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Political Dredd

Started by Tjm86, 02 May, 2016, 08:31:30 AM

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Tjm86

Thinking about the Apocalypse War and some of the precursor stories got me thinking about the tendency Dredd writers have had over the years to reflect on current political and social events through the strip.  This in turn got me thinking about the current state of MC1.  Now I'm more than happy to be shot down in flames on this one but I was thinking, how much of what is going on is a commentary on the current Austerity politics?

I'm thinking about the struggles, the overwhelming cutbacks, the need to outsource and seek foreign aid (Texas City judges), the diminution of power on the world stage .... Not sure whether this is being done consciously or subconsciously.  It just seems an interesting parallel.

JayzusB.Christ

*Aims flamethrower*

No, you could be right.  Never thought of it that way.  In the 80s unemployment and cold war loomed large in Dredd's world, so why not austerity? 
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

IAMTHESYSTEM

Yeah Dreddy always had a contemporary spin on real world politicking. Our scummy Leaders to fanatical terrorists sects all received a worthy pummeling from the Futures toughest Lawman.   
"You may live to see man-made horrors beyond your comprehension."

http://artriad.deviantart.com/
― Nikola Tesla

DarkDaysBish-OP

Also, 2000AD's power to predict the future - Dave the Orangutan as Major, years before Boris got the job:

https://www.buzzfeed.com/greggdd69/15-orangutans-that-look-like-london-mayor-boris-jo-5v0w

JayzusB.Christ

Quote from: IAMTHESYSTEM on 02 May, 2016, 11:18:54 AM
Yeah Dreddy always had a contemporary spin on real world politicking. Our scummy Leaders to fanatical terrorists sects all received a worthy pummeling from the Futures toughest Lawman.

Now I think of it; the Dredd of the 2000s focussed very intently on terrorist acts and morally dubious anti-terrorist meaures.  I've said it before but I really wish we could get a better look at how Mega-Citizens are coping with events; that's where the good satire usually came from.
"Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"

TordelBack

Quote from: DarkDaysBish-OP on 02 May, 2016, 11:38:32 AM
Also, 2000AD's power to predict the future - Dave the Orangutan as Major, years before Boris got the job:

https://www.buzzfeed.com/greggdd69/15-orangutans-that-look-like-london-mayor-boris-jo-5v0w

Clutching at straws there.  Dave's a good-lookin' ape. He gets things right.  Dave knows!

I see no parallels whatsoever, uh, Dave.

Professor Bear

It wasn't specifically a 2000ad thing.  Social commentary in fiction was common in the 1980s, but less so this side of the millennium.

Tjm86

Jayzus, I couldn't agree more.  Why the magazine has always left such a gold mine alone is a mystery to me.  Much as we've had Tales From the Black Museum, why can't we have Tales From the Big Meg?  I would say that this is where Carrol's strength really lies.  His best Dread's have always been Dreddless strangely enough.  Even in this hardened time there is still a massive scope for stories exploring the human dimension of events of the last few years.

Maybe a challenge for the next short story comp?

Again Prof, a valid point.  I would make one exception though from fiction: the late Sir Terry P.  I always felt that he was the Dickens of our generation (except a damn sight funnier).  For me he really managed to nail the human dimension of so much of what was going on at the time.

Modern Panther

Was looking this morning at a list of chief judges, thinking of how they compare to the PMs of the day.

Shortly after Thatcher came to power, we got Mcgruder, a strong,uncompromising woman.  In the mid 80s we got Silver, who wasn't adverse to some extra judicial force to keep the plebs in line. 

After McGruder again we get Volt, a bland grey haired administrator.

Into the Blair era we get Hershey, who's young and shiney and new but who becomes increasingly brutal and starey eyed.

Francisco is an obvious Obama : publicly popular, but with suggestions that he's not actually running things or doesn't really deserve the place which were common in the early Obama days.

Now with Cameron we're back to Hershey again, which tells a story in itself.

Greg M.

Quote from: Modern Panther on 02 May, 2016, 12:48:16 PM
Now with Cameron we're back to Hershey again, which tells a story in itself.

You could almost argue Sinfield as Cameron - the banality of bland, self-serving evil - except the former's reign slightly predates that of the latter.

I, Cosh

Quote from: Tjm86 on 02 May, 2016, 08:31:30 AM
I'm thinking about the struggles, the overwhelming cutbacks, the need to outsource and seek foreign aid (Texas City judges), the diminution of power on the world stage .... Not sure whether this is being done consciously or subconsciously.  It just seems an interesting parallel.
There's definitely some sort of commentary there. To me at least, Mikey Carroll's stuff - from the gunrunning to the reliance on external assistance - seems more rooted in things like the "reconstruction" of Iraq and the disintegration of Syria than anything domestic.

For oblique commentary on the effects of of austerity (abject despair, mostly) look to some of Wagner's shorter outings such as Shooter's Night or Student Bodies. There's also the usual, from-the-headlines hooks to be found: poor doors in Block Judge or Edward Snowden & Chelsea Manning in Mega-City Confidential.
We never really die.

Tjm86

Quote from: Modern Panther on 02 May, 2016, 12:48:16 PM
Shortly after Thatcher came to power, we got Mcgruder, a strong,uncompromising woman.  In the mid 80s we got Silver, who wasn't adverse to some extra judicial force to keep the plebs in line. 

After McGruder again we get Volt, a bland grey haired administrator.


Only thing is, Thatcher came into power in 79 and we didn't get McGruder until 82.  McGruder didn't leave until 86 after The Warlord.  Perhaps more accurately the Chief Judge mirrors the character of the PM of the day?  By 82 Thatcher was more confident in her position and more uncompromising.   By the mid eighties she seemed fairly unassailable on some levels.  Although she was unpopular in the country in some quarters there was no coherent opposition.  Labour, much as today, was pretty much in a wilderness.

No prizes for who you are comparing Volt to then.

Greg M.

So where does this leave Chief Judge Cal(laghan)?

M.I.K.

I can't see any similarities between Margaret Hilda Thatcher and Hilda Margaret McGruder.

Colin YNWA

While I completely agree that the political angles always ripple happily through Dredd, in many and varied ways I'd suggest that while the comparisons with austerity have been made I think there's a clearer overall comparison with the shift in the establishment. Things have changed and the old ways seem to be breaking down and exposed. The powers that be are beginning to be undermined and, slowly, weaken.

I have a long history of getting this kind of thing wrong!