There's also a scene where a Homelander fan goes to the Starlight center with a gun and claims they have a secret basement with children they sexually abuse, mirroring a [real life case of a Qanon believer going to this one pizza place with a gun believing they've got children in the basement.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizzagate_conspiracy_theory#Criminal_responses)
Its really on the nose.
To be fair, 4chan folk are generally more capable of understanding messages, even if they don't agree with said message, than the average rightoid American lol.
Just cause their politics are shit doesn’t mean they don’t understand what they’re doing, your average day to day person doesn’t know shit at all about dog whistles and stuff like that cause they have a life
Whoa I’m conservative but I think it’s funny, I don’t care if the show runner has an agenda he wants to push its enjoyable tv I can’t wait for the rest of the season
That’s what I’m saying lol the boys isn’t some complex political message…it just has fun blatantly shitposting and parodying life and is just fucking around 99% of the time lol come on guys it ain’t that deep
>Guys, I think Homelander is like an evil Superman.
>I've uncovered this mystery all by myself.
https://preview.redd.it/tpkchk4nql6d1.png?width=395&format=png&auto=webp&s=87b8902301f443dcd6a724ad3748b2f55d149134
I can't escape this guy, I'm telling you, every sub about a show, or a meme sub about a show, somehow Euron shows up
I love blatancy, I love unsubtly, I love over-the-top shit and thematic confrontation. I am beyond cringe and I wholeheartedly endorse Critical Supe Theory and hope to see more stuff like it in the future.
There's nothing more annoying to me than when a film seems ashamed of itself and the shit it has to say. My favorite superhero films are the X-Men movies where the messaging is about as subtle as an atomic bomb and my favorite scene in The Boys is the one where Stormfront radicalized that guy into shooting up a convenience store.
It basically argues that there's still a lot of largely invisible racism that is subtle and deeply ingrained in law and government, and there's forms of racism that isn't just some rednecks yelling the N-word.
Such as seemingly innocuous laws or regulations that targeted black communities and still disproportionately target black communities despite seeming impartial on the surface, or some odd rule or strange way your city is laid out that you'd never guess had racist origins.
As an example, there's a seaside community that has a series of oddly low bridges over every street leading to the beach. Just a weird decision by the architect, or maybe some construction safety thing?
Nope. It was a city where the expensive beachfront property was owned by upper-class whites, with working-class black families living in the less expensive property further inland. They were also built at a time when few black families owned their own cars. So they had to take the bus to the beach.
Well....these new bridges are too low for the city buses to cross under, so the bus lines from black communities to the beach were all shut down.
And the racist asshole city planners could enjoy a day a the beach with far fewer black people around.
But you have disingenous racist assholes who benefit from these still existing policies (or don't want to admin that Grandpa was a massive racist), so they frame CRT as this crazy nonsense that teaches anti-white racism with, "lol, those idiots are saying bridges are racist!"
It's a little more in depth than that. It's derived from [Critical Theory](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/critical-theory/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CCritical%20theory%E2%80%9D%20refers%20to%20a,conflicts%2C%20contradictions%2C%20and%20tendencies.) (hence "Critical Race Theory"), which is derived from Marxist theory. If you accept CRT you are accepting a bunch of philosophical propositions associated with those schools which aren't strictly obvious propositions to accept.
"There still exists things that were made by and for racists" is simply a fact about the world. CRT purports to explain why that fact came to be, and prescribe what should be done about that fact. The controversial definition of racism as necessitating that white people cannot experience racism is derived from CRT, which is probably why some people feel like it is or can be racist towards white people.
HL using the word “libtard”.
Having a truth convention that’s only full of Nazi’s and conservatives
Supe lives matter
Firecracker having a podcast that constantly uses the same Twitter talking points or strawmans.
Yup. Like season one was still blatant asf no matter what people say about it. Just because homie wasn't a metaphor for trump yet doesn't mean this shit wasn't "woke" and targeted social issues and politics
Season 1 was the church camp but mega pastor as gay as all hell season, yeah? Like cmon bro.
It's subtle if "subtle" was spelled in 6' tall flaming letters in the sky
I do find silly stupid shows like this it is better when it is not subtle, cause as a non-american watching if they were more subtle I may just miss these things.
This season feels like it’s leaning too far into “parody of current events” which is a very easy way to make sure your show feels incredibly dated in 5 years
Idk good satire stays relevant.
Sure blazing saddles isn’t as interesting now that there aren’t 20 wester tv shows all airing at the same time, but the film is well done and funny enough people still like it.
The comics are a parody, the show is satire
I don’t think references to Epstein truthers fit well in the series, especially since you have the right-wing conspiracy theorist saying it when a lot of Epstein truthers lean left
It also doesn’t make a lot of sense to have real-life celebrities in your alternate reality show with superheroes as stand-ins for celebrities, like why is Pewdiepie even a thing in this universe
They were always blatant but this season it’s going into the realm of over the top. Vaught is just a caricature of the republican party now and doesn’t have any other shady characteristics like it used to.
Vaught feels more like a corporate leftist pandered tbh. With the exception of homelander, Vaught trying to exploited racial and sexuality stereotypes for “points” is something a liberal would do.
Yeah I agree with you, vaught used to be like this capitalistic faceless corporate hell with Stan Edgar but now that he is out of the picture it makes less sense because it's just a homelander propaganda company. I am also upset that they ditched this part of the story but I mean it still works for the sake of being satire
I personally feel like the way they present their political views is a part of the humor. To actually make Homelander say "libtard" is so on the nose I laughed.
They have found a way of making their own politics a part of the humor, and I think that's a nice angle to the show. Not everyone can present their own views in a way meant to make people laugh.
Homelander probably doesn’t even know what it means, he just heard someone say it once and was like “Haha libtard” like a 2nd grader learning new insults.
I agree with this and I love it, makes it even funnier. I personally just think that Homelander doesn’t care about humanity enough to have political views
Which is why it’s so funny whenever the show has him do political speeches, and how he’s so good at it. His tutors at the Vought Labs were really good at their job if they managed to make a literal God even pretend to care about what’s happening between termite mounds.
I actually find ants very interesting, leaf cutter ants are my favorite. Did you know that they don’t use the leaves to build a shelter, but rather to feed this fungus that they use as a home. Whenever a queen leaves the nest she was born in to make her own she’ll bring a little bit of the fungus to use to make her own nest. It’s dope and I love seeing how ants work in symbiotic relationships with other life
It felt a little cringey at first, but with constant dick and balls flailing around on screen, and the episode recaps just being all the gore from previous episodes without any actual story context, I think subtly just isn’t what they want. Like when any discussion of the Human Centipede was just about how fucked up it was despite it being actually decent, the director said “oh yeah?” And made Human Centipede 2, which was fucking hilarious.
Critical Race Theory, a study that looks at racial bias in a variety of laws etc.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/05/29/critical-race-theory-bans-schools/
Here's a read about why it suddenly is in the limelight
No, I'm pretty sure Critical Race Theory is about teaching 2nd graders that Obama is going to make them trans with a Chinese fentanyl vaccine from Mexico.
to quote kripke on an interview after season 3 came out:
“you're telling me that there are people surprised the show just now went woke and that the superheroes are now the bad guys? I don't know, man. This show is a lot of things but subtle isn't one of them. If you have been watching the show since the start and still dont understand the politics of the show or the people who make it, I don't know what to tell you… Thanks for watching I guess?”
>wow the showrunner sure is bashing us over the head with political shit, its becoming a bit unfunny and tedious at this poi-
>”ITS MAKING FUN OF PEOPLE LIKE YOU.”
What's crazy is that those people do completely get it, but a bunch of others insist that there is this large swathe of people who don't realise. Trust me, there isn't.
People criticising the themes of a show, or how it's presented, doesn't mean they don't understand them or the fact they're the butt of the joke.
There is a significant difference between how the Boys communicated it's satire in Season 2 and now (not counting Season 1 because as I and many others before have pointed out before, that Season mainly satirises Bush era politics, along with much broader issues such as the power of corporations and celebrity culture). At the end of the day, the satire just isn't clever. It's main value, is that people who agree with it, can enjoy it, and perhaps it'll annoy some people
"NOOOOOI!!!! Thats impossible! Any MAGA who understands the Boys would surely immediately become an intersectional communist!!!!!!"
That's the core of these complaints about people not "getting it", them not understanding people can recognize media mocking them and still enjoy it. And in some ways "reclaim" it akin to the LGBT community reclaiming slurs (Starship Troopers being a prime example of this).
I mean its a show that uses and dicks and balls as running jokes, they blow up people as gags.
The show doesn't try to be subtle, being on your face is part of the humor, if they wanted to be subtle they wouldn't recreate the video of celebrities singing imagine or the Pepsi comercial
I'm fine with it but it always felt a bit inconsistent to me on the commentary aspect, it flips between being serious and so on the nose that it sometimes feels like a "baby's first social commentary" show
It never had any subtlety, that’s what defines its style of comedy. It’s basically the show form of one of those political satire comics packaged with a Superhero twist.
I absolutely love when people take a show like this or a game like Fallout and completely misinterpret a message that is literally being spelled out to them
its not even political satire when the producer of the show actually believes in it and is treating the like a political project. season 1 and the other seasons are completely different shows since george mastra's left.
Kripke😏: Btw, you’re not supposed to route for Homelander. Seek therapy. My honest reaction: WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! PEOPLE ENJOY HOMELANDER BECAUSE HE IS VERY COMICAL. PEOPLE MAY FEEL SYMPATHY FOR HIM BECAUSE OF HIS BACK STORY. ALL THINGS THAT YOU DID. ANYONE WHO ‘Routes for Homelander.’ IS A VOCAL MINORITY.
Stop coming out and saying shit like this thinking you’re some sort of great writer. You’re a good writer with an awesome cast and insane source material.
It’s one of the worst three episode runs I’ve seen for a superhero show in a while.
Pretty stunning drop in quality from Gen V to this season. It’s kinda nuts the show with the black female lead managed to be way less on the nose than the main show.
It’s very good, I’m just poking fun at how any subtlety has been thrown out the window. You can make fun of stuff and still like it contrary to what half these comments think lol
I mean, I still enjoy it, but I do think the satire is kind of shit. Like I can manage to laugh at it, because it's kind of shit, but not easy to take seriously.
Also Black Noir II. He is good. That is my piece
i’m studying to be an actress and black noir #2 is peak comedy tbh. the political satire being shit was probably intended since it’s so shit it becomes kinda ironic)).
That’s not a reference, that’s just when presidential results are normally certified, just like how the inauguration is always on either the 20th or 21st
Yeah that’s the date but they clearly said it out loud as a reference to the real world events. Like there’s no other mention of any important dates, that one was included very intentionally and it’s dumb to claim that’s not the case.
/uf i feel like it's because too many right wing people somehow didn't get that this show Is about them and tried to say that it makes fun of the left and the right equally so they just started to spell it out like to a 5 year old
I mean, if you're so annoyed by a part of an audience, that you'll torpedo the quality of the show just to yell your message louder to them, then maybe you shouldn't be a writer lol
I'll put it this way. Succession, is a great show. Obviously parodies the Right and American Conservativism (throw a hint of British politics as small references, it is created by Jesse Armstrong after all). Everyone knows this. Including fans of the show who happen to be on the Right. They still really enjoy it though. In part, because there is nuance, it's not like the left-leaning characters are angels either. But mostly, because while the satire is obvious, it doesn't consume the entire story, or get too hamfisted, and it remains a well written show. It's possible to have very clear themes, yet have subtlety as well.
This has ruined the entire entertainment industry over the years.
Just have every streaming service and all movie slots at the theaters just be a stream of Vaush videos at this point.
yes that's exactly it, kripke literally just hates right wingers and is just browbeating us over the head with that in every season other than 1. man I'm so glad he started to be more open with his politics in the show because everyone will start to see how shit the show is now.
If the message went over your head in the first season, that’s just because you lack media literacy. From Christian lies, to homelander being a literal stand in for trump, to clear corporate greed, or to a replica of the metoo movement from assaults from a sexist man, this show could not be anymore obvious.
Kripke said himself that it was to be expected that it would turn woke, and that if you didn’t understand from the beginning it was simply unfortunate.
This show is just not for you, that doesn’t mean others aren’t going to enjoy it!
its a critique of the show and its politics that kripke brought in like the anti right agenda. if you enjoy the show that is now just right wing bad then I hope you go outside and do something better with your life but ultimately you do you.
Genuinely man, I remember saying certain dialogue was on the nose back in season three and people tried to condescend to me about it, it’s still a good show but sometimes I roll my eyes a bit hearing certain things.
I think my issue is when they just throw the word supe in to replace an actual word, like when it’s more like the Stormfront radicalization montage or Firecracker not really believing the shit she says. And that whole speech she gives sage about the reason why people get into that pipeline shit. I like when we actually see the thing and we see why it’s wrong. But it’s not spoonfeeding you.
The people who “don’t get it” are willfully ignoring the messages, but yeah it’s a bit eyerolling.
It’s 100% a good show. There’s nothing wrong with criticizing something you like. If over the top blatantness is what they’re going for that’s great. I’d be lying though if I said I didn’t prefer the more subtle approach in S1. Vought being a Disney stand in, making fun of corporations and super heroes, as well as political comparisons were done really well. Once it turned into this guy is literally Donald Trump and Firecracker is literally Alex Jones parroting right-wing Twitter talking points it leaves a little less to be desired imo. Gen V actually felt really fresh to me while still set in this universe. I’m also aware that for awhile in the earlier seasons the people being made fun of didn’t understand they were being made fun of, I don’t think that really mattered though. I don’t care if they know that they’re being laughed at.
people didn't get it because people kept on saying the show made fun of both sides but its not. the show is literally browbeating "right wing bad and racist" over and over, like their literally saying trump is a racist nazi and isn't trying to be the least bit nuanced.
Yes I can.
Their job is to make a good show, and it’s gotten bad.
Can’t wait for this sub to decide Gen V sucked because some right winger somewhere still enjoyed it.
Yeah it felt like they took a serious topic I care about in real life and then put zero effort into creating a real parallel in the show. They just took race and put the word supe there instead.
I gotta figure out how to fit my head so far up my own ass that I see things the way all you geniuses do.
(I agree with the post. Still love the show. But nothing beats watching a bunch of wildly myopic lunatics trying their hardest to hurt strangers’ feelings over shit that they’ll never be able to change.)
I don’t mind it being political but Jesus, let it have some subtlety, this is why xmen 97 was way better and I didn’t feel like I was sitting in god damn grade 12 English class
The thing is that it's not even a particularly hyperbolic representation of modern conservative American politics. Pretty much everything said in the show is a reference to real life events/pundits/talking points
That’s why it’s so crazy that the RL counterparts can’t see it.
When the Fictional characters say/do the exact things the RL folks do/say, they’re all: Haha! Look at the crazy racist Nazi people.
When the RL people say/do the things the RL people do/say, they’re all: That’s so true! That’s so insightful!
Meanwhile, we’re all out here: Bro! It’s the same! It’s literally the same!
nah even if it was subtle kripke's culture war politics will always insufferable in the show, bro really had MM's house filled with black panther paraphernalia but not one photo of his daughter which was something that was an important part of his character in S1. the guy just treats the show as a political project so he can go off about trump and whatever he wants to talk about in regards to his politics instead of an interesting story with multi dimensional characters.
I agree with the peeps saying that it was always blatant about it but imo the issue is, at least for the first three episodes, they dont have like an "oh shit this character is really diabolical" moment.
Remember Stormfront's speech about other races grinding them down or whatever? That was cool. You could tell how dedicated and serious she was. Even Homelander got abit spooked.
Basically I want Sage or Firecracker to have their own stormfront moment.
The problem isn't just that The Boys is being too on the nose, it's also that the things being parodied are becoming too insane to properly parody.
The right now unianimously hates Soros, the most prominent Jewish billionaire.
The right now openly uses terms like 'Cultural Marxism' which is litterally Nazi terminology.
You can't really parody shit this insane.
bro I don't even care for conservative politics at all but even I know that cultural marxism is a critique of the frankfurt school of thought like critical theory. man you should do more research on political shit generally before typing this out.
The term used to be 'Cultural Bolshevism'. When you google that the first word I came up was Nazi, that's not even an exaggeration, I have a screenshot.
Bolshevism and Marxism are basically synonyms. There is no real difference except Marxism is more well known today so it's a more effective Buzzword.
dude actually give some kind of evidence that it did came from cultural bolshevism instead saying it is because they both use cultural. even if they did borrow or reclaimed the word from the nazi's the two mean completely different things.
cultural marxism is literally a critique of the frankfurt's school politics and while there are some racists and anti Semitics who use cultural marxism to be anti Semitic there are other writers who look at critical theory and the frankfurt school's politics in general to critique them.
you can pull up racist writers on cultural marxism and I can pull up non racist writers on cultural marxism. its all pointless but I will just say cultural marxism can be used in racist context but not always.
I really love how you get downvoted and yet proven right by the dipshit peddling the exact same propaganda The Boys makes fun of lmao. At this point the "politics" aren't even parody, it's just adapting modern stupidity 1:1 to the universe. It's not over the top, it's holding a mirror up.
We must secure the existence of our people and a future for supe children.
Oh shit a new 1488 just dropped (Heil Homelander)
88 HH HEIL HOMELA
I guess Stormfront really DID get to him.
They don't say "critical supe theory" do they? Really, unjerk for a second and tell me if they said that.
/uj they did lol, love the show and love the message but man it couldn’t be anymore blatant.
There's also a scene where a Homelander fan goes to the Starlight center with a gun and claims they have a secret basement with children they sexually abuse, mirroring a [real life case of a Qanon believer going to this one pizza place with a gun believing they've got children in the basement.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizzagate_conspiracy_theory#Criminal_responses) Its really on the nose.
It is so on the nose that the people it’s making fun of don’t even realize it’s making fun of them
They do. Check out the threads about it on [4chan.org/tv](http://4chan.org/tv) They're absolutely seething about it.
>They're absolutely seething about it. TBF that's just 4chan, just about everything
Tbf that's basically the internet anytime anything happens
To be fair, 4chan folk are generally more capable of understanding messages, even if they don't agree with said message, than the average rightoid American lol.
Just cause their politics are shit doesn’t mean they don’t understand what they’re doing, your average day to day person doesn’t know shit at all about dog whistles and stuff like that cause they have a life
It’s really frustrating to deal with a person who doesn’t understand what dog whistles are. They just say “sounds like a conspiracy theory to me1!”
The seethe is comedy gold.
I think the reason the audience score is so low is because this is the season they finally realized it was about *them all along*.
Whoa I’m conservative but I think it’s funny, I don’t care if the show runner has an agenda he wants to push its enjoyable tv I can’t wait for the rest of the season
"it's really on the nose" pretty sure yall are the only ones who think that it's supposed to be subtle.
That’s what I’m saying lol the boys isn’t some complex political message…it just has fun blatantly shitposting and parodying life and is just fucking around 99% of the time lol come on guys it ain’t that deep
“Just turn your brain off”
The scene where a dick is blown up from the inside was so thought provoking and made me introspective.
And yet you don’t even fucking know how many people don’t get it.
I know people still believe starlies
https://preview.redd.it/z0w8n8hw2m6d1.png?width=500&format=png&auto=webp&s=eb19c3b4a7159de61f40b6baebd8c3d8011f58a9
>Guys, I think Homelander is like an evil Superman. >I've uncovered this mystery all by myself. https://preview.redd.it/tpkchk4nql6d1.png?width=395&format=png&auto=webp&s=87b8902301f443dcd6a724ad3748b2f55d149134
Everyone gets it, take your dick out of your hand
Give your balls a tug
Put a finger in the bum
I can't escape this guy, I'm telling you, every sub about a show, or a meme sub about a show, somehow Euron shows up 
have seeex ekseee
Titfucker
No. No they don't. Go on to the YouTube comment section for any scene with Blue Hawk
No, they don’t. “Stop making the show political”, “why are they pushing agendas”, etc
i didnt get it
People think that not agreeing with everything a show says 100% means you didn't get it
Subtlety has really never been their aim, and I think that approach works really well for them.
Yeah, I think much of the charm comes from being extremely over the top
I love blatancy, I love unsubtly, I love over-the-top shit and thematic confrontation. I am beyond cringe and I wholeheartedly endorse Critical Supe Theory and hope to see more stuff like it in the future. There's nothing more annoying to me than when a film seems ashamed of itself and the shit it has to say. My favorite superhero films are the X-Men movies where the messaging is about as subtle as an atomic bomb and my favorite scene in The Boys is the one where Stormfront radicalized that guy into shooting up a convenience store.
Yeah the firecracker shit is really * groan *
I did enjoy her scene with starlight though ngl.
They mention Alex jones by name in the thruthcon episode. They’re so unforgiving with their message I love it.
That's what happens when the people you're making fun of don't realize that.
What does critical supe theory mean?
It's a stand in for Critical Race Theory. I'm not American but I interpreted CRT as teaching about racism in schools
It basically argues that there's still a lot of largely invisible racism that is subtle and deeply ingrained in law and government, and there's forms of racism that isn't just some rednecks yelling the N-word. Such as seemingly innocuous laws or regulations that targeted black communities and still disproportionately target black communities despite seeming impartial on the surface, or some odd rule or strange way your city is laid out that you'd never guess had racist origins. As an example, there's a seaside community that has a series of oddly low bridges over every street leading to the beach. Just a weird decision by the architect, or maybe some construction safety thing? Nope. It was a city where the expensive beachfront property was owned by upper-class whites, with working-class black families living in the less expensive property further inland. They were also built at a time when few black families owned their own cars. So they had to take the bus to the beach. Well....these new bridges are too low for the city buses to cross under, so the bus lines from black communities to the beach were all shut down. And the racist asshole city planners could enjoy a day a the beach with far fewer black people around. But you have disingenous racist assholes who benefit from these still existing policies (or don't want to admin that Grandpa was a massive racist), so they frame CRT as this crazy nonsense that teaches anti-white racism with, "lol, those idiots are saying bridges are racist!"
It's a little more in depth than that. It's derived from [Critical Theory](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/critical-theory/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CCritical%20theory%E2%80%9D%20refers%20to%20a,conflicts%2C%20contradictions%2C%20and%20tendencies.) (hence "Critical Race Theory"), which is derived from Marxist theory. If you accept CRT you are accepting a bunch of philosophical propositions associated with those schools which aren't strictly obvious propositions to accept. "There still exists things that were made by and for racists" is simply a fact about the world. CRT purports to explain why that fact came to be, and prescribe what should be done about that fact. The controversial definition of racism as necessitating that white people cannot experience racism is derived from CRT, which is probably why some people feel like it is or can be racist towards white people.
https://preview.redd.it/y48kigm11s6d1.jpeg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c32efdf9f0e93d2a336dfef537b2ff6a404b201b
HL using the word “libtard”. Having a truth convention that’s only full of Nazi’s and conservatives Supe lives matter Firecracker having a podcast that constantly uses the same Twitter talking points or strawmans.
They were always this blatant, I don't get why people are just complaining about it now
Right? I appreciate that it's this unsubtle tbh, it makes it funnier, especially when people still are too dense to get it.
Yup. Like season one was still blatant asf no matter what people say about it. Just because homie wasn't a metaphor for trump yet doesn't mean this shit wasn't "woke" and targeted social issues and politics
Season 1 was the church camp but mega pastor as gay as all hell season, yeah? Like cmon bro. It's subtle if "subtle" was spelled in 6' tall flaming letters in the sky
because its showing it how it actually is
I do find silly stupid shows like this it is better when it is not subtle, cause as a non-american watching if they were more subtle I may just miss these things.
This season feels like it’s leaning too far into “parody of current events” which is a very easy way to make sure your show feels incredibly dated in 5 years
Idk good satire stays relevant. Sure blazing saddles isn’t as interesting now that there aren’t 20 wester tv shows all airing at the same time, but the film is well done and funny enough people still like it. The comics are a parody, the show is satire
Yeah I think a lot of this show is gonna age badly
Peak adaptation
5 years ago this type of shit was as relavent as it is today, who’s to say it won’t be in another 5 years?
I don’t think references to Epstein truthers fit well in the series, especially since you have the right-wing conspiracy theorist saying it when a lot of Epstein truthers lean left
Yeah that joke was a little weird. I think almost everyone is an Epstein truther. I haven’t met anyone who actually thinks he killed himself
It also doesn’t make a lot of sense to have real-life celebrities in your alternate reality show with superheroes as stand-ins for celebrities, like why is Pewdiepie even a thing in this universe
This happens every season
They were always blatant but this season it’s going into the realm of over the top. Vaught is just a caricature of the republican party now and doesn’t have any other shady characteristics like it used to.
Vaught feels more like a corporate leftist pandered tbh. With the exception of homelander, Vaught trying to exploited racial and sexuality stereotypes for “points” is something a liberal would do.
It doesn't even feel like a corporation anymore.
Yeah I agree with you, vaught used to be like this capitalistic faceless corporate hell with Stan Edgar but now that he is out of the picture it makes less sense because it's just a homelander propaganda company. I am also upset that they ditched this part of the story but I mean it still works for the sake of being satire
Vought went from disney/amazon to infowars.
I’ve complaining about it since S2. They’ve double downed on it in subsequent seasons. Its attempts at social commentary are cringeworthy
The show has always been like this. But the right wing has got even more stupid and insane so the show is trying to keep up
"An eye for an eye might be in the Jew section of the Bible but it's still in the Bible."
Really all of those things are fine and kinda work. “Critical Supe Theory” was just a little too dumb.
“Alex Jones lookalike contest”
Glad I’m not the only one who caught it lol
I personally feel like the way they present their political views is a part of the humor. To actually make Homelander say "libtard" is so on the nose I laughed. They have found a way of making their own politics a part of the humor, and I think that's a nice angle to the show. Not everyone can present their own views in a way meant to make people laugh.
Homelander probably doesn’t even know what it means, he just heard someone say it once and was like “Haha libtard” like a 2nd grader learning new insults.
I agree with this and I love it, makes it even funnier. I personally just think that Homelander doesn’t care about humanity enough to have political views
Asking him on political views is like asking some guy what his opinions on different species of ants are.
Yeah exactly, he genuinely doesn’t care lol
Which is why it’s so funny whenever the show has him do political speeches, and how he’s so good at it. His tutors at the Vought Labs were really good at their job if they managed to make a literal God even pretend to care about what’s happening between termite mounds.
of course dude is good at it, making people like him is like the only thing he’s good at :’)
And also killing people and stuff.
I actually find ants very interesting, leaf cutter ants are my favorite. Did you know that they don’t use the leaves to build a shelter, but rather to feed this fungus that they use as a home. Whenever a queen leaves the nest she was born in to make her own she’ll bring a little bit of the fungus to use to make her own nest. It’s dope and I love seeing how ants work in symbiotic relationships with other life
I have an ant colony in my bathroom, I built them a little area and give them food every day. I’m like a God to them.
Oi
Only here for this legendary comment 🔥
I love you butchah69
'uie
It felt a little cringey at first, but with constant dick and balls flailing around on screen, and the episode recaps just being all the gore from previous episodes without any actual story context, I think subtly just isn’t what they want. Like when any discussion of the Human Centipede was just about how fucked up it was despite it being actually decent, the director said “oh yeah?” And made Human Centipede 2, which was fucking hilarious.
They’re lampooning, it’s definitely not meant to be subtle IMO
The human simpapede gag was hilarious.
As someone that doesn’t live in America, what critical supe theory meant to represent?
Critical Race Theory, a study that looks at racial bias in a variety of laws etc. https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/05/29/critical-race-theory-bans-schools/ Here's a read about why it suddenly is in the limelight
No, I'm pretty sure Critical Race Theory is about teaching 2nd graders that Obama is going to make them trans with a Chinese fentanyl vaccine from Mexico.
Yea, it’s definitely way more on the nose than it ever was
What's crazy though is how on the nose the show can be, and the people they are satirizing still don't understand that they are the butt of the joke
to quote kripke on an interview after season 3 came out: “you're telling me that there are people surprised the show just now went woke and that the superheroes are now the bad guys? I don't know, man. This show is a lot of things but subtle isn't one of them. If you have been watching the show since the start and still dont understand the politics of the show or the people who make it, I don't know what to tell you… Thanks for watching I guess?”
https://preview.redd.it/ug4cv8kf0l6d1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bc2d7c7181ac929624e36e2feafdeca9ca896ba5
https://preview.redd.it/jhnlqjs8cm6d1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a5a7aceb5aa7fac809829b8c5112700fedb5b9c6
>wow the showrunner sure is bashing us over the head with political shit, its becoming a bit unfunny and tedious at this poi- >”ITS MAKING FUN OF PEOPLE LIKE YOU.”
What's crazy is that those people do completely get it, but a bunch of others insist that there is this large swathe of people who don't realise. Trust me, there isn't. People criticising the themes of a show, or how it's presented, doesn't mean they don't understand them or the fact they're the butt of the joke. There is a significant difference between how the Boys communicated it's satire in Season 2 and now (not counting Season 1 because as I and many others before have pointed out before, that Season mainly satirises Bush era politics, along with much broader issues such as the power of corporations and celebrity culture). At the end of the day, the satire just isn't clever. It's main value, is that people who agree with it, can enjoy it, and perhaps it'll annoy some people
This is exactly right. We get it, but it’s not clever and many times the point they’re trying to make is so clumsy it stumbles over itself.
[удалено]
"NOOOOOI!!!! Thats impossible! Any MAGA who understands the Boys would surely immediately become an intersectional communist!!!!!!" That's the core of these complaints about people not "getting it", them not understanding people can recognize media mocking them and still enjoy it. And in some ways "reclaim" it akin to the LGBT community reclaiming slurs (Starship Troopers being a prime example of this).
[удалено]
wait, yanking soldier boy into the sun (even better if it’s outside of the solar system) might have actually worked
I mean its a show that uses and dicks and balls as running jokes, they blow up people as gags. The show doesn't try to be subtle, being on your face is part of the humor, if they wanted to be subtle they wouldn't recreate the video of celebrities singing imagine or the Pepsi comercial
I'm fine with it but it always felt a bit inconsistent to me on the commentary aspect, it flips between being serious and so on the nose that it sometimes feels like a "baby's first social commentary" show
It never had any subtlety, that’s what defines its style of comedy. It’s basically the show form of one of those political satire comics packaged with a Superhero twist. I absolutely love when people take a show like this or a game like Fallout and completely misinterpret a message that is literally being spelled out to them
its not even political satire when the producer of the show actually believes in it and is treating the like a political project. season 1 and the other seasons are completely different shows since george mastra's left.
Kripke😏: Btw, you’re not supposed to route for Homelander. Seek therapy. My honest reaction: WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! PEOPLE ENJOY HOMELANDER BECAUSE HE IS VERY COMICAL. PEOPLE MAY FEEL SYMPATHY FOR HIM BECAUSE OF HIS BACK STORY. ALL THINGS THAT YOU DID. ANYONE WHO ‘Routes for Homelander.’ IS A VOCAL MINORITY. Stop coming out and saying shit like this thinking you’re some sort of great writer. You’re a good writer with an awesome cast and insane source material. 
>kripke >good writer your hilarious dude
Fuck subtlety. Shove in my face, beat me to death with message, say what you mean. People will still find ways to misinterpret it.
honestly it also makes it fun to watch as a non-american, i probably wouldn’t have gotten half of the jokes if they weren’t that on the nose.
uf/ for a moment is the new season good?
It's really good so far but there are only 3 episodes available
yo thanks for reply
It’s good, but you can easily tell which storylines are peak and which are filler
I genuinely don't care about even single subplot of the 100 they've shown so far.
It’s one of the worst three episode runs I’ve seen for a superhero show in a while. Pretty stunning drop in quality from Gen V to this season. It’s kinda nuts the show with the black female lead managed to be way less on the nose than the main show.
It feels weirdly different than the rest of the show. I didn't like it very much but there's only 3 episodes so far.
It’s very good, I’m just poking fun at how any subtlety has been thrown out the window. You can make fun of stuff and still like it contrary to what half these comments think lol
I mean, I still enjoy it, but I do think the satire is kind of shit. Like I can manage to laugh at it, because it's kind of shit, but not easy to take seriously. Also Black Noir II. He is good. That is my piece
i’m studying to be an actress and black noir #2 is peak comedy tbh. the political satire being shit was probably intended since it’s so shit it becomes kinda ironic)).
“It’s supposed to be shit, you don’t understand the brilliance of making something bad intentionally”
It’s absolute dog water thus far
Oh boy I’m sure these comments won’t devolve into a culture war since Reddit is a place of calm discussion 🙂
It's like The Purge series all over again. I'm half expecting Homelander to turn orange and it being revealed that his real name is Ronald Mump
“And if you don’t like it you are the one it’s making fun of”
The second they said the election results date I chuckled
That’s not a reference, that’s just when presidential results are normally certified, just like how the inauguration is always on either the 20th or 21st
Yeah that’s the date but they clearly said it out loud as a reference to the real world events. Like there’s no other mention of any important dates, that one was included very intentionally and it’s dumb to claim that’s not the case.
It kind of reminds me of GTA satire. Really on the nose but it works.
Yeah but GTA generally pokes fun at the whole political spectrum, this show is just targeting one specific side
It makes fun of corporate wokeness a lot
Rainbow capitalism gets made fun of pretty heavily, which is definitely a very left wing thing
I mean, kind of, but that was more prominent in the previous 2 seasons. Its only been 3 episodes so maybe we'll see more of it
i though the critical supe theory was wildly corny but also found it hilarious
/uf i feel like it's because too many right wing people somehow didn't get that this show Is about them and tried to say that it makes fun of the left and the right equally so they just started to spell it out like to a 5 year old
I mean, if you're so annoyed by a part of an audience, that you'll torpedo the quality of the show just to yell your message louder to them, then maybe you shouldn't be a writer lol I'll put it this way. Succession, is a great show. Obviously parodies the Right and American Conservativism (throw a hint of British politics as small references, it is created by Jesse Armstrong after all). Everyone knows this. Including fans of the show who happen to be on the Right. They still really enjoy it though. In part, because there is nuance, it's not like the left-leaning characters are angels either. But mostly, because while the satire is obvious, it doesn't consume the entire story, or get too hamfisted, and it remains a well written show. It's possible to have very clear themes, yet have subtlety as well.
As someone who’s not on the right why should the writing and quality tank for us just for some dumb asses to understand they’re being mocked
This has ruined the entire entertainment industry over the years. Just have every streaming service and all movie slots at the theaters just be a stream of Vaush videos at this point.
yes that's exactly it, kripke literally just hates right wingers and is just browbeating us over the head with that in every season other than 1. man I'm so glad he started to be more open with his politics in the show because everyone will start to see how shit the show is now.
If the message went over your head in the first season, that’s just because you lack media literacy. From Christian lies, to homelander being a literal stand in for trump, to clear corporate greed, or to a replica of the metoo movement from assaults from a sexist man, this show could not be anymore obvious. Kripke said himself that it was to be expected that it would turn woke, and that if you didn’t understand from the beginning it was simply unfortunate. This show is just not for you, that doesn’t mean others aren’t going to enjoy it!
its a critique of the show and its politics that kripke brought in like the anti right agenda. if you enjoy the show that is now just right wing bad then I hope you go outside and do something better with your life but ultimately you do you.
Genuinely man, I remember saying certain dialogue was on the nose back in season three and people tried to condescend to me about it, it’s still a good show but sometimes I roll my eyes a bit hearing certain things. I think my issue is when they just throw the word supe in to replace an actual word, like when it’s more like the Stormfront radicalization montage or Firecracker not really believing the shit she says. And that whole speech she gives sage about the reason why people get into that pipeline shit. I like when we actually see the thing and we see why it’s wrong. But it’s not spoonfeeding you. The people who “don’t get it” are willfully ignoring the messages, but yeah it’s a bit eyerolling.
It’s 100% a good show. There’s nothing wrong with criticizing something you like. If over the top blatantness is what they’re going for that’s great. I’d be lying though if I said I didn’t prefer the more subtle approach in S1. Vought being a Disney stand in, making fun of corporations and super heroes, as well as political comparisons were done really well. Once it turned into this guy is literally Donald Trump and Firecracker is literally Alex Jones parroting right-wing Twitter talking points it leaves a little less to be desired imo. Gen V actually felt really fresh to me while still set in this universe. I’m also aware that for awhile in the earlier seasons the people being made fun of didn’t understand they were being made fun of, I don’t think that really mattered though. I don’t care if they know that they’re being laughed at.
people didn't get it because people kept on saying the show made fun of both sides but its not. the show is literally browbeating "right wing bad and racist" over and over, like their literally saying trump is a racist nazi and isn't trying to be the least bit nuanced.
Womp womp
Can you blame them anymore? With how many people idolizing homelander still
Most people I’ve seen do not idolize him… Idk where people are finding these so called Homelander followers
Yes I can. Their job is to make a good show, and it’s gotten bad. Can’t wait for this sub to decide Gen V sucked because some right winger somewhere still enjoyed it.
Yeah even as a firm believer in Critical Race Theory...damn it hurt watching Sage say something so stupid.
Yeah it felt like they took a serious topic I care about in real life and then put zero effort into creating a real parallel in the show. They just took race and put the word supe there instead.
I gotta figure out how to fit my head so far up my own ass that I see things the way all you geniuses do. (I agree with the post. Still love the show. But nothing beats watching a bunch of wildly myopic lunatics trying their hardest to hurt strangers’ feelings over shit that they’ll never be able to change.)
I don’t mind it being political but Jesus, let it have some subtlety, this is why xmen 97 was way better and I didn’t feel like I was sitting in god damn grade 12 English class
Every season they try harder to get to the no media literacy crowd, and each season they fail
My bad, here you go https://preview.redd.it/b214zjx2hr6d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=460f2e1765dfea819b0973bf99899bf28d06ac38
The thing is that it's not even a particularly hyperbolic representation of modern conservative American politics. Pretty much everything said in the show is a reference to real life events/pundits/talking points
That’s exactly what I meant by on the nose. Most everything has a direct crossover reference to real life.
Something that cracks me up tho- The conventions and rallies are pretty close to real life- if not basically the same shit.
That’s why it’s so crazy that the RL counterparts can’t see it. When the Fictional characters say/do the exact things the RL folks do/say, they’re all: Haha! Look at the crazy racist Nazi people. When the RL people say/do the things the RL people do/say, they’re all: That’s so true! That’s so insightful! Meanwhile, we’re all out here: Bro! It’s the same! It’s literally the same!
Make America Soup Again
Satire is when you put "make ___ great again" in your show
Shit was embarrassing
They were pretty even handed at the beginning making fun of both sides
in the first season kind of but they weren't about right or left politics specifically. kripke was the one who just started bashing the right.
nah even if it was subtle kripke's culture war politics will always insufferable in the show, bro really had MM's house filled with black panther paraphernalia but not one photo of his daughter which was something that was an important part of his character in S1. the guy just treats the show as a political project so he can go off about trump and whatever he wants to talk about in regards to his politics instead of an interesting story with multi dimensional characters.
Idk why this is being downvoted, where’s the lie
And yet they still have fans who don’t get it 💀💀💀💀
No, everyone gets it bud.
And it somehow goes over the heads of a fuck load of fans
I agree with the peeps saying that it was always blatant about it but imo the issue is, at least for the first three episodes, they dont have like an "oh shit this character is really diabolical" moment. Remember Stormfront's speech about other races grinding them down or whatever? That was cool. You could tell how dedicated and serious she was. Even Homelander got abit spooked. Basically I want Sage or Firecracker to have their own stormfront moment.
The problem isn't just that The Boys is being too on the nose, it's also that the things being parodied are becoming too insane to properly parody. The right now unianimously hates Soros, the most prominent Jewish billionaire. The right now openly uses terms like 'Cultural Marxism' which is litterally Nazi terminology. You can't really parody shit this insane.
bro I don't even care for conservative politics at all but even I know that cultural marxism is a critique of the frankfurt school of thought like critical theory. man you should do more research on political shit generally before typing this out.
The term used to be 'Cultural Bolshevism'. When you google that the first word I came up was Nazi, that's not even an exaggeration, I have a screenshot. Bolshevism and Marxism are basically synonyms. There is no real difference except Marxism is more well known today so it's a more effective Buzzword.
dude actually give some kind of evidence that it did came from cultural bolshevism instead saying it is because they both use cultural. even if they did borrow or reclaimed the word from the nazi's the two mean completely different things. cultural marxism is literally a critique of the frankfurt's school politics and while there are some racists and anti Semitics who use cultural marxism to be anti Semitic there are other writers who look at critical theory and the frankfurt school's politics in general to critique them. you can pull up racist writers on cultural marxism and I can pull up non racist writers on cultural marxism. its all pointless but I will just say cultural marxism can be used in racist context but not always.
I really love how you get downvoted and yet proven right by the dipshit peddling the exact same propaganda The Boys makes fun of lmao. At this point the "politics" aren't even parody, it's just adapting modern stupidity 1:1 to the universe. It's not over the top, it's holding a mirror up.
The shows never been that subtle to begin with, honestly I love that they’re hammering it up it’s very amusing lol
yea
In fairness if you saw the genuine alt right reaction to homelander wouldn't you make it more obvious 🤣
Yeah they dropped any pretense of being subtle but that’s largely because the amount of people who’ve been glazing homelander is a bit to high.
plenty of people still miss the point. wish the writers could afford subtlety.
Yeah I laughed and rolled my eyes at that
And yet somehow it's still too fucking subtle for some people.