Tumgik
#Warner brothers criticism
pocketgalaxies · 2 years
Text
liam gave laura the information of "the trees look like wet engorged sausages" and it's the only thing she's provided for the group so far
15 notes · View notes
drag-tween · 1 month
Link
(article may be behind paywall)
0 notes
redgoldsparks · 5 months
Text
Tumblr media
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
I wrote a 12 page epilogue to my 2019 comic "Harry Potter and The Problematic Author" because I found, in 2023, that I had more to say. You can also find this comic on my website, and I have PDF copies available on etsy. I may sell print copies at some point in the future.
instagram / patreon / portfolio / etsy / my book / redbubble
Full transcript below the cut.
PAGE 1
Part one: Ruddy Owls!
I was in fourth grade when the first Harry Potter Book was released in the US.
Panel 1: Sometimes our teacher would read it aloud in class. “Mr and Mrs Dursley of number 4 Privat Drive were proud to say they were perfectly normal, thank you very much…”
Panel 2: I was 11 years old when Harry Potter finally broke through my dyslexia and turned me into a reader.
Panel 3: Every night in the summer before sixth grade I waited for the owl carrying my Hogwarts Letter. I cried when it didn’t come. “I have to go to Muggle school!”
PAGE 2
Part Two: Hats
I dedicated myself to being a fan.
Panel 1: I began collecting Harry Potter News article.
Panel 2: I asked my relatives to mail me ones from their local papers. I filled a thick binder with clippings.
Panel 3: I wrote my own trivia quiz
Panel 4: and participated in the one held annually at the county fair. “Next contestant!”
Panel 5: I usually got into one of. the top five spots. I won boxes of candy, posters, stationary, and once a baseball cap. (Hat reads: I survived the battle of Hogwarts).
Panel 6: In high school I sewed a black velvet cape and knitted many stripped scarves.
PAGE 3
Part Three: Double Trouble
Watching the last film in 2011 felt like the final note of my childhood. 
Panel 1: I remember driving home from the midnight showing thinking about the end of 13 years of waiting; wondering what would define the next chapter of my life. 
Panel 2: That same month I heard of something called Pottermore. “Okay, so there’s a sorting quiz… I already know my house! Patronus assignment? Mine’s a barn owl. Duh!" 
Panel 3: You can read the books again but with GIFs? Why? 
Panel 4: I lived in a place with very slow and limited internet at the time. Pottermore sounded inaccessible, but also boring. I never joined. 
Panel 5: "I’ll just read the actual books again, thanks." 
PAGE 4
Part Four: Sweets
In 2016, a series of short stories titled "History of Magic in North America” were released on Pottermore to pave the way for the first Fantastic Beasts Film. These stories display an extreme ignorance of American history, culture, and geography, but the worst parts are the casual misuse of indigenous beliefs and stories. Fans and critics immediately spoke up against this appropriation. Some of the most quoted voices included Nambe Pueblo scholar Dr. Debbie Reese who runs the site “American Indians In Children’s Literature”; Navajo writer Brian Young; Johnnie Jae (Otoe-Missouria and Choctaw), founder of A Tribe Called Geek; Dr Adrienne Keene (Cherokee Nation), a Professor at Brown University who runs the blog “Native Appropriations”, and writers N.K. Jemison and Paula Young Lee.
PAGE 5
Rowling is famous for responding to fans directly on twitter, yet she did not respond to anyone calling out the damaging aspects of “Magic in North America.” Her representatives refused to comment for March 9 2016 article in the Guardian. She has never apologized. All of this, plus the casting of Johnny Depp and the specific declarations of support by JKR, Warner Brothers, and director David Yates left a sour taste in my mouth.
For further thoughts on the new films read The Crimes of Grindelwald is a Mess by Alanna Bennett for Buzzfeed News, November 16, 2018.
PAGE 6
Excerpt from Colonialism in Wizarding American: JK Rowling’s History of Magic in North America Through an Indigenous Lens by Allison Mills, MFA, MAS/MLIS (Cree and Settler French Canadian)
Although Rowling is certainly not the first white author to misstep in her treatment of Indigenous cultures, she has an unprecedented level of visibility and fame, […] One of the most glaring problems with Rowling’s story is her treatment of the many Indigenous nations in North America as one monolithic group. […It] flattens out the diversity of languages, belief systems, and cultures that exist in Indigenous communities, allowing stereotyping to persist. […] It continues a long history of colonial texts which ignore that Indigenous peoples still exist. […] In the Wizarding world, as in the real world, Indigenous histories have been over-written and our cultures erased.
from The Looking Glass: New Perspectives in Children’s Literature Volumn 19, Issue 1
PAGE 7
Part 5: Music
Panel 1: Also in 2016 I discovered two podcasts which radically altered my experience of being an HP fan. The first was Witch Please created by two Canadian feminist literary scholars Hannah McGregor and Marcelle Kosman.
Panel 2: “If it’s not in the text it doesn’t count!” “Close reading ONLY!”
Panel 3: They talk about Harry Potter at the level you’d expect in a college class with particular focus on gender, race, class, and the troubling fatphobia, fear of othered and queer coded bodies, violence against women, white feminism, gaslighting and failed pedagogy in the books. They bring up these issues not because they hate the series, but because they LOVE it.
PAGE 8
These passionate, joyful conversations went off like fireworks in my mind. I had never taken a feminist class before. I gained a whole new vocabulary to talk about the books- and the world.
PAGE 9
Panel 1: The second podcast I started that year was Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, created by two graduates of the Harvard Divinity School, Vanessa Zoltan and Casper Ter Kuile.
Panel 2: They read one chapter per episode through a theme such as love, control, curiosity, shame, responsibility, hospitality, destruction, or mystery. Like Witch Please, they are interested only in the information on the page, not thoughts from the author. The delights and failures of the text are examined in the context of the present day, and new meanings constantly arise.
PAGE 10
What does it mean to treat a text as sacred?
Trusting that the more time we give to it, the more blessings it has to give us.
Reading the text repeatedly with concentrated attention. Our effort is part of what makes it sacred. The text is not in and of itself sacred, but is made so by rigorously engaging in the ritual of reading.
Experiencing it in community.
“To me, the goal of treating the text as sacred is that we learn to treat each other as sacred.” -Vanessa Zoltan
PAGE 11
Part 6: Tooth and Claw
In October 2017, Rowling liked a tweet linking to an article arguing that trans women should be kept out of women’s bathrooms because of cisgender women’s fears. In March 2018, she liked a tweet about the problem of misogyny in the UK Labour Party which included the line “Men in dresses get brosocialist solidarity I never had.” The author of the tweet had previously posted many blatantly anti-trans statements.
Rowlings publicist claimed she had liked the posted by accident in a “clumsy and middle-aged moment.” Yet, in September 2018 she liked a link posted by Janice Turner to her column in the Times UK titled “Trans Rapists Are A Danger In Women’s Jails.”
Screencaps of these tweets can be found in the article “The Mysterious Case of JK Rowling and her Transphobic Twitter History”, January 10 2019 by Gwendolyn Smith (a trans journalist), LGBTQNation.com
PAGE 12
Excerpt from: Is JK Rowling Transphobic? A Trans Woman Investigates by Katelyn Burns
Ultimately, the answer is yes, she is transphobic […] I think it’s fair that she receives criticism from trans people, especially given her advocacy on behalf of queer people in general, but also because she has a huge platform. Many people look up to her for creating a singular piece of popular culture that holds deep meaning for fans from different walks of life, and she has a responsibility to handle that platform wisely. (Published on them.us March 28, 2018)
PAGE 13
Part 7: Home
At age 30, I’m still not over Harry Potter.
Panel 1: I’ve recently found a local bar that does HP trivia nights. “Poppy or Pomona?” “Poppy!”
Panel 2: I currently own an annual pass to Universal Studios so I can visit Hogsmeade.
Panel 3: I love talking to kids who are reading the books for the first time. “Who’s your favorite character?” “Ginny!”
Panel 4: And I’m planning a relisten to the audio books to next year to help me get through the election cycle. “Jim Dale, I’m going to need you more than ever…”
Spoiler from 2023: I did not do this. By mid-2020 JKR had posted her transphobic essay; we were in covid; I never visited Universal Studios again.
PAGE 14
But I do want to learn from her mistakes. I never want to repeat “Magic in North America.” As I write, I will do my research. I will consult experts and compensate them. If a reader from a different culture/background than me speaks up about my work, I will listen and apologize. I KNOW I WILL MAKE MISTAKES. But I will own up to them and I will do better.
PAGE 15
Excerpt from Diversity Is Not Enough: Race, Power and Publishing by Daniel José Older
We can love a thing and still critique it. In fact, that’s the only way to really love a thing. Let’s be critical lovers and loving critics and open ourselves to the truth about where we are and where we’ve been. Instead of holding tight to the same old, failed patriarchies, let’s walk a new road, speak new languages. Today, let’s imagine a literature, a literary world, that carries this struggle for equity in its very essence, so that tomorrow it can cease to be necessary, and disappear. (Buzzfeed, April 14, 2017) 
PAGE 16
Harry Potter is flawed, & JK Rowling is problematic. But the books helped me learn a lot: 
*One of the greatest dangers facing the modern world is the rise of fascism 
*The government cannot be trusted 
*Read and think critically
*Question the news: who paid the journalist? Who owns the paper? 
*Trust and support your friends through good times and bad
*Organize for resistance
*Educate and share resources with peers
*The revolution must be diverse and intersectional
* We are only as strong as we are united
*The weapon we have is love 
MK 2019
PAGE 17
PART 8: EPILOGUE
In 2021 I removed a Harry Potter patch I sewed to my book bag over a decade ago. I took 15 pieces of Harry Potter fanart off my walls. I got rid of my paperback book set, 2 board games, and 8 t-shirt. [images: a Hogwarts a patch with loose threads, a pair of scissors and a seam ripper]
Panel 1: Maia holding up a shirt with the Deathly Hallows logo on it. Maia thinks: “Damn, this really used to be my entire personality.”
Panel 2: The t-shirt gets thrown into the Goodwill box.
PAGE 18
I wrote my zine wrestling with JKR’s legacy in 2019, after her dismissive and racist reaction to indigenous fans and critics of “Magic in North America” and after she had liked a couple transphobic tweets. Since then, she has gotten so much worse.
A Brief Timeline (mostly from this Vox article)
June 2020- JKR posts a 3600 word essay making her anti-trans position clear
August 2020- The Robert F Kennedy Human Rights Org issues a statement about her transphobia, JKR doubles down on her position and returns an award they gave her
December 2020- JKR claims 90% of HP fans secretly agree with her anti-trans views
December 2021- JKR mocks Scottish Police for recognizing transgender identities
March 2022- JKR criticizes gender-inclusive language and legislation
December 2022- JKR retweets trans youtuber Jessie Earl’s critical review of Hogwarts Legacy, starting an onslaught of transphobic harassment towards Earl
December 2022- JKR removes her support from an Edinburgh center for survivors of sexual violence with a trans-inclusive policy and funds her own center which explicitly excludes trans sexual assault survivors
January 2023- JKR tweets “Deeply amused by those telling me I’ve lost their admiration due to disrespect I show violent, duplicitous rapists.” It got nearly 300K likes
March 2023- One the podcast “The Witch Trials of JK Rowling”, hosted by a former Westboro Baptist Church Member, JKR compares the trans rights movement to Death Eaters.
PAGE 19
What are The Witch Trials of JK Rowling?
Panel 1: Maia speaking. “It’s a 7 episode documentary style podcast hosted by Megan Phelps-Roper. Nearly every episode contains interviews with JKR as well as critics, journalists, historians, protestors and fans.
Panel 2: Maia speaking. “In episode 1, JKR speaks more candidly than she has previously about being in an abusive marriage. Her ex-husband hit her, stalked her, broke into her house overlapping with the time she was writing the first three HP books.”
Panel 3: Maia speaking. “What she went through genuinely sounds horrific. I have a lot of sympathy for the kind of life-long traumas those experiences leave.”
PAGE 20
HOWEVER.
It is clear from reading the June 2020 essay on her blog and listening to the podcast, that JKR still to this day feels unsafe. Despite her wealth and privilege she moves through the world with the mindset of a victim. And the group of people she finds most threatening are trans women.
Or rather, she is afraid that allowing trans women in women’s spaces invites the possibility of male predators entering those spaces.
Here’s a direct quote: The problem is male violence. All a predator wants is access and to open the doors of changing rooms, rape centers, domestic violence centers [...] to any male who says “I’m a woman and I have a right to be here” will constitute a risk to women and girls. - from The Witch Trials episode 4 as transcribed by therowlinglibrary.com, March 2023
Image: A stem of Belladonna with flowers and berries.
PAGE 21
Let me introduce here the term: TRANSMISOGYNY. The intersection of transphobia and misogyny, this term was coined by Julia Serano in 2007. Scout Tran, on tiktok as Queersneverdie said: “Transmisogyny occurs in people who have been previously hurt by traditional misogyny. Who have been driven to hate men or at the very least to be scared of men. They will sometimes take out that rage on trans women. (March 2023)
JKR claims to care for trans women and understand they are extremely vulnerable to assault and violence. In her 2020 Essay she wrote: “I want trans women to be safe. At the same time, I do not want to make natal girls and women less safe.”
So she cares about trans women… just less than cis women, and she’s willing to throw all trans women under the bus because of her unfounded, prejudice fears.
PAGE 22
Panel 1: Maia speaking. “JKR claims to have seen data that proves trans women have presented physical threats to other women in intimate spaces, but never cites sources. She also uses “producer of the large gametes” as a definition of “woman”.
What about transmen and nonbinary folks?
Panel 2: Maia leaning on a stack of all seven HP books, the first four Cormorant Strike books and The Casual Vacancy, gesturing to a series of quotes with a tired and disgusted expression.
I’m concerned about the huge explosion of young women wishing to transition and also about the increasing numbers who seem to be detransitioning. * [...] If I’d been born 30 years later, I too might have tried to transition. The allure of escaping womanhood would have been huge. -June 10 2020 essay
I don’t believe a 14 year old can truly understand what the loss of their fertility is.
-Witch Trials episode 4
I haven’t yet found a study that hasn’t found that the majority of young people experiencing gender dysphoria grow out of it*. -Witch Trials episode 7
*No sources cited
PAGE 23
It’s hard to over emphasize how fixated JKR has become on these topics. As of the date I’m writing this, 14 out of her 20 most recent tweets (70%) are in some way anti-trans. She tweets against Mermaids (a UK based trans youth charity), against trans athletes, against gender neutral bathrooms, and in support of LBG Alliance- a UK org that denies trans rights while upholding gay rights. Here are some gems from her archive:
“People who menstruate.” I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud? -June 2020
War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength. The Penised Individual Who Raped You Is a Woman. - December 2021
And in response to someone asking “How do you sleep at night knowing you lost a whole audience?”
I read my most recent royalty cheques and find the pain goes away pretty quickly. -October 2022
PAGE 24
Hashtag Ruthless Productions a queer nerd podcast company created a great guide on ethical engagement with HP. Image: the two hosts of Hashtag Ruthless productions, Jessie (They/she) and Lark (he/him).
Stop buying all official HP Products: books, movies, games, toys, etc, Universal Studios tickets, food, merch.* Boycott any new TV series or movies. Instead: buy the books and DVDs used. If you still want to wear HP merch, buy fan-made. Engage only with fan content: fic, podcasts, fanart, wizard rock, etc. Show transphobia is bad for business. None of this will change JKR’s mind. But the Fantastic Beast series was canceled and after record Pottermore sales in 2020, they fell in 2022 by 40%.
*She gets a portion of ALL tickets. In 2019, this was her largest income source. Read the full guide: hashtagruthless.com/resourceguide
PAGE 25
As late as 2019, I was still reading JKR’s murder mystery series. But by the fourth book my experience began to sour.
Panel 1: Maia holding a copy of Lethal White. “The only gay character in this book is a government official who gropes his staff?”
Panel 2: “The only genderqueer character is misgendered and portrayed as a whiny faker?”
Panel 3: “The only Muslim character is disowned by his family over gay rumors?”
Panel 4: “Even the women aren’t portrayed very well…”
Panel 5: “Why is the main female character defined by the rape in her past?”
Panel 6: “Wait, what happens in the rest of this series…?” Maia scrolls on eir phone.
Panel 7: “Is the series heading towards an employee/boss relationship?”
Panel 8: “And has a man wearing women’s clothes to commit assault?”
Panel 9: “Yeah, I’m done. I’m never reading a new JKR book ever again.”
PAGE 26
And as for JKR herself?
As tempting as it might be to tweet your frustrations at her, I don’t recommend it. In 2021, she tweeted, “Hundreds of trans activists have threatened to beat, rape, assassinate and bomb me.” Getting hate online feeds her sense of victimhood and she waves it as proof of her moral high ground. Instead I suggest you block her on twitter, then delete twitter, go to the library and try to find a new book that feels magical.
Stack of books: In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan, The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater, Gifts by Ursula K Le Guin, Deep Wizardry by Diane Duane, A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik and Gideon the Ninth by Tamsin Muir.
PAGE 27
In “Emergent Strategy” adrienne maree brown writes: You do not have the right to traumatize abusive people, to attack them, personally or publicly, or to sabotage anyone else’s health. The behaviors of abuse are also survival-based, learned behaviors rooted in pain. If you can look through the lens of compassion, you will find hurt and trauma there. If you are the abused party, healing that hurt is not your responsibility and exacerbating that pain is not your justified right.
PAGE 28
Seeing anyone over age 12 wearing HP merch now makes me uncomfortable. Are they ignorant or actively a TERF? I hate wondering how much money JKR has probably poured into anti-trans legislation… This zine is a culmination of my slow breakup with a story that once brought me joy. Now it just makes me angry, tired and sad.
Image: Candle in a fancy holder burned down to less than an inch.
Maia Kobabe, 2023
3K notes · View notes
Text
youtube
0 notes
queer-ragnelle · 1 year
Text
I’m so sick of stupid adaptations and remakes. Not fresh retellings. There’s plenty of unexplored mythology still out there. I’m sick of lazy, uninspired, thematically constipated adaptations and remakes. Particularly when they completely miss the point of the original.
Let’s take Charlie and The Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl for example.
Dahl’s intention with the story was highlighting poverty versus wealth. World-famous and wealthy candy-maker Willy Wonka thinks he’s concocted a fair contest to find his replacement by hiding golden tickets in his candy bars. But as we quickly find out, through our incredibly poor protagonist Charlie Bucket, the impoverished don’t have the same chance as their wealthy or even middle-class peers. Charlie’s search is limited to his birthday candy bar, which turns up empty. Later, he miraculously finds a flyaway note and buys a candy bar, and in that bar, finds a ticket. It’s purely luck, which Wonka wrongfully assumed would be the case for all five hidden tickets, and level the playing field. Charlie’s upbringing humbled him, and he succeeds in avoiding the pitfalls of his gluttonous, greedy, and selfish fellows as they traverse the hostile factory. He wins the big prize, inheriting the factory, through the virtue of his character. Lovely.
Now. Adaptations.
I like the 1971 movie, Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory, because. I mean. Gene Wilder. But do you see the problem? The focus on Charlie’s economic disadvantage in the hunt for the golden ticket is undermined by highlighting the eccentric candy-maker. We do still see the obvious struggle a poor child has in a world with the likes of wealthy heiress Veruca Salt, whose father deploys his army of factory workers to open countless candy bars until a ticket is found. But thematically, it missed the mark.
Sigh. The 2005 movie, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, must have done better right? It reverted back to the book title! Wrong.
This movie doubles down on how much more interesting Wonka is and how the viewer should sympathize with him. As if the misguided focus wasn’t obvious in the choice of casting Johnny Depp, we’re shown all kinds of flashback scenes for the character not present in the book. We see how Wonka “befriended” the Oompa Loompas and convinced them to work for him in exchange for chocolate, made especially awkward by the…choice…to depict them as a primitive society who, for lack of resources, are forced to eat bugs to survive and worship cocoa beans. They’re no longer depicted by multiple orange-painted actors with dwarfism, but instead played by green-screen clones of Indian actor, Deep Roy. Not tone-deaf at all. Anyway we also see glimpses of Wonka’s youth with his unsupportive dentist father, Christopher Lee, and touch on his childhood dream of becoming a candy-maker. Meanwhile Charlie is just…there. Getting zero extra depth. He hugs Wonka and invites him to join the family, I guess. But the message doesn’t land because again, the focus of Charlie’s poverty is lost in Wonka’s desire for family, which was entirely manufactured for Tim Burton’s meow meow Depp could be the focus. That was never the point.
So now we come to it. I’m not advocating for another remake. Please no. But how could we have done better with a movie properly named after the book, with Charlie as the focus? How could it have been adapted in a fresh way? Well, according to Dahl’s widow, Charlie was originally black, adding yet another dimension to the story as it links the wealth disparity between the Buckets and the Salts to systematic disadvantage. But evidentially Dahl’s editor couldn’t fathom why he would write anything other than a white protagonist and advised against it, claiming it would confuse the readers. So Charlie is white in the book and all adaptations.
How poignant could the story have been if it had retained its original message, further highlighted by Charlie’s systematic struggles? Annie tried this in 2014, but failed to make good on its seemingly progressive casting choices, which left it feeling more like common variety “colorblind” casting. Perhaps due to the white screen-writer and director. But Charlie and The Chocolate Factory has more precedence for this change, so why not hire the appropriate people and try it? Could be that director Tim Burton is an unapologetic racist and would never even consider such a thing. In light of the Oompa Loompa changes, it’s for the best.
Diversifying the cast of previously all-white stories has taken off since 2005. Bridgerton or Still Star-Crossed or The Great. I’ve heard both praise and criticisms of these. Some people like a story that represents them without their existence in the story relating to their race or oppression.
Rahul Kohli said in an interview: “When you send me for a role and it says ‘South Asian, his name is Raj,’ I say, ‘I don't fucking want it.’ And then the next one comes in and it says it doesn't have a race. ‘This is John. 30s. Handsome.’ When it says that, I want that fucking role. So I want to take from the majority. That's the only time I think about race…I don’t want Green Knight, that’s Dev [Patel’s] job. That’s his job. I want to take roles away from Chris Pratt. I want to take roles away from Chris Hemsworth. It’s me, it’s Riz [Ahmed], Avan Jogia. There’s like five of us. I don’t want to be in competition with these dudes.”
Others view “colorblind” casting as a shallow gambit that dehumanizes the actors of color and erases their heritage by homogenizing it with white culture.
August Wilson said in his speech, The Ground on Which I Stand: “The idea of colorblind casting is the same idea of assimilation that black Americans have been rejecting for the past 380 years…It is an attempt to blot [racial and ethnic minorities] out and reinvent history. It is an assault on [the BIPOC] presence…an insult to [their] intelligence…and [their] many and varied contributions to the society and world at large…Mount[ing] an [all-BIPOC] production, conceived for white actors as an investigation of the human condition through the specifics of white culture is to deny [the actors their] own humanity, [their] own history, and the need to make [their] own investigations from the cultural ground on which [they] stand.”
But I think a point everyone agrees on is: adaptations and remakes that refuse to engage or expound on the themes of its source material should die a painful death. We should oppose Disney’s weird trend of remaking their own previous adaptations. Those fairytales and mythologies are in the public domain. Let’s cut to the quick and craft poignant retellings based on the sources standing the test of time, just waiting for us. Many have never been adapted at all. Whether for lack of equal opportunity for anyone who isn’t a cishet white guy with a long, predictable career built on nepotism. Or for the false perception the market is unreceptive to change and will cost wealthy executives money. “Why try something new when this other thing already worked? It comes with a built-in audience!” So stories are recycled. At best, it’s boring. At worst, it’s stifling creativity and opportunity for everyone. But especially minorities trying to break in and at last free us from this sisyphean torment. I never want to see an attempt at a quirky spin on Cinderella ever again. Let’s adapt original work by POC and queer people or mythology from somewhere besides Europe or Scandinavia or Greece. Then cast accordingly.
0 notes
Text
Some Delights Lost within the Hodgepodge: A Moment of Reflection Upon Viewing the new Elvis film
Tumblr media
Elvis wouldn’t have liked the way they made his mamma look…mother-clucker.
In many ways the new film “Elvis” produced by Warner Bros was a cliché of an already well established cliché to the point that it felt more like an official rewriting of history that blended disinformation with select accurate representation–half truths at best. More money has been made on Elvis’ namesake after his death than he ever saw during his tragically short life. Elvis at his core was the farthest a person’s spirit could get from something so vain as money; the man was a thunderbolt of warmth and love who touched many lives. He was special.
There was a little too much of a new world order spin embedded within this Elvis movie that felt sacrilege in contrast to the actual aura cast by the real Elvis, furthermore something felt out of place hearing both Elvis and his mother use God’s name in vain in the film. The real Elvis was not as slimy or dim-witted as this film’s attempt to scrape off some of his superhuman patina would like the viewer to believe.
The scenes rebuilt from Elvis’ public performances were very well done and top notch on many levels. However, the film lacks the more personal side of Elvis that made him the most intriguing and iconic figure that he was publicly. The film has a sort of attention deficit created by trying to cram too many world happening news events that occurred in the same time span as Elvis’ life, yet within delving deep enough to tie that key events such as the MLK or RFK assassinations into the story of Elvis in a relevant way. It was nearly a Forest Gump hodgepodge without the magical chemistry and timing that allowed the Forest Gump film to succeed the Elvis film failed. However, like in Forest Gump, Nathan Bedford Forest does make an appearance in the film. There was a hollow feeling throughout the Elvis film that left me constantly seeing it introduce more and more threads and potential story arcs that never fulfilled their promises by completing their journeys. In short the film tried to throw in the elements to tie Elvis to the woke narrative in ways that detracted from the one area that made the most sense, which the plot began with surrounding Elvis’ blues roots inspiration. That area is very important to Elvis’ transformation into the people’s champion and legend he became. However, that subject alone could have better served as a unifying arc throughout the entire film, rather than adding more and more extraneous content that serves merely as filler instead of soul reaching methodology.
What disappointed me most about the new Elvis film was not what was in the film, but what was left out. The areas that really made the enigma that was Elvis was that he was a seeker in addition to being a generous beyond normal considerate soul. Elvis was heavily into researching the esoteric writings of Helena Blavatsky among a wide array of other sources. That is a part of Elvis that gets the least attention in the main stream productions that have been made over the years about his life. Another area I wish had been given some screen time were moments such as when Elvis would rent out Liberty Land in the evening and that quiet nocturnal side of his life, also when Elvis would shop at Goldsmith’s department store. Furthermore, I wanted to see Elvis exploring Memphis on his motorcycle, or cruising down Highland in one of his awesome black cars in the 70’s. I also wanted to see Elvis pulling Memphis motorists over for speeding just for fun, and his getting scolded gently by real law enforcement for doing so. Having been conceived in Tupelo and born and raised in Memphis, I have always had a special spot in my heart for Elvis lore, along with Johnny Cash, W.C. Handy, B.B. King, Howlin’ Wolf, Little Richard, and all others who left part of their ghosts in Memphis. It has been many years since I lived in Memphis, so I had high hopes that this Elvis film would have had a more personal touch that was divergent from the mainstream narrative that lightly touched on way too much to be very meaningful more than only a few times.
So in regards to where I feel the film shines brightest, I’d say the closing scene featuring “Unchained Melody” and some of Hank’s portrayals of the Colonel Tom Parker. I always felt that their could have been an FBI or CIA or Scientology component to the mystery of Elvis’ life and even a connection to the spook world for Parker himself, but as William Colby said, “If it’s done right, one will never know the who or why.” Both “Elvis Meets Nixon” films interested me more than this more mainstream version. Films have the dangerous ability to rewrite history and shape narratives by presenting fiction as truth and omitting certain facts to alter public perception. The most dangerous form of censorship is the clever art of erasing who a person really was and replacing them with a lucrative commodity that is a faint shadow of who is said to be represented.
There is an abundance of actual footage from Elvis’ life ranging from the home movies recreated in the aforementioned Elvis film, numerous documentaries and performances, and even a great 1980’s interview from the 80’s featuring Colonel Parker the is a real treat to observe.
John Singleton tried to warn about the misdirection of the Tupac biopic and he wound up near death anonymously dropped off in front of a hospital where he died shortly thereafter. The Elvis film misshapes history in a similar way as does the 2017 “All Eyes on Me” Tupac film. Misinformation and disinformation abounds in this technologically driven realm of chatterbots, paranoid sheep dipped operatives, and community based agents. Nearly everything has been tainted with phoniness in this artificial construct where more and more animals are driven to extinction everyday, where our weather and money system is manipulated, and where we are kept under constant surveillance and mind control. More and more of us crave something real, something genuine; well, this Elvis film ain’t it.
The film “Elvis” is now streaming on HBOMAX.
–Sir Clodhopper the 14th
1 note · View note
lyinar · 22 days
Text
Warner Brothers is shutting down Rooster Teeth.
Much like how Legendary Entertainment bought Geek and Sundry solely to screw over and drive off the people who made it what it was, kill one of its two biggest draws (Tabletop), and had the other big draw (Critical Role) escape out from under their mismanagement, another beloved geeky Youtube channel has been essentially murdered by a stupid, greedy asshole of a CEO who didn't understand ANYTHING about what he had his company devour.
Tumblr media
579 notes · View notes
shieldagent93 · 21 days
Text
Infinity Train - one of the first series Warner Brothers erased for tax write-offs, despite receiving critical acclaim
Scoob: Holiday Haunt - shut down for tax write-offs, even though it featured stars like Andre Braugher, Ming-Na Wen, and Mark Hamill and was said to be "practically finished"
Coyote vs Acme - looking to be shut down and getting a tax write-off, despite being a James Gunn movie (like him or hate him, his name is big in Hollywood) with amazing reviews from test audiences
Now, it's Rooster Teeth - shut down after over 20 years, with many like Casey Lee Williams (the woman in charge of the RWBY soundtrack) finding out the news via Twitter
I think it's safe to say that David Zaslav doesn't appreciate the art of animation.
365 notes · View notes
trinrose3 · 1 year
Note
Not to be conspiratorial on main but fuck if this is true 😭😭😭😭
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Honestly I think that’s not TOO far off from what I think is happening but the YouTubers aren’t the main point here, it’s the animation industry itself! considering what recently happened with HBO Max and Warner brothers (and now Netflix) and the cancelation of mutiple GOOD animated series, especially ones that actually CARED about good rep it wouldn’t be too far off to say this is just adding fuel to the anti original “woke” animate series that’s been happening. Like take Disney for example they purposely remove and “forget” to advertise shows and movies (like Strange Planet and TOH) that have actual representation so that they can say “oh these shows don’t do as well let’s not make more”.
they’re doing almost the same thing with this. They knew it was gonna be shit which is why they were TOLD not to included scooby in the show.
also im SURE they’re aware of the distaste people for for the “riverdale” effect that reboots have been having. They’re purposefully making it unappealing to EVERYONE and THATS why critics can’t figure out who it’s target audience is for. It’s whole purpose is that there ISNT one. they’re already getting rid of all the original animated content. What’s next? The reboots. The only thing really left for mainstream 2D(!!) animation at that point would be ads (and MAYBE a few games). And we’ll we all know how we feel about those… they’re purposefully trying to kill the industry, specifically, a very UNIONIZED industry. Now THATS my conspiracy theory lmao
anyways support small animation studios and creators except for vivziepop :)
1K notes · View notes
hotvintagepoll · 15 days
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Propaganda
Marian Marsh (Five Star Final, The Black Room)—After having starred in Svengali at the age of seventeen, Marian Marsh was awarded the title of WAMPAS Baby Stars in August 1931 even before her second movie with Warner Brothers was released. With her ability to project warmth, sincerity and inner strength on the screen along with critical praise and the audience's approval of Svengali, she continued to star in a string of successful films for Warner Bros. After a successful career, Marsh retired in the late 1950s. In the 1960s, Marsh founded Desert Beautiful, a non-profit all-volunteer conservation organization to promote environmental and beautification programs. She remained in palm desert until her death in 2006.
Ethel Moses (Temptation, Birthright, Gone Harlem)— She was a showgirl and her dancing showed it.
This is round 1 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.
[additional propaganda submitted under the cut]
Marian Marsh:
Tumblr media
Ethel Moses:
Tumblr media Tumblr media
140 notes · View notes
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Jenna And we got a lot of mail about it, Angela. We had a fan question from Saundra C in Georgia and many others who said, In this episode, we see a life size cutout of Chuck, played by Zachary Levi, displaying his love of the Pyramid phone. This is not addressed in the episode and is never explained. Was Zachary Levi in on this? Did he have to give permission? Well, first of all, just for anyone who doesn't know, Chuck was a very popular television show running during this time. It was created by Josh Schwartz. 
Angela It was also on NBC. 
Jenna It was. The plot was, Computer geek Chuck Bartowski opens an email that has been encoded subliminally with vital government secrets, triggering a massive download of critical information into his brain, prompting both the CIA and NSA to assign an agent to protect him so that no one can exploit this downloaded information in his brain. 
Angela Yeah, like his old college roommate emailed it to him and somehow he got all this information in his brain. 
Jenna Kind of a la The Matrix.  
Angela Kind of. 
Jenna Without the spigot thing, you know, without going without the poky thing that goes in the back of his- you have to plug in.
Angela Oh, yeah, yeah. Not plugged in. Yeah.
Jenna Right. To download it. This was a wireless download. 
Angela Yeah. 
Jenna Well, when this episode aired, the series finale of Chuck had just aired. It was a big event. 
Angela The whole series? 
Jenna The whole series had just ended. 
Angela Oh. 
Jenna But in order to get and use this cut out of Zachary Levi, Steve Burgess said we had to ask Warner Brothers because they own the character of Chuck. And they said yes, but we had to pay them in order to use their character. And then we contacted Zachary Levi to see if we could take some photos of him for our cut out, but he wasn't available. So Warner Brothers let us use like a publicity photo that they had for the TV show. And Warner Brothers said that their only stipulation was that we had to give them credit and we could not use Chuck in any derogatory way, which we did not. 
Angela We did not. There was an extended scene when everyone is arriving for the day to come work in the new Sabre store. 
Jenna Mm hmm. 
Angela Each Dunder-Mifflin Sabre employee walks past the Chuck poster, and they all do, like, you know, the two fingers where you kiss the two fingers, and then you pat it on something. 
Jenna Like a good luck thing? 
Angela Yeah. They all go (KISS NOISE) and they, like, kind of pat his forehead. Everyone does it except Erin, who hugs him, and Stanley just walks by him indifferently. 
Jenna Brent shared that Mindy was very fond of this cardboard cutout. 
Angela She was. I remember it. 
Jenna Yes. Because after the episode was over, do you remember she put it in her office? 
Angela Yeah. In the corner. 
Jenna Yes. And she would hang things on it, like she'd put her hat on it or a hoodie. 
Angela Her coat. Yeah. 
Jenna Yeah. So you could go in there and it would be sort of like a dress up cut out. 
Angela Yeah. And if her door was open, if you were walking down the hallway, you always saw it. It's really funny. 
Jenna Yes! And sometimes you'd forget and think a person was in there. Or that Zachary Levi was in there.
111 notes · View notes
kitkatopinions · 21 days
Note
Do you think all the people saying that Zaslav killed RT and RWBY realize that having multiple criminal investigations hanging over your company’s head along with a track record of financial mismanagement, discriminatory work culture, and abject horrible working conditions make you not a very sought after commodity and that when all of that affects your biggest show it makes people not want to pick up the IP? Or am I just crazy?
Yeah, we can and should talk about how horrible Warner Brothers is, but it isn't like this is an example of Warner Brothers cutting a good amazing profitable product that had nothing but upsides. There's plenty of other examples and I'm not trying to defend Warner Bros. But I feel like RT has a massive history of mismanagement, scandals, abuse of their staff, and a lot of bigoted content over the years...
Let's take off the rose colored glasses, that's all I'm saying about these people acting like none of this is on RT and their higher ups (which included Miles Luna btw.) We've heard reports that somehow Warner Brothers actively improved conditions at RT. But RT's biggest cash cow in RWBY couldn't sustain First memberships and their own horrible misconduct led to boycotts prior to V9, while their cheap merch led to frustrations of the few loyal people they'd otherwise managed to keep. Them closing down wasn't the fault of a critic on YouTube or 'the RWDE' or even the company that shut them down. It's the fault of RT higher ups and everyone who made that environment so awful.
53 notes · View notes
rogha · 1 year
Text
the fact that the yellowjackets creators wrote it because they saw that warner brothers announced a lord of flies all girl remake that was slated to be directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel and all the criticism online of people talking about how ‘girls wouldn’t go insane like that’ and said ‘actually. they would go insane worse’ 
182 notes · View notes
Text
FINALS: Max Goof (Disney)/Yakko Warner (Animaniacs) VS Huey Duck (Ducktales 2017)/Wakko Warner (Animaniacs)
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Propaganda for Max Goof/Yakko Warner:
I just like them. I think its cute. Romeo and juliet vibes because theyre from different studios, Disney vs warner brothers. They're both funny, dorky guys, and they bring out the best in each other. Plus only child vs overworked older child turned parent is a really good dynamic too.
YAX SWEEP
#YAX SWEEEEEEEEP!!!!!!
#yakko x max opened my third eye #this needs to be a thing
Cameo of Max's VA expressing approval of the ship~!
#YAX SWEEP #LETS GOOO
#yax propagandists ASSEMBLE
#yax sweep #they deserve it
Ok I keep forgetting to submit my own Yax propoganga but I have put so much thought into them.
They have the same sense of humor, we literally see them tell almost identical jokes. They’re both such dramatic showoffs and they both are schemers, they're both the brains of their group (friends v family)
They’re complimentary.
They’re foils.
Beause Yakko isn’t as open with his emotions, he’s more sarcasti. But Max has been truthful about what he feels since Goof Troop. It's there on the surface and he communicates and understands in ways that would be SO good for Yakko. They're two sides of the same coin. They are opposites but they support each others weaknesses. Yakko wants so badly to make people laugh, and it’s so important to him to do so. His self worth is connected to it, but Max doesn’t like his laugh and suppresses it. It practically writes itself. So yeah, there’s all the fun WB/Disney forbidden lovers, but it works off a dynamic that would already work really well. That's why I like them so much
YAX!!!! COME ON GUYS!!!!!! What is love if not filling the other person in smiles and laughter? What is love if not being the best of friends first, the perfect duo. Partners in crime that egg each other on!!! Yakko and Max deserve a kind ending, vite yax!!!!!!! Also, through Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Yakko and Max exist within the same universe. They're so close. It's not a stretch to see them interact and understand each other. They deserve this!!!!!!!!!!!
YAX SWEEP! COME ON LETS GO
#we need the brother battle! #animaniacs #yax
Go vote for Yax I am begging yall. Two snarky teenage boys who care so much about what other people think about them, finding acceptance and joy in their shared humor, and new family in the people their companies warned them about?
Like, from Dot and Wakko's side, moving away from Yakko and his boyfriend for a moment.
Dot and Wakko need someone to be friends with outside of themselves. They need familiarity and kindness.
Who better to open the Warner's to a kinder life, than a toon from a company all about the power of familial and romantic love? The themes that surround Max and Goofy, as well as many other Disney's, are exactly the kind of thing that those kids need the most.
Yakko being happy is a the first part, but having the Warners brought into the family by Goofy Goof, the man with so much understanding and love to give, who GETS kids, and has always let Max be a kid and help him through it, his appearance through Yakko amd Max knowing each other gives the Warners a positive adult figure in their lives who will be there to support them instead of criticize them for being "too much".
Yax isn't JUST about Yakko and Max, it's about the connections these kids make that starts with the eldest opening himself up. It's about learning the world around them isn't just filled with people who want them locked up.
The world is also filled with people who embrace their weirdness and energy, and who will guide them. Even if you just like yax as friends, you have to see the potential there is for all of them
The Warners and the Goofs, to have lives grow richer.
And more, with them being from seperate companies, their worldview would be able to grow to incorporate new ideas and thoughts. The Warners aren't very open with their emotions, so a father son duo who have always been open and communicative would be able to show them the benefits of doing so themselves.
Plus, watching the Warner Siblings wreak havoc with a smile, hurting no innocents, would be exactly the type of thing to make Max smile.
He could help do smaller damage control if need be as well, he's been accounting for his and his Dad's Goof Luck since he was born, and for the fallout of his own insane schemes. Adding in the brilliant and mischievous mind of Max Goof to the minds of our puppy children trio is golden.
They deserve each other, deserve kindness and acceptance. ALL of these kids do. And every single one of them get that through Yax.
#they mean everything to me #and if they make it to the finals i will cry literal tears #GO VOTE FOR YAX ‼️‼️
#YAX SWEEP LETS GOOO
#COME ON YAXXERS!!! #VOTE FOR YAX!!!
#GO VOTE FOR YAX ‼️‼️ #LET'S GOOO #YAX SWEEEEEEPPP
votee for the yaaaaxxxx
#CMON GUYS VOTE YAX #YAX SWEEP
#yax nation needs to win #go vote!
Propaganda for Huey Duck/Wakko Warner:
Huey and Wakko are classic opposite attrack characters, while also touches of "you're drawn to people who remind you of your family" thrown in. They're both very autistic coded characters (because their shows are cowards and refuse to say the word) but in opposite ways. Wakko is very outside of the norm where as Huey holds himself to a strict set of rules. While Huey adds a bit of routine to Wakko's life, Wakko encourages Huey to cut back, go outside of his comfort zone at his own pace and also relax a little. Wakko reminds Huey of both his siblings, excitable and dramatic like Dewey, and laid back (compared to his siblings) and mischevious like Louie, where as Huey reminds Wakko of his own siblings. A bit more uptight and bratty like Dot, and intelligent and encouraging like Yakko. They also bring out different sides of each other, Wakko can be gross and messy and Huey somehow finds it charming, and Huey can help Wakko see that he's intelligent and creative in his own ways rather than being outshined by his own siblings. They both also have anger issues, and Wakko would be great at helping Huey to feel his anger rather than always keeping it hidden away. He makes Huey feel seen and heard and taken care of because Huey doesn't have to be the Older BrotherTM around Wakko. Basically just opposites attract autistic kids who help each other come into one another.
#yall need to vote for my baby angels #wakko/huey sweep #please #they deserve it #their shows treated them awfully
#MY BABIES VOTE WAKKO/HUEY YOU LEGALLY HAVE TO ITS MY BIRTHDAY
#HUEY WAKKO SWEEP YOU LITERALLY HAVE TO VOTE THE BABIES
VOTE HUEY/WAKKO PLS PLS PLS MY DARLINGS MY BABIES MY LIL GUYS
ALSO IF WAKKO AND HUEY WIN THEYLL GO UP AFAINST YAKKO AND MAX WHICH IS VERY FUNNY
And if they win I’ll release never before seem Huey/Wakko art that I’ve drawn
#CMON GUYSSSSS #WE CAN DO THIS#HUEKKO SWEEP #WE STILL HAVE 2 HOURS #we need the brothers to battle
Please vote for Wakko/Huey! They need each other to help balance each other out and to grow as people! They are so cute together.
(Also want to see a brother vs brother to figure out who has the most heartwarming relationship,but that's secondary to this)
#hey if you guys love me you'll vote for wakko and huey thanks
#VOTE HUEKKO #WE NEED THE BROTHERS TO BATTLE
#if u vote Wakko/Huey I will draw whatever request you want this is my promise to you
Art Credit: Max/Yakko art by @/doodle-poofes Huey/Wakko art by @/justadoll and @/krillconnessieur
84 notes · View notes
teamjlry · 8 months
Text
Important Update Below: In solidarity with the 2023 WGA/SAG-AFTRA strike, this liveblog is on hiatus for the strike's duration.
In the interest of not crossing picket lines, and in compliance with the Critics' Solidarity Pledge with the 2023 WGA Strike, I hereby disclose that while this liveblog is not in any way paid for promotional purposes nor monetized post-hoc, it can nonetheless be considered promotional and/or critical material for the work of American screenwriters in the employment of major Hollywood studios (namely, Warner Brothers Discovery and its subsidiaries).
As such, it behooves me to recognize that RWBY would not be possible without the hard work of its writers Miles Luna, the late Monty Oum, Kerry Shawcross, Kiersi Burkhart, and Eddy Rivas. Regardless of how one might feel about RWBY as a series and as a cultural entity, and regardless of whether or not any of these individuals belong or belonged to the WGA Writers' Union, the fact remains that their work for RWBY has touched the lives of many and they deserve to be fairly compensated for their labor and not undermined by the greed of the studio executives, whose obstinance and refusal to negotiate fairly is the reason for this strike.
Solidarity forever. Bread for all, and roses too.
33 notes · View notes
Note
There has been some terrible news. Firstly Rooster Teeth an early success story for indie studios, has been shut down by Warner Brothers in another example of corporate greed. While Rooster Teeth isn’t exactly guilt free as many people have issues with it, it’s still devastating for those who have lost their jobs and livelihoods. RWBY and Red vs Blue are being sold off and the news regarding Death Battle is uncertain (1/2)
Tumblr media
//I've heard, trust me. I've been sitting on it for a while now, because I've been unsure of how to react. What I'll say is, no matter their faults, both of them shaped their respective mediums and helped make them what they are now. They were both a major part of millions of peoples' childhoods.
//Toriyama is, of course, the creator of one of the most popular shonen anime ever created. I don't need to tell you about Dragon Ball because you already know it; for the vast majority of people, it's probably what they think of when anime comes to mind.
//And sure, he wasn't perfect. He's had his flaws and some elements of his work haven't aged well, but I'd like to share a story that really cemented by respect for Toriyama as a creator. It was, ironically, when he retired between 1996 and 2012.
//When Dragon Ball: Evolution, the infamous in-name-only adaptation of his work, was in production, nobody involved listened or cared what he had to say about it. They weren't trying to make an adaptation of his work of passion or respect, they were using the name to make money.
//Considering that Toriyama, by his own admission, was a pretty laid-back guy who would put off doing his work until the last minute, the fact they managed to get under his skin is a testament to how god-awful that movie was. I don't blame the actors, I blame the corporate parasites who wanted money.
//What matters here is, after seeing the end result, Toriyama was so horrified at the idea that this would be his legacy, he came out of retirement and went back to creating Dragon Ball. That was how we got Battle of the Gods, Resurrection F, and the Dragon Ball Super series.
//He wasn't doing this for money, but because of a renewed passion for creation. The man could've stayed retired and lived comfortably, but what mattered more to him was artistic integrity. I can't tell you how much I respect that.
//As for Rooster Teeth, well...I have fewer nice things to say about where they went as a company. There's no denying they played a major role in how machinima and internet content as a whole is created, with the style of Red vs. Blue being the most influential.
//Rooster Teeth was, for me and for a lot of other people, a big part of their childhoods with RVB and RWBY. They had some very talented and creative people, who put their all into making things that did have a positive impact in the creative world.
//Just as there's also no denying that a lot of troubling things happened behind the scenes as things went on, from enforcing crunch time to deflecting criticism to other mistreatments of employees. There were times it did feel like they were coasting by on the positive reputation they once had. Things like the controversy involving Ryan Haywood also didn't help matters. That, for me, was the moment I really started to drift away from the group.
//But at the same time, I still think about the day that Geoff Ramsay opened a video they released after laying off 50 employees talking about how it was one of the darkest days in their history. He went on to talk about how much fan support means to them, and how important Rooster Teeth is to him and how he wants people to find something they're passionate about, just as he's passionate about the company.
//Seeing that, hearing how they considered calling it a day, but deciding to instead keep going out of respect for the people they had to let go, I do think it rings of that same artistic integrity. Was it naive? In hindsight, maybe so, but I never doubted it was genuine.
//Thinking about that, about how they've had people decrying their creative pursuits and the very clear passion and interest they all had in wanting to do things, just to see it cut down by corporate greed? It really stings.
//Honestly, it reminds me of this one line from Bojack Horseman:
You know what it's like? It's like that show "Becker," you know, with Ted Danson? I watched the entire run of that show, hoping that it would get better, and it never did. It had all the right pieces, but it just… It couldn't put them together. And when it got cancelled, I was really bummed out, not because I liked the show, but because I knew it could be so much better, and now it never would be. And that's what losing a parent is like. It's like "Becker." Suddenly, you realize you'll never have the good relationship you wanted, and as long as they were alive, even though you'd never admit it, part of you - the stupidest goddamn part of you - was still holding on to that chance. And you didn't even realize it until that chance went away.
//I guess there's a part of me that still holds onto the idea that, no matter how far a creator falls or how bad a work gets, maybe there's a chance they could get better. But when something closes down, gets cancelled or sold off, that chance goes away.
//I've seen so many criticisms of RWBY over the years, very passionate discussions about the show's flaws and how disappointing it is. They weren't just mindlessly bashing it for fun, they were talking about how the show has potential and could be made to work, and they were clearly coming from people who wanted it to be good.
//Now it's getting sold to someone who may have even less care for that creative vision, and that could be an even bigger tragedy than if the show were just cancelled. The fact that nobody on the staff even knew until they saw a Twitter post about it shows how little even the current people in charge cared.
//To the people still working on it and all current fans of RWBY, I sympathize completely.
//Idk what else to say. Between these events, and the news that Matpat is leaving Game Theory, it's been jarring seeing all these hits to my youth and the youths of many others. At least it all came when I was out of my depressive episode ^^;
//So what can we take away from all this? I think the biggest is the importance of artistic authenticity and passion for your craft. Not just enjoying what you do, but being willing to hear criticisms and use that to improve yourself. People who constructively criticize you do so because they want to see you improve your work.
//It's a lesson I've tried to live by and I'll continue to live by as long as I'm creating things. And while these losses might hurt, I'm glad that they were part of my life.
//Do I think that this is somehow the end of all creative freedom on the internet forever, as I'm sure someone may ask? No, of course not. This was an example of corporate greed and a tragic death, things that have happened and will continue to happen so long as capitalism is here and immortality is not.
//But if you look at the clear successes of independent works and passion projects, such as the many fangans I've shared my thoughts on, there's obviously still passion in creatives out there. Passion I hope to continue to be a part of.
//And sometimes, bad things like this happen and you get something even better out of it. From Walt Disney's bad management leading to people splitting off and creating Looney Tunes, to the miserable development of Daikatana being superseded by Deus Ex, to the slump of brown and grey military shooters being outdone by works like Portal in the late 2000's.
//Your creations will outlast you, and that's why I believe in artistic authenticity and improving your craft. Give people something they won't just enjoy now, but they'll have to remember you fondly when you're gone and to have as a source of comfort and joy through the dark moments in their lives.
15 notes · View notes