The director of a new action film featuring Superman raised a controversy in the United States by emphasizing the foreign origin of the superhero from Krypton and the role of migrants in the history of the country.
What to know
The director of a new action film featuring Superman raised waves by emphasizing that the superhero is an immigrant who came to settle in the United States, reflecting the history of the country.
Animate fox animators of the hard line pursued by the US immigration administration accused the authors of the film of wanting to “do the lesson” to the public.
The controversy reflects, according to analysts, a major change in the American imagination relating to immigration.
In an interview with Time From London, James Gunn said on Friday that “Superman is the history of America” and speaks of an “immigrant who came elsewhere to populate the country”.
The film, which shows in particular the child superhero while it is sent to Earth from a condemned planet, speaks fundamentally of “kindness”, a value that “certain fools who are devoid of it” will judge insulting, added Mr. Gunn.
Fox News animators have castigated his remarks, seeing a salvo against the administration of President Donald Trump, who has multiplied initiatives since his arrival in office with the aim of expelling millions of migrants in an irregular situation.
Kellyanne Conway, who was advisor to President Donald Trump during his first mandate, said that people did not go to the cinema “to be given a lesson and have someone left the ideology of someone”.
Jesse Waters, another animator close to the Trump administration, joked that the Cape de Superman bears the mention “MS13”, the name of a Salvadoran gang that the administration invoked to justify controversial expulsions.
Photo Jessica Miglio, provided by Associated Press
Director James Gunn and actor David Corenswet on the film set of the film Superman.
Reacting to the controversy, actors in the film returned to the charge during the first Monday in Los Angeles.
“Yes, Superman is an immigrant. And yes, the people we support in this country are immigrants. And if you don’t like it, you are not American, “said Sean Gunn, who embodies the villain Maxwell Lord in the film.
Public opinion
The conservative site Breitbart has embarked on the scrum later by criticizing the authors of the film for not taking into account the fact that the migrants targeted by the administration have failed to regularize their status and should not be able to stay on American territory.
Thousands of readers of the site commented, sometimes with anger, sometimes by joking. One of them said he hoped that immigration agents and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would catch Superman and expel him.
The controversy “says a lot” about the way in which the American imagination evolves in relation to immigration, underlines Baptiste Jouzier, a specialist in international law of migrants and refugees attached to Laval University.
Historically, the popular imagination in relation to immigration was generally positive.
Baptiste Jouzier, doctoral student attached to the law faculty of Laval University
The administration does not hesitate, notes Mr. Jouzier, to multiply the “staging” to illustrate his muscular approach to the problem by conveying a negative image of targeted people in passing.
The recent dismissal, with the authorization of the Supreme Court, of eight migrants to a country at war, South Sudan, sends the message that people who try to come to the United States irregularly or are slow to leave while they are summoned to do so may find themselves “in the worst imaginable situation”.
The objective, notes Mr. Jouzier, is also to send the message to the basis of the Republican Party that the president actively seeks to concretize his campaign promises in terms of immigration.
“Sub-human”
The recent opening in the Everglades, Florida, a detention center located in an isolated and hot area surrounded by marshes rich in alligators and Pythons is part of this trend, notes Michael Binder, a professor of political science and public administration attached to the University of North Florida.
Photo Rebecca Blackwell, Associated Press Archives
Workers installing a traffic panel indicating the entry of the Alligator Alcatraz migrant detention complex, Ochopee, Florida, last Thursday
“They send the message that migrants who are held in this place will be treated as sub-humans,” notes the researcher, who is alarmed to find that the local wing of the Republican party sells t-shirts and promotional caps on the theme of “alcatraz of alligators”.
President Trump, who visited the prison last week, joked that migrants who try to escape it will have to run in a zigzag to escape the alligators.
The enthusiasm, even the “euphoria” of the supporters of the hard line may change in time as was the case on several occasions in the past, notes Mr. Binder.
“People will end up finding a more positive vision of immigration, but it will take time,” notes the researcher.
“It will take at least an electoral cycle for it to change,” he said.
