Avatar. The Avengers. Iron Man 3. Transformers: Dark of the Moon. The Dark Knight Rises.
These are five of the top ten all-time highest grossing movies. Their (arguable) inclusion in the Science Fiction canon begs a question of the genre: is it just the spectacle that we shell out to witness, or is there some more primitive itch that these kinds of events scratch?
This blog is dedicated to figuring out how it is that Science Fiction addresses the problem of defining "human."
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Stan Lee, Larry Leiber, Don Heck & Jack Kirby: Tales of Suspense #39
So this was really racist. Even looking at the speech bubbles for the Red Tyrant they made him look like the uneducated Vietnam bad guy who was dumb enough to give Iron man the tools. I love how when he disappears instead of looking for him and locking down the place, he thinks "Oh well! Might as well go street fighting instead!" But in both comics you can tell they're just trying to get any young boys interested in not only their comic books but also the war by making whomever they're fighting at the time the "bad guys". Oh and it wouldn't be complete without throwing complaining about the "commies" at least once!
Alright, Alyssa's comment attempt #2: Well this comic was the greatest representation of 1950's America. All the racism and hatred for communists. You gotta love it! But seriously, I think Stan Lee captured everything he saw in America flawlessly. I believe the character Iron Man captures the essence of our science fiction class nicely. It is true innovation, and what sets it apart from other stories of "Iron Men" aka robots and the likes, is that Iron man is still human. In this respect the character really pushes our understanding of what a human is. This also reminds me slightly of GATTACA, not with the whole DNA perfection and whatnot, but this innovation is essentially perfecting the human being. It's making man harder to destroy. It's giving him greater power over the rest of the world. Isn't that what we're all craving in one way or another? Now, I'm not a big fan of Robert Downey JR.; however Tony Stark is the closest were getting to human perfection. Am I right?
KAPAOW!! This comic was totally ridiculous. And I loved it. Some thoughts on the ridiculous aspects of this piece: “Soft Sci Fi” seems a somewhat accurate way to describe the attempt at explanation of his suit. During the construction, the best example of this is when Stark says, “I’ve done extensive work with transistors! I can design them in any size to perform any function!” and then the world renound physicist replies “We shall use them to operate the machine electronically to move countless gears and control levers!” This was a laughable way to describe what is supposed to be a crazy new invention. Secondly, I think it is vital that we talk about the use of a trench coat and hat to disguise this GIANT IRON COVERED ROBOT-MAN. He just puts it on and strolls out of the prison, to challenge the commie terrorist. This disguise is used again when Iron Man just walks off into the foggy jungle of Vietnam in the end of the comic. Genius. Lastly on the subject of absurdity, my favorite quote from this issue was, “But no drawers filled with rocks can hold back Iron limbs powered by electric transistors!” I can hear Stan Lee saying this in his “Stan Lee” voice. What is more productive though, I think, is to look at how this original Iron Man issue contrasts the movie adaptation of the 2000’s. Some immediate changes in the origin story of iron man is that we see him in this issue captured by the Vietnam, where he is captured by terrorists in the middle east in the film. In both he is captured by a force that America is in conflict with at the time. Though this may seem like just a way to update the film, I think it is more central to iron man’s character. They could have just made him be captured by an obscure terrorist group from anywhere in the globe in the movie, but they instead choose to pit him as the enemy of America, or more importantly the enemy of capitalism and western ideas at the time the medium is released. I think this is an important fact to note. Looking towards our class, the biggest difference in the comic and the movie is Starks ability to remove his suit. In the movie he has an implant that keeps him alive. But in this comic it seems as though he will never be able to takeoff the suit. This makes his character much more interesting to me, because he then very quickly becomes a part of the conversation of the human question. I don’t know where I stand on this matter, though I tend to say that he is a human, just with the aid of technology to stay alive. The brings up this issue rather bluntly (surprise surprise),“Can the thing I have created survive? The thing which is less than human…. Yet, far more than merely human?”
This comic really shows its age. I’m not saying that it didn’t age well. I feel that it’s simply a product of its time. On the same token, the story itself is future proof and the setting can be changed to fit current news. Back then it was South Vietnam and when the movie was released, Afghanistan. There is one inaccuracy that bugged me and it’s where Wong-Chu offers a reward in Yen. I even went out my way to look that up to make sure I wasn’t going crazy. Some of the stories we’ve read so far has shown science’s superiority over man. For a brief time, this comic does the opposite. Even though Stark’s transistors can do pretty much anything it seems, his suit does show some weaknesses. He needed to use Professor Yinsen as a distraction so his suit can start up. On top of that, he had trouble walking initially and his suit’s batteries needed recharging. That’s a cool way of having the suit look strong but not infallible. It’s a body made of metal but, it’s interesting that a human is controlling it and not a computer. Stark pretty much says that he will not be able to return to a normal life and his very disturbed by this. Of course, his suit becomes less of a burden in later issues but, even though his suit can do many things, he is trapped in it and has to depend on his transistor to keep him alive. It’s like he’s wearing a very large pacemaker.
I really like Tales of suspense and I think what Elijah said is pretty accurate that the suit is a lot like a giant pacemaker. I like this notion because I don’t think of Iron Man as a robot because the only thing about him that is robotic is the suit his entire body and mind are still completely intact.
I liked this comic much more than the Fantastic Four, but that was probably because I actually liked Ironman before reading this. The racial undertones are so strong they are almost the most blatantly obvious feature of this comic. Wong-Chu and his men in nearly every possible example play on Asian/Oriental stereotypes, so much that I couldn’t help hear them in my head in that horrific stereotypical voice. “Yankee civilian still alive! Him maybe important government official! I bring him to Wong-Chu! Maybe get reward!” On its face it is not terrible, a non-American English speaker could have poor grammar. Taking the work as a whole, it is far more reasonable to believe that racial undertones in society were finding an “acceptable” outlet in the face of growing discord in the East. Ironman and Anthony Stark are also comically bad, but that could be from how poorly this has aged. The first scene with the magnet and the magic transistors, in 2014 is just a little too much. But you can see why they did it, as this comic was made close to the advent of the transistors being used in computers. They had no reason to believe Ironman was completely impossible, however unlikely. Anthony Stark is, like in the Fantastic Four, just an embodiment of the American ideal; rich, innately sexual, and a master of his domain.
This comic was quite interesting as an example of the convergence of cultural production and the perpetuation of ideology. Both this and Fantastic 4 #1 involved mentions of “commies” in the first handful of pages as a looming threat, but in Tales of Suspense #39 the “Reds” turn out to be the actual villains. Despite being a comic and not a piece of government propaganda, the story of Iron Man's genesis manages to support and perpetuate the ideological foundation of Cold War US foreign policy. During this time the US was literally staging coups to replace democratically elected socialist leaders of other nations with fascist dictators who were more agreeable towards the United States. Tales of Suspense thus, with its portrayal of East Asian communist fighters as Orientalist caricatures who speak in broken English legitimates the violent aggression of US empire. I saw interesting parallels between it the first Iron Man film of the recent trilogy, actually. The character of Wong-Chu becomes replaced by the more timely Arab terrorist leader there, and the stereotypical portrayal of terrorists in that film likewise enables the US imperial project by lionizing American expressions of violence and painting a picture of the Middle East as needing the American war machine to free it from its own supposed barbarity. Thus Iron Man lives up to Tales of Suspense #39's jingoistic subtext.
I loved reading this comic strip for a variety of reasons. First off, I immediately started drawing parallels to the first Iron Man movie. The only slight differences between this comic and the recent Iron Man film were slight replacements due to time periods of release. The comic was clearly written during a time where there was a fear of “commies” whereas the recent Iron Man film replaced these evil characters with Middle Eastern men who seem to be terrorists. I found it interesting to see how Hollywood changed the original characters/script to better fit into the time period and capture the current audiences’ attention. I also enjoyed the struggle Tony Stark faced with being a metal man in the middle of the comic, shortly after gaining power and using his suit for the first time. He brings to question what it is to be human when he exclaims, “Can this thing I have created survive? The thing that is less than human...yet, far more than merely human!” I loved this line because it says so much. Less than human in the sense that what Tony has created is constructed of bits of metal and electric energy. But then he goes on to say that what he has created is even stronger or maybe even better than just being human itself. This comic forced me to start evaluating if the character of Iron Man, or Tony Stark, is in fact human...or perhaps cyborg? After all, his character cannot survive without a machine to keep the shrapnel from entering his heart.
So this was really racist. Even looking at the speech bubbles for the Red Tyrant they made him look like the uneducated Vietnam bad guy who was dumb enough to give Iron man the tools. I love how when he disappears instead of looking for him and locking down the place, he thinks "Oh well! Might as well go street fighting instead!" But in both comics you can tell they're just trying to get any young boys interested in not only their comic books but also the war by making whomever they're fighting at the time the "bad guys". Oh and it wouldn't be complete without throwing complaining about the "commies" at least once!
ReplyDeleteAlright, Alyssa's comment attempt #2:
ReplyDeleteWell this comic was the greatest representation of 1950's America. All the racism and hatred for communists. You gotta love it! But seriously, I think Stan Lee captured everything he saw in America flawlessly. I believe the character Iron Man captures the essence of our science fiction class nicely. It is true innovation, and what sets it apart from other stories of "Iron Men" aka robots and the likes, is that Iron man is still human. In this respect the character really pushes our understanding of what a human is. This also reminds me slightly of GATTACA, not with the whole DNA perfection and whatnot, but this innovation is essentially perfecting the human being. It's making man harder to destroy. It's giving him greater power over the rest of the world. Isn't that what we're all craving in one way or another? Now, I'm not a big fan of Robert Downey JR.; however Tony Stark is the closest were getting to human perfection. Am I right?
KAPAOW!! This comic was totally ridiculous. And I loved it. Some thoughts on the ridiculous aspects of this piece:
ReplyDelete“Soft Sci Fi” seems a somewhat accurate way to describe the attempt at explanation of his suit. During the construction, the best example of this is when Stark says, “I’ve done extensive work with transistors! I can design them in any size to perform any function!” and then the world renound physicist replies “We shall use them to operate the machine electronically to move countless gears and control levers!” This was a laughable way to describe what is supposed to be a crazy new invention.
Secondly, I think it is vital that we talk about the use of a trench coat and hat to disguise this GIANT IRON COVERED ROBOT-MAN. He just puts it on and strolls out of the prison, to challenge the commie terrorist. This disguise is used again when Iron Man just walks off into the foggy jungle of Vietnam in the end of the comic. Genius.
Lastly on the subject of absurdity, my favorite quote from this issue was, “But no drawers filled with rocks can hold back Iron limbs powered by electric transistors!” I can hear Stan Lee saying this in his “Stan Lee” voice.
What is more productive though, I think, is to look at how this original Iron Man issue contrasts the movie adaptation of the 2000’s. Some immediate changes in the origin story of iron man is that we see him in this issue captured by the Vietnam, where he is captured by terrorists in the middle east in the film. In both he is captured by a force that America is in conflict with at the time. Though this may seem like just a way to update the film, I think it is more central to iron man’s character. They could have just made him be captured by an obscure terrorist group from anywhere in the globe in the movie, but they instead choose to pit him as the enemy of America, or more importantly the enemy of capitalism and western ideas at the time the medium is released. I think this is an important fact to note.
Looking towards our class, the biggest difference in the comic and the movie is Starks ability to remove his suit. In the movie he has an implant that keeps him alive. But in this comic it seems as though he will never be able to takeoff the suit. This makes his character much more interesting to me, because he then very quickly becomes a part of the conversation of the human question. I don’t know where I stand on this matter, though I tend to say that he is a human, just with the aid of technology to stay alive. The brings up this issue rather bluntly (surprise surprise),“Can the thing I have created survive? The thing which is less than human…. Yet, far more than merely human?”
This comic really shows its age. I’m not saying that it didn’t age well. I feel that it’s simply a product of its time. On the same token, the story itself is future proof and the setting can be changed to fit current news. Back then it was South Vietnam and when the movie was released, Afghanistan. There is one inaccuracy that bugged me and it’s where Wong-Chu offers a reward in Yen. I even went out my way to look that up to make sure I wasn’t going crazy.
ReplyDeleteSome of the stories we’ve read so far has shown science’s superiority over man. For a brief time, this comic does the opposite. Even though Stark’s transistors can do pretty much anything it seems, his suit does show some weaknesses. He needed to use Professor Yinsen as a distraction so his suit can start up. On top of that, he had trouble walking initially and his suit’s batteries needed recharging. That’s a cool way of having the suit look strong but not infallible. It’s a body made of metal but, it’s interesting that a human is controlling it and not a computer.
Stark pretty much says that he will not be able to return to a normal life and his very disturbed by this. Of course, his suit becomes less of a burden in later issues but, even though his suit can do many things, he is trapped in it and has to depend on his transistor to keep him alive. It’s like he’s wearing a very large pacemaker.
I really like Tales of suspense and I think what Elijah said is pretty accurate that the suit is a lot like a giant pacemaker. I like this notion because I don’t think of Iron Man as a robot because the only thing about him that is robotic is the suit his entire body and mind are still completely intact.
ReplyDeleteI liked this comic much more than the Fantastic Four, but that was probably because I actually liked Ironman before reading this. The racial undertones are so strong they are almost the most blatantly obvious feature of this comic. Wong-Chu and his men in nearly every possible example play on Asian/Oriental stereotypes, so much that I couldn’t help hear them in my head in that horrific stereotypical voice. “Yankee civilian still alive! Him maybe important government official! I bring him to Wong-Chu! Maybe get reward!” On its face it is not terrible, a non-American English speaker could have poor grammar. Taking the work as a whole, it is far more reasonable to believe that racial undertones in society were finding an “acceptable” outlet in the face of growing discord in the East. Ironman and Anthony Stark are also comically bad, but that could be from how poorly this has aged. The first scene with the magnet and the magic transistors, in 2014 is just a little too much. But you can see why they did it, as this comic was made close to the advent of the transistors being used in computers. They had no reason to believe Ironman was completely impossible, however unlikely. Anthony Stark is, like in the Fantastic Four, just an embodiment of the American ideal; rich, innately sexual, and a master of his domain.
ReplyDeleteThis comic was quite interesting as an example of the convergence of cultural production and the perpetuation of ideology. Both this and Fantastic 4 #1 involved mentions of “commies” in the first handful of pages as a looming threat, but in Tales of Suspense #39 the “Reds” turn out to be the actual villains. Despite being a comic and not a piece of government propaganda, the story of Iron Man's genesis manages to support and perpetuate the ideological foundation of Cold War US foreign policy. During this time the US was literally staging coups to replace democratically elected socialist leaders of other nations with fascist dictators who were more agreeable towards the United States. Tales of Suspense thus, with its portrayal of East Asian communist fighters as Orientalist caricatures who speak in broken English legitimates the violent aggression of US empire. I saw interesting parallels between it the first Iron Man film of the recent trilogy, actually. The character of Wong-Chu becomes replaced by the more timely Arab terrorist leader there, and the stereotypical portrayal of terrorists in that film likewise enables the US imperial project by lionizing American expressions of violence and painting a picture of the Middle East as needing the American war machine to free it from its own supposed barbarity. Thus Iron Man lives up to Tales of Suspense #39's jingoistic subtext.
ReplyDeleteFrom Katrina:
ReplyDeleteI loved reading this comic strip for a variety of reasons. First off, I immediately started drawing parallels to the first Iron Man movie. The only slight differences between this comic and the recent Iron Man film were slight replacements due to time periods of release. The comic was clearly written during a time where there was a fear of “commies” whereas the recent Iron Man film replaced these evil characters with Middle Eastern men who seem to be terrorists. I found it interesting to see how Hollywood changed the original characters/script to better fit into the time period and capture the current audiences’ attention.
I also enjoyed the struggle Tony Stark faced with being a metal man in the middle of the comic, shortly after gaining power and using his suit for the first time. He brings to question what it is to be human when he exclaims, “Can this thing I have created survive? The thing that is less than human...yet, far more than merely human!” I loved this line because it says so much. Less than human in the sense that what Tony has created is constructed of bits of metal and electric energy. But then he goes on to say that what he has created is even stronger or maybe even better than just being human itself. This comic forced me to start evaluating if the character of Iron Man, or Tony Stark, is in fact human...or perhaps cyborg? After all, his character cannot survive without a machine to keep the shrapnel from entering his heart.