OH, JON FAVREAU, NO!

[thebitterguy]

Well, it was pretty much inevitable. After the initial wave of Geekgasm following IM's release last Thursday, there's been rumblings of discontent over the fact that, yes, Iron Man fights 'bad guys' in Afghanistan, and they happen to not be white.

Now I, as a brown man, didn't really care. Iron Man needs to be kidnapped by the enemies of America, and Yinsen has to sacrifice his life to help him escape.

Over the past 40 years, Iron Man's origin has shifted to accommodate the times. In the beginning, it was Vietnam (or occasionally 'somewhere in southeast asia'), and these days, it's Afghanistan (or possibly Iraq). I think for a short, regrettable period in the '80s he was injured during the invasion of Grenada and held hostage by Fidel.

The Ten Rings, the group that's holding him, is pretty much the most inoffensive group of evildoers ever. The second in command is a veritable teddy bear, even if he does take a bit of excessive glee in playing "dunk the billionaire", but who among us?

In any case, the groups methodology and tactics are pretty obviously secular poop disturbers. If you know the character of Iron Man at all, it's pretty obvious what they're up to, especially with the leader's affection for Genghis Khan.

Personally, I'm more offended by the trailer for Zohan than I was by the entire Iron Man film.

Comments

[angusabranson.livejournal.com]

One of the things I liked about the Ten Rings as a villain group is they made the group international and not just out of Arabs. Remember the scene where Yinsen said he couldn;t understand two of the guards because they were speaking Hungarian?

I really enjoyed the film and certainly had no trouble with some of the action being set in Afghanistan as it's a major modern conflict. I certainly preferred having it there than in Iraq in anycase!

[thebitterguy]

That was actually strange; You'd think they'd all have a common tongue, otherwise they have some significant tactical problems. "Someone tell Sergei we're going up the hill. What, no one here speaks Yugoslavian?"