I feel a need to say this because I have a lot of friends who are both geeks and Marxists:

Analysis of "material conditions" requires actually engaging with the conditions, and only making minimal assumptions where necessary.

We can& #39;t treat fiction like our reality. 1/3

So if you& #39;re analyzing a fictional universe, the underlying physics AND metaphysics of a universe are part of the conditions.

We don& #39;t charge Bugs Bunny for attempted murder when he puts an exploding cigar in someone& #39;s mouth, as in that reality that& #39;s not expected to kill. 2/3

Of course we can and should separately discuss how it affects viewers, like saying "hey kids Superman can smoke as much as he wants because he can& #39;t get cancer" is obviously still bad.

But if you& #39;re just judging characters and not the work itself, do it on their own terms. 3/3