I could not get past the first episode of this intensely repulsive tale that is wrong on so many levels. To be fair to the cast and the crew; they can't be blamed. Without a doubt all criticism should be leveled at the intensely poor writing I could not get past the first episode of this intensely repulsive tale that is wrong on so many levels. To be fair to the cast and the crew; they can't be blamed. Without a doubt all criticism should be leveled at the intensely poor writing that is at the core of almost all superhero stories but exceedingly surfaces in this one. There is not one genuine person in this, everyone is a direct shade of the cliched person. Basically they all have one defining trait. The rebellious one.The hero with a heart of gold. The moaner.

The whole is packaged as a soap. Were the relations between them are the attraction. On this level, as poorly as it is, there is nothing remarkable. It is been seen before... so many many times.



The real problem with this and many of their ilk is that the underlying worldview and impact of it is never addressed. At some level it might be; like that being all powerful does not mean you are all right. And that a superhero can be a danger as much as a boon.

But these are superficial problems.



Deeper than this is the message that there are special people who can be considered better people, not because of some special effort on their part, but because fate had endowed them with this. Oh yes, they might have their problems, but ultimately this is all offset by the fact that they are special.



But even deeper then this is that almost all superhero stories are vehicles for neo-liberalism or objectivism. There are the better people; who are a boon to society; those who make progress happen, and there are the detractors. The latter come in various shapes, but most commonly they are representatives of an oppressive, corrupt and incompetent collectivism, usually the state, but we can throw in any group that neoliberalists don't like because they limit the rich. As such the group of detractors have expanded overtime to include almost everyone besides the superheroes themselves. Superheroes like superman of old are on their way out. He did good not just good for doing good, but to help people, usually by having common people exclaim: it is superman, he is come to save us. That was good with an audience. Now, good means opposing those defined as bad, which has shifted from anyone who is morally bad to anyone who is considered as a detractor.



In all of this, the idea is reserved that the rich are good because they are rich. Their wealth and their superior morality not a means, but an natural result of their goodness. Bruce Wayne, Tony Stark and Charles Xavier are examples.

Of course, they started out like that because to do what they did, they needed the money, but now this message has been transformed form: the money allowed them to do good to; the money makes them good.





In this same vein the weak have been transformed into detractors. As much as superheroes are dealt a fair hand by fate, so others can be cursed by it But this uncomfortable truth is brushed aside by the claim that anyone can be rich! If you just try hard enough. Hence your own poverty is a failure purely of your own. The umbrella academy is another vehicle that tries to trickle this idea into society. Father might be a git, but he was a rich git. And like any rich git he could just buy up kids so as to see if they have special powers. If they have not, or apparently not like Vanya, then they are a failure. But this is a failure on a personal level. In the end of course she gets redeemed. He might not have seen it, but she has powers too. She is special people.



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