by Tina Grazier
R.I.P. Captain America by James Lileks is a must read for all you comic book Superhero fans:
Captain America has been a vessel for cultural self-loathing for some time now. If we put out an unapologetically patriotic Captain America these days, we’d be shouted down as fascists who want to give military recruiters access to day-care centers…In the old days, though, figures like Cap were plentiful and resolute, smashing Nazi schemes to drill a tunnel under the Atlantic to Brooklyn….If Captain Saudi was shot trying to teach his daughter to drive a car, it would mean something. If Captain France turned into a vigilante prowling the suburbs to root out Islamic radicalism, we’d pay attention. So the death of Captain America is important. But what does it mean?
It means he’ll probably be back as Captain American’t, a tortured superhero who realizes the futility of nationalism in an interconnected world
For those who are the REAL superherosthis is a great article. Lileks addresses the pathetic mindset of many of our countrymen today…but he ends the piece with a hint that a new “old” trend is on the rise:
For a more pertinent lesson, you might look at another Frank Miller work; instead of Batman, it concerns a band of brothers whose martial code compels them to sacrifice their lives for the sake of their freedom, their society, their conception of liberty. It’s called “300.” They made a little movie out of it, and it seems to be doing well.
Trading Captain America for the King of Sparta may not be the ideal bargain, but these days, you take what you can get.
I saw “300” last Friday and I highly recommend it. A simple story line, nearly all compelling action…riveting to the very end. At one point I surprised even myself…shouted I, “Yeah!”