So I have your permission then. Oh I’m so glad. Happy, happy, joy, joy.
I’ll stop posting when there is no longer any valuable news about it. Right now, the releases by Disney every day are still promoting dozens of responses each day. Some people find this information interesting.
So yesterday, Headlund called all the fans who want Disney to be faithful to the source material “misogynist”. That’s news and some people are interested to know.
No permission slips needed.
View: https://youtu.be/LVGy91Ry_dQ?si=D5V78WW0EBCjd-Ow
She makes several great points. It’s something new, that when fans complain they are attacked by the actors, producers and directors. And yeah just to remind, politics is downstream from art and philosophy. What’s happening here will eventually show up in more serious parts of life.
So it’s not frivolous, not petty, not insignificant to note when an actress releases a music vid intended to mock and infuriate fans. There’s a method at work here.
First, the Acolyte marketing team released claims that the show would be both woke and lore-breaking. Eighteen months before release, they warned the fans most of them would not like it. Given the legal requirements the SEC enforces that require corporate execs to seek fiscal benefit and success for their shareholders, this is insane behavior.
Second, the last minute marketing fanned the embers of these early flame wars to reignite them—apparently thinking all press is good press.
Third, record breaking crowds of fans engaged online in the worst shitstorm reaction ever to any entertainment IP release.
Forth, actors, directors and producers stepped forward and blamed the fans for not liking what was served up, by making moral judgments about people they don’t know, over complaints they didn’t make.
Fifth, the shitstorm yielded record breaking engagement online, and disengagement with actual viewing. It also resulted in the firing of the marketing team.
Finally, we have the afterglow. When people like Snarkey and Theory step forward and say “you really hurt my feelings by attacking me”, we ought to take notice. These are lifelong fans with their own cosplay history (Snarkey) and corporate investments (Theory Sabers), and there just isn’t anyone more invested in the brand. Yet they’re ready to walk away because of the way they’ve been viciously attacked.
That’s news worth thinking about, whether you like the brand or not. This is all new to our culture, and because politics is downstream of culture, we should see these kinds of changes elsewhere, very soon.
What does it all mean? I’m not sure. If institutions continue down this path, deliberately force feeding the public stuff they don’t like, probably we’ll see the rise of new institutions. Disney will not last forever.
If on the other hand Disney wakes up and returns to providing what people want, they could go another hundred years, and we could get Star Wars people actually like.
What does this mean philosophically? This is the Mind Virus we’ve been warned about at work. It will either succeed and disease the entire body of our culture, or we will shake it off and go on with life. Evidence seems to suggest we’re shaking it off. Again. For about the dozenth time in 2,000 years. Deconstruction isn’t new, but eventually all cultures die. Eventually the Mind Virus kills its host. This is about the survival of Western Civilization—by far the most successful civilization in human history. No shit.