Artist Frank Miller Shocks Left With Harsh Criticism of OWS Protests
By P.J. Gladnick | November 12, 2011 | 15:07
Oh how your humble correspondent has yearned for his own Marshall McLuhan moment. You might remember that scene from the movie "Annie Hall" when some pompous blowhard on a theater line pontificated about the thoughts of the author of "the medium is the message." An irritated Woody Allen then pulled out McLuhan himself to harshly rebuke the guy.
Well, now I get that opportunity with comics artist and writer Frank Miller severely criticizing the Occupy Wall Street protests. First let us look at Stephen Kelly of the UK Guardian speculating that Batman could become a hero for the OWS movement:
This weekend, following speculation that Christopher Nolan is going to use the protests as a backdrop for scenes in The Dark Knight Rises, the movement could play host to a caped crusader who's both friend and foe. And if it does turns out to be false (Entertainment Weekly rebutted the rumours earlier this week), then it's a missed opportunity.
...Batman is one of the most politically complex fictional characters there has ever been. By his very nature and ideals, he is not only more relevant to the Occupy Wall Street protests than its current anarchist veneer of V for Vendetta, but also holds up a mirror to its uneasy reality. Such is the beauty and the beast of subversive popular culture.
For, while you cannot deny the revolutionary backbone of V and the ability of his masks to lazily signify automatic rebellion, he is not the hero we need right now. Batman, on the other hand, is a hero rooted in our reality – one set in a fictional city beset by economic deprivation and grotesque greed. His main animus, if not his methods, is defined by the ideals of philanthropy and a simplistic sense of justice: a selfless billionaire by day who strives to protect the defenceless people of Gotham by night – the 1% fighting for the 99%. In Frank Miller's fantastic comic, Year One, the character crashes a dinner party of a corrupt elite and issues the following warning: "You have eaten well. You've eaten Gotham's wealth. Its spirit. Your feast is nearly over."
Kelly invokes Frank Miller to make his case for Batman being on the side of the OWS protestors. So what does Frank Miller think of the OWS protests? Well, take a look at some of what Miller himself posted last week:
The “Occupy” movement, whether displaying itself on Wall Street or in the streets of Oakland (which has, with unspeakable cowardice, embraced it) is anything but an exercise of our blessed First Amendment. “Occupy” is nothing but a pack of louts, thieves, and rapists, an unruly mob, fed by Woodstock-era nostalgia and putrid false righteousness. These clowns can do nothing but harm America.
...This is no popular uprising. This is garbage. And goodness knows they’re spewing their garbage – both politically and physically – every which way they can find.
Wake up, pond scum. America is at war against a ruthless enemy.
Maybe, between bouts of self-pity and all the other tasty tidbits of narcissism you’ve been served up in your sheltered, comfy little worlds, you’ve heard terms like al-Qaeda and Islamicism.
...In the name of decency, go home to your parents, you losers. Go back to your mommas’ basements and play with your Lords Of Warcraft.
Read the entire post and I think even fantasist Stephen Kelly would agree that the chances of Frank Miller ever creating a Batman story in which he defends the OWS protests ranks somewhere between nil and none. Meanwhile, as you can see from the reaction at the Democratic Underground, the Left appears to be in a state of shock over Miller's "Thought Crime."
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Comments
My New Hero
Submitted by Jimme on Sat, 11/12/2011 - 3:32pm.
I will be buying a Frank Miller poster for my living room!
All I can say is. . . .
Submitted by DontFeedTheTrolls on Sat, 11/12/2011 - 3:37pm.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Batman doesn't fight for the 99%
Submitted by Dave81 on Sat, 11/12/2011 - 3:38pm.
He fights for the other 1% (the bottom). That's what's annoyed me most about these OWS clowns is their 99% claim. They act like if you're not in the top 1%, you're barely scraping by like you live in the bottom 1%. You know who's NOT in the bottom 1%? People with iPads. People who eat 3 square meals a day. People who can afford to fly across the country to be voluntarily homeless for a month. People who wear designer clothes. People with $30,000+ in student loans because they were able to attend good colleges. Batman doesn't fight for the 99%, and he doesn't fighting for you.
I didn't want to dismiss the
Submitted by amyshulk on Sat, 11/12/2011 - 3:45pm.
I didn't want to dismiss the OWS'ers out of hand like they did the Tea Party, but if there really *are* people motivated by creating an even playing field in their number, I wish someone would find and spotlight them already!
My overview of the 2 is simplistic and broad; TP = personal responsibility, good work ethic, and gratitude, whereas the OWS'ers = lack of responsibility, no work ethic, and ingratitude.
Ronald Reagan
BAM! CRASH! BOOM! Dark night for leftists!
Submitted by metaphorsbwithu on Sat, 11/12/2011 - 4:36pm.
God bless Frank Miller for speaking honestly, intelligently, and passionately about the truth of the "Occupiers"!
I'll be honest
Submitted by LinTaylor on Sat, 11/12/2011 - 5:13pm.
I've had a negative opinion of Frank Miller lately, since his more recent comics have descended into self-parody and absurdity. However, this incident makes me feel a lot better about him.
The idea that Batman is anything like the empty-headed Occupiers is laughable. The author cites a single scene from a single comic where Batman confronts some rich people...conveniently ignoring that those people are all crime lords and making it sound like he was shooting that iron glare at Bill Gates and the Koch Brothers.
If anything, it's just the opposite; for decades, the rich Bruce Wayne was simply a front for Batman's crime-fighting activities, a source of funding and a way of hiding his dual life. There's a reason he was called a "millionaire playboy": because he ran around flaunting his cash with beautiful women on each arm, trying to make himself look like a decadent moron. The whole point being that people would look at him and say "There's no way slimeball like THAT could possibly be Batman!" Only in more recent depictions has he done good as both Batman and Bruce Wayne, using his money to fund charities and support the local authorities.
While Batman is indeed rich, money is not the core element of his character; that would be the idea of justice by any means necessary. Batman hunts the criminals who circumvent or manipulate the law to their own ends, the gangsters and dirty cops who corrupt the justice system. He tracks down the people whom normal law enforcement can't touch, and is the outsider who goes above the law in order to protect it. While he does fight "super-criminals" like the Joker, the foundation of Batman is still a street-level hero rather than a global or interplanetary one like Superman or Green Lantern.
Amusingly enough, thanks to this Batman could probably be seen as more conservative than liberal, not at all aided by the number of times he's had to deal with people who would rather paint these crazed killers as victims themselves. In fact, in Miller's seminal work "The Dark Knight Returns", a touchy-feely pop psychologist tries telling people that the Joker isn't a bad person, just one who doesn't necessarily conform to societal norms. Of course, Joker ends up killing the fool, telling him beforehand "Nope, I'm just crazy."
Ha!
Submitted by Kat Outta the Bag on Sat, 11/12/2011 - 5:23pm.
Oh, that was beautiful...BEAUTIFUL!
Wasn't it though
Submitted by Rukus on Sun, 11/13/2011 - 1:36pm.
Nothing is so sweet as being smacked down by he who you think is on your side, but, turns out not! LOL! Sweeeeeeeet! (Your and you is OWS btw)
Blog of beauty
Submitted by sam12663 on Sat, 11/12/2011 - 5:50pm.
Not much can be added to that, well done Frank.
Frank Miller has expressed
Submitted by redfish on Sat, 11/12/2011 - 8:00pm.
Frank Miller has expressed conservative views for a long time.
I think 9/11 was a big wakeup
Submitted by Newsbusterbrown on Sat, 11/12/2011 - 8:07pm.
I think 9/11 was a big wakeup call for him.
“There are no easy answers, but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right.” - Ronald Reagan (1964 Republican Convention)
The Dark Knight Returns
Submitted by HamiltonNJ on Sat, 11/12/2011 - 8:30pm.
All of a sudden The Dark Knight Returns became a terribly written/penciled piece of trash for so many people. I love it.
The poor little slobs just
Submitted by ant on Sat, 11/12/2011 - 9:39pm.
The poor little slobs just can't get a decent mascot. Guy Fawkes is just a confusing and historically inaccurate match, Robin Hood would be heading to the White House, not attacking the middle class and job creators so that doesn't work, and now Batman has just broken their little hearts. Maybe they should come up with something on their own, they dabble in 'fantasy' obviously, so they must have some creative spark. How about TB, the tuberculosis Occtopus, with seven arms to pick pockets and steal with and one left over for committing violence? That would be my pick.
Loved the most recent Robin
Submitted by ThatDude on Sat, 11/12/2011 - 10:45pm.
Loved the most recent Robin Hood movie. I'm pretty sure it's the first time many people have been able to view Robin Hood as anything but a socialist.
Ant
Submitted by LinTaylor on Sun, 11/13/2011 - 9:00pm.
Occupy isn't using Guy Fawkes as a mascot. Rather, Anonymous (a group of hackers, trolls, and miscellaneous assholes from the Internet) adopted the Guy Fawkes mask as their symbol thanks to the comic book V for Vendetta. The main thrust of this is that the anarchist anti-hero V wears a Fawkes mask constantly to emphasize that he's not just a man but an idea, and (as he says it) "Ideas are bulletproof". For some reason, it looks like Anon has decided Occupy is something worth supporting; I guess they got tired of harassing Scientologists and people who abuse animals.
A different sphere of morons, then?
Submitted by ant on Sun, 11/13/2011 - 9:40pm.
What's the difference? A different group of slacker trust-fund babies, instead of actually "sitting in" and disrupting the public's business, they have a cyber "sit in" and disrupt the public's business. It's not all Scientologists and animal-testing, BTW. Still doesn't have much relevance to a guy that wanted to blow up Parliament (Parliament being, exclusive to most countries at the time, a first-step in the democratic ideal) because he was Catholic and they were Protestant.
My point, quite simply, was
Submitted by LinTaylor on Mon, 11/14/2011 - 3:24pm.
My point, quite simply, was that Anonymous is a group that has existed for some time before the Occupy protests started up, and that the Guy Fawkes mask is their symbol. I'm sure their use of it has nothing to do with the historic Fawkes and everything to do with the comic/movie.
And I didn't mean animal testing, I was referring to an incident where a security camera caught a British woman throwing a stray cat into a garbage can; Anon responded by tracking down her personal information and sending it to the proper authorities. That's the problem with a group that is proud to be disorganized; it has no overarching agenda, following whatever cause some members want to champion at whatever time. Some times they do good deeds like exposing animal cruelty, while other times they do things like perpetrate the rash of major security breaches that struck businesses across the country earlier this year (and why? Because Sony disabled Linux support in the Playstation 3).
Currently
Submitted by BosTarus on Mon, 11/14/2011 - 5:12pm.
Anonymous is targeting the Zetas drug cartel. One of their members was kidnapped and now they're outting Zetas members and corrupt officials linked to 'em.
And they've tracked down a bunch of animal abuse cases-that's one of their favorite "pet" causes... pun, unfortunately, intended.
"First let us look at Stephen
Submitted by Darks Shadow Show on Sat, 11/12/2011 - 9:42pm.
"First let us look at Stephen Kelly of the UK Guardian speculating that Batman could become a hero for the OWS movement."
If Batman ever sympathizes with those pieces of garbage, I am through with comic book heroes altogether. Batman is not a communist.
BTW, good for Mr. Miller!
Wow, I've never been a big
Submitted by Kenny Bunkport on Sat, 11/12/2011 - 9:49pm.
Wow, I've never been a big Batman fan, and haven't even bothered with the last several movie incarnations. But I may revisit Batman after seeing where Frank Miller comes from. Definitely my "blew me away" item of the week.
I hope he hasn't damaged his sales by telling his likely readers just what they really are. Reminds me of the William Shatner rip on the Trekkie nerds on SNL some years ago. Truth is a harsh mistress.
I wonder if there will be massive Batman comic burnings in outrage?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wc7rBVUIHUg&feature=related
I'm sure Frank Miller would
Submitted by big.league.slider on Sat, 11/12/2011 - 10:46pm.
I'm sure Frank Miller would approve of the way The Comedian handled OWS-type protestors in the movie Watchmen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y__N-JEXvyc&feature=related
This Guardian Doofus
Submitted by Gottafang on Sat, 11/12/2011 - 10:47pm.
Really, really, really needs to re-read the section of Year One where he Batman crashes a dinner party of the "corrupt elite." At the dinner party is the corrupt police commissioner Gillian Loeb, the gangster Carmine Falcone, a few city assemblymen, and their wives. Hardly a "99% vs. 1% moment," as presented in the context he's projecting onto the story.
What a hoot!
Submitted by Kansasgirl on Sun, 11/13/2011 - 12:00am.
The Dummie Funnies on FreeRepublic today was this same subject.
You almost have to feel sorry for these lost souls...NOT!
A new hero emerges...
Submitted by AgentAmerican on Sun, 11/13/2011 - 2:12am.
I knew the mind behind 300 was one of us...he had to be.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA!!!!!
Submitted by RESTLESS 1 on Sun, 11/13/2011 - 3:27am.
I loved this one:
"Dear Frank,
I used to be your biggest fan.
You're now dead to me.
After reading your blog and suffering through "Holy Terror," I don't ever need to pay money for your entertainment, again.
Holy Terror is a MESS. It's sloppy, pedantic, on the nose, silly and confusing. It doesn't make a clear point, at all, which is odd because it was obviously your purposed to make a point, not to tell a good story.
Remind me again which regiment you served with? Oh, right, you were drawing cartoons at the age of those Occupy folks you suggest should enlist. Because if there's one thing a soldier can look forward to these days, it's trusting that his/her superiors will send them to do the right thing and really get the job done.
Like eliminate Al Quaeda overseas. Good mission. The Marines and Army have done that.
Root out sleeper terrorists on American soil. Good idea. The FBI does that, and they do it, well.
So how should the rest of us fight terror? Oh, right, by not rocking the boat. Never complaining, just stewing in our anger and writing angry screeds online and in comic books. Gettin' the ol' job done, aren't we, Frank? Thank God we've got you on that wall, because we need you on that wall.
Remember the Frank Miller who donated to groups that supported creator-owned companies? The guy who printed "Give 'em an inch, they'll take a Mile" in big bold letters on the back cover of one of his books? He was talking about CORPORATIONS, not big government.
He was protesting corporations that exploit their workers.
Remember the Frank Miller that co-founded his own comic publishing company, Legend, and extolled the accomplishment of the Image comics founders who left the big bad Marvel all at the same time? You know, those guys who staged a...let's see, what's the term for it...oh, yeah, a...walkout. Just walked off their jobs, the lazy fucks! Gave the finger to that gracious corporation that so generously employed them and thousands of others, to go..."freelance." Yeccch. Just the word itself makes me feel grimy.
In short, just to be as clear as propaganda: the young Frank Miller would look at what you've aged into and be sick.
On a personal note, I've been trying to decide for months if I should sell my old Frank Miller comics to make some decent cash or save them to give to my nephew when he's old enough to appreciate them. I'd like to think that he would be as inspired by them as I was, that they might even change the course of his creative ambitions as they did for me.
Fuck it, I'm going to Ebay right now and unloading these tainted piles of crap. And I hope you're currently working on some new lunatic book so I can scoff at it as I buy other books by still relevant artists.
Um, idiot, Miller already got paid by you. You bought his wares. Scoff all you want moron, but he already OWns you. LOL.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahah
Submitted by helomech on Sun, 11/13/2011 - 6:22am.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha-man that's funny!!!!!!!!!!!!! The responses from some of those fans on that website is hilarious!
Frank Miller called it like he see's it.......
There is over 2000 comments
Submitted by sar1 on Sun, 11/13/2011 - 11:55am.
There is over 2000 comments on his site and for a while there anybody that showed thier support for Frank was called all sort of curse words.
I guess, some people feel that a conservative point of view should be crushed and silenced.
Lets hope Frank continues to speak his mind.
Bravo, Frank!
Submitted by Kaleidoscopic God on Sun, 11/13/2011 - 8:25pm.
Those knee-jerk responses from your "fans" only serves to prove your point.
It makes sense
Submitted by kata on Sun, 11/13/2011 - 8:39pm.
Comic books are about the power of the individual's ability to make a difference through sweat, brains and sacrafice. Bringing order, and fighting chaos. Villains come draped in chaos or in the hordes of mindless collectivism.
It's clear many of you...
Submitted by BosTarus on Sun, 11/13/2011 - 9:07pm.
Don't read comics. First off-Frank Miller does not speak for Batman-he's written about 4 batman story arcs over 30 years-the last one so maligned that panels became recurring internet jokes. Also, only 1 of those story arcs is actual Batman canon (Year One)-the rest were alternate-universe-type stories that aren't meant to fit directly into DC continuity.
Secondly, the "Marshall McLuhan" moment analogy doesn't work so well here-as Miller's politics have evolved over the past 30 years. So his writing of DKR or Year One doesn't fit as cleanly into his current politics as you might like. And most comic fans who are familiar with his work are not surprised by this turnabout. They may be upset-but everyone knew he had grown increasingly conservative over the past decades.
Anyway, just because Frank Miller criticized the OWS movement, doesn't mean that the fictional character (over which he holds no sway) is suddenly opposed to the movement as well. That's not to say that they'll even have him address it-which is doubtful-but doesn't make it a slam dunk for you guys either. So no one's gonna be burning Batman comics tonight, sorry to disappoint you guys.
It would be a sad moment
Submitted by kata on Sun, 11/13/2011 - 9:16pm.
Should someone actually spend time burning the wonderful artwork of comic books. Despite my disgust with certain actors who choose to wave their politics around, I still have many DVDs safely esconced in the shelves in my house. Having spent sensible money on them I saw no value in destroying them.
That said, I think that people should stop trying to use OWS as a hero's movement. It's not. And in this specific case, Mr. Miller agrees.
but...
Submitted by UndercoverConservative on Tue, 11/15/2011 - 9:25pm.
I thought only evil conservative right wing religious nutjobs burned books they found offensive?
oh wait...
WWW.GS2AC.COM. 2nd Amendment Action in the Bay Area, CA. We're not all "Breakfast Cereal" folks here! :)
"Proportional Response leads to Perpetual War"
"Remember, Remember the 2nd of November!"
Frank Miller and The Dark Knight
Submitted by ljacone on Mon, 11/14/2011 - 11:51am.
Never let it be said that Frank Miller doesn't speak his mind.
The character of Batman has been around for 70+ years, so there have obviously been many different interpretations of him over the years, but Miller's take on him (and the numerous creators influenced and inspired by his work) is doggedly opposed to crime. ALL crime, be it a street mugging or a terrorist strike or corruption in government or big business. By that very nature, Bats would consider the unruly mob of OWS to be a target to keep an eye on and quell if necessary. I could see Miller's Batman growling to himself about these "stupid kids" who "don't know how well they have it" and things of that nature.
Depending on the author, he might feel some sympathy for their "message" (such as it is) but he would not tolerate lawlessness or anarchy in any capacity.
Occupy-ers vs Woodstock Hippies
Submitted by jgravelle on Mon, 11/14/2011 - 12:43pm.
It really is counter-revolutionaries versus peacenik hippies, as illustrated in the comic shown here:
http://www.dailyscoff.com/entertainment/marines-occupy-justin-timberlake/
One could only hope they'd fight it out among themselves before taking further action against the rest of society...
-jjg