What Do You Mean It's Not Political?: Difference between revisions

[[File:bush_gulfwars2.jpg|link=Mad (Magazine)|thumb|400px|[[Attack of the Clones (Film)|It involves a leader, a Senate and deserts.]] Clearly a modern allegory.]]

 

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Even still many people think that somehow everything has to be inspired by what is [[Older Than They Think|most recent]] and that the author is targeting [[Small Reference Pools]] -- and furthermore that the writer wrote the work shortly before publication, when in fact it normally takes a year to get from completed manuscript to on the shelves even if the writer had no difficulty selling it, and the work may have taken ''years'' to write.

 

 

May overlap with [[Wild Mass Guessing]].

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* In the final episode of ''[[I My Me Strawberry Eggs]]'', the administration of the school tries to use the fact that their gym teacher was a [[Wholesome Crossdresser]] to change their school into a complete [[Lady Land]]--ignoring that this would not have prevented the deception in the first place.

* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'':

** The screenwriter for the anime has, [http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/answerman/2007-11-01 according to this column], admitted that the war themes explored in the anime ''were'' meant as a commentary on America's participation in the Vietnam and Iraq wars. The Ishvalan civilians represented the natives of these countries, caught in the middle.

* ''[[Death Note (Manga)|Death Note]]'' has shades of this in the second half. {{spoiler|President David Hoope}} kills himself pre-emptively when he believes that {{spoiler|Mello will manipulate him into launching a nuclear weapon}}. What he didn't know was that the rules of the Death Note would have made this impossible anyway, making his noble self-sacrifice a pointless waste. Just to rub salt in the wound, {{spoiler|his replacement is a sniveling coward who surrenders the United States to Kira.}}

* Shortly after its release, many began suspecting that ''[[Code Geass]]'''s Britannian Empire and its resource-grubbing expansionism was meant to be a thinly veiled potshot at America and the War on Terror, to the point where some began calling for a boycott of the show's eventual US release. In an interview near the end of the first season, director/co-creator Goro Taniguchi [[Word of God|stated]] that this is not the case, insisting that the whole reason he made the show was to tell an entertaining story and not to make any kind of political message. That the main character was Britannian probably helped reduce any backlash.

* ''[[Ghost in The Shell Stand Alone Complex]]'' outright gives the [[Villain Ball]] to the United States of America in the 2nd season... or more specifically, the ''[[The Empire|American Empire]]'', one of [[Divided States of America|the 3 divided American countries]] who places a high priority on military industrialism and right-wing conservatism. The anime doesn't clearly state that the United States of America is a different country from the American Empire, which may lead viewers into thinking that the United States in general is the villain. The truth is that [[Shirow Masamune]] divided the United States into 3 different countries (The United States of America, The Ameri-Soviet Union, and Imperial Americana) as part of the continuity that ''[[Appleseed]]'' and ''[[Ghost in The Shell]]'' both take place in back when he wrote both series in the mid-80's and early 90's. There were no intentional implications, but it still makes the whole thing [[Harsher in Hindsight]] when compared to some of [[George W Bush]]'s foreign policies during his administration.

* Witchblade Takeru, hoooooo boy. Falls in line with the 'history recycling scripts' below. Depending on the age of the reader, the crazy warmongering US Senator can stand-in for any number of America's foreign jaunts from Korea onwards, with Takeru and her little village representing the oppressed peoples fighting back and driving them off. Most commonly due to how the village looks, however, and the choice of weapon deployed, it winds up being analysed as a Vietnam parable.

 

*** Even for us "real" people, the Galactic Empire is not all that unusual. All military dictatorships begin in more or less the same way.

** Another way to read it is as a deliberate parallel to the Nazi party: everything from Palpatine being chancellor before assuming absolute power, to the name "stormtroopers" (the meaning of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturmabteilung SturmAbteilung], Hitler's SA). Given Imperial Officers were wearing [[Putting On the Reich|copies of actual Nazi uniforms]] I'm pretty sure it was intentional. Interestingly, this same idea could have been played with a different historical parallel: Augustus replacing a corrupt Roman Senate with himself, as (arguably) the right thing to do, at least in the short run.

** And both situations mirror the founding of [[The Roman Empire]], and other historical situations [[Seen It a Million Times|too numerous to mention]]. [[Real Life]] is using a [[Recycled Script]].

** Not just [[The Roman Empire]] and Caesar Augustus but also the English Commonwealth and Oliver Cromwell. In both those instances a ''de jure'' republic was turned into a ''de facto'' autocracy by powerful figures although, unlike in Star Wars, they 'hid' what they were doing by not actually abolishing their republics and creating a framework where they officially had their powers confirmed by a legislature (who in reality had little choice in the matter). [[Napoleon Bonaparte]] is a closer real-life example, like Palpatine he openly abolished the republic and made it an empire in name as well as fact with himself as emperor.

* ''[[Invasion of the Body Snatchers]]'' is a famous example. Produced at the height of the 1950's anti-Communist paranoia, the movie has often been taken for an allegory for that, although nobody's clear about whether pod people represent Communists, or whether they represent McCarthyists who attack those who are different. The lead actor has stated on the DVD that the movie wasn't intended to be any kind of political commentary (since Senator McCarthy and his followers had already been discredited in the eyes of most Americans by the time filming began, it's unlikely that the allegory was anything but subconscious).

** The 1978 remake starring Donald Sutherland made things a lot clearer, and kept the paranoia but changed the focus to [[Green Aesop|environmental pollution]].

* Some interpret the sonar cell phone subplot in ''[[The Dark Knight Saga]]'' as an allegory for modern day safety measures by the former Bush administration.

** While not as overt as TDK's themes of eavesdropping and extraordinary rendition, the speech in ''[[Batman Begins]]'' about how Gotham is beyond saving seems to be a metaphor for similar attitudes towards the Middle East. It doesn't exactly help that the character is, at that point, {{spoiler|referred to as "Ra's al Ghul" (an Arabic-sounding name) and talking about a city that is presumably located in the western world. Talk about turning the tables.}}

** Even more mind-boggling is that some critics claimed it was a pro-Iraq War/Bush-supported propaganda piece. This is a little odd since the original source was written by a British author several decades ago and the movie was directed, written, and co-financed by a New Zealander. Oh, and the films were shot back-to-back and were going into production by the time Bush came into office. [[Did Not Do the Research]] indeed.

* One of the reasons reviewer Armond White is a [[The Scrappy|controversial figure]] (besides [[Complaining About People Not Liking the Show|being a contrarian]]) is because he always does a socio-political analysis of a film while doing his review.

* ''[[Ratatouille]]'' has a scene where Remy's dad tells him how they have to hate and fear humans because humans will never stop trying to kill them, and there's nothing that can be done about it, so stop hoping for peace and just fight the war, or sentiments to that effect. While it's written well enough that you could put his words in the mouth of any leader in the midst of a bitter and apparently endless conflict, it's almost impossible to watch the scene without thinking "terrorists".

{{quote| '''Remy's father:''' This is the way things are. You can't change nature.<br />

'''Remy:''' Change ''is'' nature, Dad. The part that we can influence. And it all starts when we decide...<br />

'''Remy's father:''' Where are you going?<br />

'''Remy:''' [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|With luck... forward.]] }}

* Lets take a look at Monsters2010...You have a bunch of aliens from Mexico trying to get into America and succeeding despite a gigantic wall and security to keep them out. These aliens stereotyped as villains in propaganda. These aliens are apparently not metaphors for Mexican immigration to the U.S but that hasn't stopped people from drawing the comparison.

* Magda Goebbels stalked out of the premiere of ''Die Reise nach Tilsit''. It was about a foreign woman seducing the husband of a virtuous German wife under her eyes -- while Joseph Goebbels carried on with the Czech actress Lida Baarova (the German wife won in the end, in both cases; Hitler sent the actress back to her native country and told Goebbels there would be no divorce).

* [http://www4.ncsu.edu/~tenshi/Killer_000.htm A few people] (well, [http://peachfront.diaryland.com/enderhitlte.html at least two]) have asserted that Ender of ''[[Ender's Game]]'' is actually [[Adolf Hitler|Tiny Naked Hitler]].

* There are many, many theories on how ''[[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Literature)|The Wonderful Wizard of Oz]]'' is meant to represent politics at the time. As usual, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_interpretations_of_The_Wonderful_Wizard_of_Oz Wikipedia goes into much, much detail]. When asked, Baum said that his books were intended for children.

* Richard Adams has always claimed that ''[[Watership Down]]'' is simply a children's book. However, many fans disagree with him and see the book as an rabbit version of ''[[Animal Farm]]'' with the allegory taking aim at fascism and appeasement. Others see it as an attempt to fashion an English version of ''[[The Aeneid (Literature)|The Aeneid]].'' This would make it a children's book that includes infanticide, main characters ripping each other to shreds, a character that sees fields full of blood, mass poisoning, and several characters being shot or torn to bits by larger animals.

* At risk of going against the idea of the page, [[George Orwell]]'s ''[[Animal Farm]]'' is, on at least one level, a fairly direct allegory for the history of the USSR from 1917 to 1945. But some of the analysis gets a little confusing. Does Boxer represent a specific individual, or just downtrodden yet willing workers in general? Is Benjamin a cautionary tale about those who know what's going on, but don't act on this knowledge, or an [[Author Avatar]]? Saying this, the simplest answer is probably "[[Take a Third Option|Both]]".

** "People on the far left and the far right are the same exact person to us."

* The title character from ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants (Animation)|SpongeBob SquarePants]]'' was accused of promoting homosexuality by religious fundamentalists. If anything, Spongebob is probably ''asexual''.

** More commonly, sometimes trolling, sometimes not, Equestria gets analysed as a fascist [[Dystopia]] under a [[Crap Saccharine World]]. Fans of this theory produce works with ''Trollestia'' at one time saving her 'people' from a rampaging monster, and the next she's positively dickish to her flock, such as [http://ponibooru.413chan.net/post/view/3482?search=trollestia%20rarity Rarity's wings burning away in Sonic Rainboom] being a direct result of her jealousy and powers. [http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?538353-Ponies-Ponies! This interpretation even shows up in games!]

* The ''[[Young Justice (Animation)|Young Justice]]'' fandom on [[Tumblr]] has compared the revelation that M'gann {{spoiler|is a white martian by Psimon is comparable to forcing a transgendered person out of the closet}}.

[[Category:What Do You Mean Its Not an Index]]

[[Category:What Do You Mean Its Not Political]]