Bill Maher vs. Stan Lee
For some reason I've never really been a fan of Bill Maher. I've never been exactly sure why; occasionally I agreed with an opinion of his. I have seen him do interviews with other people, although it's the people that he interviewed that interested me, not the man himself. But today I think I finally realized why I'm not really a fan of his.
Bill Maher is an asshole.
As I'm sure you all know by now, beloved comic book creator Stan Lee has died. And in a recent post on his blog Bill Maher stated, "America is in mourning. Deep, deep mourning for a man who inspired millions to, I don’t know, watch a movie, I guess." He then goes on by saying, "twenty years or so ago, something happened – adults decided they didn’t have to give up kid stuff. And so they pretended comic books were actually sophisticated literature. And because America has over 4,500 colleges – which means we need more professors than we have smart people – some dumb people got to be professors by writing theses with titles like Otherness and Heterodoxy in the Silver Surfer." And at the very end of his blog post he states, "I don’t think it’s a huge stretch to suggest that Donald Trump could only get elected in a country that thinks comic books are important."
Okay, couple of things I would like to point out.
1. It's kind of a dick move to talk about the death of a man, and his mourners, the way Maher did. Maybe Stan Lee didn't invent a cure for cancer or become a great civil rights leader, but he entertained and even inspired many people throughout the world. Quite frankly Stan Lee probably had a much, much wider and better impact upon the world than Bill Maher could ever hope to.
2. There are actually a fair number of comics, many of which have nothing to do with superheroes, which are challenging peoples' perception of the medium. Art Spiegelman's graphic novel Maus, which tells the true story about how his parents survived the Holocaust, won the Pulitzer Prize. Later on Marjane Satrapi wrote and illustrated a graphic novel about her life growing up in Iran titled Persepolis. So yes, there are at least a few comics which might, just might, be considered, "sophisticated literature."
3. The United States is by no means the only country in the world to think that comic books are important. Japan definitely has a love for comics, along with the countries of Belgium (where the creator of "Yoko Tsuno" lives) and France, and many more throughout the world. If anything the United States is just catching up on what other countries have been doing as far as comics and what one can do with the medium as far as subject matter. Ultimately, whatever you're opinion on the election may be, I don't think comic books were a factor in it at all.
4. You can still be a productive citizen, working, going to school, raising a family, in general making the world a better place, and still enjoy either a comic or a movie based upon one every now and then.
4. Bill Maher was in a deleted scene in Iron Man 3, so he's basically being a hypocrite.
Bill Maher is an asshole.
As I'm sure you all know by now, beloved comic book creator Stan Lee has died. And in a recent post on his blog Bill Maher stated, "America is in mourning. Deep, deep mourning for a man who inspired millions to, I don’t know, watch a movie, I guess." He then goes on by saying, "twenty years or so ago, something happened – adults decided they didn’t have to give up kid stuff. And so they pretended comic books were actually sophisticated literature. And because America has over 4,500 colleges – which means we need more professors than we have smart people – some dumb people got to be professors by writing theses with titles like Otherness and Heterodoxy in the Silver Surfer." And at the very end of his blog post he states, "I don’t think it’s a huge stretch to suggest that Donald Trump could only get elected in a country that thinks comic books are important."
Okay, couple of things I would like to point out.
1. It's kind of a dick move to talk about the death of a man, and his mourners, the way Maher did. Maybe Stan Lee didn't invent a cure for cancer or become a great civil rights leader, but he entertained and even inspired many people throughout the world. Quite frankly Stan Lee probably had a much, much wider and better impact upon the world than Bill Maher could ever hope to.
2. There are actually a fair number of comics, many of which have nothing to do with superheroes, which are challenging peoples' perception of the medium. Art Spiegelman's graphic novel Maus, which tells the true story about how his parents survived the Holocaust, won the Pulitzer Prize. Later on Marjane Satrapi wrote and illustrated a graphic novel about her life growing up in Iran titled Persepolis. So yes, there are at least a few comics which might, just might, be considered, "sophisticated literature."
3. The United States is by no means the only country in the world to think that comic books are important. Japan definitely has a love for comics, along with the countries of Belgium (where the creator of "Yoko Tsuno" lives) and France, and many more throughout the world. If anything the United States is just catching up on what other countries have been doing as far as comics and what one can do with the medium as far as subject matter. Ultimately, whatever you're opinion on the election may be, I don't think comic books were a factor in it at all.
4. You can still be a productive citizen, working, going to school, raising a family, in general making the world a better place, and still enjoy either a comic or a movie based upon one every now and then.
4. Bill Maher was in a deleted scene in Iron Man 3, so he's basically being a hypocrite.
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