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Anonymous
Does capeshit have Randian undertones ? 2017-04-05 04:59:24 Post No. 91289844
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Does capeshit have Randian undertones ? 2017-04-05 04:59:24 Post No. 91289844
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The more I think about it, the more I see cape comics as a distillation of rand's principles.
>"We're all either gods or clods" - the worth of a person, story wise, is soley decided upon ability - meritocracy taken to it's logical extreme.
>A distaste for bureaucracy, tradition and social custom - Most governments and governmental organizations are corrupt , and are regularly shown to fall short of the task due to their obsession with conformity and regulation. It is a common theme to have a hero struggling to operate within such a gilded cage, and in major crisis they are regularly shown to be unable to act properly and heroes have to save the day.
>Game theory and constant competition - social reality is only defined by the work of powerful actors (supers). Even powerful everymen owe their power to those better than them.
>Heroes and poltroons - the distinctly sharp divide between a brilliant elite (heroes and villains, who literally hold up the world) and the nameless masses who owe the brilliant elite everything.
>Societies are essentially resources used by leaders, are nameless, and can be shaped by the actions of the elite. This is in contrast to stories such as Glorantha, where heroes have reciprocal relationships with their communities, and act as agents of such. As it stands, communities in cape comics can bring no influence to bear on supers, unless they personally choose to champion such community (e.g. Captain America).
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I mean 9/10ths of all Superheroes do what they do out of altruism.
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>>91289939
Isn't a big part of Randian characters an arrogant "Father knows best" attitude towards the masses out of empathy, something we also see in cape heroes ?
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>>91290083
no, because no superhero uses their position or power to tell people how to live their lives. All they do is protect the status quo from those that would disrupt it through, or for, nefarious purposes. When a superhero does start telling people how to live, we get Red Son.
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>>91290689
>no, because no superhero uses their position or power to tell people how to live their lives.
Well except for Ditko's Question.
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>>91289844
>Game theory and constant competition - social reality is only defined by the work of powerful actors (supers). Even powerful everymen owe their power to those better than them.
>Heroes and poltroons - the distinctly sharp divide between a brilliant elite (heroes and villains, who literally hold up the world) and the nameless masses who owe the brilliant elite everything.
>Societies are essentially resources used by leaders, are nameless, and can be shaped by the actions of the elite.
These are not conventions of superhero stories.
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>>91289939
Seriously. Rand would be horrified at superheroes. They risk their lives to help people and get jack shit for it, and they're fine with that. It's basically taboo for a hero to ask for anything in return for their services.
In any story where a hero gets money or a reward, it's always given to charity. And sure, some of them don't need it, like Batman or Tony Stark. But Spider-Man saves New York City about twice a month but he's constantly struggling to pay the rent. And he's fine with that.
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>>91290083
no. Randianism rejects going out of your way to benefit others without recompense. If someone want something from you they have to pay for it or work for you.
The Shadow is a pretty Randian hero in that respect, in that everyone he saves is obligated to act as part of his network when he calls on that debt
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>>91290689
>When a superhero does start telling people how to live, we get Red Son
Or The Superhuman Registration Act. Looking at you, Stark. And Danvers. And Hill. Etc. etc. etc...
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>>91289844
They're also anti-intellectual. Just look at all those evil scientists and whatnot
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>>91290083
>these criminals are robbing a bank! I should use my super powers to stop them, since I am far less likely to get hurt then normal human law enforcement
>WOW ARROGANT 'FATHER KNOW'S BEST" MUH AYN RAND JUST CUZ YOU ARE SUPER STRONG AND TOUGH DOESN'T MEAN YOU SHOULD LORD IT OVER PEOPLE BY SAVING THEM THAT CHARACTER IS JUST DOING GOOD THINGS BECAUSE THEY HAVE EMPATHY TOWARDS THE NORMIE MASSES MUH CAPITALISM
Sometimes a fun story / power fantasy is just a fun story / power fantasy.
Get over it, nerd.
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>>91289844
>either wear the cape and destroy civilizations
>or be ANGRY ALL THE TIME and try to KEEP THE MOVERS AND SHAKERS DOWN
Yeah. It's basically Atlas Shrugged for Babbies.
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>>91291407
Not even close. Super Heroes are anti-anti intellectual.
Almost every single super hero I can think of is both super smart scientist AS WELL AS having super powers. Even Superman isn't stupid.
The truth is that intelligence is a force multiplier. If you are smart you can effect more things, it's not some trope that all the super smart people are ebil wow this really shows the undercurrent in American politics how America has an X bias!!!
Stop trying to over analyze capeshit. Nigger.
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>>91291496
I mean more of the likes of Carol "Lets make Minority Report a thing and use my public fame to paint anyone disagreeing with me as a possible terrorist" Danvers, instead of your bread n' butter street level hero.
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>>91290852
>They risk their lives
They're functionally immortal, Anon. They risk being inconvenienced for a couple of issues in the worst case.
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>>91289939
>Altruisim
For this reason, I think it's more nietzsche than Rand.
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>>91289844
Nietzschean Ubermenschen going against the state to do good in their free time.
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>>91289844
No, because they are altruistic.
However, they are benevolent dictator fantasies.
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>>91289844
Marvel is absolutely Randian; there you have capes that only associate with other capes while the ignorant masses try to keep them down.
DC is socialistic, though. In DC, capes associate with regular people and use their powers to help everyone.
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