In 2024, TV show creators and filmmakers are taking it upon themselves to use their media to explore the discussions, issues and political figures on the public’s minds during this election season.
The 2024 Donald Trump biopic “The Apprentice” was released Oct. 11. This biopic is a dramatization of the former president’s early career and is set to appear on streaming services Friday. The film’s release sparked conversation around the timing of it from its actors and Trump campaign members.
“The Boys” season 4 was released in June, with its obvious satirical commentary of political parties. The season received criticism for its “woke” propaganda, but addressed this criticism in the show through Vought’s “Go Woke, Get Yoked” campaign. The show has always been a commentary on political media, particularly right-wing media with the creators frequently speaking about this.
In 2022, the show received specific criticism for its political satire with the release of the season 3 episode “The Last Time to Look on This World of Lies.” Screenshots of Reddit users supporting problematic characters were posted on X and reposted by “The Boys” official X page with the caption “Enjoy!!!.”
On Nov. 14, 2020, protestors gathered on D.C.’s Pennsylvania Avenue to voice their desire for former President Trump to be re-elected. “The Boys” showrunner Eric Kripke, actor Anthony Starr, who plays Homelander, and series co-creator Darick Robertson voiced their confusion about the protestors' use of Homelander as a positive figure.
Season 4 of “The Boys” was no different, doubling down on its political satire that has caused the show backlash for five years.
Other pieces of media act as criticisms of modern politics with fictional worlds. Feminists and other pro-women’s rights organizations use “The Handmaid’s Tale” to describe the future of women under current legislation. Margaret Atwood wrote the novel under “speculative fiction,” taking a new spin on horror and psychological horror, and said the book was based on the political and social climate of the ‘80s.
With the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, Atwood and executive producer Warren Littlefield voiced their opinions by citing the content of the show.
“We’ve said many times over several years we would love to be less relevant,” Littlefield said in an interview with Deadline. “Sadly, the show’s been hauntingly relevant. And today appears even more so.”
Referencing the Civil Rights movement, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s X-Men series centers on teenagers who fight to protect a world against them. The “X-Men ‘97” animated series remains relevant in 2024, demonstrating that Lee’s mission for the mutants is not over.
The show handled issues like generational ethnic trauma, bigotry, terrorism, retaliation and systematic oppression with an abrasive elegance the X-Men were founded on. Although “X-Men ‘97” received backlash for being “woke,” some viewers pointed out that other viewers missed the message on which X-Men were founded.
Social media plays a big part in the political awareness of citizens today. However, the source material for many of the political issues being discussed, and the content inspired by them, are decades old. It shows how prolonged these relevant topics are along with the awareness of the lack of evolution in the state of American society.
