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All of our media is subject to scrutiny in the ongoing culture wars, but the Fox News crowd easily took the bait about Superman after some comments from James Gunn in The Times Of London. In the filmmaker’s opinion, Superman’s is “the story of America” as an immigrant. The folks over at Fox wasted no time getting up a “SUPERWOKE” chyron, with Kellyanne Conway complaining (via Variety), “We don’t go to the movie theater to be lectured to and to have somebody throw their ideology onto us,” and Jesse Watters sneering, “You know what it says on his cape? MS-13.”
It must be exhausting to manufacture that much outrage day in, day out! Not taking the bait when it was volleyed back to him, Gunn told Variety at the premiere that the Superman movie is “for everybody,” adding, “I don’t have anything to say to anybody. I’m not here to judge people. I think this is a movie about kindness and I think that’s something everyone can relate to.” Well, maybe not everyone. After all, he himself admitted in The Times that “there will be jerks out there who are just not kind and will take it as offensive just because it is about kindness. But screw them.”
Variety similarly asked Superman stars Nathan Fillion (who plays Guy Gardner) and James’ brother Sean Gunn (who plays Maxwell Lord) for their reaction to the “Superwoke” backlash. Fillion’s reaction was to let out a hearty laugh: “Aw, somebody needs a hug,” he teased. “Just a movie, guys.”
Sean went for a more sincere route. “My reaction to [the backlash] is that it is exactly what the movie is about,” he said. “We support our people, you know? We love our immigrants. Yes, Superman is an immigrant, and yes, the people that we support in this country are immigrants and if you don’t like that, you’re not American. People who say no to immigrants are against the American way.”
