Why superhero satire The Boys turned off its rightwing fanbase

Post by willcipriano » Tue, Jun 28, 2022, 5:59 PM UTC

gamblor956 wrote: post #6

willcipriano wrote: post #3

> "All he ever wants is to be the most powerful person he can be, even though he’s completely inadequate in his abilities to handle it. So it’s white male victimisation and unchecked ambition. And those issues just happened to reflect the guy who, it’s just still surreal to say it, was fucking president of the United States" Curious to what "white male victimisation" meant in this context it's apparently this idea th…

??? So it seems you missed the point. The world's strongest, deadliest, most powerful person, Homelander, feels like a victim because people aren't constantly praising every little thing he does. He has literally no limits on what he is allowed to do. He can do whatever, rape whoever, kill whoever, etc., with impunity. And he does. And he still feels like he is the victim. (Note: Homelander is a more nuanced and symp…

Post by ultrablack » Tue, Jun 28, 2022, 6:01 PM UTC

gamblor956 wrote: post #6

willcipriano wrote: post #3

> "All he ever wants is to be the most powerful person he can be, even though he’s completely inadequate in his abilities to handle it. So it’s white male victimisation and unchecked ambition. And those issues just happened to reflect the guy who, it’s just still surreal to say it, was fucking president of the United States" Curious to what "white male victimisation" meant in this context it's apparently this idea th…

??? So it seems you missed the point. The world's strongest, deadliest, most powerful person, Homelander, feels like a victim because people aren't constantly praising every little thing he does. He has literally no limits on what he is allowed to do. He can do whatever, rape whoever, kill whoever, etc., with impunity. And he does. And he still feels like he is the victim. (Note: Homelander is a more nuanced and symp…

Post by fsociety » Tue, Jun 28, 2022, 6:08 PM UTC

willcipriano wrote: post #11

gamblor956 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

??? So it seems you missed the point. The world's strongest, deadliest, most powerful person, Homelander, feels like a victim because people aren't constantly praising every little thing he does. He has literally no limits on what he is allowed to do. He can do whatever, rape whoever, kill whoever, etc., with impunity. And he does. And he still feels like he is the victim. (Note: Homelander is a more nuanced and symp…

I just don't see other races or genders described in that manner when a individual member of a group acts in a particular way. Well that's not entirely true, I see it when I study pre-WWII Germany in reference to things like "Jewish complaints".

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Jun 28, 2022, 6:10 PM UTC

fsociety wrote: post #15

willcipriano wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just don't see other races or genders described in that manner when a individual member of a group acts in a particular way. Well that's not entirely true, I see it when I study pre-WWII Germany in reference to things like "Jewish complaints".

You are unironically proving the point. It means painting yourself as a victim when you are the one with the power. And yes there are plenty of negative generalizations applied to other races.

Post by krapp » Tue, Jun 28, 2022, 6:19 PM UTC

dredmorbius wrote: post #10

I'm reminded of this HN comment by gwd, specifically: In superhero comic books and movies, the real superpower is certainty. The good guys always know who the bad guys are; it's just a matter of defeating them. In the real world, we have plenty of power to defeat the bad guys; it's just not always clear who the bad guys are. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26619006 It seems as if The Boys is playing with that co…