Historical? SuperHero Photos

[Doomsdave]

Great Set of photos.  This guy did a good job of putting superheroes into historical settings.  Neat inspiration.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/howaboutthat/7146519/Pictures-of-superimposed-superheroes-and-villains-in-wartime-by-Indonesian-artist-and-illustrator-Agan-Harahap.html

[SBRPearce]

It begs the question, What did the artist imagine the heroes were doing there? Captain America inspecting a POW camp on the Eastern Front hand-in-hand with the SS? Batman palling around with Fidel Castro? Aside from the kewl Photoshop skillz on display, I have to wonder about his intended message.

And I wonder why Darth Vader is pictured at Yalta, and not on the reviewing stand (or the dock) at Nuremburg.

[Red Orc]

That's a question of your own political views more than anything else I think. I'd steer clear of questioning the artist's motivation personally, because any judgements about the 'right' or 'wrong' side in any given political or historical situation (or even, who are the 'good guys' and 'bad guys' in comics) are bound to be somewhat subjective.

[YPU]

I also think its our gaming mind shining trough, we have all seen WWWII topics with most of those superheroes included haven't we?

[Orctrader]

It begs the question, What did the artist imagine the heroes were doing there? Captain America inspecting a POW camp on the Eastern Front hand-in-hand with the SS? Batman palling around with Fidel Castro? Aside from the kewl Photoshop skillz on display, I have to wonder about his intended message.

I wondered that.   

That's a question of your own political views more than anything else I think. I'd steer clear of questioning the artist's motivation personally, because any judgements about the 'right' or 'wrong' side in any given political or historical situation (or even, who are the 'good guys' and 'bad guys' in comics) are bound to be somewhat subjective.

Er, I'm pretty sure the Nazis were the bad guys.  I think the Death Camps proved it.

That photo with Captain America.  Apart from the dubious setting, I'm not sure it looks that convincing.  Might just be me. 

[YPU]

Hey, some people are still pretty mad about Hiroshima as well. Morally is a smelly swamp with far to many paths and dead ends.

[Red Orc]

I wondered that.  

Er, I'm pretty sure the Nazis were the bad guys.  I think the Death Camps proved it.

... the dubious setting...

The death camps of 1943 proved that the Nazis were the bad guys in 1940-1 (when the photo is supposed to be from)? And was the non-existent 'Captain America' a good guy at that point? America didn't become 'the good guys' surely until they were actually at war with the people who became 'the bad guys' years later...

... Batman palling around with Fidel Castro? ...
And I wonder why Darth Vader is pictured at Yalta, and not on the reviewing stand (or the dock) at Nuremburg.

Batman palling with Fidel Castro is a shock because presumably Batman should have supported the regime of Batista, a murderous criminal - Batman being a noted supporter of murderous criminals - but, of course, in 1959, Castro was still trying to enlist American support for his coup; he didn't go over to the Soviet Union's orbit (of course, the Soviet Union 'must' be the bad guys) until 1961 when the American government snubbed him.

Darth Vader not at Yalta... why not, Stalin was there? Of course, we've already determined that Stalin was 'one of the good guys' (everyone fighting the Nazis must be a 'good guy', yes?), even though he killed twice as many as Hitler, according to estimates that I believe are pretty reliable. Roosevelt was responsible for the Atom Bomb programme (though of course Truman was the one who used it) and Churchill was responsible for the firebombing of German cities and indeed advocated using poison gas on the Kurds decades before Saddam Hussein thought of it.

Of course, it's pretty well determined that 'Return of the Jedi' (Ewoks take out Evil Empire) is Lucas's take on 'Nam, which precisely makes Darth Vader an American (if not necessarily Richard Nixon).

I could go on, but I won't as there have probably been enough violations of the 'no politics' rule already.

[Hat Guy]

Hey, these are kind of nifty. Pity about the politics. I'll just go back to reading about Cap beating up Islamic Terrorists... wait a minute...

[P_Clapham]

Some of them look quite good, the others get a blerg reaction from me.  Would have been happier to see Captain America in one of the other photos.  Not an issue of politics with me, more a suspension of disbelief.  Having Cap hanging with Himler puts into question the authenticity of these inauthentic photos. 

[SBRPearce]

Having Cap hanging with Himler puts into question the authenticity of these inauthentic photos.

Thank you for summing it up more accurately.

(Aside from the fact that, as we all know, Cap wasn't 'created' until after the US joined WWII, placing him into 1942, making this inauthentic photo anachronistic as well. And we know that Darth Vader must have died long before the Yalta Conference, since the Star Wars films were set "a long time ago", whereas the latter part of the Second World War was only "a while ago"...)

Having Cap inspecting an internment camp for Japanese-Americans somewhere in Colorado would have been historically plausible and, in my opinion, politically relevant.

[Red Orc]

... Cap wasn't 'created' until after the US joined WWII, placing him into 1942, making this inauthentic photo anachronistic as well...

OK, I really approve of that as a reason for not liking the photo; I absolutely agree that if you're going to play 'what if' there should still be rules - it's OK I think to have people outliving their actual history ('what if Hitler didn't die in 1945?'), but not preceeding it (so, Captain America 1940 must be a fake).

...Having Cap inspecting an internment camp for Japanese-Americans somewhere in Colorado would have been historically plausible and, in my opinion, politically relevant.

I agree. But maybe the artist didn't have a political point. Maybe he was just trying to be shocking by juxtaposing unlikely images.

[pierrebi]

According to my very poor knowledge Mahatma Gandhi was a very, much more than very, good person. He is the father of NonViolence but in 1941 he wrote to the "genius" Hitler [MAY I WRITE FORMER GERMAN DICTATOR NAME IN THIS FORUM?], emphasizing "the courage and devotion to the fatherland" and we will never feel it 'the monster that your opponents would have you believe. "

[Rob_bresnen]

That's a question of your own political views more than anything else I think. I'd steer clear of questioning the artist's motivation personally, because any judgements about the 'right' or 'wrong' side in any given political or historical situation (or even, who are the 'good guys' and 'bad guys' in comics) are bound to be somewhat subjective.

red orc is right. This is art, and it is supposed to elisit an emotional responce. If you start getting into the polotics of this you start to detract from the art. I think it is the ambiguity of having iconic "good" or "bad" guys in suprising situations that make these photos so interesting. I don't think they are the best photomanipulation I have ever seen, but they do make me stop and go "hurmmm?"

[YPU]

Especially the fold out lightsaber takes away from them!

[Christian]

This is art, and it is supposed to elisit an emotional responce.

I can't say I'm particularly "moved" by these. And the thread shows that these photos are promoting discussion and thought, rather than just feelings.

Maybe Cap is negotiating for their freedom? The media does this all the time: they make a photo say whatever they want it to say.

However, while these are technically good, they're not great. As Arthur Schopenhauer put it "Talent hits a target no one else can hit; genius hits a target no one else can see."

I think I prefer these guys in a more "low-brow" setting than pretending to be works of art.