the star wars writeup was so good, and the ending of the disinformation czar piece even better. (truly...the fact that functioning, accessible, easy to understand government run stuff [especially at the state level] is a pipe dream is really...something.) i just have one nit to pick WRT star wars. why does rey have to "end up" with anyone? for everything one could criticize about that series, the obvious-from-the-jump "oh god they're gonna force a love story/romantic interest" thing is what ruined it for me personally. it was distracting and cringey. finn went from seeing her solely as a damsel in distress to being obsessed with her/feeling entitled to her. they aren't a match. and kylo is obviously not it. and i'm not saying she has to be #foreveralone or that ooooh plot twist it's actually a girlfriend she gets a and not a boyfriend! but like...why can't she simply exist? we don't need a romance angle to have a good movie and a compelling story.
Not a Star War fan, nor someone who thinks racism is acceptable, but framing this as "the fandom" is the same category of mistake that TERFs, anti-Muslim bigots, anti-Whatever people make when they assume that everyone in a group is responsible for the behaviour of small portions of that group. There is no way to police the behaviour of your fellow Fans Of Thing.
There is a near-100% chance that some of the real, actual white nationalists and Neo-Nazis like The Star War, and it's not possible to stop them from liking The Star War.
Overhauling franchises so that they actively repel bigots is a valid tactic, but it has yet to show whether this can also make satisfying stories that people will actually show up for. Has Ghostbusters 2016 both repelled the bigots and wormed its way in to the minds of a receptive audience the way that un-selfconscious films of the past have? Time will tell. The cases I see where this is attempted end up spending most of their horsepower making political statements dressed up in makeup and CGI, instead of projecting a positive worldview where -isms are laughably silly and impossible.
I'm not criticising the desire to reduce and shun racism! We need to find solutions that work. But saying that fans must reject their bretheren for being racist is an unworkable place to start from because there is no central planning committee of fandom.
As a Star Wars fan, the continual racism & abuse just makes me so sad. And does this count as ironic? The "ragtag group of diverse humans teaming up with robots and puppets" aren't "fighting Nazis," they're fighting against American imperialism, which is what Lucas had in mind when creating Star Wars (with the Rebels being modeled on the Viet Cong). We're the baddies in Star Wars in more ways than one.
"The buzzsaw of fandom"
Great post, as always. Regarding that last link about Elon Musk being right, the Dead Internet Theory has been around for a while now https://futurism.com/the-byte/conspiracy-theory-internet-died
the star wars writeup was so good, and the ending of the disinformation czar piece even better. (truly...the fact that functioning, accessible, easy to understand government run stuff [especially at the state level] is a pipe dream is really...something.) i just have one nit to pick WRT star wars. why does rey have to "end up" with anyone? for everything one could criticize about that series, the obvious-from-the-jump "oh god they're gonna force a love story/romantic interest" thing is what ruined it for me personally. it was distracting and cringey. finn went from seeing her solely as a damsel in distress to being obsessed with her/feeling entitled to her. they aren't a match. and kylo is obviously not it. and i'm not saying she has to be #foreveralone or that ooooh plot twist it's actually a girlfriend she gets a and not a boyfriend! but like...why can't she simply exist? we don't need a romance angle to have a good movie and a compelling story.
Not a Star War fan, nor someone who thinks racism is acceptable, but framing this as "the fandom" is the same category of mistake that TERFs, anti-Muslim bigots, anti-Whatever people make when they assume that everyone in a group is responsible for the behaviour of small portions of that group. There is no way to police the behaviour of your fellow Fans Of Thing.
There is a near-100% chance that some of the real, actual white nationalists and Neo-Nazis like The Star War, and it's not possible to stop them from liking The Star War.
Overhauling franchises so that they actively repel bigots is a valid tactic, but it has yet to show whether this can also make satisfying stories that people will actually show up for. Has Ghostbusters 2016 both repelled the bigots and wormed its way in to the minds of a receptive audience the way that un-selfconscious films of the past have? Time will tell. The cases I see where this is attempted end up spending most of their horsepower making political statements dressed up in makeup and CGI, instead of projecting a positive worldview where -isms are laughably silly and impossible.
I'm not criticising the desire to reduce and shun racism! We need to find solutions that work. But saying that fans must reject their bretheren for being racist is an unworkable place to start from because there is no central planning committee of fandom.
As a Star Wars fan, the continual racism & abuse just makes me so sad. And does this count as ironic? The "ragtag group of diverse humans teaming up with robots and puppets" aren't "fighting Nazis," they're fighting against American imperialism, which is what Lucas had in mind when creating Star Wars (with the Rebels being modeled on the Viet Cong). We're the baddies in Star Wars in more ways than one.