why doesn't Superman punch out ICE?
at least on film
I found this Bluesky post, and its subsequent reply, interesting:
Now, I’m unfamiliar with this Drunk History episode and the radio show in question. (I don’t know every incident where fiction affected reality, as much as I’m extremely interested in the subject!) But the description above makes me wonder what would happen if we had a similar cultural moment today. A scenario like it is difficult to imagine, thanks to our fractured media landscape and lack of regional saturation. For example, there are several anti-ICE songs out now, some from prominent bands, but they’re not likely to garner mass public attention. The people who stream these songs probably already want to abolish ICE.
But what if something huge and unignorable happened? What if, say, Superman fought ICE in a big blockbuster movie?1
It’s easy to guffaw and say “Hollywood would never do that; they’re too cowardly and conservative!” And yes, it’s true—but why? James Gunn, director of the last Superman movie, has been fairly open about his political commitments. I don’t know whether he’s opposed to ICE or not, but he emphasized in a press interview that Superman is an immigrant, and that's part of the story of America. The new Superman film is overall left-ish, though whether the central political conflict is about protecting Ukraine from Russia or Palestine from Israel is teasingly unclear (I think it’s both, which is clever, though potentially unintentional.) Still, Gunn saved the real critique of domestic fascism for his Peacemaker TV show, where the villains are American Nazis, though the purpose was mainly to demonstrate how his tragic, overmuscled, unwise hero could fall for fascism without realizing it. Peacemaker, like all TV in the streaming overproduction era, has relatively few viewers and is easily lost in the muddle; meaning, showrunners can generally get away with bolder statements.
Filmmakers, however, have to be careful—or their distributors/producers do—with their movies’ politics. One Battle After Another does show warfare against ICE, and open mockery of fascists, but it was promoted mostly as an art film/chase movie/“give me back my daughter” flick rather than as a big blockbuster event.2 All three Knives Out movies make negative comments about the right, but these are subtle enough, and the movies are silly enough, that a lazy audience might not notice. Racists probably didn’t watch Sinners. Smaller indie films might have committed anti-fascist politics (How to Blow Up a Pipeline, etc) but there’s no way the far right is watching those either.
The highly active, Trumpist right, to the extent that it still watches movies and engages with art these days, almost entirely seeks out familiar pop culture content: superhero movies, remakes, sequels, prequels, etc.3 My guess is that lately, they engage with even less of that: they’re too busy posting. The right makes AI art and gets outraged at the gender and racial casting of pop culture movies/shows they often haven’t even seen. And their constant outrage radiates outward from a huge change in the consumption of culture—specifically, that it is a consumption culture. It’s no longer unmanly to get mad because the media box in your house made fun of you.4 An uncommitted person, already saturated in right-wing talking points, won’t necessarily slink away from their political inclinations and a job they might be interested in because woke liberal Hollywood made it look stupid. Many will stand up instead, and scream.5
Because Superman doesn’t mean anything to people like this as an aspirational figure, an icon to respect. He’s a product, delivered by the culture. Everyone is a consumer, and has a right not to be offended by the product. They can run crying to the manager, and that’s not childish. That’s just them defending their rights.
If Superman beat up ICE in a movie, or even made a speech to the camera about how fascism is bad, the right would whiiine. They would complaiiin. They would still feel tough while doing so, too. They wouldn’t feel a lick of embarrassment. They would boycott the film (watching it not being a necessity; hearing that it mocks their values and interests would be enough.) And therefore it’s unlikely that any blockbuster movie producers would allow an open anti-ICE storyline in this environment. The same producers could easily be pro-ICE themselves, either effusively or in that handwringing Democrat way of “we just think these fascist thugs need more training, meaning I want my housekeeper and my gardener to remain terrified into accepting slave wages.” Regardless, the people who finance these types of movies are definitely scared of a right-wing boycott and backlash. Because it would absolutely happen right now, and damage box office and studio reputation. Very few money men in Hollywood are willing to take that kind of stand.6
Of course, even if Superman beat up ICE in a movie, it would probably do little to change U.S. politics other than to enrage the right (even more), possibly head off a few potential recruits, annoy the rest, and cheer everyone else up. It doesn’t matter, really—I don’t know how many people really believe that fictional media could shame ICE into dropping their guns and going home.7 The criticism that One Battle After Another wasn’t left-wing enough seems to be—as usual—an intraleft conflict rather than a belief that the movie could have destroyed ICE in the real world somehow. We all understand that ICE didn’t watch that one.8 Those dead-eyed, violent freaks are addicted to their phones, and the past.
And if their childhood heroes were to show up in a nostalgia film, and not say what ICE wants to hear, or support them as they wish—then their heroes would be wrong, not themselves. Their childhood heroes would have become mere tools of the libs, lost victims of woke; yet another reason for angry losers to act out their feeling of dispossession in reality.
But reality happens to be the plane on which ICE actually lives, and where they can be embarrassed. Minneapolis and the other previously invaded cities have demonstrated that it’s possible to stand up to ICE, to yell at them and mock them, and push them out of community spaces. And filming ICE slipping on literal ice or otherwise making asses of themselves, then posting the results on social media—this too can have a shaming effect, and at least keeps up our morale. If we want to humiliate ICE into quitting or failing to recruit,9 then it’s best to keep doing it in cold, honest reality and its extended digital space, where these bastards can’t whine and complain to the cultural managers,10 where they have to look, really look, at how much they suck.
I don’t know what Superman is up to in the comics these days. Haven’t kept up with the good ol’ boy scout, sorry!
One Battle After Another did better than PTA’s other movies, but was considered a box office failure compared to budget.
I hear some parts of the right are also into terrible evangelical films.
I’m sure that at the time of the Superman radio show, some members of the KKK got mad and complained (fascists have always been little bitches.) But social media and the mass approval of being a little bitch makes the reaction very different today.
In other cases, ICE simply won’t get the joke, or will turn the joke around. Last summer, South Park put out an episode mocking ICE; Homeland Security used an image from the episode in a recruitment ad. Regardless, that particular episode may indeed have had a dampening effect on recruitment; lots of disaffected, libertarian-aligned people watch South Park.
The history of Hollywood and political art is huge and tangled, and I can’t get into it here (though I do touch on it in my book.) Online, there’s a commonly asked question: “Could you make Blazing Saddles today?” (answer: no, it’s already been made). But a piece of that question is “could you still depict an entire town of heartland Americans as idiot racists who need to be rescued?” I’m not sure you could, or if you did, you would certainly be accused of liberal elitism. (Perfect movie. Mel Brooks’ best? Possibly.)
To be very clear, I don’t think the Bluesky posters screenshot above are asking for a media product to do this. But it’s a common argument that people make, especially people who work in cultural fields. “Where is the book, movie, or TV show that will save us? Why didn’t this book, movie, or TV show do a better job of depicting the solution to real-world problems?” I just think much of this is better saved for the real world these days, especially when the enemy is only shameable/hittable in reality.
The right did watch Andor, which led many left magazines to churn out identikit “No, Andor won’t bring about the revolution.” I don’t think many actual leftists/liberals thought it would, and I don’t think many on the right understand they’re the baddies in Star Wats—it’s too abstract and metaphorical for them. They do understand the existence of people of color and ladies and gays on their screen, however, and it makes them angry. You would truly have to show Luke Skywalker beating up ICE and saying fascism is stupid before the right understood the exact nature of the metaphor.
Reportedly, ICE has had trouble recruiting—but that’s partly because they’ve been ordered to surge recruitment to 10,000 new agents, and a lot of applicants failed basic requirements. ICE has since removed most of those requirements, but not that many people really want to be in the Gestapo in the first place. It’s very likely that the stories and images coming out of Minneapolis etc. have had an effect on top of the job simply being distasteful to most people.
Yes, ICE and their allies can complain to Elon Musk, the manager, and there’s not a lot we can do about that, but it may be worth trying nonetheless. On the other hand, Twitter is just a rape and CSAM app now, so if you want to attempt it—post and run?