Nearly 40 years ago, Guardians And the dark knight returns turned superhero comics on its head. Fascist “heroes” perpetuating unjust systems for wealth and fame, “villains” driven to crime by desperation and injustice – in a genre once defined by straightforward battles between good and evil, all bets were now off. track. Since then, storytellers have continued to play with the power dynamics and political implications of superheroes: moral ambiguity is essential for series like Amazon Prime The boysFor example.
Riley’s boots I am a Virgo, which debuted on the same service this week explores many of the same themes. The story revolves around Cootie (Jharrel Jerome), a giant teenager living in Riley’s hometown of Oakland, California. Although his size makes him stand out, Cootie doesn’t want to be special, to say the least. He just wants to hang out with his friends and his girlfriend Flora (Olivia Washington), eat dozens of fast food burgers in one sitting, read comic books and vibe.
But because he’s a 14-foot black man, Cootie is a target. And soon an arrogant Iron Man-type billionaire who calls himself The Hero (Walton Goggins) makes catching Cootie – whom the media portrays as a dangerous “thug” because of his race and size – a priority. I am from a Virgo story has all the hallmarks of a revisionist superhero story: a fascist “hero” who is essentially a steroid agent driven by corruption and bigotry. A misunderstood leading man who is driven to populist crime – in this case, destroying a device at the Oakland power plant that regularly causes blackouts – by a society that wants to fetishize him and kill him at the same time.
Even Cootie’s relationship with his aunt and uncle, Martisse (Mike Epps) and Lafrancine (Carmen Ejogo), has elements of the classic “Chosen One” story that, in a more conventional series, would see Cootie rise to his fate as a giant protector. of the downtrodden of Oakland. But I am a Virgo is not a conventional superhero series and Boots Riley does not believe in lone vigilantes, whether he agrees with their political views or not. Just pointing out that “good” and “bad” are relative terms is not enough for Riley. He wants to shatter the superhero binary file.
Image: Prime Video
Image: Prime Video
Riley is a longtime community organizer, musician, and filmmaker; as a member of both the DGA and the WGA, he was an outspoken supporter of the current writers’ strike. In a recent interview with Wired, he said: “I have never been one to put forward the idea that we can make this softer capitalism. I’ve always been someone who said we should get rid of capitalism […] right now we need to organize a labor movement, a mass militant, radical labor movement.” And that passion for, and genuine belief in, the power of collective action drives us I am a Virgo.
Compared to a thrilling battle between two super-powered enemies, community organizing is a long, slow, unglamorous process. This is dramatized I am a Virgo through the character of Jones (Kara Young), an activist and member of Cootie’s group of friends. Jones builds a coalition to launch a general strike, a mass movement unfolding in the backdrop of the conflict between Cootie and The Hero. Several key conflicts in the series play out in front of picket lines, and at one point Jones expresses her frustration with Cootie by telling him (in so many words) that all this cape nonsense is a distraction from the real thing.
And when Cootie is faced with the limitations of his powers against an entrenched money system, it’s Jones who steps in to defy The Hero. She does this not with fists or gadgets, but by explaining exactly the role The Hero plays in maintaining the capitalist system, and how his actions spawn the disgruntled underclass of “criminals” he is sworn to fight. He creates the problem he claims to solve.
Jones’ monologue about the cycle of unemployment, crime, police and corporate profit is a truly radical moment, especially in a show produced by Amazon – a company with its own rough history of labor struggle. It’s an explicit call to viewers to question why we need to divide the world into good and evil in the first place, and who benefits from that division. I am a Virgo offers a third option in addition to heroes and villains, where civilians don’t have to wait for a hero to rescue them. Instead, it asks: What would it look like if the people saved themselves?