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San Francisco, 12:57 PM
Sun Nov 8
11 posts in the last 24 hours
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09/29/09
09/29/09
09/29/09
The relative conservatism of the Fable community (which, given that they're hundreds of years old, makes perfect sense) is prevalent throughout the series.
Besides, that comment isn't about the origins of the state of Israel, but about its current status in the world.
09/29/09
Seriously, if you're not reading this, there is something wrong with you.
09/29/09
09/29/09
09/29/09
And forever after, when they kill goblins, I'm going, "Awesome! Bulldoze the little fuckers' hundred-year-old olive groves, while you're at it! Build walls between the goblins and their Goblin Church! Kick them out of their homes and pretend they don't even have a goblin government! Tell everyone who disagrees with you that your Fairy Godmother told you to do it!"
Talk about dehumanizing your enemies.
09/29/09
And technically the olive grove was used to produce unkillable soldiers which were used to create armies which could conquer worlds. I think that counts as provocation.
09/29/09
I mean, Willingham could have used any number of historical examples to make the exact same point and it would have come off as badass, but the example he picked really minimizes the suffering of a very real group of people.
From the Comics Journal:
"If there's any underdog in this world, Israel's it. So I think I just absorbed my mother's love of Israel. Politically, I'm just rabidly pro-Israel and so that, as a metaphor, was intended from the beginning. As a matter of fact, since this interview will be coming out after issue #50, there's a scene in which it's actually stated as fact that Fabletown's battle against the vast Empire, the Adversary, is very much like Israel against the Arab nations."
[www.tcj.com]
09/29/09
Just as an aside, I should point out I'm neither pro or anti Israel, as I don't know enough about the situation to have any feelings about it. I always intend to rectify my knowledge of current events, but it's amazing what gets in the way.
10/08/09
You can do whatever you want with your feelings, but fuck you very much for having the presumption for telling me what to do with mine. I'm thrilled that political content in art has no meaning to you; enjoy your D.W. Griffith festival. If an artist has an ill-considered opinion (Neal Adams thinks the earth is hollow, for instance. No shit. Look it up), it's fine as long as it doesn't interfere with his work. Willingham uses his position as a writer of fantasy comics as a bully pulpit for some very objectionable, shallow political ideas and I reserve the right to call him out on it. I won't read any more Ayn Rand novels, either. Why? Because she was wrong and she was strident about everyone hearing her wrong ideas. See also "Triumph of the Will" by Leni Riefenstahl and, to a lesser extent, "Empire" by Orson Scott Card. Does Card being an ultraconservative moron make "Ender's Game" a bad novel? Absolutely not, because he keeps his ideology to himself. Willingham does not, so I don't read Fables anymore.
09/29/09