Should tv shows, films and comics talk about politics and social issues?

[Mister Mets]

One complication is that some fans are lunatics.

We hear about death threats over events involving fictional characters. How will those fans react to actual life and death issues? Ultimately that's what political discussions boil down to.

In addition there are some taboo issues. For many people it doesn't matter if you're right about the facts if they sense that you're on the wrong side of an issue. This complicates the reception to comics, tv and film. Comics and TV are also serialized media where you don't know where a story is going, which may also lead to people panicking about potential plot points that will never happen.

[TheRay]

I will have to say that making the politics reference anything specific about the real world could be problematic.

[williamtheday]

Why didn't Green Arrow ask Wonder woman to use the purple healing ray to get Speedy off the junk?

[seismic-2]

It often gets tedious and "preachy".

[ed2962]

Why didn't Green Arrow ask Wonder woman to use the purple healing ray to get Speedy off the junk?

Wonder Woman might have been going through her Diana Rigg phase at the time. I'm not sure of the exact continuity, but Denny O'Neil was writing WW and GLGA during the same general era.

Besides, Speedy quit heroin in like two days at Black Canary's apartment the way the story was told. No medication needed!

[mathew101281]

I feel political themes work best in metaphor. I've always felt that it was strange when real US presidents show up in comics. Comicbook universes aren't the real world. Being too literal often leads to...

1. weird, tedious and preachy stories
2. It dates the work horribly. (a lot of older comics struggle with this)

[williamtheday]

Wonder Woman might have been going through her Diana Rigg phase at the time. I'm not sure of the exact continuity, but Denny O'Neil was writing WW and GLGA during the same general era.

Besides, Speedy quit heroin in like two days at Black Canary's apartment the way the story was told. No medication needed!

Oh, yeah...forgot Diana wasn't WW then. Thanks!

[Frobisher]

All stories are political - they establish ideals by generating culture. For instance, go back to the legend of Gilgamesh and he's a guy who's strong and goes on heroic adventures with his buddy; so being strong is desirable, being a hero is desirable, adventuring is desirable and engaging in strictly platonic horseplay with a male friend is desirable. And because he has all the great qualities, Gilgamesh deserves to be the king and in charge, so it's basically reinforcing that benevolent autocratic government is the way things should be.

Also, Rambo First Blood Part Two is a silly high-octane adventure about an invincible madman blowing up infinite rope bridges and huts, but it's also a glossy advert for Reagan's foreign policy, a band-aid over America's wound from Vietnam, and a declaration of the eternal inevitability of the Military Industrial Complex.

Although possibly Animal Farm is just a story about a squabble between some talking farm animals.

[TheRay]

The problem definitely arises when people try to apply real world ideas and values to a universe that is entirely separate from that.

[godisawesome]

The problem definitely arises when people try to apply real world ideas and values to a universe that is entirely separate from that.

That particular part comes down to how you execute it; some metaphors or, to use Tolkien’s words, applicability work better than others, or will work in one context but not another.

Like, a smarter writing of stuff like a mutant registration can make it clearly applicable to stuff like Apartheid, while poorer writing can make it feel like a misapplication of civil rights talk to something that may genuinely make pragmatic sense; the difference between “you’re dehumanizing us so you can exploit and abuse us!” and “that kid can blow up buildings when he has a tantrum by snapping his fingers” is all about nuance and forethought.

[TheRay]

Now you’re also kind of getting into people extrapolating their own interpretations of what’s being done. There can be some similarities in a story without it actually trying to represent or discuss the topic.