Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/10/13/in-a-rare-interview-for-his-new-film-alan-moore-talks-covid-19-and-blames-super-heroes-for-trump-and-brexit.html
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That headline is misleading. He clearly speaks of these things as not the cause each other in any direction, but common symptoms of another cause. That being people fleeing confrontation with actual reality.
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The problem isn’t so much fantasy being passed off as fictional works but fantasy being passed off as non-fictional works. Reality tv, Fox News in the states and tabloid rags in the uk did the large majority of damage Moore complained about. Hell, the Avengers beating the shit out of Thanos on film did nowhere near as much damage as the Disney documentarians scaring lemmings off a cliff and then claim they’re suicidal animals.
He can make a case against rugged individualism and how it’s portrayed in superhero media but it’s something that has been much more ingrained in media about pirates, cowboys, gangsters & rogue cops which has also affected conservative media like Ayn Rand did too. Of course his esoteric methods can’t really work against something like people being drawn to watch wealthy middle aged women yell and scream at each on a Bravo tv show can they? Stories about made up exceptional people doing exceptional made up things are still going to be made up, but there’s alot of people who see that some real life people are being rewarded and celebrated for being the loudest jackass in the room. He kinda wasted an opportunity to advocate for better media literacy.
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Had to look up what a satsuma is. lol
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This may be entirely coincidence but in 2016 when the American people elected a National Socialist satsuma and the UK voted to leave the European Union, six of the top 12 highest grossing films were superhero movies. Not to say that one causes the other but I think they’re both symptoms of the same thing – a denial of reality and an urge for simplistic and sensational solutions.
Infantilized American though I am, I can still appreciate the irony of reading a global “urge for simplistic and sensational solutions” into the box office list.
Anyway, Alan, nice to hear from you. Don’t wait until you’re lonely to write us again.
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I voted to stay in Europe; however, I like Fast & Furious and Mission Impossible movies. I like them because they are escapist media; but they are just part of the media that I consume; just like I used to read comics for their escapist value.
Regarding the Post-Covid Entertainment Landscape, I think it will still be dominated by the Mouse and that small production houses will still be pushed to the periphery.
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Alan Moore will talk to Stewart Lee - I’m not sure what the connection was for them but they’ve done a number of (wonderful) things together - including cutaways for Lee’s show and this :
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I guess that they are both Midlanders in the media, so they have that in common; plus Moore wrote comics that weren’t comics and Lee writes jokes that aren’t jokes (though are hilarious).
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You are so right.
For those who don’t know him - this is one of his best non-jokes. (NSFW - Language)
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I wonder what Alan Moore looks like without his beard? Probably angry.
Edit: thanks to the internet I can answer my own question. He looks like Teenage me.
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I’m in the middle of Jerusalem. I’m not convinced it’s not escapist. We’ll see. It’s really long.
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Without his beard he loses his ability to fly.
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Obligatory:
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Me too! I am so grateful for a new word.
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How? I find their website confusing, but what seems to be the relevant page says “not available”.
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That one wouldn’t play for me. Damn you and your “license fee”, BBC! Did I swear allegiance to the Queen for nothing?
Ahem. I had never heard of the man, though, and I had a pleasant time going down a brief youtube rabbit hole with what I could find.
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Except, had he entered the theater and watched those films, he might have noticed that those 50-year-old characters had been remixed and remapped to explore contemporary political and societal concerns. Sure, there is escapism to a degree, but if that’s all your able to take away from the narratives and characters, you’re not going to get much out of any media you ingest.
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He’s being a bit more circumspect here, but in his previous interviews he not only described the two as having a common cause, but superhero fiction as having a “culturally catastrophic” effect of its own. He suggested that superhero fiction was providing a place where people could indulge this denial of reality and make things worse, even if it wasn’t the cause.
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Funny thing, I never wasted a moment of my time having to actually write a stinking Batman comic book my own self. Too many people are pretending their hands aren’t dirty.
Orange you glad you did?
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