Have you ever wondered how art imitates life? Here’s a fresh look at geek culture and what it’s all about.
• X-Men is about civil rights. If you didn’t get that, you didn’t get X-Men.
• Black Panther is about colonization. If you didn’t get that, you didn’t get Black Panther.
• Captain America literally fought nazis. He is the embodiment of fighting white supremacy. If you didn’t get that, you didn’t get Captain America.
• The Empire in Star Wars is fascist. The Rebel Alliance is anti-fascist. If you didn’t get that, you didn’t get Star Wars.
• Doctor Who was about an alien fighting for all of humanity in spite of totalitarian regimes. If you don’t get that, you don’t get Doctor Who.
• The Punisher isn’t meant to be a role model for police or armed forces. So much so that the writers of The Punisher made him actively speak out against it in a comic. If you didn’t get that, you didn’t get The Punisher.
• Deadpool is queer. He’s pansexual, in fact. If you didn’t get that you didn’t get Deadpool.
• Star Trek is about equality for all genders, races and sexualities. As early as the mid-60s it was taking a pro-choice stance and defending women’s right to choose. One of its clearest themes is accepting different cultures and appearances and working together for peace. (It’s also anti-capitalist and pro-vegan).
If you didn’t get that, you didn’t get Star Trek.
• Superman and Wonder Woman (and a whole host of other superheroes) are immigrants. The stance of those comics is pro-immigration and pro-equality and acceptance. If you didn’t get that, you didn’t get Superman or Wonder Woman.
• Stan Lee said, “Racism and bigotry are among the deadliest social ills plaguing the world today.” If you’re bigoted or racist, you didn’t get any of the characters Stan Lee created.
• The stories we grew up with all taught us to value other people and cultures and to treasure the differences between us. Only villains were xenophobic, or sexist, or racist, or totalitarian. I can’t understand how anyone can have missed that.
• If you’re upset that there’s a black Spider-Man, or a black Captain America, or a female Thor, or that Ms. Marvel is Muslim, or that Captain Marvel was pro-feminism or any of the other things right-wing “fans” say is “stealing their childhood” – you never got it in the first place. The things you claim are now “pandering to the lefties” were never on your side to begin with.
If you consider yourself a fan of these things, but you still think the LGBTQ+ community is too “in your face”, or you have a problem with Black Lives Matter, or you want to “take the country back from immigrants”, then you’re not really a fan at all.
You are a tourist.
Geek culture isn’t suddenly left-wing… It always was left-wing. You just grew up to be intolerant.
You became the villain in the stories you used to love.
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