Superman director speaks out about debate over whether film is about the war in Palestine
James Gunn's Superman has sparked a raft of online discourse about the Hollywood blockbuster's storyline. Fans are taking to social media to debate specifically whether the film is actually a metaphor for the current Israeli conflict in Palestine.
The crux of the film is this: villain Lex Luthor (played by Nicholas Hoult) has started a foreign war between two fictional countries, and Superman (played by David Corenswet) steps in to prevent war. Fans have seen similarities between the film and reality in depiction of the fictional Bovaria, the aggressor nation, which attacks its neighbouring country Jarhanpur.
READ MORE: Superman review: DC's messy yet triumphant reboot makes you believe this franchise can fly
Fans have taken to social media to draw parallels between the film and the Israeli war on Palestine. One TikTok user wrote: "Without a doubt that is genuinely the most pro-Palestine I have seen a mainstream film ever be."
While another said: "It's probably as pro anti-Israel as a movie produced by Hollywood can be." Another commenter adds: "The entire thing that starts the plot is a country that is backed by the US, like the US sends them money and guns."
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Director James Gunn, before the movie was released in theatres, in an interview with The Times said: "When I wrote this the Middle Eastern conflict wasn't happening. So I tried to do little things to move it away from that, but it doesn't have anything to do with the Middle East."
He added: "It's an invasion of a much more powerful country that's problematic in terms of its political history, but has totally no defence against the other country. It really is fictional."
This comes after Gunn sparked controversy by calling Superman an "immigrant", which led to accusations by Fox News that the movie was "Super-Woke".
Gunn's brother, actor Sean Gunn, defended him at the LA premiere when he told Variety: "Yes, Superman is an immigrant, and yes, the people that we support in this country are immigrants and if you don't like that, you're not American. People who say no to immigrants are against the American way."
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