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I know there are a few Judge Dredd and 2000ad fans on here and something on Instagram reminded me of a thought, or talking point I thought might make for a decent thread. When I used to read Dredd and 2000ad many of the creators referred to Dredd as a fascist which he obviously is when you consider that he rides around extra-judicially executing people, essentially as part of a military dictatorship who emerged after nuclear holocaust / the failure of democracy.
That being said, in his universe (global holocaust/anarchy etc) is he actually a fascist or his he a necessary evil to cope with the amount of brutality and lawlessness? Or a necessary fascist? I know Dredd was inspired by and somewhat based on Dirty Harry who also assumes the role of judge, jury and executioner in many of his films and this in turn led me to think about other fictional anti-heroes and how many of them do monstrous things (outside the context of their world) . Why is the anti-hero such an appealing trope or archetype when the things they would repel us in real life.
It seems that there's almost no limits to what we'll allow our fictional anti-heroes to get away with, Dredd being one of the most extreme examples I can think of.
Amirite?
extra-judicially executing people
? he's a JUDGE and in the Big Meg, judges have the power to sentence and execute.
All you need to know is here:
http://www.politics.co.uk/comment-analysis/2017/03/10/the-politics-of-judge-dredd
and here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_(Judge_Dredd_storyline)
Is he a fascist or a necessary evil? That's one of the main storylines that's been played out on various occasions in the comic, the most obvious example being the Democracy story.
I know Dredd was inspired by and somewhat based on Dirty Harry
I thought he was based on Maggie Thatcher (god bless her)?
All you need to know is here:
http://www.politics.co.uk/comment-analysis/2017/03/10/the-politics-of-judge-dredd
/a>and here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy_(Judge_Dredd_storyline)/a >
<span class="bbp-reply-post-date">Posted 11 minutes ago </span>
Is he a fascist or a necessary evil? That’s one of the main storylines that’s been played out on various occasions in the comic, the most obvious example being the Democracy story.
I've read most Dredd stories from the mid 80s to the late 90s including Democracy and reprints of most of the older story lines. I wasn't asking for a definitive answer, I was curious how we (the audience) square the fact that he's obviously a fascist with his role a hero.
Like most of the anti hero tropes, he's the ultimate expression of male. He does what he wants when he wants and doesn't have to answer to anyone.P<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">lus of course, because its fiction he doesn't get it wrong, and never has to say sorry. He literally gets to ride around on a massive motorcycle shooting "bad" people </span>
Its very appealing.
Back in the mists of time. Well, the mid-90s while at university I got 80% for an essay titled 'Judge Dredd classic superhero or fascist control freak?' Basically, he can be described as either as he has traits relating to both.
No-one ever thinks they're the bad guys.
The Punisher fits into the category too, and following on from the current Marvel series he can get the look the other way nod of approval, deemed a necessary evil by the state, then brings in the grey area of the flawed hero
What about Dredd as a mere pawn of the system he serves?
He's a clone, arguably designed to be nothing more than a thoughtless instrument of justice. Not allowed to have his own opinions or question the system.
He's not a hero, he's a victim and as such is the perfect illustration of the fictional world he inhabits.
Of course, if you want the greatest antihero ever,
I heard he was dead?
Nice boots though.
<p style="margin: 1rem 0px !important; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 12px; vertical-align: baseline; background: #eeeeee; line-height: 1.2em; color: #444444; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">I thought he was based on Maggie Thatcher (god bless her)?</p>
More like the other way round as Frau Thatcher came after Judge Dredd who first appeared in 1977
( I was reading 2000AD back then as I am so old)
Jack Reacher is another good example of a classic anti hero. Basically a mass murderer too, depending on how you look at it.
<'Martial Law' crashed my computer>
Whatever you think of Dredd you wouldn't say it to his face.
Jack Reacher is another good example of a classic anti hero. Basically a mass murderer too, depending on how you look at it.
See also Luke Skywalker who brutally murderd Mr Stevens, Head of Catering and about a quarter of a million other people who were just doing their jobs on the Death Star.
I never really thought of Jack Reacher as an anti hero because (iirc from the book i read) he's basically better than the police at policing, he's better than the military at being the military, he's essentially a superhero who is somewhat grounded in our reality. He's not anti authority, he's just better at it. None of that comes through in the films which were......meh.
What about Dredd as a mere pawn of the system he serves?
He’s a clone, arguably designed to be nothing more than a thoughtless instrument of justice. Not allowed to have his own opinions or question the system.
He’s not a hero, he’s a victim and as such is the perfect illustration of the fictional world he inhabits.
That's a very good point colournoise. He's human but he was bred to basically be a robot, completely objective, merciless and emotionless. I guess that does absolve Dredd somewhat as in a lot of the stories he fights his programing so to speak, and does the right thing. I guess he would be completely unpalatable if he was always binary. There were obviously plenty of stories where Dredd is just the supporting character and his inhuman/merciless side is used as a metaphor for the state or the legal system.