robinasnyder

[robinasnyder]

Unimaginable Utopia vs the believable Colonized World

"Why can't we make Krypton, Superman's home planet, flawed or evil instead of a utopia (as it was traditionally portrayed)?"

Much of the justification for an evil or flawed Krypton is that it "adds depth" or "makes it believable/ interesting" when Krypton isn't a utopia. Because utopias, in a lot of people's minds, are unimaginable. We can imagine aliens, distant planets, magic, superpowers, but utopia without suffering is "ridiculous".

I have been gripped by this Little Joel video on Omelas: How We Talk About Utopia for ages now because I think it succinctly wraps up everything I feel about the topic. Omelas and Krypton are both fictional worlds (in the case of Omelas, explicitly a fiction within the short story fiction where the author herself encourages you to imagine utopia with her as a thought experiment), yet in the demand to make these fantastical worlds more "believable", suffering (regardless of how nonsensical) needs to be added in order to "make sense of the good that exists". The idea of utopia without suffering is unimaginable.

For Krypton, this means any sort of interpretation from "Kryptonians are colonizers now" or "Kryptonians are evil aliens who hate Earth, plot twist!" or "Kryptonians have a class system that punishes progressive thought" or "Kryptonians are racist, sexist, ableist, etc."! Somehow this fictional alien world has to look a lot more like our flawed world in order to be "believable". But that's not the full picture. Many real world societies in themselves are hard to believe, especially in the American mindset.

["From A Native Daughter" by Haunani-Kay Trask excerpts]

People are shocked to learn of societies outside of the West with more broad systems for gender, or that queerness existed at all in indigenous cultures around the world without the influence of white people. Societies outside of a patriarchal or capitalistic system? Is that really possible?

["From A Native Daughter" by Haunani-Kay Trask excerpts]

I'm not here to paint all these cultures as perfect or necessarily enlightened before colonialism set them back. But I am saying that the way many of these societies were built were so unimaginable to colonizers that they had to lie and label these worlds as barbaric or worse-than-they-were as a means of "civilizing them" through colonization. Projecting familiar European structures on them, regardless of accuracy. "These indigenous genderqueer roles are perverse, they must fit our binary two gender system!" And now all of these cultures are set back, and we'll never really know what they'd have looked like had they been allowed to develop and grow without colonizers intervening. Many have bought into the European structures enforced on them. Because that's believable.

(American Missionaries in the 1800s abolishing the genderqueer practices of the Māhū, from Kumu Hina documentary)

The basic premise of Superman is that he was born on a utopian planet, but sent to Earth as a baby when said planet faced world-wide destruction. He is raised by his adopted American parents and culture. Superman is by all technicalities, an undocumented immigrant.

So why do I think utopia is important to Superman mythos? Isn't there an argument to be made for portraying a refugee allegory when Superman leaves a bigoted Krypton to find safety in a flawed Earth? Because any other alien character in DC's roster could do that. Martian Manhunter used to be written as coming from a utopian Mars, but I personally think that him fleeing from a bigoted one works better for his themes. What makes Superman different? What makes him unique from all these alien migrants?

Because being the Man of Tomorrow, an ideal to strive for, is inherit to the best Superman stories. Part of what makes his rivalry with Lex Luthor so compelling is that Lex Luthor has bought into the flawed Omelas premise. He's been raised to believe that power without stepping on someone else is impossible. So when he sees Superman, he's frustrated that this alien man flaunts power without malice. It's unimaginable to Lex that someone can be powerful and selfless. It's even become a meta discussion for fans that someone as kind as Superman is unbelievable. "Too good to be true".

When you remove utopia from Superman's backstory, this contrast is lost. Superman just becomes an exception from an evil planet. A miraculous white savior, assimilated into American culture to be our hero.

(the infamous, xenophobic John Byrne panel)

Nowadays, people want to shake up the formula. It's a trendy twist to make Krypton a planet of colonizers. Or maybe a morally grey one. Or a feudal, classist, and bigoted one.

Superman is no longer a guy from a native utopia who hopes to bring our flawed world into a better tomorrow like the one he came from. He's now just magically the best guy from the shitty planet. Sometimes he's like that because his Kryptonian parents happen to be activists (Absolute Superman). Other times, Superman is good because he was raised by upstanding American citizens. He's not like those other aliens; barbaric, feudal, bigoted. Superman's good because he's assimilated into being an American. And he will spread that American goodness throughout the galaxy to bring them into the American Way- oh wait that's the less progressive line, I mean- "A Better Tomorrow".

Think for a moment about Superman as an immigrant allegory and how that parallels real human experiences for a second. What does it mean to change Superman's home planet to be something "more believable"? To add elements of American/western bigotry into these distant sci-fi worlds? Why make Kryptonians evil colonizers like yourselves? Why make a Superman that disavows his Utopian Kryptonian roots? Why make a Superman that assures us he is more human than alien? It's because our modern imaginations are limited by colonial constructs. New writers think they're twisting the Superman formula, but they manage to bring it backwards to xenophobic directions.

"The trouble is that we have a bad habit, encouraged by pedants and sophisticates, of considering happiness as something rather stupid. Only pain is intellectual, only evil interesting. This is the treason of the artist: a refusal to admit the banality of evil and the terrible boredom of pain."

-Those Who Walk Away from Omelas, Ursula K. Le Guin

[robinasnyder]

me when i have a bone to pick Lol idk.. im not really sure which one to choose

[robinasnyder]

[robinasnyder]

Time travel shenanigans where Bruce gets sent back in time to when he was a teen but he keeps all his memories. Somehow he finds himself in Smallville, Kansas and decides to ask for help of the sweetest people he has ever met—the Kents.

Clark is not home when he approaches his parents. Their son is an alien, and Clark has told him all about the weird things that went on in Smallville during his teen years, surely they’ll believe he’s from the future and a close colleague of their son if he can prove it.

To his relief they do believe him. After Martha basically force fed him peach pie and Jonathan was one moment away from dragging him to barn once he mentioned that, in the future, he’s a frequent visitor and knows the secret to fix the tractor when it’s acting up, the door finally opened and the most gorgeous Adonis of a boy Bruce had ever seen comes through the front door.

“Hey ma, hey pa!” Clark greeted with the most devastating smile.

And Bruce is speechless because he had always found Clark gorgeous, obviously—the ring on his future self’s finger proved it—but his hormonal teenage self wasn’t handling it very well.

[robinasnyder]

LORD HAVE MERCY

[robinasnyder]

(by Jennifer Dries)

[robinasnyder]

(by Jennifer Dries)

[robinasnyder]

The Sound of Music (1965) dir. Robert Wise

[robinasnyder]

[robinasnyder]

[robinasnyder]

I fucking hate it here

[robinasnyder]

my partner was showing me the new ep of game changer and this happened so i was obviously compelled to run upstairs and draw it

[robinasnyder]

When I see senators praying for the passage of a bill that will harm the poor, the sick, and the hungry, I think of Isaiah 1:15:

When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood.

- Rev. Benjamin Cremer

[robinasnyder]

Listen

I do understand the fear of pregnancy and getting pregnant from the prospective of those who do not want kids and are in relationships/having sex with people who could impregnate them in this political climate. I understand the terror of losing your body autonomy and having options that should be your right ripped away from you by people who have nothing to do with you, your life, and your choices. I do not want anyone to ever think I'm telling them they're wrong for feeling that. That is the most rational thing in the world

What I mean when I say "Fear-mongering about pregnancy and birth is wrong" is the people who paint it exclusively as something disgusting. Grotesque. "Body horror." And not a natural process that yes, has risks, some of those risks being very serious, but there are FACTORS that add in to them. And the only way people can find out about those factors is through neutral education that NEEDS to become more wildly available

Because the fact is people, myself included, want to have kids and want to experience being pregnant. If you can't comprehend that, that is a you problem. It is not your civic duty to scare them into no longer wanting it because it is empowering TO YOU.

When I say I want kids and want to experience being pregnant one day and people say "Clearly you've never been pregnant" "Look up the girl with the list" "Did you know your teeth will fall out" "Read regretful parent subreddits first" congrats. You are absolutely no better than the people telling you "You'll want kids when you're older"

My life is not your business. You do not have the right to take one of my biggest dreams from me because it disgusts you. You still do not control my body

When all you do is talk about the horrific things that can go wrong during a birth rather than talk about the realities of it, what's normal and what isn't, etc. That's how you get people who GENUINELY BELIEVE a c-section is safer than vaginal birth in ALL SITUATIONS. When in realities a c-section is usually MUCH more dangerous because it is MAJOR SURGERY that comes with the risks of all other MAJOR SURGERIES. Obviously, in certain situations it is safer, but in others its not. This is what I mean by "neutral education of the risks." People should KNOW EXACTLY what they are putting their bodies through, and you sitting there talking about all the blood and guts isn't the education you think it is.

Treating pregnancy and birth and something disgusting is just misogyny. Treating people, especially women, who want kids as stupid or ignorant is just misogyny. Wrapping your misogyny in leftist "child free by choice" ideology does not make it less misogynistic. Encouraging people to live in constant fear of their own bodies is not the feminist move some of you genuinely seem to believe it is.

And when you've done all this to a point there is a culture where it is totally acceptable to say "Pregnancy is as scary as rabies and if you disagree you don't respect me" is actually insane

[robinasnyder]

LMFAO

[robinasnyder]

He would totally still blame John. Man got his wife and other son killed and blamed the living one. I don't think anyone *that* deep in denial is just going to turn it around.

As for Noah. He's a good kid. He's got a good heart, and he *also* doesn't want to turn out like John Constantine. I don't think he'd apologize for his words, because he was right and he meant them. But he doesn't want to hurt John. So his apology is simple. "I'm sorry I hurt you."

That's not something Thomas Constantine would ever say, not ever. It's not something John says much even though he feels it so strongly all the time. But Noah said it, and he meant it.

John looks at him. It's a fight, a struggle to speak or move when he's like that. But more than anything, he needs to respond. All he can get out is a croaked out "thank you", followed by a "sorry" that's got more weight behind it than any other apologies he's given his kid before.

Yeah, Noah's going to demand a proper apology later. But I think he'd be able to understand what one word can cost you.

SCREAMING SOBBING AND THROWING UP Thomas looking identical to how John is drawn in this comic (John Constantine Hellblazer: All His Engines) and it's making me throw up �� I'm an absolute sucker for the trope where the abusive parent and child look extremely similar to each other. Because of that angst and horror of looking into the mirror one day when your old and all you see is him no matter what you do to try to escape it, it will always be his face.

[robinasnyder]

That last bit was *exactly* what I was thinking, I just wasn't gonna write that part outloud.

Cause there's only 2 ways that interaction ends: 1) John says the worst thing he can think of so he can get away as fast as possible. 2) John shuts down entirely. How long it takes Noah to notice depends on how angry he is/the situation (cause in my head this is like they're both in a dream so Noah can talk, and I think they could probably get separated and Noah not realize exactly what's happened).

SCREAMING SOBBING AND THROWING UP Thomas looking identical to how John is drawn in this comic (John Constantine Hellblazer: All His Engines) and it's making me throw up 😭 I'm an absolute sucker for the trope where the abusive parent and child look extremely similar to each other. Because of that angst and horror of looking into the mirror one day when your old and all you see is him no matter what you do to try to escape it, it will always be his face.