Case for Zack Snyder

I watched half of Batman v Superman (the 3 hour director's cut) because I can't remember if Zack Snyder is a good director or not. He's a very wise stylist. One of the most visual directors, but the morals are weak. There isn't much method to his aesthetic and he hasn't grown all that much as a storyteller. He reminds me of Jess Franco if Franco sold out and became a millionaire marketing puppet and rightwing government propagandist.

I've found a few decent articles arguing that Snyder is a pro-fascist director. I think its quite the opposite. By applying a "Triumph of the Will"/"Fountainhead"/"Birth of a Nation" lens of disturbing nostalgic Americana, he calls attention to the problematic elements in his subjects, much like Franco used the fascism of Spain as villainy in his own films. The stilted melodramatic dialogue, unrealistic abstracted action and torturous tone of tragedy are intentional and meaningful. Snyder's films have been called "rightwing" merely for playing and analysing imagery and ideology and showing sympathy for modern working class paranoia in the post-9/11 West. His version of Watchmen and Dawn of the Dead exploit racism, Nazism, fascism sexism, etc. But he never condones it. Its exploitation for subversive and transgressive motives. His films are pro-America but not nationalist, white culturally but not white supremacist. He takes a very balanced, neutral, communist stance on nearly every level.

Now I know these Snyder attacks are totally Disney/Marvel propagandists who call themselves fans, so Snyder's work represents a mirror of our recent resistance to corporatist, colluding conspiracy for capitalist gain. "Batman is a vigilante, Superman is a messiah". Totally. This was set in stone before Snyder was even born. And correctly, Snyder honors the tradition of their origins by keeping them old school liberal champions who are pro-state but not of the state. Superman as a journalist seeks truth, justice, blah-de-blah. He lives a modest middle class life and polices THE WORLD equally. But Snyder recognizes the fascism and elitism inherent in Superman's totalitarian-level power. He even shows us Superman as the ultimate threat, a God-like ruler executing humanity's last hope, represented in Batman. Batman comes off like an obsessed, terrified, scarred, alienated sadist. Thats what the character would be in reality. But his hardcore moralism to use his bourgeois status to protect both classes makes him a powerful ally to Superman... and also a threat. Batman, working in his own jurisdiction, has too much power and not enough socialism. Batman is shown killing in dubious moments, falling victim to a crazy Lex Luthor-created conspiracy theory to kill Superman and basically coming up short in his quest to do what's right. Snyder clearly favors the working class alien pacifist Superman over the violent macho anarchist-capitalist extremism in Batman. Snyder is firmly a liberal director and spreading as liberal a message as you will find within mainstream Hollywood "high concept" franchise pictures.

So why was the media so against him? Why are fanboys and fangirls so anti-Snyder and pro-Marvel? I don't think they are. Since BVS, DC's comics have soared and fans have a newfound serious respect for the characters as mythic icons and political archetypes. The failure of BVS's sequel Justice League can't be a determiner of anything as it suffered from both a terrible distribution deal (certainly rigged by Marvel) and then forcing their spy Joss Whedon to replace Snyder as director. Its a blatant infowar. Disney is pushing a neo-conservative/neo-liberal corporate takeover of Hollywood and news media. Time-Warner is targeted heavily in this push towards the extinction of freedom of speech.

Warners knows why JL sucked and so does DC: because Snyder is being silenced by the Elite. Snyder seems canned from the DC franchise. Maybe not a bad thing. It was probably too conservative and not populist enough to really maximize his influence positively. I mean, half of previous Batman and Superman films were pretty lame. But he needed to make a strong run with these successful canons to cement a place in film history.

Zack Snyder is not at a level where I would call him one of the greatest directors ever, but he's certainly among the strongest of the last generation. As the most anti-Oscar and most "for the people", he can never earn the respect of elitist critics, fans and industry insiders. But no one can dispute the incendiary recognition or passionate debate over his name. And that is way more important to an individual film-goer than, I dunno, an IMDB rating (bleck!)