Ashley Pierce is a political science freshman and Mustang Daily conservative columnist.
“There’s only one God ma’am, and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t dress like that” a popular Hollywood character actually said.
Well, technically Captain America was created by Marvel, and not the property of Hollywood, which may be why I love him oh so much. Unfortunately for comic enthusiasts, this article is going to focus entirely on the movies and their conservative ideals rather than the comics — I fully apologize for that.
“Captain America” and the “Iron Man” movies have a ridiculous amount of conservative ideals tied into their plots. These ideals are surprising to see in Hollywood box-office hits, yet together the two movie characters complete the full spectrum of conservative ideals.
First, we have Captain America, the 1940s golden boy; a young man whose dream is to fight and defend the freedoms of his country.
Though told again and again that he is too small and weak to join the military during World War II, Steve Rogers (Captain America) tries again and again to enlist — his only care in the world being to defend his nation.
There’s a reason the IRS targeted groups with the word “patriot” in the title. Conservatives, such as Captain America, are proud of our country’s freedoms and most are willing to sacrifice their lives for others to keep said freedoms. The left seems to be constantly apologizing for American ideals, while conservatives stand proud of our country and what it stands for: freedom and liberty. Captain America embodies that patriotism.
Rogers even jumps on a grenade to protect his fellow soldiers. The grenade, of course, turns out to be a test, and Rogers’ selfless heart proves to be the key to a great soldier. After just some tiny body alterations, Rogers becomes a great hero.
This selfless attitude toward others demonstrates how Captain America embodies the social viewpoints of conservatives: by defending the weak and the innocent. While the left might not understand pro-life viewpoints, it comes down to conservatives seeing abortion as murder and standing up for innocent life — something Captain America would definitely do.
Rogers’ traditional dating habits are also socially conservative, with his decision not to “dance” until he finds the “right partner.”
Rogers’ demonstrates old fashioned courting methods this way — arguably much better than the current culture of sleeping with anything that moves (perhaps not a conservative political value, but definitely one most social conservatives would stand by and support). Or maybe it’s just me.
Then we have Iron Man, a.k.a. Robert Downey Jr., carrying conservative fiscal values on his rad iron back.
Tony Stark (Iron Man), essentially, “privatizes world peace” by demonstrating capitalism at work and showing how once the government gets anything in its greedy, bloated hands, it inevitably screws everything up.
The government cannot simply demand something that is the property of citizens. “Iron Man 2” exemplifies this misuse of government power when a senator demands Stark to hand over his Iron Man technology. Stark, being a businessman, knows his rights and denies.
The U.S. government is also shown as a giant buffoon of incompetence as it attempts to make the Iron Man weapon technology and utterly fail while, in the process, allowing its equipment to be taken over by another entity — which results in some really cool fight scenes between two iron suits. Yay, Hollywood.
While of course the government losing power over its own weapons is an exaggeration for movie purposes, it’s not exactly that big of a stretch. In the 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden, a super secret stealth helicopter crashed in the process. The helicopter was supposedly destroyed so the technology wouldn’t slip into other country’s hands, but someone forgot to get rid of the tail of that helicopter.
The tail of the super secret stealth helicopter is now in the hands of Pakistan and reports are that China has been given access to it. Granted, these reports have been denied by China and Pakistan, but apparently The New York Times says it got its source from American officials. So, time will tell. I guess all that aid to Pakistan is really paying off though, right?
Then we have “The Avengers,” which brought Iron Man and Captain America together. Ironically enough, they argued the entire movie, but they worked great together, as do these two conservative ideals.
Social conservatives and fiscal conservatives, whether they agree with each other on every issue, must see past their disagreements to stand together against leftist ideas spreading throughout today’s culture. Can we really handle anymore hippies and hipsters? I can’t.
Side note: If Hollywood continues to make these films, and Tony Stark suddenly becomes socialist, or Captain America starts sleeping around in the next film, I will personally be sending a very strongly worded letter. This has been a warning.