MEMES, Pt. 6: Call me... The Punisher

Endless Thread

WBUR

Reddit, Technology

4.2 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 28 October 2021

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Punisher has always been a complicated Marvel antihero: a man whose creator imagined him as a reaction to the failures of government at home and in the Vietnam War. So why is the Punisher’s trademark dripping skull insignia — a menacing image used throughout history to denote imminent death — being painted on police vehicles, adopted by members of the military, and donned by white supremacists?

We tell the story of The Punisher’s symbol as a meme, look at how well we understand its origins, its use today, and whether its creator — or Marvel — can take it back.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	WBWR's last scene is back with surprising news stories about people, places, and things
0:06.1	that have gone missing, all told by tenacious public radio storytellers who refuse to let
0:11.5	mysteries go unsolved.
0:13.7	Don't miss season 3, out now.
0:16.2	Follow last scene wherever you listen to podcasts.
0:19.6	Produced by the I-Lab at WBWR Boston.
0:27.6	Some origin stories kick off with radioactive spider bites or alien planets.
0:33.3	And some begin with good old fashioned bloodshed.
0:37.8	If society won't punish, the guilty, he will.
0:47.4	He was a Vietnam vet, you know, an honorable soldier.
0:53.0	And he had a family.
0:55.0	I can't believe he is.
0:57.8	I'm old.
0:58.8	His family was killed in crossfire in Amatia, shootout in central park.
1:04.2	Get down, get down.
1:09.7	And when the police weren't able to bring the criminals to justice, he went and took the
1:16.8	law into his own hands.
1:20.6	This is not vengeance.
1:22.9	Your vengeance is not a valid motive, it's an emotional response.
1:26.7	No, not vengeance.
1:32.0	Punishment.
1:33.0	You don't have to kill me, Ovinous.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from WBUR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of WBUR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.