Alan Moore: Adults Loving Superhero Movies Is 'Infantile' and Can Be a 'Precursor to Fascism'

[TheProle]

“Watchmen” creator Alan Moore’s hatred for superhero movies is well known, as he once called them a “blight” to cinema and “also to culture to a degree,” but he dragged them even more during a recent interview with The Guardian. Moore described adults’ continued love of superhero movies an “infantilization” that can act as “a precursor to fascism.”

“I said round about 2011 that I thought that it had serious and worrying implications for the future if millions of adults were queueing up to see ‘Batman’ movies,” Moore said. “Because that kind of infantilization – that urge towards simpler times, simpler realities – that can very often be a precursor to fascism.”

https://variety.com/2022/film/news/alan-moore-adults-loving-superhero-movies-fascism-1235397695/

[FarPoint]

1. I love my DC and MCU characters ...

I am also a pure liberal.

[PortTack]

2. If an adult watches a super hero villain movie and then turns to violence or fascism

There’s something deeply flawed with that individual. MOST see them as a fun fantasy

[TheProle]

13. Of course

But that’s not what Moore’s saying.

[Beakybird]

3. I think going into a fantasy world can be healthy, but he's got a point regarding hero vs. villain.

[BlueTsunami2018]

4. And yet, it's the right who complain the most about superhero movies.

Too “woke”, too many female heroes, every villain is a fascist etc.

This is a dumb theory.

[Qutzupalotl]

5. Solving problems with violence

might make an entertaining movie, but doesn't usually work in real life. Same goes for reducing people to good vs. evil. We are more complex than that, most of us.

The current fascist movement in the U.S. encourages its followers to be the worst versions of themselves in the name of betterment. The Proud Boys in particular seem to want to live in a superhero movie, believing themselves to be superior, when they are themselves degenerate.

[JI7]

6. I haven't watched any of these movies. But is there any evidence

to show this ? I know many people into them that are liberal . In fact I would say they tend to be liberal leaning.

[LeftInTX]

8. I think everyone watches them, except me.

My kids were all into them.
They still are.

I don't care for them.

I don't think that any political ideology embraces those movies

[meadowlander]

11. No, he's talking out of his ass.

I can't speak for every superhero movie ever made but in terms of the MCU most have reasonably well-developed characters and complex plots that include important societal themes.

For example, Black Panther posits an African society that was not subject to colonisation and therefore not dealing with legacy racism and resource theft. They are significantly more culturally and technologically advanced than the West.

Many of the Batman movies deal with the cycle of violence and revenge in a reasonably complex way where Batman isn't always the unquestionable hero.

Many of the more recent movies deal with mental health issues in a compassionate way (e.g. Moon Knight for DID and The Joker). Lots of them deal with social exclusion and embracing diversity (X-Men).

Age of Ultron deals with scientific advancement in a vacuum of ethical advancement.

A common trope is anti-Military Industrial Complex as whatever creates superpowers is inevitably exploited for war (Wolverine, Captain America and the Winter Soldier). HYDRA are basically just Nazis that have gone international and they're hardly the heroes of any movies they're in.

Etc.

"Superhero movies" are no more simplistic or pro-fascism than any other genre of movie. Like Star Trek and many fantasy movies, the different setting just provides an opportunity to highlight contemporary social issues the same as any other movie. There are good and bad ones but, having just binged most of the MCU for the first time, I was very pleasantly surprised by the quality of the writing and acting in most of them.

[TheProle]

16. "Talking out of his ass" Heh...

Your level of expertise after a first MCU marathon aside, I can assure you that Alan Moore is not talking out of his ass.

You may not share his opinions, but he’s likely forgotten more about comic books than most of us will ever learn in our lifetimes.

[meadowlander]

18. He's not just expressing an opinion about comic books.

He's expressing an opinion about the impact of media on society. And the shallowness and demonstrable falseness of his position, even to someone who doesn't know a lot about comic books, shows that he is in fact talking out of his ass.

If he wants to show up here and provide some documented evidence of comic book movies leading to fascism then he is welcome to do so. I won't hold my breath.

[TheProle]

19. Got it.

Of course he’s not saying you’ll catch fascism from watching a movie.

One cannot know the ramifications of someone with a narrow world view having that viewpoint reinforced by media.

[TheProle]

17. As anecdotal evidence

The top thread on the General Discussion page is a thread calling for the assassination of Putin as a solution to the war.

It’s only a matter of time before someone suggests sending in a guy in a colorful unitard who was bitten by a radioactive something…

[JI7]

20. I don't watch these movies but there are good reasons for wanting Putin assassinated

[TheProle]

21. It's emblematic of simplistic thinking

Assassination of foreign leaders is banned and for good reason. They’re rarely without consequences, unforeseen and otherwise.

[BradAllison]

23. Not really

The whole "Civil War" storyline was how Captain America saw fear with Superheroes needing to "register" and take their orders from the military/government instead of seeing things for themselves.

[BootinUp]

7. I can't say he is wrong. In recent years I have had

similar thoughts, that people are showing they want things reduced to black and white, that they are more afraid of the world, etc.

[OAITW r.2.0]

9. Interesting....I have no interest in the MCU and every other serial comic universe.

Don't get me wrong, I positively was a Comic-head at 12*....

My absolute favorite was The Haunted Tank series about Jeb Stuart, the confederate calvary officer inhabiting an M-3 tank during WW2. It was a pretty cool story when I was 12. The lowly M-3 against the the dreaded German Panzers. Illustrations were really excellent as well. Spiderman and the FF were also favorites, but read Superman, Batman, etc as well. And it made me a better reader in the process.

But, today, I have no interest in keeping track of fantasy streaming serials.

* Graduated to Cosmic-head when I turned 20 in '73.

[tinrobot]

10. Rome had gladiators, we have superhero movies

Both promote and normalize violence as the means to an end.

The big difference is that movies don't actually kill people - but, still, the message is the same.

[exboyfil]

12. Movies have always included violent conflict from the start

In fact super hero movies in general are tamer in the violence than a lot of the mainstream war and cop dramas.

Superhero movies are more akin to Greek dramas and Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. If you want gladiatorial analogy look to boxing, MMA, and football.

[edhopper]

14. Not at all

Football and MMA are more likr Gladiators.
Superhero movies are modern day myths and folktales.
Movies have been normalizing violence since The Great Train Robbery.

[Gaugamela]

15. I agree, and have said so before. I disliked comic books when I was a kid

because I thought they were boring. I disliked the ‘78 Superman movie for the same reason, and thought the characters and action were childish. I’m amazed that adults find this stuff entertaining, and I see it as propaganda for a simplistic good vs evil world view. All you have to do is fill in the blank with American exceptionalism, and cheer for some cathartic violence.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=2977961

[tenderfoot]

22. Ken Loach thinks they're boring

?t=204

[ThoughtCriminal]

24. Defeating evil is not an action adventure

Does not require super strength, unreal reflexes, or a basement full of exotic firearms.

It often takes a willingness to do hard, boring work. It may take becoming unpopular with people that want to admire you or with people that can hurt you and your family. It can mean passing up an easy job for easy money.

Example: The journalist that spends many tedious hours going through the most mind-numbing piles of records to turn up a pattern of corruption.

It takes tens of millions of people taking the time to be informed and voting to keep a country free from authoritarians that would be happy to remove that burden.

[BradAllison]

25. Trumpsters are rejecting anything out of Hollywood

Aside from a few who think "Joker" was brilliant, most QNon types and Trumpsters seem content with their own invented belief system.