Tea Baggers accuse Captain America of not being patriotic enough. Let that headline sink in.

[thehefner]

Y'know, I've known several people who have no interest in Captain America because they understandably think he's nothing but a gung-ho jingoistic flag-waving conservative superhero. It was for this very reason that I was afraid the upcoming CAP film would result in... well, did anyone see this Tea Bagger photo?





Yeah. I was expecting to see dozens, even hundreds of people sporting Cap costumes and memorabilia at Tea Bag rallies, giving their own "do you even know what you're doing to be doing it wrong?" protests ala how 4Chan has utilized V FOR VENDETTA to protest Scientology. Because hey, the guy's name is CAPTAIN MOTHERFUCKING AMERICA! He dresses like a 4th of July parade! He has little eagle wings on his head! AMERICA, FUCK YEAH!

Now, at this point, I would start composing my own impassioned defense of Cap to all those who've never really read the character, but guess what? Now some of the Tea Baggers are actually going AFTER Captain America for not being patriotic ENOUGH.

They probably wouldn't have, if CAP director Joe Johnson hadn't opened his big mouth and said absolutely right and true things about how Steve Rogers is "not this sort of jingoistic American flag-waver," but instead a good person who represents the ideals of America.

Of course, Tea Bagger bloggers took issue with this, displaying obvious knowledge and appreciation for the character, seeing this as further evidence to condemn Hollywood:

"The same industry that spent hundreds of million of dollars on a dozen-plus embarrassingly awful anti-American flops that were specifically designed to undermine morale at home so we would lose the war in Iraq is now putting the brakes on the Americanism of a character named Captain America."

For extra fun, be sure to read the comments, littered with angry and disappointed people saying things like "This one hurts," and "They should call him Captain France.*"

Honestly, I'd figure all the Tea Baggers would need to know about Cap's politics and outlook on America was formed by his being a direct production of the FDR years. But then again, these are the same people who worship Ayn Rand as the savior of all that's good and true of America while ignoring the fact that she was a staunch atheist and therefore at odds with, well, probably most of their core values. Not to mention fucking evil. So I can't expect the Tea Baggers to actually think about such things.

But that's just the abstract. They can ignore such a thing, because the actual character is on their side, right? Well, if they're thinking about the Captain America from the 1950's, sure. THAT Cap--an impostor who took over the role while the real Cap from WWII was frozen in an iceberg, oh comics--was a flag-waving, jingoistic asshole, a Commie-bashing Red-phobic rabble-rouser who had his ass kicked by the REAL Cap.

And then, he delivers this speech.





Yeah. THAT'S Captain America. For the full skinny on what's going on in that story, here's a synopsis and analysis. Damn, I need to find me that issue.

The Daily Kos article expands upon those points better than I'm equipped to, at present. And in truth, I'm not even that big of a fan. I'm a DC boy, remember. I certainly want to read more Cap, but I'm still getting into him.

My main hope is that--when you inevitably see Tea Baggers who didn't get the memo co-opting Captain America in protests--you won't think it's because the character represents their jingoistic luv-it-er-leeve-it ideals. You'll think of that above panels, and how even Cap himself would say, "America: you're doing it wrong."

All that said? His movie costume still needs the little wings on the sides of his helmet. Just sayin'.




*Maybe they'd prefer Mark Millar's Cap from THE ULTIMATES, a much-loved alternate universe series where all the Marvel heroes are turned into assholes, fascists, sociopaths, perverts, idiots, or madmen. So, y'know, Mark Millar characters.

Comments

[badmagic.livejournal.com]

There's a real-world point to speculation about Captain America's politics. There's a gut-level awareness that Cap would be against waterboarding, aghast that anyone would speak out against the New Deal, very much a supporter of the little guy against the big corporation.

(Not to say he's a liberal. He'd had a neo-con attitude towards intervention, and shocked at homosexuals.)

Still, a little thinking about "WWCAD?" will suggest that America has become much more conservative in some ways over the last seventy years.

[eliyes.livejournal.com]

He'd had a neo-con attitude towards intervention, and shocked at homosexuals.

Yes, that must be why he told his gay childhood friend Arnie Roth that he was “as good and decent a man as I’ve ever known! They [i.e. the Red Skull and his allies] can’t corrupt your love for Michael with their lies… They’re the pariahs! They’re the disease!” back in Captain America #270. Cap has been cool with gays since before I was born, so describing him as "shocked at homosexuals" ring s alittle false to me.

[whimmydiddle.livejournal.com]

Well-written.

[mellifluous-ink.livejournal.com]

Dude can Cap come back and deliver that speech now? Please?

Also I agree with you on the ultimates I was sort of really confused about why people liked these characters when I read that. Because Ultimates was the first series of comics I picked up.

Brilliant, my good man. Brilliant.

[american-arcane.livejournal.com]

That particular Cap speech occurred, sadly, before I was a regular reader. (In 84 I was firmly planted on Transformers and GI Joe... and my father's old Silver Age stuff in the attic.)

Cap's always been one of my favorite characters, though--the reruns of the bad 70s TV movies and choppy 60's animated series were enough to get me hooked on the character. It wasn't until later in the 80s that I could fully appreciate the nuance of the stories.

The arcs that stand out most for me are the one there Cap gets dosed with a designer drug while busting up a manufacturing and distribution center in NYC. It bonds with the Super Soldier serum in his blood, makes him hallucinate, and the only way they can get it out (once they've caught him) is the strip the serum out of his system. When they tell him they can scrub it of the drug and get it back into his system, he refuses--more willing to have to work his ass off to maintain his abilities than to be a hypocrite for taking a stand against drugs while he has his own making his life easier every day.

That story was shortly followed by another one where the Senate subcommittee in charge of the Captain America identity decided to assert their ownership of the name and appearance. They demanded Cap work as their mouthpiece to rally support for a war or two and some other political projects. When he refused, they told him his only option was to stop being Captain America. And so, Steve Rogers, who's entire life had been dedicated to being Captain America, turned over the uniform and shield rather than go against what he knew was right.

That, of course, led to John Walker, the Super Patriot, becoming the new Cap. Yeah. That went well. Kinda like the story in the original post. (Guess they did do that every decade or so...)

I think Cap would be a big fan of John Stewart but not so much of most of the other news outlets Americans consume. And the state of politics today? He'd just hang his head in shame.

[darkestnova.livejournal.com]

You know what I love about you? You cite references and you know how to footnote. You must be the only person on livejournal who paid attention in English.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

Heh, thanks! Y'know, I always hated doing that in class. Even now, I feel like I fudge it, but then, hey, I guess that's more than most LJ writers do!

[philippos42.livejournal.com]

Here I will mention that while I don't have a patriotic bone in my body (or rather, "patriotic" in the usual debased superficial sense--I remember finding flag veneration offensively ridiculous as a third-grader & my opinion hasn't changed much on that count), I love Cap. As a onetime big Marvel fan who was very strongly influenced by Mark Gruenwald, I get really sensitive about how Cap is portrayed.

Like selling all my Authority issues, even the Ellis ones, because I felt like Mark Millar was insulting him (and by extension, my whole country) with an Captain Ersatz in his first arc.

I've sort of eased up on Millar since reading his Ultimates. However much he screwed up Hank & Tony, his Cap in that is at least passable & possibly sympathetic, if much too "amusingly out-of-touch Grandpa" in spots. (And his Thor is a neat idea.)

(By "eased up" I mean I don't rant about my fantasy of about going to a con & beating him up every time I hear his name. Also the fact that he wrote the actually humane "Superman for the Animals" gave me pause.)

[philippos42.livejournal.com]

And that linked picture is so rolleyes that Millar kind of lost me again. He's just not a good writer.

[thehefner.livejournal.com]

I've always wanted to get into the Gruenwald run, but it's so large, I don't know where to start, and there are no collections either, which strikes me as bizarre, when Peter David's HULK and Walt Simonson's THOR get several volumes. Any suggestions? Just do the whole thing?

I also wanna check out the DeMatteis issues, which I understand come just before Gruenwald.

I'm more interested in seeing how Waid handles the "man out of time" aspect with his upcoming CAP mini, essentially his BIRTHRIGHT modern-day handling of Cap awakening in today's world.