to be afraid of. But the problem with the bloody marxists is that they forget to rebuild and reconstruct the archetype from the pieces.
So what where left with is just a jumble of facts, that somehow where supposed to make sense of.
"We need to be out own Superhero's?" what the fuck does that mean?
>Boo-hoo, the Inquisition killed a few (((scientists))) Shouldn't have been a filthy Heretic then.
Charles Butler
Because people are weak and scared. They want big government to deal with everything, they want police at every corner, they don't want to feel personally responsible for their own safety. They want to blame something other than themselves.
David Turner
As opposed to never getting your shit together at all. Right, third worlder?
Matthew Gomez
Only if you're emotionally crippled to the point where the lines of reality and fantasy are blurred beyond recognition.
David Young
no
desire for valuable trade goods with out having to deal with the Ottomans, launched the age of exploration.
Jace Scott
Did he say that when I Obama was in office? Because people treated him as if he were some kind of messiah.
Dylan Bailey
So he's saying Trump is a hero?
Landon Miller
Remember what the Romans used to do to christians? They should have never stopped.
Leo Johnson
>"We need to be out own Superhero's?" what the fuck does that mean?
It mean he want the ending of supergod to be real, where every nation has or tries to create their own super hero but that hero end up having their own agendas and fucking up the world.
Easton Brown
I think it's less about self-inserting, more about inspiring. As Man of Steel or any Superman comic book suggests, heroes are meant to show humanity a better path. To lead them to self-improvement and a better tomorrow.
Levi Campbell
Everyone is the hero in their own story
Bentley Smith
>because religion is the opiate of the masses
Sure, that's why communists governments force secularism. Atheism makes people docile and easier to control.
>also started the inquisition which murdered men of science
Name one.
The Jesuits were scientists, user.
Jeremiah Ross
>So he's saying Trump is a hero?
He's suggesting that Trump portrayed himself as one, what with all the "I Alone Can Fix It" and stuff.
The analogy is crap because as most have pointed out, superhero comics are less often about some average joe sitting around and waiting for someone with super powers to save him, but rather average joes finding out that he himself has super powers and then dedicating his life to the service of others.
Luke Torres
Anyone who watches movies to "think" is a brainlet.
Isaac Sullivan
Columbus saw his mission as an explicitly religious one. He wanted to finance a new crusade.
Elijah Jenkins
but I want to be Superman, not be saved by Superman
I want to be Judge Dredd too
Kevin Brooks
communists wanted the State to replace religion and family.
because people might disobey the State if they are still loyal to their family or church.
Nicholas Ward
>Remember what the Romans used to do to christians? They should have never stopped.
Treated them as another cult until it grew enough in popularity that several high ranking members in Roman society joined the cult and promoted it as the official religion?
Ryan Turner
Why on Earth would you want to live in the Big Meg?
William Allen
>where every nation has or tries to create their own super hero but that hero end up having their own agendas and fucking up the world. That's funny because Hillary Clinton would have been that exact person if the American media had its way.
Asher Cruz
Nero did nothing wrong
Ryan Gomez
THEY SAY THAT A HERO WILL SAVE US I'M NOT GONNA STAND HERE AND WAIT
Tyler Brown
>Almost. >I just want to add, "Except Lex Luthor" to all of those things. >To heck with that stupid palooka.
Connor Davis
\Reeve Superman came out in the wake of Watergate so he's kind of not wrong
Colton White
Bill Maher is an asshole and I'm so far left and atheist it would make Warren Ellis blush. Dude makes us all look bad, lowers the standard of public discussion with his bullshit.
Kayden Nelson
The Inquisition was by far a more fair system of justice than what came before, and modern science as such would not exist without the work of medieval churchmen.
>lowers the standard of public discussion with his bullshit.
Pretty much this.
Luke Thomas
user with Superman's powers in the Big Meg works out as some horrible mix of Judge Cal and Johnny Bates.
Jose Gutierrez
yeah
Like I'm often condescending and arrogant, but Jesus Christ I don't understand how a human being could be as condescending and arrogant as Bill Maher is
Ryder Morgan
Modern science also wouldn't exist without the preservation of texts and ideas by other cultures that were more open to outside ideas. The golden age of Islamic science ended right around the time where they got super uptight about their religious societies.
Everyone was religious back then, so it's stupid to say that religion caused every discovery everyone made. That's like saying the sound of dogs barking can inspire genius... I mean, I'm sure almost every great scientist has heard dogs bark, right?
Andrew Hill
>Maher admits to owning guns for self defense. >still wants UK tier gun control >wants everyone else's guns taken first, before he will give up his.