Iron Man 2

[AK]

Check out the trailer between 0:20 and 0:30... one of the most reactionary movies I've heard of; blatantly defending capitalism.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siQgD9qOhRs&feature=fvw

[Sasha]

how do you know that based on the trailer? to me that trailer seems more an critique on hubris (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubris) than an ode to capitalism.
would also fit in better with the first movie and the comix.

[Jimmie Higgins]

how do you know that based on the trailer? to me that trailer seems more an critique on hubris (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubris) than an ode to capitalism.
would also fit in better with the first movie and the comix.

He-he, privatize peace. It's got to be a satire... I don't know how Stark Industries can be presented in the post-Blackwater era as anything else if they expect to have an audience for the movie.

If I were to guess, like the first movie, the war-profiteers/war-insdustrialists will be presented as bad because they are run by bad greedy people: typically shallow Hollywood criticism. Industrialist Bruce Wayne is good, but greedy businessmen run his business... deep down Stark is decent, he has just been seduced by the greedy warmongers who run his business. Wall Street works fine, it's just the greedy people who make it bad sometimes.

[Dimentio]

I have seen the trailer now.

Managed about twenty seconds.

[bcbm]

typically shallow Hollywood criticism.

it isn't just hollywood, this line of "criticism" is basically the capitalist mantra across the board. "the system isn't broke, just a few bad apples!"

[Jimmie Higgins]

Yeah, of course! It's always bad apples - apples are the go-to fruit for the ruling class. Johnny Appleseed really fucked up because it seems like there is an unending river of bad apples flowing from the US police force, military, and financial institutions.

What, Iraqis were tortured? Well how could these rogue military guards disgrace our program, of re-legitimizing the use of torture, by torturing these Iraqis!? Disgraceful!

[Manifesto]

Kinda cheesy but that one guy with the whatever the hell they are whips? looks kinda cool.

[FreeFocus]

Granted, but look at how badass the scene with War Machine is..I'll definitely watch the movie when it comes out (stream it, btw :lol:), Iron Man is probably one of the best three or four heroes in the Marvel universe.

[Tatarin]

Nah, for that matter, wasn't The Dark Knight a blatant defence of capitalism?

[Dimentio]

Nah, for that matter, wasn't The Dark Knight a blatant defence of capitalism?

Not really. Rather for social reformism. In Batman Begins, Wayne's father is a philantropic capitalist who built a train which he donated to the people of Gotham. In the Dark Knight, the mafia really are described more like capitalists (having an own banking network) than like usual thugs, and the authorities are seen as corrupt. The Joker (who at least twice is referred to as a "terrorist") is described and describing himself as a natural consequence of the corrupt economy of Gotham City.

If the Dark Knight was a blatant defence of capitalism, the police force would have been shown as heroes, it would have appeared as if the authorities were firmly in control only threatened by the Joker. What the new Batman film series seem to advocate is interventionism on behalf of the state through supra-legal (unconstitutional) means. In short, some form of fascism.

[Hexen]

Check out the trailer between 0:20 and 0:30... one of the most reactionary movies I've heard of; blatantly defending capitalism.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siQgD9qOhRs&feature=fvw

What do you expect?

Hollywood is basically nothing more than a propaganda machine like it always was eversince it was first founded (lets not forget that a Pro-KKK film was infact the first Hollywood blockbuster which pretty much explains what Hollywood is in a nutshell) which is ofcourse it's going not only defend but also promote capitalism....it's rather parallel/analogous to the "Triumph of Will" actually. Remember any film from Hollywood or most anything from the west are basically a product of capitalist society.

[RadioRaheem84]

I was so pissed off when I saw this trailer too. The part where cocky as can be Tony Stark "defies the government" by proclaiming to have "privatized world peace" is laughable and screams of libertarian propaganda.

Did they forget to mention that Stark Enterprises probably receives oodles of government subsidies for his technical creations? His pay to play exhibits always earn the attention of the US Army first and foremost. Supposedly Stark's company is a parody of Lockheed Martin and it's business is 70% dependent on the government. I just find it funny that Stark in the movie is supposed to look cool talking down to the government as if the public didn't fund his ventures.

Lately, I've noticed that Hollywood has moved a bit away from the usual liberal stuff that's slightly sympathetic with the left, to a more libertarian-Randian mantra.

[Axle]

You come from a family of theives and butchers, and now like all guilty men, you try to rewrite your own history. And you forget all the lives the Stark family has destroyed.

I gotta admit...I might be rooting for the bad guy in this one.

[RadioRaheem84]

I gotta admit...I might be rooting for the bad guy in this one.

He's Russian too. What is up with the Cold War rehash in films today?

[Axle]

He's Russian too. What is up with the Cold War rehash in films today?

I've been thinking the same thing.

Hollywood isn't really interested in originality...I'm sure someone noticed that Communism's the only topic not done to death in the last twenty years. Even if its a Cold War throwback, it's still one of the freshest ideas those studios have had in a good long time, sadly.

[Hexen]

I've been thinking the same thing.

Hollywood isn't really interested in originality...I'm sure someone noticed that Communism's the only topic not done to death in the last twenty years. Even if its a Cold War throwback, it's still one of the freshest ideas those studios have had in a good long time, sadly.

Also...have you ever noticed that there has never been a film from Hollywood (or any film from the west that I'm aware of) that accurately portrays a socialist society? The only closest thing we ever get when they depict "socialism" is just a metaphor based on capitalist/individualist fears of everyone being the "same" (such as topics like Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Cybermen from Dr. Who, or any film that involves the hive mind plot and such).

[Red Commissar]

I don't really think these kinds of movies first objective is to make a political statement. They're there purely for profit and entertainment.

[RadioRaheem84]

I don't really think these kinds of movies first objective is to make a political statement. They're there purely for profit and entertainment.

But they sometimes reflect the sentiment of the times. In Iron Man's case, the fascination with the entrepreneur billionaire industrialist who's being hassled by the man (government). We saw this a couple of years back with The Aviator.

[Hexen]

I don't really think these kinds of movies first objective is to make a political statement. They're there purely for profit and entertainment.

Go watch a film made in the Soviet Union (especially the cartoons) and compare it with a film made in the west which you'll see a huge difference due to because their simply products of their society. Which is my point.