Spoilers DC's Legends of Tomorrow - Season 3
- Thread starter dahj
- Start date
I wonder how political the character will be. Just having a strong Muslim character is proably going to piss some people off. If anyone even talks about the war on terror it's going to make some of Trump catchphrases that are being used so much they already feel like a cliche seem like nothing in comparison.
Jason
Jason
There is so, so very much more to Islam as a phenomenon and a culture than just the fact that some awful people use it as an excuse for terrorism. And she would hardly be the first or only Muslim character on TV today or in recent years (see Quantico, Orange is the New Black, Community, Lost, Bones, Powers, etc.). For Pete's sake, there's no reason whatsoever to think that a Muslim-American character would have anything to do with terrorism; most domestic American terrorists in recent years have been white supremacists, anti-government extremists, or fundamentalist Christians.
We do live in the era of the internet so it doesn't mean any outrage will be logical just that it will happen, especially if they start talking about current events.
I think she might actually have a positive effect not only in being a good role model but also bringing attention to the show.
Jason
I've bolded your part of the quote I'm responding to.
Although I'm more than willing to admit that the groups you claim commit terrorist acts; I'd argue that a number of domestic terrorism are also America citizens who have converted to Islam or inspired by them; if give you the following:
Nidal Hassan's attack on Fort Hood.
Muhammad Youssef Abudlazeez attack against a recruiting station in Chattanooga.
Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar attempt to run down UNC students with a vehicle (9 injured).
Boston Marathon attack.
The Garland Texas incident.
The San Bernardino Attack.
Orlando Nightclub shooting,
the New York & New Jersey bombings.
the Minnesota Mall stabbing.
Ohio State University attack.
This a partial listing from Wikipedia, since I did not want to spend a lot of time hunting up the actual news report. Also, did not include other attempts/plots that have been mentioned. However, some American Muslims have been involved.
Personally, I don't care about the actress ethnic background, but rather is she a poor or good actress.
Cherrypicking. Yes, they exist, but they are the minority of domestic terrorist acts, a fact that has been obscured in the media by blatant racial and religious bigotry as well as a fundamental misunderstanding of what terrorism is. The problem is, we're still stuck in the old paradigm that war is about country vs. country, us vs. them. But the whole reason people turn to terrorism is because they're marginalized outsiders who don't have access to instruments of state power like armies and missiles. Most of the time, except in cases where nations are under direct foreign occupation, the primary targets of terrorists are going to be their own people. The overwhelming majority of al-Qaeda's and IS's targets are their fellow Muslims. The kind of terrorist attacks that are shocking when they occasionally happen in Europe, or even more rarely in the US, are everyday events in the Mideast, Africa, Asia, etc., but the American media doesn't report those constant attacks because it doesn't fit the simplistic us-vs.-them narrative, and because Americans have always been insular and uninterested in any world affairs that don't concern us directly. And by the same token, while there have been scattered instances of terror attack by Americans sympathetic to Islamist causes, they're substantially outnumbered by the terror attacks committed in the name of white supremacism, anti-government extremism (like the wildlife refuge siege a while back), anti-abortion extremism, and other home-grown causes. The threat of right-wing domestic terrorism in this country has been growing steadily for years and it's continuing to get worse.
And really, claiming that the Orlando nightclub shooting was Islamist terrorism is flimsy at best. The fact is, it was a homophobic hate crime committed by a closeted kid who was ashamed of his sexuality, and who latched onto the pretense of Islamism as his excuse.
Anyway... I'm sorry to keep drawing this off-topic into a terrorism debate. That's not what I want. My whole point is that it's wrong to hear "Muslim" and immediately turn the topic to terrorism, because that's not what Islam is about, and it's not what being a Muslim is about for 99.99... percent of Muslims, particularly Muslim-Americans. The fact that this conversation even went to terrorism in the first place is upsetting to me.
Last edited:
You mention cherry picking, but even your article is cherry picked. It is from 2015. Thus, it ignores several of my cherry-picked elements that you state. Since several of the ones I selected were after the article you cited.
Well, you have to go by what is stated by the individual committing the act, whether it is a flimsy pretense or not.
However, my main point remains, if the actress does a good job portraying her character, I'll have no complaints, if she does a poor job, my complaints will be on her acting.
Well, you have to go by what is stated by the individual committing the act, whether it is a flimsy pretense or not.
However, my main point remains, if the actress does a good job portraying her character, I'll have no complaints, if she does a poor job, my complaints will be on her acting.
Legends Season 3 premieres on October 10th (all other Arrowverse shows return the same week).
Solar? Pfft, hippies.
The only way you'll pry coal from me is from my coaled dead hands...
Solar? Pfft, hippies.
The only way you'll pry coal from me is from my coaled dead hands...
Solar, terrorists, both existential threats to our way of life!
Good news -- Vixen will still be a regular next season.
http://www.cbr.com/legends-of-tomorrow-season-3-bringing-back-vixen/
That means there will be two team members with mystical amulet-based powers. It's kind of unusual for a superhero team to have that kind of redundancy. I wonder how they'll differentiate them, and whether the similarity will lead them to bond, or clash, or something.
http://www.cbr.com/legends-of-tomorrow-season-3-bringing-back-vixen/
That means there will be two team members with mystical amulet-based powers. It's kind of unusual for a superhero team to have that kind of redundancy. I wonder how they'll differentiate them, and whether the similarity will lead them to bond, or clash, or something.
Yes, of course, but I'm wondering what the specific distinctions will be.
The original Filmation version of the character was, to quote the opening narration, "endowed by the goddess Isis with the powers of the animals and the elements." She could "soar as the falcon soars, run with the speed of gazelles, and command the elements of sky and earth." So basically, she had Vixen's powers plus Captain Planet's powers, plus whatever other godlike abilities the script required, including the ability to freeze time and see into the past. She was basically omnipotent, which could've been terrifying if she hadn't limited herself to stopping jewel thieves and rescuing lost teenagers. But it seems like the DC Comics Adrianna Tomaz version of the character had, in the words of Comic Book Resources, "super-strength and -speed, invulnerability, flight, telekinesis, clairvoyance and control of the elements." Which is basically the original Isis's power set minus the powers of animals. So I guess if they go with that, it would mostly avoid overlap with Vixen, although superstrength is the animal power that Amaya uses the most on the show. So maybe this version could downplay the strength in favor of the telekinetic and psi powers.
This show has Firestorm and Heat Wave.
Aren't you the one usually pointing out that differences in powers are way less important than differences in personalities?!
Who actually have quite different powers, since Firestorm's main power is nuclear transmutation, although the show took its time having them develop that ability. Also, Heat Wave can't fly.
It's not about importance, it's just about curiosity. Not everything has to be a value judgment. I can be curious about a question without considering it the most important thing in the show. Indeed, if we didn't talk about unimportant matters, this board would be about a thousand times less active.
As you said, it took a while to develop and it's not currently his "main power". He was mostly used as a guy who shoots fire, just like Mick.
And Firestorm can't fight as well as Mick. A lot of characters have secondary "skills".
Exploring a different topic though, it would be interesting if the character were pulled from the timeline a few decades ago and needs to deal emotionally with an Islamic world where the conservatives "won". Imagine having the character living in the 60s where muslim women are wearing bikinis on the beach in Egypt and having her visit a world where women's rights have essentially reverted rather than evolved.
Well, we're talking about a Muslim-American character here, remember. There are Muslim communities all over the world, not just in the Mideast, and they're far too diverse to treat as a monolith. Like most Americans, Tomaz probably identifies as an American first and whatever other group second.
And it's only in some Muslim countries, like Saudi Arabia, where conservatism has taken the lead. After all, the whole reason for the current conflict in the Mideast is because reactionary fundamentalist Islam (and Islamism) is fighting back against progressive, modernizing Islam. That conflict is far from being decisively settled in either side's favor, which is why it's still so fierce.