Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.
- 169
- 3
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
The amusing irony, to me, is that the more blatantly bad and stupid they make the red tribe look, the more incompetent and feckless the protags look.
They even lampshade it in Episode 1 of Se4. "How have you guys gotten WORSE at your jobs?"
Starlight is supposedly one of the more effective do-gooders but she can't even make a dent in Homelander's popularity, can't do any material damage to Vought, and can't even shift political outcomes in her side's favor.
If homelander's fanbase is as weak-willed and dumb as the show wants to portray them, then the protags should be able to outsmart them and possibly manipulate them to their ends. But nah. Apparently ONLY Homelander and co. are capable of manipulating rubes.
And the only guy who seems to be somewhat effective is Butcher, who is about as problematic as can be even if his heart is seemingly in the right place.
I am not even sure who a liberal viewer is supposed to root for.
Not just that. Starlight thinks she's in a war for America's soul, but is also so concerned about her purity that she refuses to go out and motivate people because she hates the Starlight brand....while also using it for her bullshit ramshackle charity org? It's past incompetence to even consider this.
As someone who grew up watching Supernatural, Kripke going "woke" seemed like a blackpill but are we sure this whole thing isn't some not-so-veiled critique of left-wing activism?
It could be. Not even hard to read it that way.
Hughie keeps trying to do things "the right way" and he ultimately got completely duped by Neumanns "empathetic liberal" shtick using skills she learned from Stan Edgar himself. Hughie comes back around to Butcher's "kill 'em all" mentality as the only workable solution.
Homelander is objectively a threat to human civilization, and they are just dicking around "fixing" minor side problems while he ticks ever closer to a mental breakdown.
Like they're more concerned with earning brownie points than ending the threat.
If they had literally just let Soldier Boy do his thing it would have been ended. Whatever else was wrong with the guy, he wasn't one for half-measures and DEFINITELY didn't want to leave unfinished business. HIS WHOLE DEAL when he returned from captivity was to immediately follow up on old grudges.
Homelander is a problem that activism cannot solve. Unless they come up with a much more creative solution than the comics do, somebody will have to fight dirty and finish him. There will be (already is) collateral damage.
Every day he continues to exist is demonstrating the protag's uselessness.
So yeah, I find it amusing how this show basically makes liberals out to be ineffective hypocrites, whilst the liberals watching the show fixate on the surface level jokes.
Honestly the show lost its way pretty early on. Up to the point where the boys blow up Translucent, it worked because they had a clear goal (kill the supes) and were working towards that goal in a meaningful way. But after that? Homelander is an excellent villain, but the heroes have made no progress in their goals and mostly seem to have lost sight of what their goals even are. Choosing not to kill A-Train in particular demonstrated the lack of narrative direction that had crept in. Instead you get silly subplots about how Hughie doesn't feel like enough of a man.
I'd have been mostly okay if the show had settled into being a sort of 'procedural' where the Boys have to figure out different approaches to kill different supes while being mostly limited to using standard, nonmagic tech and social engineering and the occasional superpowered assist.
It'd require a lot of creativity to keep it interesting, but yeah, at least they'd have a clear goal in mind.
Homelander as the big bad who is the most difficult to kill and whose confrontation is inevitable would keep the tension ratcheting up.
But now they've had to put Butcher and Homelander in this weird catty rivalry where they will stare each other down and even make snide threats and remarks when they encounter one another, even though both of them damn well know they're trying to kill each other, but are basically just mugging for the audience.
Incidentally, this is why I believe the Venture Bros. still holds the crown for the best, most consistent superhero universe. The reasons why arch-nemeses DON'T (usually) kill each other and the villains are allowed to commit crimes all over the place are all justified in-universe.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
I think you're missing the real point of it. Liberals love criticism of liberalism that goes "we need a Super-Hamas-Man to just literally murder the enemy we're too Nice and Honest to viciously stomp the way he deserves (btw this means trump and anyone who ever opposed Current Thing, and we want to make that unmissably obvious with the least subtle metaphors you've ever seen)".
That's why it's so stupid. It's done on purpose because it's supposed to be Hutu-radio level murder propaganda with the barest hint of plausible deniability so they can sneer at anyone who points it out.
This is classic 2016-2020 liberalism self-criticism designed to morally excuse themselves for having handed the keys of society to violent leftists. Self-identifying as the wishy washy liberal who TV says should just get out of the way and let the death squads work is masturbatory denial of responsibility, because it gives them a passive role to follow.
"MLK hated white moderates like us, so we'd better stay silent and give money to the antifa arson squads whever the TV tells us to" was half of reddit in 2020. This is just a more developed form of that.
Again, though, I'm not sure who the self-professed liberals in the audience are supposed to be rooting for on the show.
Half of the Protags are trying to gin up social pressure against the sentient nuclear bomb with acute narcissism that is Homelander as if that'll keep him from killing everyone, the other half are trying to kill or hurt him but have been utterly inept at following through.
The stakes have been raised to the point where there should be no other priority but stopping Homelander, yet our main characters are still being given minor side plots to resolve as if this were an RPG and they're putting off the final boss battle both because they're underleveled and want to experience the optional content before finishing the game.
If it is propaganda, then they're seemingly not clear on who is supposed to be the glorious hero of the revolution. Who is the Mao/Che Guevera/Vladimir Lenin of the story here?
It looks like they're just padding it out to get to 5 seasons.
More options
Context Copy link
Typically that goes "oh in season 8 some girl stabs the scary white ice king I guess, the end." Or "some girl has a mystic Jedi powerup and stabs the somehow-has-returned evil space wizard guy I guess, the end." (Note: I haven't seen either of these so don't quote me)
The plot doesn't have to be good or make sense, the point is manipulating the audience to feel a certain way about themselves by feeding their insecurities, which in itself is the attraction of these shows to the target audience.
I don't know, if Current Thing hasn't moved on by the time the show finishes, maybe some brave Arab girl will magic-suicide-bomb Homelander somehow I guess, the end.
Then the audience will cry and go "the protagonist did the violence our self-inserts were too nice and principled to do. The service is over, pass round the collection plate for the Hamas bail fund"
... or maybe they'll take the edgelord route. Homelander goes off the deep end and wipes every Arab nation (plus Iran) off the map. Fade to black, silent credit-crawl.
I won't lie this is literally my only exposure to whatever this show is.
So if my prediction is right it'll be doubly hilarious.
(Oh cool, we can add images to posts too)
"You broke my toy!" "I'M HOMELANDER, BITCH!!" zzzzt haha.
(What grade was this assignment for? This kid is too young to watch that show.)
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
If they have any balls whatsoever, them actually taking Homelander down will either be triggered by him killing a whole country's worth of people, or the collateral damage in the process of taking him down will kill millions.
The show has already made it clear dozens of times that innocent people die at the hands of supes with regularity. No goddamn reason to downplay the scale of the incident when Homelander snaps.
That's assuming they have any plan on how to end it.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link