The Boys Season 4: Is TV Too Political?
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- Опубліковано 7 вер 2024
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The Boys Season Four: Is Satire Dead?
The initial reaction to season four of The Boys was extreme, with some fans claiming that the show had gone “woke.” But does this miss the point of what the show is actually doing? And is there room left to create political satire when our political reality is becoming more and more like fiction? Let’s figure it out in this video on The Boys season four.
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=== Watch More Episodes! ===
The Boys: Are We All Power Hungry Monsters? ► • The Boys: Are We All P...
The Boys: The Truth About Social Justice ► • The Boys: The Truth Ab...
American Exceptionalism: The Boys Vs. Captain America ► • American Exceptionalis...
Written and Hosted by Michael Burns
Directed by Michael Luxemburg
Edited by Jackson Maher
Produced by Olivia Redden
Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound
#theboys #theboysseason4 #wisecrack
© 2024 Wisecrack / Omnia Media, Inc. / Enthusiast Gaming
What's your take on Season Four of The Boys?
Shouldn’t have name dropped IRL politicians
@@MetatronsRevenge613 yeah that was a weird movie.
I loved it. Unfortunately makes me worry about our real future.
@@MetatronsRevenge613Which ones were mentioned?
@@egorkotkin AOC and Elizabeth Warren in the dungeon scene
The season finale where a lone shooter nearly killed the ex president after eluding all of the secret service was a little far fetched.
😂
Yeah, something like that would never happen in real life.
I don't know Maybe because the shooter is a SHAPESHIFTER that took a form of a member of MM team that is protecting said ex president
I don't know Maybe because the shooter is a SHAPESHIFTER that took a form of a member of MM team that is protecting said ex president
@@cancerino666 Newsflash this isn't real life it's fiction anything could happen
TBH I thought Stormfront's line in season 2 was about as clear as it gets when she said "people like what I have to say, they just don't like the word 'Nazi'"
The show has a lot of hidden nuggets of wisdom
It can be applied in the other direction as well. People actually love socialist economic populism, they just don't like the word socialism.
Sadly true, and very scary... 0_0
@@tl_nik0n353 I do. Most of europe has for decades. It's just in the US that it became an ugly word for some reason. Actually, I know the reason: the red scare. Decades of propaganda a lot of american people can't tell the difference between communism, socialism, fascism, or even which countries are socialist.
I like the idea of a free market, I just dont like that people with the most money still get to do whatever they want like the rest of history
Any body who didn’t know the boys was satire probably listened to the radio stations in GTA5 like, “these guys get it”
American Psycho
😂
I'm gonna admit, I missed pre-GTAIV Laszlo just because I need someone to make fun of the people dragging this country down. And it ain't the poor, the queer, or the coloreds, keeping us down.
It's the bastards in power.
I've seen this before
tbh based
Wait, my superhero show where the superman parody uses an american flag as his cape IS ABOUT AMERICAN POLITICS??????
This deserves more upvotes.
shocking !!
That is fair.
However, I’m not American & I enjoyed the show, even Season 4, but holy shit was 4 just too extreme & violent & on the nose.
I’m so sick of American politics everywhere I look, & this show simply felt like TDS.
@@EyeGodZAMeh, not really imho. It was nowhere near as violent as some scenes in previous seasons 🫣 and it was finished with a nice touch that will connect to other seasons and Gen V. 💯
Wait until you hear about how and why Captain America was created...
I am so confused by why people are getting offended by season 4? Did they not watch season 1-3? The messaging has been consistent.
Yeah, but it hasn’t been extremely overt, and the political messaging wasn’t as clear as it was in season 4. In seasons 1-2 Homelander had Trump vibes and ideals, while in season 3 and especially in season 4, his character has essentially become part Trump with Kripkie essentially screaming in your ear “hOmElAnDeR iS lIkE tRuMp, AnD hOmElAnDeR bAd, So TrUmP aLsO bAd. RiGhT wInG bAd, DeMoCrAt GoOd.”
developped fatigue imo
i stopped after season 2 it was trying to hard and I don't care to be lectured by the pedophiles in hollywood nor do i accept their values and morals
@@hereticseraphim73 It was clear from the beginning that this show will criticize "the powers" whether it be neo-liberalist tycoons or their side-kick far-right politicians. By season 2, the show caught up on current politics and fairly criticized people's tendency to fall for Fascism. The problem is that the people's minds are so muddied nowadays, calling every little thing they don't like "woke" as if it actually means anything else than a scapegoat. With their muddied minds, they cannot tell the connection between neo-liberalism and the right wing politicians. They cannot differentiate the actual academic progressivism from company policy progressivism. So, I don't expect them to understand any of the show's message. They are cringe people calling cringe stuff words that are bigger than themselves and they will be constantly ridiculed by at least slightly educated people who responsible for these TV shows, movies, and video games.
@@hereticseraphim73Did you forget the aftermath of the plane scene in season 1? It has been incredibly unsubtle and it’s goal has rarely been subtlety.
Also where are you getting “right wing bad, democrat good”? Do you want to name examples of where it’s that simple?
@@echorises Literally the same applies for the leftists that call everyone who dissagrees a fascist. You throw around some nice terms thinking that you will sound smart but you are saying there is a connection between neo-liberalism and far-right? You Americans are so limited by this 2-party system that you can't even understand that the political spectrum is multi dimensional and not a single fucking line. Right means capitalist and conservative and left means communist and progressive. What a pitty. What you call far-right is actually a socialist ideology.
I also think you’re forgetting that a lot of the characters representing fascism were well represented, and that viewers who unironically like fascism were offended when those characters failed as a result of their stupid beliefs.
Fascism is anti-capitalist.
Homelander 2024
@@LuisSierra42 This, unironically.
@@Based_Gigachad_001 This is why conservatives are so mad, because Homelander is mirroring Trump quite well, a sadistic narcissist who sees the people who follow him as lesser and wants to rule over them, and yet they all cheer for him, so sad.
Or maybe it's cause the entirety of the right wing no matter how little they lean into that direction are painted as either malicious or stupid with no room for nuance or understanding whatsoever. Now I'm left leaning myself and generally agree with the shows message but I can at least admit that the show is pretty disrespectful to the other side and blatantly so. xD
What's mind boggling to me is how people expected the show to not be political when the original is half critique of the comics industry and half about Bush, the war on terror and corporations taking over the system
THE COMPANY IS CALLED VOUGHT AMERICA AS IN "BOUGHT" AMERICA, Ennis is many things but subtle has never been one of those.
How did I not notice that??????? I get it was a satire, but that was something that flew over my head.
It's not as clever as you think it is. Corporation is taking over the system? As opposed to what the government having control? Yeah that's worked out great in the past. Corporations and private businesses do not have the force of law. They can't compel you to work for them or buy their product. They can't send you to prison. The reason you're using your phone right now and the reason you have all nice things and access to incredible technology and high quality items and conveniences in life is from corporations literally. You idiot
It used to be a wink wink subtle . Now they just go out and say it , which is infinitely less entertaining
They didn't forget about Sage and Firecracker. Half of them were raging over Sage being a smart black woman and the other half thought Firecracker was great or "I can fix her" until it's revealed that she slept with a minor
And even demonstrated the right wing extreme hypocrisy of wanting to persecute LGBTQ+ ppl for supposed "grooming" when their own representatives and pundits have been guilty of literal pedophilia but its "ok" because they repented to god.......
Name one evil black person in the show.
@@kyero8724 Sister Sage, A-train in the beggining, Black Noir, weird that you are so laser focused on the race of the villains/heroes, you are weird.
@@kyero8724 A-Train. Literally the original villain of the show. Black Noir. The canonically longest operating villain in the timeline. New Black Noir, a performer easily turned villain. Sage, a villain for fun.
There was 1 good black guy in the show, now two with A-Train turned good, and you complaining. You havin a laugh mate.
Homelander: I declare martial law, you all complain!
Leftists love martial law. History stands as evidence.
I am going to keep banging the Tom Lehrer drum:
"Political satire became obsolete the moment Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize."
In some sense, we live in a post-satire world. At risk of being a stereotypical "twentysomething white dude that went to college," Father John Misty wrote a whole album about this like, 7 years ago.
Guys the dude who was the last president of apartheid was also awarded a Nobel peace prize 😂🦔🇿🇦
Complaining that the boys is political is like complaining there's vegetables in your salad.
Politics was always the point!
@cancerino666 what about calling out democrats too as the problem as the party is the center right and also funding to israel; Kripke makes democrats out to be the good guys
@@Seasonal-Shadow_4674 democrats are right wing just a different degree of it
@@Seasonal-Shadow_4674 One party sends money to Israel, second overturned Roe vs Wade, tried an insurrection and its leader is a felon convicted more than 30 times and sends money to Israel. I do not know if they are the good guys, but I can imagine how somebody would say that they are better.
@@Seasonal-Shadow_4674 wHaT aBoUT
@@MethSloth you don’t even know how to answer a question
My only problem with season 4 was it seemed to be a set up for season 5. It felt like not much happened.
You are kinda right. This season was more focused on the world building than the characters themselves, which will be necessary for next season as a kind of "how we got here" season. Therefore, it did lack a bit in the narrative sense but was still highly enjoyable
I would completely agree that this season was very slow, but think about other GOAT shows. Breaking bad and better call saul had slow penultimate seasons that moved everything into place for the last season to execute perfectly. Then if you look at Game of thrones, the second to last season was mainly spectacle and it lead to a disastrous last season. So im hoping that they follow the BB and BCS trajectory rather than the GOT route
They didn't have a choice. The studio hadn't given them the greenlight for season 5 to be the final season, so they had to leave things open till the last minute. Notice how so much happens right at the end? They were stuck in limbo wanting to end, building towards that end, without permission to definitively move towards it.
@@cancerino666 the boys got renewed for season 4 and 5 at the same time
Honestly, people said the same thing about Breaking Bad Season 5A back in the day, that it was too slow and nothing really of consequence happened until the end (it's also telling that both halves of S5 were released as separate seasons on DVD). But judging it on it's own merits, I found a lot to appreciate about Season 4. Episodes 4, 5, 6, and 8 were some great episodes for me, and the show executed most of its character arcs very well. Not the best season, but better than the first imo (which felt a bit uneven and callous for me).
Mother’s Milk,Hughie,his father,and Stan aren’t toxic
Also we have plenty of evil women like Madelyn, Stormfront, Firecracker, Sage, and Barbara. Those Stan is definitely toxic
Stan Edgar is toxic af on the simple account that he's a billionaire. Also, his psychological abuse is one of the main reasons why Homelander is the way he is. Agree with the rest of the list though
Stan is most definitely toxic he's just better at not showing it overtly
Hughie wasnt toxic this season, he got that all out and learned last season.
Yeah but the original commenter also used the term "incapable" which I interpret as this person considering every good male character as Beta
"it is too blatant in referencing actual politics" - "yes, because that is what it needs for you to finally get it."
Conservatives only like media when it's too subtle for them to actually catch what it's trying to say
Funny they do do ANYTHING to demonize the Fake Democrats.
You clowns think anyone whos a Democrat is pure with no Racism or Sexism lol
Most people don't want to be lectured to by Hollywood writers and directors 🤯
@@TWE_2000But that really just means, I don't like the fact my favorite T.V. show doesn't reflect my politics.
@@TWE_2000 LOL you fucking infant. it's not a fucking 'lecture', you're not being scolded by your parents. make it more obvious that you're a triggered nazi
Criticism of corporate power and "Rainbow Capitalism" is a leftist take. I disagree with the idea that The Boys shifted away from "Left vs. Right" politics. Yes, it critiques the drive for power that fuels the political system., but this is leftist view point. There is no right wing criticism of corporate power outside of "Woke is bad!". The show critiques Liberalism and right wing politics. It always has. Conservatives just misinterpreted the jabs at a Disney-esque rainbow crusade as a conservative take because they don't understand that the left also hates the disingenuous and opportunistic co-opting of civil rights struggles, whether it be for queer people or racialized groups. Remember the Pepsi protest ad? When corporations apply a veneer of support for marginalized groups, know that this is always conditional. As soon as it becomes less profitable to support equality for queer folk, they will abandon them (see: Budweiser + Dylan Mulvaney). Budweiser did not stand on its principles or values because it never had any. They flipped on a dime to protect their profits.
Strong take
I agree and fully believe a lot of complainers have a misunderstanding of what people more towards the left believe in. Leftists laugh at rainbow capitalism because they hate it. So the show parodying it was never a parody of the left.
A right wing critique of corporations might be that the government does far too much to subsidise and support them when they should just let market capitalism run its course. Also of government instituted monopolies which reduce competition
@@Eltener123 but Kripke shows Democrats as the good guys when Democrats are also part of the problem and center right
@@Eltener123 why not call out the other side too that is center right?
The Venn diagram of "people complaining that _The Boys_ has gotten too woke" and "people who think Homelander is the good guy" is a circle
please do NOT let homelander become patrick bateman 2.0 i am BEGGING you
No one cares about Homelander. Soldier Boy is the real goat
We really live in a reality is stranger than fiction world and I want off this train
I want end-times dystopian life with a side of superpowers, please.
That ape apocalypse is looking pretty good right now
NOTHING STOPS THE A-TRAIN!
Seeing people like me portrayed in books and media as someone that’s not only “flawed,” which implies basic perfection with a handful of easily fixable small impurities, but as someone that’s fundamentally wrong was instrumental in my learning how to work through difficult problems and ideologies and ultimately helped lead to a series of significant paradigm shifts that became foundational in who I am and how i see the world.
The takeaway for me is that people love to see themselves as heroes in the story in order to feel validated, but it’s been more important for me to be challenged by good art.
I put it down to people being sick of the celebrity apology. The problem people who tearfully say, "I did wrong, I am a deeply flawed person. I am working to grow and to become the person I actually want to be."
Then they go and do it again.
People are tired of flawed, problematic guy who is allegedly striving to be better. An endless parade of hollow celebrity apologies have beaten out of us the belief people can change and improve. Now they want the good guys to be good. If you do a bad thing, then you're trained forever and canceled. It only adds to the five-alarm fire storm that no-one can agree on what "good" and "bad" is, but they will argue to the ends of the earth for their personal definition.
@@Raziel312 - Maybe people should stop worshiping people (including politicians and celebrities). It would be less disappointing that way.
@sandhillfarmer1 you are one of a kind, most people dont like to be challenged and their insecurity shows when they want characters to reflect them all the time
ua-cam.com/video/QbnzXPDCJ3w/v-deo.htmlsi=ksk-B1d36PSMzM2i
This video and the comment sections point out how people (at least today's generation) constantly have this unhealthy need to feel externally validated 24/7 by media and when they relate to characters, they get uncomfortable and insecure when those characters arent redeemed or dont go in directions the audience doesnt want them to because audiences take it so personally and as an attack on them, especially today's generation when it comes to this self absorbed insecurity and needing to be validated and in the right all the time.
@@sandhillfarmer1 who like you was portrayed in this?
"Once we start looking at characters on screen to uphold our own moral or political values, we're sorta losing the plot." summarised probably the last 10 years of media criticism in one sentence.
Also, people like media literacy today; they confusing liking characterization with actually liking a character. Personally, I think it started with Tony Soprano.
In the words of a published author: “I know writers who use subtext and they’re all cowards.”
Who said that?
@erdood3235 esteemed horror writer and visionary Garth Merenghi.
Garth Marenghi
1984 is the best example of satire given on a plate. The book is hardly subtle and yet says so much.
Well attack on titan is mostly subtext, and it goes hard, the thing is if you want to make the other side of the the political spectrum understand their bad deeds, you first have to let them get in the story with soft entrance, some show just excessively make the viewers so opposing that they don't even let the other side see what they actually wanna show, boys is not that I know, but boys also goes on one end of political extremism sometimes, and by the way i don't like American conservatism, but i don't like american left wing too, both are too deranged to see the faults in their own opinions, and uses many fallacies to counter each other.
I did get a kick out of seeing Sage show up at the end to figuratively light a cigar and say, "I love it when a plan comes together."
lol I found that to be the most cliche thing ever
@@veronicab15 Of course it was cliche and it was also the point.
@@wesleystreetpersonally I’m more of a fan of show don’t tell. I understand that the writers would want some parts of the plan to be kept a secret to surprise the audience. But I still would have preferred seeing some small snippets of how and why the plan worked during key moments
The show didn't get more woke, it just feels that way because of current events. What was satire feels like a documentary.
I just could not believe the timing of a real-world event that happened days before that one episode came out.
It's way off rails compared to actual comics.
The labeling of this, at times brutally on the nose, satire as woke does nothing but prove how redundant a term it is and how politically ignorant the American population are in general. It is almost unbelievable that people label anything left wing as woke, while complaining about the state AND labelling themselves right wing. It's like Orwellian double speak, but the population did it to themselves.
That was one of O'Brien's main points as he tortured Winston. People want Big Brother to protect them. He gains his power from the people.
@@NucularRobit I've only read 1984 once. It was very formative for me, but it's a challenging read with chronic depression 😅
This is an underrated comment
No, the population didn't do it to themselves. Population was couched by media and influencers
I think it all comes down to a subset of viewers not wanting to have any form of self-reflection and instead deflect.
Nail on the head with that one. They can’t conceive that they might just be the baddies.
When season 4 script was written, it was supposed to be a fiction, not their fault that those last few months things have gotten a bit too real....
It is pretty funny it took the right 4 seasons to realize we were making fun of them. Pretty on brand if you ask me.
Get your head out of your bum. Season 4 clearly leaned further into attacking the right than it ever had before. It went from satire to preaching exaggerated 'truths'.
@@TBarr1891 you are aware of what satire means right? So it went from satire to... more satire? Brother you couldn't have proven my point better.
I mean after season 2, I thought they would be raging. Clearly, if they hadn't revealed stormfront to be a confirmed nazi, they would have agreed with her.
except that never happened
It was obvious in the previous seasons but then it was atleast funny so I don't think people had as big of an issue with it. Just shitting on your political opponents isn't very fun, just look at anti woke youtube channels, those are unbearable.
Its just like when the simpsons "predict" something. Its not that the writers are psychic or prophets, its just that our world is so batshit crazy that the wildest storylines for satire seem right at home with what we live with every day
I think the fact that this season was shot so ahead of everything and life happened to reflect it so eerily similarly, it made season 4 feel more like Dont Look Up instead of say American Fiction. Just my opinion. Love you michael youre awesome. Whole team is killing it! Keep up the awesome work
This was my favorite show. Being into politics, I saw how it was a satire from the beginning. The right must wear blinders to the fact till they actually see it and then cry about it.
I doubt they’d even get the commentary of “They Live” before coming across an analysis short enough for them to hear.
I'm not really right wing (more of a slightly right of center centrist), nor American. I saw the satire from the start.
The problem is that is used to be done sparingly and not on the nose apart from a few lines and one episode in particular.
Now its just devolved into being sloppily done and over the top and way too often at the expense of the writing overall and the entire plot (which has dropped of a cliff). Its tiresome and pandering and sounds like a lecture when its supposed to be entertainment. Might as well turn on the news again, its been even more entertaining since the 13th anyways.
There has been one good scene the whole season and its when Hughie's dad dies. and then the very next episode they basically R-word Hughie for 'laughs'.
You turn on the news and hear "trump is an evil nazi" every day for the past 8 years, and then you turn on what was a fun show in S1 just to hear Homelander [who, its not even a question is supposed to be Trump] is an evil nazi", complete with insane strawman caricatures of real life quotes and groups of people and buzzwords (eg. trump saying in jest "I could kill a guy on {whatever} Ave and people would still love me" then in the show homelander explodes a dudes head in a crowd and everyone just cheers)
1. its tiresome
2. it is excessive and has overwritten the plot
3. its lazy
4. it ages it so poorly with all the obscure terms and news shit.
You can write a good political story without devolving into the satirical garbage that this show has become. Bioshock is a great example. Its a great criticism of objectivism without ever saying "objectivism sucks because". It has its world that was built upon objectivist ideals. It was a utopia until a chain of events sourced from those ideals occured and has destroyed the city and society. It didn't explicitly say "this character is ayn rand, look how stupid her ideas are, her ideas sucks and made the city collapse.
@@jinxminxks Yeah because Soldier Boy being a misogynist out of touch asshole being an antagonist was "criticizing libs", conservatives simply dont get it, and worse you even have ppl saying that "soldier boy was based" like he raped women, he killed black ppl for being black and almost killed a co-worker in training, hows that "based"?
@@Lummerbummer115 thank you. but the way satire is used in this show is to push the ideas the writers believe in, it feels like a propaganda ad rather than a TV show.
I don't care about their believes nor did i start watching it looking for believes so it's kind of annoying how frequent they try to push their ideologies threw "comedy".
@@Lummerbummer115 MAybe you should pay attention and understand why is being said that Trump is an evil Nazi, "migrants are poisoning the blood of America" straight up rethoric taken from Hitler and his rethoric against Jewish ppl, it might be "overdone" for you, but is not by any mean a "strawman" or a "caritcature" because is soemthing that is happening and its real, and we have ample evidence to back it up.
"Across the political spectrum" I know you know that's only talking about the American spectrum which is very narrow.
The vast far right to fascism American spectrum
Please elaborate, what do you think you're talking about? Political spectrum is not per country, it's simply a form of mapping political tendencies and ideologies. You're fundamentally misunderstanding what narrow means in this context.
@@edumazieri The American political spectrum is narrow in terms of representation and wide in terms of actual population.
I think season 4 leaned a little more into the "culture war" and divisive politics than previous seasons, so I can totally understand why someone that doesn't want "the message" pushed down their throat in a superhero satire further perpetuated.
But honestly, the last episode was one of the best of the series.
Yeah the last episode made up for a lot.
the parallels felt so heavy handed this season
that people who agree with the messaging would find it eye-rolly at how heavy handed it is
and the people who disagree with the messaging would find it "too woke"
Another snowflake enters the comments.
Thanks for revealing how little your feelings care about facts.
Divisive politics? I'd understand this if they satirized actual political policies. They didn't. There should be nothing divisive about the satirizing character.
@@jakestroll6518average leftoid
It scares me how many posts I see on Facebook thinking that Homelader is the hero of the show or a sympathetic villain. But what scares me even more is people defending Stormfront and claiming she was a misunderstood hero. She was literally a card-carrying Nazi from WW2. You can't be more clear when making a bad guy.
we reject the morals and values of the pedophiles in hollywood
also in hollywood "villains" are infinitely more complex, flawed and human than their "heroes" counterparts
In that blazer, you make me fearful that I didn't finish my philosophy paper before watching this video, and you are now disappointed in me, Teach. 🤣
Oh no! You still have time! I pushed back the deadline to next week.
@@WisecrackEDU Oh god, thank you so much. But I think my 5th grandma is dying that day. 😬
It's just a funny, shocking, well-acted show full of good-looking people, and it satirizes a world that we don't really want to admit is reality. I'm not sure why people feel so personally aggrieved by it. For those that do feel that way, it's likely an indication of just how bad tribalism is in the US.
Yeah we're just a little tired of Hollywood's non-stop ridiculous bigotry against anyone on the right. And it is bigotry they generalize and marginalize any opposing viewpoint and try to make anyone who is not a leftist look like a dumb religious ignorant bigoted intolerant racist bag of s***. Everyone is just a little f****** tired of it.
Calling Firecracker Christian is like calling Homelander a hero
If you can find people who share their opinions or view them as such then it's pretty accurate
I haven't watched any of the Boys. But my understanding is there are no heroes in this fiction.
Firecracker is so Cristian.
Christians have good and evil people in their midst. I see what you're saying but this also a No True Scotsman logic fallacy.
Pretty sure this video highlighted Firecracker as being a "cynical right wing grifter". A lot of those grifters just happen to brand themselves and their views as "Christian" because right wing Christians seem to he easily led if you market yourself to them.
Almost nothing about those grifters are "Christian", altruistic values, but they've managed to make a living off of the hate that exists in quite a lot of "Christian" people in Western countries
*Stormfront looks straight at the camera and starts talking about white genocide*
"Guys, are we the bad guys"
Some immigrants become more American than the people who are born here. Those are the people I want immigrating here.
The colour of skin you were born with makes no difference to me.
If you immigrated here legally and you’re assimilating into traditional American culture, that’s the best thing ever.
If you came here illegally, are forcing your needs to be met before people born here, and expecting our culture to conform to where you came from… of course that’s really bad.
America is a country of settlers, not immigrants.
It's funny when people think comic book super hero stuff is too political. Comic books have always been political. Superman, one of the first big comic books, was made by two Jewish young men as a response to feeling helpless when hearing about what was happening to Jewish people in Germany. It's always been political and always been.
It's also worth noting that Trump was the villain from every 80s movie, not trump in name, but who trump is. Look and see how many 80s movies have a rich land developer as the villain who has to be beat by the people coming together and standing united against the power of the land developers wealth. People aren't just now becoming against Trump, Trump became what people have always been against.
The Onion had a good article on superheroes being too political and Captain America.
For real, if you were to power rank forms of art in terms of how 'political/woke' it is, the list would look something like this
1: Comic books
2: Regular books
3: Music
4: Movies
(distant) 5: Paintings
Art is always political. That's a feature not a bug.
I genuinely became confused if I was watching The Boyz, or the news - it is surfing along so close to reality, which just shows how ludicrous reality has become.
I loved the part where the creators of the show placed a mirror in front of of the MAGA crowd, to which they immediately got offended saying “how could you paint us like that?!”.
I don’t like how casually and frequently UE experienced SA… especially in light of Kripke’s comments on the matter and the topic of male SA in general.
agreed. I thought it was effective as coming across as traumatic and unfunny in the Tek Knight episode as it is without Kripke’s comments, but its just so baffling how consistent this show has been in demonstrating left wing values, criticizing neo-liberal sentiments, and then the showrunner giving a neo-lib ass take on SA against men being an exception as a serious and sensitive topic.
It's one of the few times male sa is treated as traumatic instead of hilarious.
Can't believe they insultingly pulled a 40 Days and 40 Nights on Huey after already SAing him once, though.
There's also the problem it's not kink friendly, only morally bad people are kinky
@@ninanandothe show was always neolib at its core, this season proved it
Wouldn’t be anti woke if Thug Notes came back :(
Miss Thug Notes
And reviews from our favorite alien
i think firecrakers character hit a little too close to home for the average american
Can I agree with the show's politics but still think that this season was badly written and poorly executed and just too much boring parts? Or every opinion in the US now is a ready made package deal.
nah that's totally fair. it definitely wasn't the best season.
“Hold onto the couch instead”
Alright, JD
Tek Knight irl?
If they think the show is too political, they should avoid the source material 😂
it's always been a political show, it's just been less subtle about it now. I don't get the bellyaching...
The snowflakes got their feelings hurt. They got called out enough for them to finally understand. These people are so media illiterate, it literally took the splinter sauna scene for them to realize they were being mocked.
Exactly, it was more subtle. now every scene is just another medium to say "fuck trump" "fuck all these niche groups of people" "and lets give monologues about how bad these people are". All at the expense of the formerly pretty good writing and plot. There was one eye-rolling excessive episode in S1, now I roll my eyes literally every other scene.
And I'm not right wing nor American. Its just fucking annoying (and boring) when it used to be entertaining
@@Lummerbummer115 🤷
@@Lummerbummer115 exactly, writers had to come forth and make it so because people started accusing them of making a serie with an actual right wing character made for people to enjoy, how dare they!?
@@Lummerbummer115 Fuck extremism. not fuck niche groups of people.
Here's a hint, you've always been the butt of the joke. From episode 1. It's funny that it took you this long to realize it.
Also, you were so busy being offended you missed all the subtleties of the season. I can't think of a single monologue that made season 4 feel any different than the prior ones.
I mean, did you forget how long-winded and preachy stormfront was? Or were you able to pretend that she was "subtle." I feel it is you have changed, not The Boys.
S4 isn't more political, it's just that media literacy and critical thinking have always been anathema to the right
Satire has just been hard to do recently. Maybe it's always been really hard and we only remember the good attempts, but it just seems ridiculous now because I turn on the news and we have people discussing if JD Vance is having sex with couches. Like Adam Mckay's last film, Don't Look Up, fails because it really is a rah-rah look at politics, "See how dumb these people are" kind of view and we haven't really done much beyond that view perhaps. What's some satire that's been working for folks lately?
I think modern media landscape is requiring such blunt messages to get across. Not because people are stupider or anything, but because most of them consume a lot of the same type of instant gratification pieces of media through social media. This makes anything else that require a little more engagement and deeper thinking (even not that much) pale in comparison, not to mention those dumb enough to fall for fascist/nazist rhetoric despite everyone else around them warning and point it out.
The Boys is definitely one of the best examples of this. Even though it wasn't subtle at all before, it took such a blunt and on-the-nose approach to get the message across that Homelander isn't a role model (which the Alt-right idiots totally thought he was in prior seasons).
The Menu is a good satire for me in showing how artists are frequently compelled and resign themselves to creating works that cater to a wealthy audience (who don't really understand the kind of art they claim to appreciate in the first place) that don't hold any personal significance to them, doing it just because they're skilled at it & it affords them greater status, rather than because they actually want to. The cheeseburger is more artistic than anything else Slowik makes in the film, because it's something he genuinely enjoys doing, and Margot is the only one who appreciates it because she understands what it's like to have lost passion in doing something she used to enjoy, as well as being able to see past the facade of sophistication of the other guests that Slowik panders to. Not exactly political satire, but it's still an interesting satire of the intersection between class & art imo.
Nothing. Satire and sincerity are dead.
Fun thought: Reality and culture are evolving too fast and in too many directions to assume a common media denominator, rendering satire and media literacy Herculean tasks beyond the scope of most people living in late stage capitalism.
(How do we fix it? Bring back earnest sincerity and honesty. Start building something more trustworthy than Trump.)
It's always hilarious when chads suddenly realise that progressive media is progressive. Like the idea that Star Trek had suddenly "gone woke" after decades of exploring social issues from a progressive view. That Rage Against The Machine had suddenly "got political". That Star Wars suddenly became anti-imperialist.
It's one thing to be late to the party, but the way they pivot to being enraged about it is pretty funny.
The comics are just as political. Dakota Bob was Dick Cheney and Vic the Veep was clearly an even more dumbed-down GWB.
I read the comics and I agree but the TV show really makes Dakota Bob seem like an establishment Democrat with Neuman as the identity politics candidate who doesn't threaten the status quo.
I am in a three way marriage with Fiona and Puss in Boots and you have deeply offended me
I think the backlash partially comes from the "It's all fun and games until you critizise something I like". Kind of reminds me of people getting upset when punk music is political, like what were you expecting?
It feels like just using the word woke in an unironic way whether it’s on the left or on the right feels cringe. I think there are better ways to describe these problems yk
I don't really think we can both sides this.
"Woke" was just fine until the right turned it into the latest trending boogyman.
Just goes to show that when things go mainstream, it's not always for the best.
Only the far right use woke as an insult in an unironic way.
Anyone complaining about this show being too woke is making their political position explicitly clear.
@@tygerchickchibi There's very little that doesn't get appropriated by the right wing. They don't create culture, that's the provenance of the American left and its anti-authoritarianism (and authoritarians include liberals). Their wealth allows them to consume and absorb it.
To be honest I think Sage is a perfect embodiment of how intellectualism will so often lead people to inaction to the point that they become complicit and enabling of horrific shit. I know that she's more a literal representation of how people many will intellectualize their fascist ideas, but I think you can apply her cynicism from a leftist perspective. I know that I'm in a bit of a vacuum, but spending time around a lot of well-read leftists, I do get extremely frustrated with how many of them refuse to vote or do any semblance of organizing or work that improves people's lives because the 'system is horrible regardless, both parties are the same, and nothing will change' while, no shade, naming off philosophers whose names no one can fucking pronounce 😭 I agree and empathize with that to a degree, but I think being fatalist will only ENSURE that shit does get worse, when you can at least try to go down putting up a fight or increase the chances of things improving.
I think you can also apply this to inaction and voting. To be clear, voting is NOT the end all be all of progress (especially at the federal level) and no political party or politician is owed a vote or electoral victory, especially when that party enables or supports horrific shit going on in the world, but voting is a tool and an ACTION you can take to put your weakest adversary in power, and in many instances, not voting makes you complicit in enabling a stronger, more authoritarian and fascist party to gain power and worsen people's conditions -- effectively neutering and drastically slowing down any organizing and work at the grassroots level that actually enables change.
For me the last season of season four was like a crappy South Park, but the difference is, that South Park criticizes everybody and even has something to say to improve the society.
The Boys Season 04 was just criticism of everything and saying nothing and using satire cheaply, and even gore is used purely for showing gore, there is nothing there, it just feels empty!
The Boys was good for being satiric of superheroes, when Marvel and DC ruled, but now Marvel and DC are not in anymore, and The Boys suffers the same fate.
Imagine realizing that "the boys" is political only on season 4
My theory is, any time someone feels attacked by an accurate portrayal of the principles they adhere to, "Woke" is the catch-all rebuttal that they've been taught to use. They do this because they lack any substantive defense for their terrible views.
Woke usually means when people grand stand or virtue signals and think they are morally superior to others. I'm getting the impression this is you.
@@TBarr1891 that's never what it "originally" or "usually" meant to begin with.
Conservatives and right wing users portray it that way, though. And people like you, I guess.
Dragon person: your theory is correct
@@tygerchickchibi yeah, I wasn't gonna acknowledge him. The majority of people who use that guy's definition of woke tend to be white people that wanna say the N-word without anyone calling them out.
@@TBarr1891 Woke is an adjective derived from African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) originally meaning alertness to racial prejudice and discrimination. Beginning in the 2010s, it came to be used as slang for an awareness of social inequalities such as racial injustice, sexism, and denial of LGBT rights.
Funny how a majority of the racists and sexist people you see are on the Right. Haven't met an old racist boomer who wasn't aligned right, and most of the time conservative. -insert “are we the baddies?” gif-
They literally just don't like being told that their ideas are harmful and would rather live in ignorance to inequality as long as it suits them.
They were holding a mirror to corporations before. Now the mirror is turned to the people. They don’t like that.
It's not a mirror you f****** moron. It's not like the show is making me realize oh my god because I'm on the political right it turns out I'm actually a racist bigot and a homophobe. But that's what the left wants you to think and that's what they actually believe because they're f****** brain dead. We're just a little tired of it. It's not a mirror you f****** brain dead simpleton get out of your echo chamber turn off CNN and maybe try critically thinking for once in your mentally ill life
I don't get people who don't see themselves reflected in these characters. Sure I'm not going around killing people. But I've got my own flaws. These characters just amplify these traits to make them easier to spot within ourselves. I'll be honest. A few times with the Homelander scenes in the mirror felt too recognizable. That isn't a PROBLEM. That's good media. Media should be a mirror into ourselves, an aging painting showing us what we try to keep away from the world. Starlights "I don't know who the fuck i am. I don't even know if I'm a good person." If you can't find that relatable, I'm worried about your level of self reflection.
1:30 As you said, the antagonist is a stand-in for Trump. His followers are standins for MAGA. The protagonists are stand-ins for "woke" (whatever that means, but the characters refer directly to trans rights, etc several times).
It no longer serves as satire of the whole superhero genre and is so "on the nose" that is not good writing. It's just bad and lazy writing. Sopranos and Breaking Bad) were great writing precisely because they created characters that were objectively awful people, but which were so fleshed out that viewers were rooting for those awful people.
The Boys doesn't do enough to make the awful people comprehensible. They are too focused on shock scenes to have real character development.
And yeah, the kink in this season is on overdrive and is just there for shock, not satire.
I heard the complaints, got cautious, watched the season and really enjoyed it. Was captivated the whole time through.
My only criticism of season 4 is that Hughie getting r4ped was glossed over as "weird s3x stuff". Several times in fact. I hope they'll follow up on this in season 5 and point out that r4pe is bad even when "it's funny, because Hughie". But ... that's a minor nit pick ...
I truly hated that scene and how they brushed it off as he’s just sad about his dad really. That was the worst scene in this show imo
I think part of it really is people who were far right had no idea the show was making fun of them from the start, but I also think another aspect of this is all of the far right people who are review bombing after never watching the show simply because they were told to be upset about it.
The show is cynical towards power, but especially towards the right wing
Sharp jacket, crisp white shirt, no tie, and a baseball cap.
Absolutely crushing the Philosophy Prof aesthetic, Dr. Burns 🧑🏫
really brought me back to my past life . . .
Never watched The Boys. Only watched 2 episodes this season. And yet... Eric Kripke always has Bobby Singer playing someone named Robert Singer, and when Bobby needs to curse he says "Balls."
Remember, when people say a show or movie is too political, what they really are saying is they disagree with the politics being presented. No one complains about politics they agree with being shoehorned into media.
That's how you get people arguing, without a shred of irony, that _Call of Duty_ is apolitical
The writing for the antagonists this season was fantastic, but the writing for the protagonists was very lackluster.
All of the women in the Boys (weird sentence) are deeply flawed. Ashley is falling apart, Sage gets her kicks from lobotomy, Maeve was an alcoholic and a coward, Kimiko's flaws are a spoiler for this season, Firecracker is a reactionary at best, Starlight is a volatile hothead and Neuman is a vile murderer. This is maybe even more obvious in Gen V.
haven’t finished the video yet, so maybe it’ll get mentioned but this reminds me a lot of VEEP
first few seasons were more normal, but the creators ending up mentioning how during the rise of trump it got a lot harder to satirize politics when it was becoming so absurd
very good comp!
@@WisecrackEDU thank you! love the videos
I like my satirical political commentary to have politics in it
It's so fucking sad that you have to explain this shit that used to just be common sense.
The Sopranos was pretty woke minus the murder.Even the running theme of 2 imaginary black guys being blamed for crimes was before it’s time
The Boys has been so amazing! Can't wait For the final season
I thought was the whole point.
Wait, we're the bad guys? Michael douglas was a prophet.
Art is inherently liberal. It's about new things.
If all you want is the same thing over and over, buy Die Hard on dvd.
"new things" also "muh nazis"
This season turned up the gaslighting to another level. *Watching this I felt exactly the same as arguing with the narcissist in my life. They take exactly what they're doing and accuse you of it and if you react after they pushed you too far, you're the crazy one.*
I dont think Hughie is toxic or incapable? He's not some hyper masculine trope, but he is loving and quite capable. The rest of The Boys deal with their trauma in various unhealthy ways, but I wouldn't call them toxic either? Butcher, despite being a jerk, genuinely cares about his comrades and Ryan. Also, Soldier Boy is highly problematic, but not unlikeable. Idk man, maybe because the female characters aren't portrayed as incompetent and weak, it's leaving the reactionary audience to feel like the male characters are more incompetent and weak by comparison? Just seems like an odd take.
If anything I would consider Annie to be more likely to be the toxic one. Not saying she is. But she would probably be closer to that definition because of how she made herself the victim and blaming Hughie even though Hughie was SA’d by a shapeshifter
@@CoOlKyUbI96 I can agree with that. I was satisfied by her saying that Hughie needs to get tested and leaving it there. lol But that was the second time this season that he got SA'ed. They treating my boy Hughie rough. They were both victimized in that situation though.
@@X_TheHuntsman_X I do agree they were both victimized. And Starlight is not some massive villain. However it did seem a bit unfair for her to criticize Hughie when the shapeshifter literally looked like Annie and talked like her, and had her memories. The shapeshifter even went as far as to propose first and have frequent sex with him. Two things that can be interpreted as deliberate manipulation tactics to distract Hughie
Of all the pearl-clutching from the right about this show, their "man bad woman good" interpretation baffles me the most.
In season 4, we have Sage, (masterminds a fascist takeover for fun), Firecracker (a veritable disinformation factory), the shapeshifter (kidnaps Annie and r*pes Hughie), Neuman (mass murderer who goes along with the fascist takeover until just before the end), and Ashley (also r*pes Hughie).
Even the good guys aren't totally immune from being portrayed as flawed. Annie is completely unreasonable, and victim blames Hughie after she gets free. Mallory tries to trap Ryan and force him to kill his father. Kimiko is revealed to have killed many children while she herself was a child (heavily, heavily coerced, but part of a scene where she was talking about feeling like a monster).
No one comes out of this show without at least occasionally looking stupid, cruel, cowardly, deranged, treacherous, lecherous, or monstrous, usually in ways that harm others or get people killed.
I think the weird sex stuff is starting to get to me. I don't think the show needs as much shock value as they think they do.
both the sex and gore are overstaying their welcome
If anything, this show proves that a year ago, the stuff in this show was a subject of ridicule. But since then it has become reality
While it wasn't perfect, I loved season 4. In fact, I enjoyed it more than the previous seasons LOL! Of course everyone online is crucifying me for it 🤷🏾♀😅🤣 I think it was a fun season!
After watching: looks like season 4 of "the boys" suffered the same way "don't look up" did.
It stopped being subtle, nuanced, and very clearly took a side. Didn’t help that I the season overall felt meandering and like we were just killing time til season 5
These are the sides it always portrayed. Sorry that you didn't see it sooner.
It doesn’t have to be subtle or nuanced to be good
@@anieltavares7991 The idea that the first season was nuanced or subtle is bizarre. They jammed a grenade where the sun don't shine.
Subtle.
@@SageWon-1aussie fans like you are insufferable, 1 step below the pickle rick boys. Any criticism of your favorite show and your first thought is “🤓um acktually you just didn’t get it 😏” Dude I hate Trump, I’m all for progressive politics, this season was bad and part of that was how in your face they were with real world shit, like telling us to believe Epstein killed himself
@@SageWon-1aussie insufferable type of fan here, 1 step below the pickle rick boys. Any criticism of your favorite show and your first thought is “🤓um acktually you just didn’t get it 😏” Dude I hate Trump, I’m all for progressive politics, this season was bad and part of that was how in your face they were with real world shit, like telling us to believe Epstein unalived himself
I dont mind the political commentary, but I feel as though it came at the expense of the characters remaining consistent. Its wierd that vaught has become some sort of alt-right media network, when they, in previous seasons, were a company that appeared to appeal to liberal values. The company stopped feeling like Disney mixed with Lockheed Martin to being Info Wars. Its also weird how they made fun of conspiracy theorists when basically all of the ones they made fun of happened in previous seasons, and in a way, our main characters are conspiracy theorists.
The worst part of season 4 was the way starlight treated Huey after he was raped by the shape shifter... She acted like he cheated on her.
As a fan who also didnt care too much for the political mirroring, it IS a satire. It’s the whole point of the show.
And superhumans would be deeply involved in politics in the real world.
Those redditors finally realized: “wait, are we the bad guys?”
I don't see why people are getting so upset, I love the boys! It's depicting an inverted reality with extremes and anyone with any common sense should see that. Also, it's fiction. Jesus!
Sage was the most interesting character this season, imo. I'm excited to see how she influences next season.
she was the perfect example of this season being the weakest, her plan would get destroyed and then she would come back in and say ahhh exactly as i planned it
Agreed. I'm embarrassed to admit that i didn't see homelander kicking her out was part of her plan.
So good.
@@patwalsh1045 She’s smart enough to know which parts will “fail” and how to use that to her advantage. The end result wouldn’t have been possible without the chaos she thought would happen.
@@patwalsh1045 So the writers blundered by not explaining to the audience that a smart tactician anticipates EVERY POSSIBLE ACTION. You have an end goal and then multiple routes to get there, depending on extraneous factors. Her goal was simply to get the President's camp to commit a public act of aggression that would justify Homelander taking over. And in the event that the VP turned on Homelander or was killed, Sage had the 3rd in line in government willing to be his puppet.
@@patwalsh1045Do you hate the character because they are black, because they are a woman, or because they are smart?
I had a similar sentiment that fiction doesn't keep up with reality when I rewatched House of Cards. When I was watching it for the first time, around season 4 and definitely during seasons 5 and 6 I was like "OK, the writers are obviously running out of ideas to keep us interested and the show is just getting ridiculous". But a few short years later the show seems quite believable and, when compared to real life, in many aspects rather tame. So I don't know what's going in with the world, but probably nothing too good.
No it.s not
About time political stupidity is spotlighted maybe now the bs will stop
I think a big difference is that season 1 and 2 made fun of a lot of things that happened 15 years ago with the Iraq War. And a lot of people don't even remember some of that stuff. But now they're moving on to more recent events.
Go back to season 1 and pay attention to some of what they're satirizing. Look at Homelander's speech after the plane crash. It was the biggest villain moment in season 1 and they pretty much copied Bush's speech at the World Trade Center.
And I hear you, brother! I hear you! And the world hears you. And very, very soon, my friend, whoever did this to us will hear from all of us!
I can hear you! I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people -- the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.
All I know is my friend sent me a clip of someone getting knocked out in a men's room by a giant prehensile phallus.
This is true.
Love Sausage gonna do his thing.
Season 4 just looks like the Cold War all over again. Mass propaganda, everyone divided, witch hunts due to creating a fictional common enemy, people getting hurt over politics, scrambling for power, etc. All over again. I think there's defiantly a bias in the show, but I don't see anything wrong with that. I will say that that last episode feels like it left us almost exactly where the previous season did, situationally.
I know no one will read this, but I hope it contributes to the algorithm.
everything is political, but not all content says it with its chest
A good question would be why is Sage, a black woman, helping Homelander achieve his goals? How would that benefit her? He even tries to get rid of her mid-season
I don't see that much of the difference, both sides get criticism but right is still criticized more than left, but The Boys always was like that.
its hard to not criticize the stupider side more
My collegues just were complaining about this during friday drinks.... Are you eavesdropping? xD
I had no problem with S04. I liked it. The biggest complaint of a collegue was that putting in real life events, like January 6th, was the problem. Before it operated in a fictional world. Now with the RL events, it really bugged him.
Good vid tho. No supprises here, but I basically agree with everything said. ooo, I am in a UA-cam bubble.
To be fair, January 6th has ALWAYS been that day where they officially declare the ballots. It definitely picked up a boost in publicity because of what happened in 2021, but the date has been politically relevant since before I was born
There have been a ton of good things lately that could be considered "woke". Spiderverse, X-Men '97, Netflix' Sandman, HBO's Last Of Us, I really could go on. The best Marvel movie in the last phase was Shang-Chi, and the best Star Wars has been Andor, so clearly that's not the problem. There's also been plenty of non-woke stuff that's been terrible. It's almost like that has nothing to do with anything, and people went from complaining about pandering in lieu of good storytelling, to just calling everything they don't like "woke".