Folks, as I've always said, I do my very best to avoid courting any many controversies.
Now, that isn't always easy, right? What with the increased exposure a critic or just a basic audience member such as myself might have because of the expansion that the Information Superhighway presents, I've found that my observations have occasionally been shared elsewhere without even a request or my knowledge of said share. That's always a risk -- putting anything up in this day and age -- but it's one a good deal of us have welcomed. I have received some -- ahem -- curious feedback in certain times and certain places over something as simple as having an opinion; and -- hey -- that's perfectly okay. I stand for my own opinion -- I'm willing for it to be seen as wrong by any and all who find it in this space -- and I'm willing to defend them even to the point of being seen as incorrect. At the end of the day, it's only an opinion -- it can be as right or wrong as can anyone's -- so try to temper the elation or anger accordingly is all I suggest.
But there's a certain contingent of "fans" who seem to have taken over "ownership" of several Intellectual Properties -- several of them genre tentpoles -- and I'm just tired of their smear tactics. As I said, I'm willing to debate anyone's particular take on entertainment issues, but far too often these days these new "fans" tend to go hot and heavy right out of the gate with personal attacks. Rather than defend their own position or even respectfully debate the merits or detriments of what I have to say, they instead hurl insults as if their honor or "privilege" of remaining anonymous is more important than constructing an authentic debate. Oh, they'll every now and then give the impression that they're open-minded and/or willing to have a conversaion, but I've found that they're more interested in couching intelligent dialogue with ad hominem viciousness ... and, sorry, that sh#t shouldn't be tolerated. Anywhere. By anyone. At any time.
So ... no, I'm not going to engage on Star Wars latest installment, The Acolyte.
Much like the Walt Disney Company and the BBC have sought to refashion Doctor Who into something pushing ideology, it definitely appears that The Acolyte -- even with its very name -- is desiring of the same theft of intellectual property. Kathleen Kennedy has long insisted that -- ahem -- "The Force Is Female" (her words, not mine) -- and I've suggested online and in places here and there that I see this as an attempt to insert an agenda so deeply entrenched in the franchise's core mythology that it will not recover. You can't thumb your nose at an audience for ten years and expect them to hang around. You can't repeated insult paying customers and expect them to keep coming back for more, certainly not in the era of Joe Biden's oppressing economy. At some point, it becomes patently clear that we -- as consumers -- are not wanted; and I've always sided with taking my business elsewhere when and if I'm not sought as the preferred demographic.
This isn't about the ongoing culture war between the have and the have-nots. I'm perfectly okay with stories of any ideological bent being told in just about any narrative universe. Why, just yesterday I sounded off on the obvious emasculation present in Netflix's Lost In Space reboot, and I even admitted that -- despite disagreeing with the premise -- I still managed to have a helluva lot of fun with the inaugural episode. As I've always said, I can put aside politics if I'm given a story grand enough to captivate me as a viewer. I'm just no fan of politics for the sake of politics, and it's kinda/sorta become clear to me that this is all Kathleen Kennedy and Leslye Headland wish to do: usurp the mantle of The Force and Star Wars for their own ideological edification, and it's that sh#t that just doesn't interest me.
For saying something as simple as that?
Why, yesterday -- online -- I was told that my masculinity was too fragile.
See what I mean? There's absolutely nothing substantive in that comment. It's lacking a degree of thoughtfulness, and it's predicated entirely on a false assumption that tries to subvert my expectations -- as a consumer -- so f#ck them, f#ck those fans, and f#ck The Acolyte. I wish it well -- I hope it achieves whatever grand goal Disney has set for it -- but none of us need that kind of ignominy in our lives over a f#cking TV show ... and one that doesn't look very good much less very inclusive at the start.
The Force is not female. It never will be. And Lucasfilm will likely crash and burn further as a consequence of such pandering.
-- EZ
Now, that isn't always easy, right? What with the increased exposure a critic or just a basic audience member such as myself might have because of the expansion that the Information Superhighway presents, I've found that my observations have occasionally been shared elsewhere without even a request or my knowledge of said share. That's always a risk -- putting anything up in this day and age -- but it's one a good deal of us have welcomed. I have received some -- ahem -- curious feedback in certain times and certain places over something as simple as having an opinion; and -- hey -- that's perfectly okay. I stand for my own opinion -- I'm willing for it to be seen as wrong by any and all who find it in this space -- and I'm willing to defend them even to the point of being seen as incorrect. At the end of the day, it's only an opinion -- it can be as right or wrong as can anyone's -- so try to temper the elation or anger accordingly is all I suggest.
But there's a certain contingent of "fans" who seem to have taken over "ownership" of several Intellectual Properties -- several of them genre tentpoles -- and I'm just tired of their smear tactics. As I said, I'm willing to debate anyone's particular take on entertainment issues, but far too often these days these new "fans" tend to go hot and heavy right out of the gate with personal attacks. Rather than defend their own position or even respectfully debate the merits or detriments of what I have to say, they instead hurl insults as if their honor or "privilege" of remaining anonymous is more important than constructing an authentic debate. Oh, they'll every now and then give the impression that they're open-minded and/or willing to have a conversaion, but I've found that they're more interested in couching intelligent dialogue with ad hominem viciousness ... and, sorry, that sh#t shouldn't be tolerated. Anywhere. By anyone. At any time.
So ... no, I'm not going to engage on Star Wars latest installment, The Acolyte.
Much like the Walt Disney Company and the BBC have sought to refashion Doctor Who into something pushing ideology, it definitely appears that The Acolyte -- even with its very name -- is desiring of the same theft of intellectual property. Kathleen Kennedy has long insisted that -- ahem -- "The Force Is Female" (her words, not mine) -- and I've suggested online and in places here and there that I see this as an attempt to insert an agenda so deeply entrenched in the franchise's core mythology that it will not recover. You can't thumb your nose at an audience for ten years and expect them to hang around. You can't repeated insult paying customers and expect them to keep coming back for more, certainly not in the era of Joe Biden's oppressing economy. At some point, it becomes patently clear that we -- as consumers -- are not wanted; and I've always sided with taking my business elsewhere when and if I'm not sought as the preferred demographic.
This isn't about the ongoing culture war between the have and the have-nots. I'm perfectly okay with stories of any ideological bent being told in just about any narrative universe. Why, just yesterday I sounded off on the obvious emasculation present in Netflix's Lost In Space reboot, and I even admitted that -- despite disagreeing with the premise -- I still managed to have a helluva lot of fun with the inaugural episode. As I've always said, I can put aside politics if I'm given a story grand enough to captivate me as a viewer. I'm just no fan of politics for the sake of politics, and it's kinda/sorta become clear to me that this is all Kathleen Kennedy and Leslye Headland wish to do: usurp the mantle of The Force and Star Wars for their own ideological edification, and it's that sh#t that just doesn't interest me.
For saying something as simple as that?
Why, yesterday -- online -- I was told that my masculinity was too fragile.
See what I mean? There's absolutely nothing substantive in that comment. It's lacking a degree of thoughtfulness, and it's predicated entirely on a false assumption that tries to subvert my expectations -- as a consumer -- so f#ck them, f#ck those fans, and f#ck The Acolyte. I wish it well -- I hope it achieves whatever grand goal Disney has set for it -- but none of us need that kind of ignominy in our lives over a f#cking TV show ... and one that doesn't look very good much less very inclusive at the start.
The Force is not female. It never will be. And Lucasfilm will likely crash and burn further as a consequence of such pandering.
-- EZ
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