One of the downsides to being a media pundit -- even a small one like me -- is that readers will occasionally reach out asking for one's particular thoughts on a particular subject ... especially those involving more than a bit of controversy.
Longtime readers of this space will tell you that I rarely -- and I do mean rarely -- comment on such things. Unlike other sites, I'm not a click/bait figurehead, though I probably like to be shared as much as the next bloke. I do tend to avoid subject matter that gets into political arenas, though I'm also very willing to admit at each and every opportunity that I lean a bit more to the Right Side of the aisle than I do the Left. My philosophy about avoiding such matters is that they're essentially transient: they don't last. They're hot button topics -- they're clickworthy for a few days to a few weeks -- and then they disappear into the ether. I'd rather expend physical and mental energies talking about ideas and actors and films and TV shows that endure -- as well as expounding upon why I think they endure -- than get lost in the brouhaha of celebrity news.
Still, sometimes a word here and there is a worthy exercise, especially if I get asked. If nothing else, when I'm asked, then I understand that it's of interest to the readership ... and that's the case today with the whole Jonathan Majors kerfuffle.
Now, I've no interest in reliving the guy's issues. Let's agree to the Starting Point that he had some anger issues that with a certain lady, and those behaviors ultimately boiled over into the public arena. This understandably led to some legal exercises on the part of said "victim" (yes, I'm using the quotes on victim because I'm not a student of this thing and the word has too many positive and negative connotations for me to go into at this time), and the end result of which was that, just yesterday, Majors was found guilty ... and we are where we are.
It wasn't long after the announced conviction that Marvel dropped the actor from his stewardship over the role of Kang in the whole Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Those are the facts -- or, at least, that's the summary of facts that are relevant so far as this writer is concerned -- and I've been asked my thoughts on the matter.
So ... here they are.
I rarely get involved in the lives of these celebrities. I may sound off on them occasionally here and there, but -- as a general practice -- I really don't much give a damn what they do. You see, the way I figure things is you have to sign up for a certain amount of public exposure when you agree to a life on the screen -- big or small -- so when and if your good or bad behaviors get out there in the general atmosphere then there's likely going to be some consequence. That's just the reality of the world and the way crap works in Hollyweird -- you sign on the dotted line for everything that comes your way -- and that Grim Reaper commands stiff price in exchange for your soul.
But ... does this "derail" the whole Marvel entity?
Well ... of course not.
Last I checked, the whole Marvel business wasn't exactly in smooth waters to begin with. The Marvels pretty much tanked, and there was little to no interest in the past few streaming affairs. The web itself has made bank on the rumors of allegedly completed Marvel films going for endless reshoots. And -- in case you missed it -- Marvel's owner is financially and intellectually bankrupt. So this whole thang with Majors is, literally, chump change in the prospects for that studio's future.
I leave questions about "should he or shouldn't he" have lost his job to the studio's lawyers. Really, folks: there's nothing for us in attempting to answer those queries. Ultimately, what I think has no effect on the world-at-large -- there is no authentic Butterfly Effect as it relates to the machinations of a wild blogger ... but the comparisons I've read to the trials and tribulations of Ezra Miller have drawn my attention.
Look ... Miller's public behaviors were pretty bizarre. I'm not sure how they match up to Majors, honestly. (As I said, I just don't follow this stuff all that closely as I find it unimportant on so many levels.) Toxicity -- whether we like it or not -- kinda/sorta falls under that whole "there's no such thing as bad advertising" heading, and perhaps the suits at Warner Bros. and DC Studios decided 'rolling with the punches' was a better strategy. It isn't as if the news of Majors' trouble derailed his work within Marvel Studios; it's just that they decided all of it had a finish line, and that was crossed yesterday.
Others have fallen farther and faster than Majors.
Hollywood is replete with scandal after scandal, and -- only on rare occasions, so far as I can see -- has something like this effectively ended a career. As it's been remarked by those in the know, everyone was well aware of what Harvey Weinstein was doing for years, and it never got in the way of his co-conspirators celebrating his efforts at each and every awards show. I don't think this'll be the last we'll ever see of Jonathan -- I hope this development gives him pause and, if needed, that he seeks out the assistance to make peace in whatever way he can -- but all of that starts with the admission that a problem exists. That's why I don't give a damn about, say, Will Smith's predicament: he refuses to admit that there's a problem, so he can't be helped much less applauded for whatever meager public efforts he presents as 'evidence' that he's improving.
These things, sadly, happen. Life is, unfortunately, sometimes ugly. Solutions, inevitably, come from dark destinations ... so I'll simply wish Majors well on his continued journey.
-- EZ
Longtime readers of this space will tell you that I rarely -- and I do mean rarely -- comment on such things. Unlike other sites, I'm not a click/bait figurehead, though I probably like to be shared as much as the next bloke. I do tend to avoid subject matter that gets into political arenas, though I'm also very willing to admit at each and every opportunity that I lean a bit more to the Right Side of the aisle than I do the Left. My philosophy about avoiding such matters is that they're essentially transient: they don't last. They're hot button topics -- they're clickworthy for a few days to a few weeks -- and then they disappear into the ether. I'd rather expend physical and mental energies talking about ideas and actors and films and TV shows that endure -- as well as expounding upon why I think they endure -- than get lost in the brouhaha of celebrity news.
Still, sometimes a word here and there is a worthy exercise, especially if I get asked. If nothing else, when I'm asked, then I understand that it's of interest to the readership ... and that's the case today with the whole Jonathan Majors kerfuffle.
Now, I've no interest in reliving the guy's issues. Let's agree to the Starting Point that he had some anger issues that with a certain lady, and those behaviors ultimately boiled over into the public arena. This understandably led to some legal exercises on the part of said "victim" (yes, I'm using the quotes on victim because I'm not a student of this thing and the word has too many positive and negative connotations for me to go into at this time), and the end result of which was that, just yesterday, Majors was found guilty ... and we are where we are.
It wasn't long after the announced conviction that Marvel dropped the actor from his stewardship over the role of Kang in the whole Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Those are the facts -- or, at least, that's the summary of facts that are relevant so far as this writer is concerned -- and I've been asked my thoughts on the matter.
So ... here they are.
I rarely get involved in the lives of these celebrities. I may sound off on them occasionally here and there, but -- as a general practice -- I really don't much give a damn what they do. You see, the way I figure things is you have to sign up for a certain amount of public exposure when you agree to a life on the screen -- big or small -- so when and if your good or bad behaviors get out there in the general atmosphere then there's likely going to be some consequence. That's just the reality of the world and the way crap works in Hollyweird -- you sign on the dotted line for everything that comes your way -- and that Grim Reaper commands stiff price in exchange for your soul.
But ... does this "derail" the whole Marvel entity?
Well ... of course not.
Last I checked, the whole Marvel business wasn't exactly in smooth waters to begin with. The Marvels pretty much tanked, and there was little to no interest in the past few streaming affairs. The web itself has made bank on the rumors of allegedly completed Marvel films going for endless reshoots. And -- in case you missed it -- Marvel's owner is financially and intellectually bankrupt. So this whole thang with Majors is, literally, chump change in the prospects for that studio's future.
I leave questions about "should he or shouldn't he" have lost his job to the studio's lawyers. Really, folks: there's nothing for us in attempting to answer those queries. Ultimately, what I think has no effect on the world-at-large -- there is no authentic Butterfly Effect as it relates to the machinations of a wild blogger ... but the comparisons I've read to the trials and tribulations of Ezra Miller have drawn my attention.
Look ... Miller's public behaviors were pretty bizarre. I'm not sure how they match up to Majors, honestly. (As I said, I just don't follow this stuff all that closely as I find it unimportant on so many levels.) Toxicity -- whether we like it or not -- kinda/sorta falls under that whole "there's no such thing as bad advertising" heading, and perhaps the suits at Warner Bros. and DC Studios decided 'rolling with the punches' was a better strategy. It isn't as if the news of Majors' trouble derailed his work within Marvel Studios; it's just that they decided all of it had a finish line, and that was crossed yesterday.
Others have fallen farther and faster than Majors.
Hollywood is replete with scandal after scandal, and -- only on rare occasions, so far as I can see -- has something like this effectively ended a career. As it's been remarked by those in the know, everyone was well aware of what Harvey Weinstein was doing for years, and it never got in the way of his co-conspirators celebrating his efforts at each and every awards show. I don't think this'll be the last we'll ever see of Jonathan -- I hope this development gives him pause and, if needed, that he seeks out the assistance to make peace in whatever way he can -- but all of that starts with the admission that a problem exists. That's why I don't give a damn about, say, Will Smith's predicament: he refuses to admit that there's a problem, so he can't be helped much less applauded for whatever meager public efforts he presents as 'evidence' that he's improving.
These things, sadly, happen. Life is, unfortunately, sometimes ugly. Solutions, inevitably, come from dark destinations ... so I'll simply wish Majors well on his continued journey.
-- EZ
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