James Gunn's new Superman film may have been written years ago, but its emotional punch has landed squarely in the midst of one of the most horrific humanitarian crises of our time — Gaza.

Audiences around the world are walking out of cinemas convinced that this is not just another superhero movie. For many — especially in the Global South and across the Muslim world — it feels like a stealth parable for Palestine. A traumatised outsider watches his homeland being destroyed by foreign invaders. He is told to remain neutral, to assimilate, to bury his grief. But he cannot. Not when his own people are being erased.

Whether or not this allegory was intentional misses the point. Stories have power precisely because they transcend their creators' intentions. They hold up a mirror to the world — even when the storytellers don't mean to.

Some may ask: why should people in Pakistan or elsewhere in the Muslim world waste their time with Hollywood?........

© The Express Tribune