It's really that good? Really? My friend and I keep on arguing about seeing a superhero movie, and his fallback answer is, "They're [the producers] going to mess up the reputations of the characters." I suggested we'd watch Green Lantern. Thus he has won the debate, for the time being. Hopefully if I show him this it'll knock out his cynicism.
Also, from what I've gather, Captain America--in response to comments by the international pool--is American in a pre-19th century way. We're many generations away from the first, revolutionary generation and we're encountering, on a similar magnitude, withdrawal from those first ideals. I'm fairly sure that most Americans wouldn't understand that self-sovereignty is the major emphasis of the Constitution, not freedom, a broader and a more impractical ideal. Perhaps this is greatly due to the notion of American exceptionalism as presented by James Polk; American jingoism certainly didn't start here, but it became nightmarish from this entry point. Captain America, to me, has always been the representative of the ideals of the revolutionary generation (just, he holds off the Jefferson a little). Cap is also an American exceptionalist by way of Tocqueville, mixing individualistic thought with communal. That's not American as we know now, but American as we knew back then, when it was great and other countries thought it was great too and did what we did. I think that's why there's little reason to hate Cap. He's an American who is reminiscent of America: a by-product from the Enlightenment and colonial sense. You can say a lot about America--I wouldn't mind because I'm ready to get out of this place and into Canada--but you can't say, "Gee, Americans were big jerks when they were fighting off British rule and creating their own system of government."
Well, you can.
Also, from what I've gather, Captain America--in response to comments by the international pool--is American in a pre-19th century way. We're many generations away from the first, revolutionary generation and we're encountering, on a similar magnitude, withdrawal from those first ideals. I'm fairly sure that most Americans wouldn't understand that self-sovereignty is the major emphasis of the Constitution, not freedom, a broader and a more impractical ideal. Perhaps this is greatly due to the notion of American exceptionalism as presented by James Polk; American jingoism certainly didn't start here, but it became nightmarish from this entry point. Captain America, to me, has always been the representative of the ideals of the revolutionary generation (just, he holds off the Jefferson a little). Cap is also an American exceptionalist by way of Tocqueville, mixing individualistic thought with communal. That's not American as we know now, but American as we knew back then, when it was great and other countries thought it was great too and did what we did. I think that's why there's little reason to hate Cap. He's an American who is reminiscent of America: a by-product from the Enlightenment and colonial sense. You can say a lot about America--I wouldn't mind because I'm ready to get out of this place and into Canada--but you can't say, "Gee, Americans were big jerks when they were fighting off British rule and creating their own system of government."
Well, you can.
