Superman Is Super Woke According To MAGA Supporters

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5 days ago

It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's grown adults upset over a classic superhero in tights, and what he stands for.
Superman hit theaters on July 11. It was written and directed by James Gunn and stars David Corenswet, Nicholas Hoult, Rachel Brosnahan, Edi Gathegi, Nathan Fillion, and more.
At this point, everyone knows that Superman is an alien from another planet who humans raised to eventually become the superpowered hero in the red and blue tights. But when James recently referred to Superman as an "immigrant," all hell broke loose.
In a recent interview with The Sunday Times, James said, "Superman is the story of America. An immigrant that came from other places and populated the country, but for me, it is mostly a story that says basic human kindness is a value and is something we have lost."
James's comments sparked immediate backlash from the far-right MAGA crowd. Even though the original comic was created in 1938 by the sons of actual immigrants, and Superman was sent to Earth to make a better life for himself after his planet was destroyed, they accused the film of being "too woke."
Fox News contributor Kellyanne Conway said, "We don't go to the movie theater to be lectured to and to have somebody throw their ideology onto us."
Fox News host Jesse Watters said in the same segment, "You know what it says on his cape? MS-13," referring to the Salvadoran gang that's designated as a foreign terrorist organization.
Ben Shapiro may have agreed that Superman is technically an immigrant but argued that he's a man "who assimilates to American values and then brings those classic American values to the big city."
Actor Dean Cain, who played Superman in the 1990s TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, agreed with Jesse Watters, saying to TMZ, "How woke is Hollywood going to make this character? How much is Disney going to change their Snow White? Why are they going to change these characters to exist for the times?"
Dean continued, "For Superman, it was 'truth, justice in the American way.' Well, they dropped that … I don't think is a great idea. I think if you want to create a new character, go ahead and do that. But for me, Superman has always stood for 'truth, justice, and the American way' — and the American way is tremendously immigrant friendly. But there are rules. You can't come in saying, 'I want to get rid of all the rules in America because I wanted to be more like Somalia.' Well, that doesn't work, because you had to leave Somalia to come here — so it doesn't make any sense. If people are coming for economic opportunity, let's take a look at your government and why you don't have that economic opportunity … And there have to be limits, because we can't have everybody here in the United States … our society will will fail."
Ironically, the internet quickly resurfaced a clip from Season 4, episode 14 of Dean's series where Superman is stopped by an "immigration and naturalization" officer asking for his green card.
Even the 2001 TV series Smallville had an entire storyline where Tom Welling's Clark Kent referred to himself as "an illegal immigrant" when justifying to his mom why he wanted to help a friend from being deported.
So, I had the pleasure of seeing the Gunn's Superman reboot. While things that certain groups consider "too progressive" don't cause me a meltdown, I find it disturbing that people are accusing superheroes of being "too woke."
For decades, comic book superheroes have been characters who come from different planets, sometimes with abilities that set them apart from average society, and heck, some of them even find themselves at odds with world governments and authority because they challenge the status quo. It has ALWAYS been the superhero agenda since its iteration. The only difference is that there was a time when American values aspired to fight for the same causes as Captain America, Superman, and Batman, and not the bad guys.
Today, it feels like it might be harder to swallow that Lex Luthor, a genius tech billionaire who colludes with political figures for his agenda could be the villain in the story. Thanos, Magneto, Doctor Doom, and these larger-than-life supervillains who use their power, wealth, influence, and exact vengeful and hypocritical tyranny on people who don't align with them are hitting too close to home nowadays.
If our world leaders' talking points start sounding more and more like something a Bond villain would say, it's not the fictional superhero that got "too woke," or changed for the worse — it's our society.
And heck, don't just take my word for it. Although MAGA enthusiasts might decry the idea of Superman being an immigrant fighting for truth, justice, and the progressive American way, there are a lot of folks pointing out that the backlash is wrong.
Aside from the celebrities involved in the film, the rest of the internet is having a field day shutting down the backlash against Superman being "took woke." Here's what some folks are saying:
And finally, this X user held nothing back, saying, "You're uncomfortable by the acts of kindness cause you're fucking evil. The movie isn't woke. You're just fucking evil." She called out people who claim Superman is "superwoke" for trying to push a political message when the message is just "be kind to other regardless of who they are."
What are your thoughts?