That name may not be familiar to you but if it is you'll understand and if not,well maybe you'll read this and understand my point.
Captain America is a 69yr old superhero character created by the company that went on to become the publisher we now know as Marvel Comics. You can probably infer from his name alone that Cap is a pretty patriotic guy,yeah I know,kinda obvious.
Cap was created during World War II and his origins are pretty straight forward,the character's "real" name is Steve Rogers,a scrawny farmboy who decided to enlist in the U.S. Army in order to help defeat the Nazi threat! Now this being a comicbook origin story you just know there's more to this. Steve was classified as 4-F by the Army doctors that examined him and was deemed as being unfit for service,but some sharp eyed fellows spotted him and offered the chance of a lifetime,the chance to not only serve his country but to serve it as an elite warrior,part of a planned attempt to create Super-Soldiers that would be sent into battle to fight the Nazis in place of our regular forces! One problem though,Steve was the only guy who who could handle the treatments,so the Army made the most of it and gave him the star-spangled suit and shield and a legend is born!
All of that tells you how Cap came to be and to an extent who he is as well and with that out of the way allow me to move on to my main course.
Movie director Joe Johnston,who you MAY know from "Jurassic Park III","Honey I Shrunk Th e Kids",and "The Rocketeer" is the shlub behind the new Captain America movie to be released next summer.
Mr. Johnston is of the opinion that Cap is "jingoistic" and a "flag waving patriot". Now I'll tell you I ma pretty damn familiar with this character and I also happen to be a patriot so you can see where somebody cutting down my favorite characters would end up in my blog!
There is far too much of Mr.Johnston's attitude toward those who lover their country these days. I have been mocked for my love of my country and this,while not directed at me specifically,certainly does the same. Why would Mr. Johnston even take on this project with this character if he felt the character's most obvious and deeply important traits were a flaw that HE has to correct??
The answer is that Mr.Johnston is one who subscribes to the idea that to be Patriotic(at least as an American) is to say that our country can do no wrong and as such it condones ANY act our government may wish to take. Hardly a realistic view. TRUE Patriots will ALWAYS love their country and what it stands for but we will also stand up against the actions that would do harm to our homeland. The Tea Party movement is the example of this,those of us in the movement and who support it are Patriots but patriots who are aware of what our government is doing and hope to call attention to it so that others will see and join us in trying to stop these acts before thay can cause harm to us all. We don't just blindly follow where ever the flag leads us,that would be more akin to Mr. Johnston's view that patriotism and jingoism are virtually one and the same.
I look at the character of Captain America and I see someone who reflects the definition of patriot that I attempted to lay out above. Cap has taken off the star-spangled suit more than once in an effort to demonstrate his disgust at actions taken by the government of the country whom he has sworn to defend so if he were the type of character that Mr Johnston seems so eager to claim that he is I could see his desire to show that he was a good person in spite of putting on the suit and picking up the shield.
I hope that what I'm inferring from the creators of this movie isn't what they mean and that it sin't what the end product will portray but I have my doubts about that.
Captain America is an ICON in the comics world,but unlike Batman,Superman,Wonder Woman,he's the true everyman. He has no special powers,he wasn't born different,he wasn't the heir to a billions of dollars fortune,and he isn't a demi-god nor has he been given any weapons that are imbued with any special powers themselves. Cap is special,more so the character was lucky,Cptain America is very unique because he is a soldier who was fighting for his country! Everyting Cap fights for actually matter to him personally,in short Captain America is not only AN American but he is AMERICA itself,he is strong,steadfast,compassionate and loves FREEDOM and LIBERTY!
Thanks for reading this and God bless America!
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