Artists of the past hid their politics in their work and let the public decide for themselves what the themes mean.
Nowadays, artists announce what the work is about and who and what the bad guys represent, often saying "Party who voted for X are the bad guys."
Is it pointless to try and fight this and just go with the flow? Is the former an outdated way to tell stories and being overly blatant is the way to go?
Pic unrelated.
I don't think that matters. If it bothers you then you can just avoid interviews and blind read things. The execution of it on the page is most important. I don't want flat characters preaching at me whether I agree or disagree on something.
>It's a "newfag pretends comics weren't always political!" thread
Seems more like a discussion about marketing than content, though it will likely derail into what you're suggesting.
This. For the love of the white, Christian God, the most iconic Captain America image is him punching out Hitler.
I mean in stuff that's blatantly "THE KLINGONS ARE TRUMP VOTERS/HILLARY VOTERS ETC ETC." Not even letting the public figure stuff out themselves, not even dropping hints. Just straight on announcing the show going "HEY GUYS, THE PEOPLE YOU HATE IRL ARE THE BAD GUYS HERE! WATCH MY SHOW!"
They deserve it for being annoying as fuck and never shutting up on Sup Forums about how opressed they are.
They were political, but at least they were well written by storytellers, not just people unhealthily obsessed with politics and trying to put out propaganda.
>inb4 a comic from eighty years ago apparently speaks for the seventy nine years after it.
>Is it pointless to try and fight this and just go with the flow?
Logically yes, whether or not you or I agree with what's said you'd be fighting freedom of speech.
I myself prefer interpreting the significance of things, often because it requires more perceptiveness from the author the substance of their message to convey it in a way that can be intuitively comprehended, and possibly agreed with, instead of just crammed down your throat as RIGHT, but you can't expect everyone to write what you like or how you like.
All you can do is not buy or read that sort of thing and focus on what does it for you.
Are you purposefully ignoring all the politically charged and propaganda laden comics from cold war era
It's a two-pronged problem. Lack of talent leading to lack of subtlety and also the realities of the market in that you won't get as many consumers if you don't appeal directly to a specific base and guarantee yourself some profit.
Which btw, was a lot braver back then when the Nazis weren't full blown super villains yet. Back when they were considered a legit political force at the time. That was a time of true bravery for Jack Kirby.
Yeah, and those same comics were seen as an embarrassment as "part of the times" by those same creators.
To be fair people don't see old shit through a political lense because its just history to them. Punching Hitler isn't political to them because its just what happens in old comics, they don't see it as a call to war that it was.
The options are
1. Don't blatantly inject your own politics into your work
2. If you're not creating anything, encourage someone who is not to inject their politics into their work.
I wouldn't say "don't inject your politics into your work." More like, "don't let your politics consume you and be the only focus of your work".
Also, "let readers decide for themselves on how to interpret a story".
Politics in work is fine, but execution matters. Like Tom King said recently, you can't put your twitter feed in your comics.
>kittyprydesaysnigger.jpg
I mean, shit, kid, Superman was originally a villainous commentary on the Nietzschean Ubermensch. No one's gonna buy that they came out with deep political or philosophical comics just last week.
This is very true, but you even see it in people who were reading at the time. I guess nostalgia might be to blame, and perhaps you don't really care whether it was political anymore because the politics you're living with now are different.
No the didn't you fucking retard.
No they didn't you fucking retard.
I find it funny people are acting like subtlety is the issue when OP's pick is literally of the feminist character that runs around in the stars and stripes from back when she was a WW2 propaganda tool.
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