You ever stop and think maybe you primarily interact with artists who are as plagued by the invisible phantoms of cancel culture as you are? Popular art is certainly as safe and diluted as maybe it's ever been, but that's due to manifold reasons: it's harder than ever to survive as a working artist; corporate consolidation of entertainment gets worse every day; the primary villain of art is the endless ouroboros of IP nostalgia, an infantilizing vein the execs cannot stop hitting because the money keeps pouring in. Perspective-less hacks rising to the top as has been the universal law of popular art for most of the 20th century, but that's because it's always been easier to sell soma-laden four-quadrant slop than anything remotely transgressive.
But to say that anyone with an edge or perspective is just staying hidden to avoid scrutiny? Look at the film world as of late. You could check out the Romanian movie "Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World," beloved by many Western critics, which features a production assistant putting on an Andrew Tate snapchat filter and shouting slurs for three hours. You can currently see "The Substance" in most AMC Theatres where I know for a fact that Twitter and Letterboxd is amok with some people screaming that, despite being made by a woman, it nevertheless is "misogynist and male-gazey" due to telling women they should hate their bodies or because of the endless close-ups of Margaret Qualley's ass, or whatever. Ari Aster just made a movie last year where the main character stabs a giant ballsack after fucking Parker Posey to death. Emma Stone won an Oscar for "Poor Things" which produced *~discourse~* about the amount of sex scenes being sexist and exploitative. "Deadpool and Wolverine" is dogshit but made a billion dollars while Blade says something's retarded, and has another joke where he's like "oh that's so ableist, the woke mob is gonna hate that" which is clearly supposed to say that "the woke mob" are dumb losers. I guess you could always say "well that reddit thread discouraged SOMEONE from making SOMETHING" and like, ok, I guess we gotta take your word for it? But all that shit got made and plenty more will too. That "American Dirt" book got raked over the coals for being problematic or whatever and the author endured some reputational damage for her book being dogshit I guess, but I've seen that thing get endcap displays at Barnes and Noble to this day. If you tell me "ok, but those are celebrities ... what about the small, struggling artists?" Alright, I don't know them, please cite somebody who was unfairly stripped of their profession because they dared to step on a Twitter landmine. Tell your buddies to buck up, make their shit and see what happens.
Is the premise of this comment that what I see everyday in two careers I devote myself to is false because there’s an edgy Romanian movie playing on Mubi?
The premise is that perhaps you and your panicked colleagues have so thoroughly convinced yourselves of some Stalinist purge of any artist or public-facing person with a blemish on their personal record that you have Plato's-caved your head into a weird obsession and fear of the dancing shadows. There has always been inherent risk in being a public person, and obviously it's easier to be scrutinized in 2024. But unless I missed some mass execution of comic book artists or natsec analysts, these people sound like weird hermetic cowards who have ingested too many Bill Maher podcasts. If they're truly fearful, hey, like the kids say, I can't deny their experience. But just say you don't want any risk instead of describing the creative landscape as a stage with a scythe permanently at everyone's necks. It's weak, inexact, and just so fucking boring.
Maybe it's anecdotal but I personally know two dudes put on suicide watch. A solid six who just aren't 'right' after having their lives dismantled. I think your narrative of "art is about risk, so YOU go take that risk, I'll watch" is some real no-stakes talk. And I know you're not being literal, but the whole "nobody died, so nobody was cancelled" is idiotic. Truly. I read that shit online and I wonder if anyone has an inner life or if suddenly, just for the purposes of judging other people, everything is material in nature and the only suffering worth registering is physical death. You don't gotta say who you are, but so I understand- are you a public person? Or is this spoken as speculation?
I'm not saying shit *doesn't happen* and no one's ever gone through what you're describing (fairly, unfairly, whatever). I know a music dude accused of shit acquitted legally and in the court of public opinion (though obviously not to 100% of people who have whatever image they have of him) but he'll never get the years of his life back spent defending himself. I understand there are costs when said dismantling occurs. What I'm calling bullshit on is that, de facto being a public figure or artist means you're a hair's breath away from what you're describing (sure, we all are in the vague "you could die any second" sense). It's the alarmist "this is a pandemic level certainty" event and, extrapolating from that, that the reason culture sucks is that the true artists are hiding in their protective bunkers because of all the cancelling.
Alright well, there's a spectrum between discrete events and larger phenomena. It's weird that countless artists somehow manage to get out of bed and put themselves and their work out into the world without this same debilitating fear.
As a fan of the species series ie only one and two ( watched the other sci if channel bullshit) since they had a impact on me since I was 5 , I would implore you to watch species 2 and that’s it don’t go any further since species 2 tonality feels like a sex comedy
You ever stop and think maybe you primarily interact with artists who are as plagued by the invisible phantoms of cancel culture as you are? Popular art is certainly as safe and diluted as maybe it's ever been, but that's due to manifold reasons: it's harder than ever to survive as a working artist; corporate consolidation of entertainment gets worse every day; the primary villain of art is the endless ouroboros of IP nostalgia, an infantilizing vein the execs cannot stop hitting because the money keeps pouring in. Perspective-less hacks rising to the top as has been the universal law of popular art for most of the 20th century, but that's because it's always been easier to sell soma-laden four-quadrant slop than anything remotely transgressive.
But to say that anyone with an edge or perspective is just staying hidden to avoid scrutiny? Look at the film world as of late. You could check out the Romanian movie "Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World," beloved by many Western critics, which features a production assistant putting on an Andrew Tate snapchat filter and shouting slurs for three hours. You can currently see "The Substance" in most AMC Theatres where I know for a fact that Twitter and Letterboxd is amok with some people screaming that, despite being made by a woman, it nevertheless is "misogynist and male-gazey" due to telling women they should hate their bodies or because of the endless close-ups of Margaret Qualley's ass, or whatever. Ari Aster just made a movie last year where the main character stabs a giant ballsack after fucking Parker Posey to death. Emma Stone won an Oscar for "Poor Things" which produced *~discourse~* about the amount of sex scenes being sexist and exploitative. "Deadpool and Wolverine" is dogshit but made a billion dollars while Blade says something's retarded, and has another joke where he's like "oh that's so ableist, the woke mob is gonna hate that" which is clearly supposed to say that "the woke mob" are dumb losers. I guess you could always say "well that reddit thread discouraged SOMEONE from making SOMETHING" and like, ok, I guess we gotta take your word for it? But all that shit got made and plenty more will too. That "American Dirt" book got raked over the coals for being problematic or whatever and the author endured some reputational damage for her book being dogshit I guess, but I've seen that thing get endcap displays at Barnes and Noble to this day. If you tell me "ok, but those are celebrities ... what about the small, struggling artists?" Alright, I don't know them, please cite somebody who was unfairly stripped of their profession because they dared to step on a Twitter landmine. Tell your buddies to buck up, make their shit and see what happens.
Is the premise of this comment that what I see everyday in two careers I devote myself to is false because there’s an edgy Romanian movie playing on Mubi?
The premise is that perhaps you and your panicked colleagues have so thoroughly convinced yourselves of some Stalinist purge of any artist or public-facing person with a blemish on their personal record that you have Plato's-caved your head into a weird obsession and fear of the dancing shadows. There has always been inherent risk in being a public person, and obviously it's easier to be scrutinized in 2024. But unless I missed some mass execution of comic book artists or natsec analysts, these people sound like weird hermetic cowards who have ingested too many Bill Maher podcasts. If they're truly fearful, hey, like the kids say, I can't deny their experience. But just say you don't want any risk instead of describing the creative landscape as a stage with a scythe permanently at everyone's necks. It's weak, inexact, and just so fucking boring.
Maybe it's anecdotal but I personally know two dudes put on suicide watch. A solid six who just aren't 'right' after having their lives dismantled. I think your narrative of "art is about risk, so YOU go take that risk, I'll watch" is some real no-stakes talk. And I know you're not being literal, but the whole "nobody died, so nobody was cancelled" is idiotic. Truly. I read that shit online and I wonder if anyone has an inner life or if suddenly, just for the purposes of judging other people, everything is material in nature and the only suffering worth registering is physical death. You don't gotta say who you are, but so I understand- are you a public person? Or is this spoken as speculation?
I'm not saying shit *doesn't happen* and no one's ever gone through what you're describing (fairly, unfairly, whatever). I know a music dude accused of shit acquitted legally and in the court of public opinion (though obviously not to 100% of people who have whatever image they have of him) but he'll never get the years of his life back spent defending himself. I understand there are costs when said dismantling occurs. What I'm calling bullshit on is that, de facto being a public figure or artist means you're a hair's breath away from what you're describing (sure, we all are in the vague "you could die any second" sense). It's the alarmist "this is a pandemic level certainty" event and, extrapolating from that, that the reason culture sucks is that the true artists are hiding in their protective bunkers because of all the cancelling.
Just the ones I know.
Alright well, there's a spectrum between discrete events and larger phenomena. It's weird that countless artists somehow manage to get out of bed and put themselves and their work out into the world without this same debilitating fear.
You say Chicago treated you well but we’re not on the next tour
As a fan of the species series ie only one and two ( watched the other sci if channel bullshit) since they had a impact on me since I was 5 , I would implore you to watch species 2 and that’s it don’t go any further since species 2 tonality feels like a sex comedy
I don't know why but I'm thinking of going full Species and full Poison Ivy franchises.
It was me.
There was also heavy-set couple dialogue, but it broke up the video too much.