I just wanted to hear the thoughts of some comrades. I feel like the whole show is a dagger pointed right at the heart of amerikkkan culture and capitalism.

I'm not the most savvy on catching all the themes or lib brain worms that find there way into media, but it speaks to my disdain for the culture. The cynical narcissism of the supes (and holy shit their sexual pathologies), the capitalizing on things from every angle, the military jingoism, the soulless use of humans for capital, the commentary on the rot at the heart of the beast, and the religious cults preying on people. It hits for me, and I hate it all at the same time.

Anyway, hope ya'll have a great Christmas or holiday, at least a break from the meat grinder.

Edit: Oh, and the fucking rainbow capitalism, it's pretty spot on.

  • hexaflexagonbear [he/him]
    ·
    21 hours ago

    I enjoyed it, but it feels kinda same. Like it’s clearly just hitting the same 3 satirical points over and over, but also it needs to do MORE each season so they’re like coming up with new and more extreme ways to do “haha what if a superhero exploded your dick” jokes.

    For the cultural commentary, idk when the comics were written originally, but the whole thing kinda feels like repurposing radlib commentary on the bush era for the trump era. Like I feel like even the more faux religious types don’t present like they do in the show, I feel modern religious conservatism is less evangelical and somehow even more peasant brain-y. Like people should be getting mad about witchcraft or completely insane numerology more.

      • 30_to_50_Feral_PAWGs [she/her]
        ·
        20 hours ago

        Seconded. I lost my shit at that scene in S01E05 when Ezekiel did the televangelist youth pastor bit because it was entirely too accurate. It was just missing "Our God is an Awesome God" and the Treatler Youth promising you free pizza and then you get there and there's no free pizza.

        • bubbalu [they/them]
          ·
          10 hours ago

          I am thankful I grew up Jewish. The worst it gets is "our G-d is a mid g-d, but hey it's the one we got?"

          • 30_to_50_Feral_PAWGs [she/her]
            ·
            6 hours ago

            I grew up Catholic and my family was so racist that when I thought Judas was the main figure in Judaism (like how "Christ" is the Main Character in "Christianity"), nobody corrected me for like 3 or 4 years.

        • dustbunnies [she/her, comrade/them]
          ·
          13 hours ago

          "Our God is an Awesome God"

          wtf

          all it takes is reading those words and it instantly starts up in my head, even though it's been almost 25 years since I had to hear it in person

          • 30_to_50_Feral_PAWGs [she/her]
            ·
            edit-2
            6 hours ago

            Bottom line, if your best friend introduces you to a dude named Zander or Parrish or whatever and said dude immediately starts freaking out and claiming that your Magic: The Gathering Revised Edition Pestilence card burned his hand with the power of Satan, and oh by the way would you like to come to our study group where we play ping pong and eat pizza, THERE IS NO PIZZA. THE PIZZA IS A LIE. peppino-angry

            ...I'm still pissed off at that weirdo cult for taking my friend away from me. It's hard to take someone seriously after you've seen him -- and a room full of other teenagers -- pretend to speak in tongues for half an hour while a keyboard player holds a drone chord in a shitty P&W song.

      • hexaflexagonbear [he/him]
        ·
        20 hours ago

        That’s fair, it’s more that they’re less the focus of the cultural zeitgeist, and Republican Party and their media arms are less focused on them currently like they were around 2000-2008. It makes it feel a bit dated in some ways. I don’t really mind it, it does give it kind of a cool vibe because it feels like a throwback to 2006, while most of the show being very much in the present. The show feels like current me and teenager me brainstorming a show and that’s not really a bad thing. As I said I did enjoy it, and think the first few seasons are great, more got tired of it over time than anything.

    • thelastaxolotl [he/him]M
      ·
      20 hours ago

      kinda feels like repurposing radlib commentary on the bush era for the trump era

      Its is exactly that, the comics written by Ennis were his anti bush outlet plus his way of criticizing 00s superhero comics from DC/Marvel via being really edgy

    • barrbaric [he/him]
      ·
      20 hours ago

      The TV show changed a lot of things in the adaptation (for the better, to be clear, the comics are absolute trash and Garth Ennis is a hack), to the point where I'd say all the social commentary is new. IIRC faux-religious supes aren't even a thing in the comics, because they're too busy having two arcs where the entire joke is "Hey Professor X and Batman having all these child sidekicks is kind of weird, huh? What if they were pedophiles?".

      • JoeByeThen [he/him, they/them]
        ·
        20 hours ago

        (for the better, to be clear, the comics are absolute trash and Garth Ennis is a hack)

        Love Sausage rage-cry

        • FlakesBongler [they/them]
          ·
          18 hours ago

          Also his runs on Hellblazer, Hitman, and Punisher are legitimately great

          His stuff for Judge Dredd is fun too, like having the Irish mob have guns that shoot potatoes at lethal velocities