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I'm actually kind of glad the X Men aren't apart of the Marvel movie universe in a way. For the fact that they will have to come up with backgrounds and reasons for super powered people on the Shield TV show other than "mutants did it". I could see that become a scapegoat real fast if they had that option. Sucks that they cant use some of the characters though.

 

Also, the trailer looks pretty good to me.

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He turned up BEFORE the start of the American involvement in WWII, created by two Jewish kids as wish fulfillment/propaganda to get the US into the war and stop the atrocities that Simon/Kirby were hearing about via relatives still back in Europe.  You gotta realize that from the 20s-41 America was staunchly isolationist, and people thought the Nazis were A-OK because they were rebuilding Germany after an economic collapse.

 

I think it's an overreach to say that America was staunchly isolationist all the way into 1941 (and I said something that that effect as well, which was also an overreach).  But there was definitely a significant bloc of staunchly isolationist Americans.  And you're 100% correct that if Captain America was created with any political aim, it was to support intervention in WWII (which could be fairly termed jingoistic).

 

So does this make FSW correct?  I don't think so.  March 1941 was both the month Cap was born and the month that the US government enacted Lend-Lease.  While it obviously wasn't a full declaration of war, it was supported by interventionists and opposed by isolationists. It was clearly taking a side in the war, supporting the Allies over the Axis and ending neutrality. 

 

Looking at the vote for that legislation, you see that there wasn't a pure black-and-white partisan split, but generally speaking, Senate Democrats supported it (79-21 percent of their faction) and the Republicans opposed it (37-63 of their faction).  In the House, the vote was even more partisan.  So at the moment of his creation, Captain America's political aims were more closely in line with the Democratic Party (including President Roosevelt, who supported taking sides in the conflict) than the Republican Party.

 

Of course, as I said before, the parties have evolved significantly since 1941, so that makes the idea that Cap is the ideal of one political party even more specious.  Basically, if you think that waving an American flag makes you a Republican, then you'll say that Cap is a Republican.  If you think about it more deeply, you'll disagree.  To me this says more about the Republican Party's success (in some corners) in promoting the idea that patriotism = Republicanism than it does about Cap's politics.

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I'm actually kind of glad the X Men aren't apart of the Marvel movie universe in a way. For the fact that they will have to come up with backgrounds and reasons for super powered people on the Shield TV show other than "mutants did it". I could see that become a scapegoat real fast if they had that option. Sucks that they cant use some of the characters though.

 

 

Last week, I definitely thought they were introducing mutants with Scorch. When he explained his backstory, he said something like "I was born near a nuclear power plant and my powers just suddenly started manifesting one day." That definitely sounds like a mutant power to me. I was even like, MUTIES!

 

But they never said the M-word so either they're being coy about dropping that particularly plot point or Fox really does have exclusive rights to use that concept (which seems really dumb). Which is going to make the introduction of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver kinda confusing...

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Just because you don't know how to make Cap work doesn't mean that he can't work. Especially when you harp on FSW's argument when he knows fuck-all about the character beyond his fucking superhero suit.

 

I'm not a movie producer or comic book writer, it's not my job to know how to make Cap work. Not saying the character wasn't relevant for his time, or that the idea behind him (to promote U.S. involvement in WWII) was misguided, but with a global audience, in the year 2013, and superpowers consisting of high-vaulting and boomeranging, he's fucking lame.

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The entire basis of the Captain America character from the 60s-on can be summed up in one sentence: "There's always another way." It's about as far from either neocon or tea party values as you can get. Regardless of any sort of initial symbolism, the character for the brunt of his fictional life and I'd even argue in the Marvel movies he's been in, has represented not America but the American Dream, and I would argue that what FSW claims to be "Perfect republican values" has nothing to do with the American Dream Cap has always represented. 

 

Let's move on. I'm two episodes behind on Shield. Has it gotten better yet?

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I consider warmongering a Republican trait. And, again, I'm not saying Cap was a Republican creation, just that he is the ideal mascot for the current Republican party.

Except he's not, as Cap has been a character based on representing all Americans and what's good about a country with people from all backgrounds who fights against stereotypical right wing shit for over 40 years.And Americans weren't warmongering during WW2. It took Pearl Harbor to get people behind entering the war and pull England out of the fire again.
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The entire basis of the Captain America character from the 60s-on can be summed up in one sentence: "There's always another way." It's about as far from either neocon or tea party values as you can get. Regardless of any sort of initial symbolism, the character for the brunt of his fictional life and I'd even argue in the Marvel movies he's been in, has represented not America but the American Dream, and I would argue that what FSW claims to be "Perfect republican values" has nothing to do with the American Dream Cap has always represented. 

 

Counter-point: He's white.

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Was tonight's Agents Of Shield a re-run? My DVR didn't record it, but I can't imagine they would do a re-run so soon.

 

Yes, it was a re-run. I can only guess when they were looking at the calendar two months ago (or however long in advance episodes are filmed), they thought, "Hmmm...NBA Opening Night, a possible World Series game...That'll really cut into our young male demographic. Better schedule a repeat."

 

Although the preview for next week's episode looks like it's horror movie-esque which would lend one to believe it was intended to air around Halloween so my theory is probably wrong.

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