Credit – Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons
It is getting tiring and predictable how many studios and celebrities are using popular franchises as their platforms for their personal political propaganda. Most of Hollywood has forgotten that their purpose is to entertain and not preach. The whole point of going to the movies, or watching your favorite TV show, was to escape the doldrums of the day or the chaos that was happening in the world. It was a safe place where your imagination and senses were inundated with the spectacular, and made you forget about all your troubles. Not now. Now fans are subjected to preachy celebrities who think it’s their righteous cause, to tell you about this cause or that cause, and that you should submit on their say so, or be labeled an “ist” or a “phobe” because you dared share your opinion or disagreement on social media. ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’ and its star Jason Momoa, will be no different. In a recent article with GQ magazine, Momoa was thrilled to be able to use a comic book movie, as a vehicle to profess his belief that the earth is going to suffer a horrible fate because of climate change, and that ‘The Lost Kingdom’, was going to amplify what the possibilities were if we didn’t tackle it now. Sounds like something I want to watch. Not. Aquaman 2 sounds boring, and shows how unimaginative the writers are and how unknowledgeable they are of the Aquaman character.
A Superhero Movie That’s Politically Divisive…What Could Go Wrong?
‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’, opens in theaters next Christmas(yet another delay that was announced this week), and Jason Momoa couldn’t be happier. In his own words, Momoa was excited to have the opportunity to work on a superhero movie that allowed him to preach the gospel of climate change that is near and dear to his heart.
“I don’t want to give too much away. But we really get to speed up what is going to happen to this earth, and it’s not because of aliens. Aquaman is the most made-fun-of superhero in the world. But it’s amazing to be able to bring awareness of what is happening to our planet. It’s not some story that’s been told over and over, [it’s a] movie about what’s happening right now but in a fantasy world.”
It’s great to be passionate about something. But bringing in a politically divisive topic as a main thread in a superhero movie seems like a recipe for failure, and will only turn off half of your audience.
Related: No One is Safe
The Last Thing Fans Want to See is a Superhero Movie About Climate Change
Jason Momoa, the director, and writers, have got to have their heads in the sand, if they think having climate change as the central threat in a superhero movie was a good idea. Have they looked at the state of the comic book industry lately? DC and Marvel are bleeding readership because of all the diversity, inclusion, and social justice topics they are drowning their characters in. Not only is it a stupid idea, the country is literally bombarded everyday about climate change from celebrities to politicians. The first Aquaman was okay, and in my opinion boring in parts, but having a sequel that talks about a very political issue, sounds more boring than the first one. I certainly won’t be spending my money on a ticket, and I’m sure a lot of women who went to see Jason Momoa in the first Aquaman, will be thinking the same thing. David Zaslav has got to be face palming himself as he endures another potential flop that loses him millions.
Jason Momoa Should Look at How Well Superman IV: The Quest for Peace Did in Theaters
This also begs the question on whether or not Jason Momoa, the director, and writers, even understand the character of Aquaman. Aquaman would revel in the idea of sea levels rising. It would expand his kingdom from those evil surface dwellers. Aquaman has had an animosity towards those that live on land since his inception. Jason Momoa preaching to fans, through his ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’, the “perils” of climate change, and how the earth isn’t going to survive if we don’t do better, is equivalent a story decision, as Christopher Reeve’s was to push Superman to rid the planet of nuclear weapons in ‘Superman IV: The Quest for Peace’. The fans hated it, and didn’t pay to see a superhero movie that was overtly politically one sided. The United States is beaten over the head on a daily basis about how the earth is going to end on a daily basis because of climate change. Climate change/global warming that was supposed to raise sea levels so much, according to Al Gore, that by the year 2016 New York City and parts of Florida would be under water. It’s become laughable how many times these activists have moved the goal posts over the last 30 years on how the world was going to end because of climate change/global warming.
How About We Just Stick to Fighting Ordinary Super Powered Bad Guys
So how many fans does Jason Mamoa think are going to pay to see a movie that promotes climate change? Not many I would think, but hey you never know. But as a comic book lover all of my life, I’m one of those many fans who have stopped reading anything DC or Marvel has put out in the last 5 years just because of this kind of forced political narrative. Whatever happened to fighting bad guys like aliens from another planet, super powered bad guys, or evil geniuses. It’s not like Aquaman doesn’t have enough enemies to choose from or story lines that would have been a far better choice than climate change. Sure, Black Manta will be an antagonist in the movie, but do fans really believe he will be the main threat, or just a catalyst for the bigger threat of climate change? The superhero movie is quickly becoming a shadow of its former self, and has been rapidly appropriated by activists who see these superheroes as easy targets to use as platforms for their social justice whims. It’s not fun and just sad for some of us fans who just want to escape into a world for a couple of hours that’s not their own. Jason Mamoa, DC, and Warner Bros., are going to have another epic failure at the box office with The Lost Kingdom, in my opinion, and will only further cement the superhero genre’s demise…or at the very least another reason for David Zaslav to reboot the whole DC movie universe.
