Two things that can’t seem to go a day (minutes even) without being talked about?
The DC Extended Universe and current President of the United States Donald Trump.
A new article from ScreenRant looks to continue the talk, as they have recently wrote a piece suggesting that The DCEU’s version of Batman is made for Trump’s America. It focuses on Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice exclusively – and we’ll point out the notable parts of the article for you to decipher:
The paranoid, extremist take on Batman that fans got in the DCEU may not have won their approval… but would he have won their vote? Fans of Zack Snyder have long claimed that the director’s vision of Batman, Superman, and the larger DCEU they inhabit has been underappreciated or misinterpreted by reviewers and critics. But given what’s transpired in the United States since Batman V Superman‘s release – an American President endorsing ‘tough love’ and threatening preemptive nuclear strikes, the growing perception of immigrants as existential threats to the country, and outbreaks of violence involving newly emboldened hate groups – the world seems determined to prove Snyder’s vision of America is worthy of more discussion than it actually received upon release.
With that in mind, we’re taking a closer look at the film, now that Zack Snyder’s vision of xenophobia, political extremism, and reconciliation in modern America seems more relevant than ever.
It also talks about how Superman represents Muslims in America (with another in depth article you can read for yourselves):
If Batman V Superman is a story of today’s America, with Superman representing the immigrants, minorities, and cultural ‘threats’ targeted by white nationalists and other hate groups, Batman is literally and figuratively the authority given the power to act, oppose, and attack.
Nameless protesters may hate Superman, but what angered so many BvS critics is that Batman is supposed to be better than that. Someone with the intelligence, responsibility, and power Batman wields simply cannot embrace hate, fear, paranoia, or extremism. Were someone with such power to wield it with the same emotion, prejudice, or subjectivity as an average citizen, how quickly would they become the villain to, say, half the people they’re entrusted to protect?
That’s what most accepted as fact back in March of 2016, when the movie was released. A year and a half later, the obvious difference between “hate speech” and “honesty,” like the difference between “xenophobia” and “patriotism” is now up for debate. And regardless of one’s personal politics, the past year has demonstrated that irresponsible, harmful, and dangerous comments, statements, and legislative votes are made all the time by people who should, in one way or another, ‘know better’.
The article closes with:
In no uncertain terms, Batman V Superman shows the danger of believing good people given power can remain uncorrupted. But Snyder doesn’t present this bleak landscape for its own sake: the entire conflict hinges on these prejudices being overcome. If the world presented in the DCEU has proven to be a shockingly accurate reflection of our own, the saving grace of that story should probably be looked to for some hope, if not concrete solutions.
Especially since the story sees Batman absolved of his failures, and acknowledge the reasons for his hatred in time to do what heroes must: identify the true enemy, and disarm them. And for those seeing only enemies around them in their communities, their political arenas, and their nations, seeing through the confusion to the ones most eager to not be noticed isn’t any easier than it was for Batman. But he did it… and so can we.
Regardless of your thoughts on the article, that’s a pretty random comparison to make and one that would have probably gone unnoticed, had these articles not pointed them out. Screen Rant did three separate articles on this, a trilogy if you will, ending with how Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice shows how to ‘Make America Great Again’. They definitely make for an interesting read.
It isn’t the first time that Zack Snyder has been lumped into today’s terrible political climate. Just last month the director’s popular film, 300, was accused of ‘fueling the rise of the Alt-Right’:
300 is also an influential movie in another, more insidious way. There’s a great recent episode of the Chapo Trap House podcast in which the hosts discuss 300 as “the ur-text of the alt-right,” as “Hamiltonfor neo-fascists.” It’s a compelling argument. This is a movie that makes a grand, mythic spectacle out of the whole defending-the-white-homeland trope, and if you look at the YouTube comments on any of the scenes above, you will witness some serious human ugliness. It would be a pretty big stretch to blame 300 for Donald Trump or whatever, but the movie really did lionize the heroic white warriors fighting to repel the endless dark-skinned hordes—to, in the gravelly narrator’s words, “rescue a world from mysticism and tyranny.” (Oh no! Mysticism!) This sort of bullshit did help establish a world where Donald Trump could be elected president, and it deserves to be remembered for that. It’s an influential movie in all the wrong possible ways. It’s our Birth Of A Nation.
We enjoy presenting this type of stuff without commentary, so we’ll leave that to you to do in the comment section below!