the way these strikes get framed is always so funny to me
"the strike could stretch on until the end of summer" or the execs could pay their workers
"there won't be ANY new shows because of this strike" or the execs could pay their workers
"no more content for us because the mean old writers and actors are-" OR THE EXECS COULD PAY THEIR WORKERS
During yesterday SAG-AFTRA press conference a journalist asked:
“What do you say to the fans and consumers that aren’t interested in the strike and just want to see their favourite tv show?” (or something along these lines I don’t recall the precise words)
And Fran Drescher responded with:
“Well, what makes you think they are not interested in what’s happening here? I think that they have an allegiance to all of us because we bring joy and entertainment to their lives […] so I don’t think that your assumption that they don’t really care about anything but being entertained over the summer is the bottom line” and proceded to say how this corporate greed can extend to all fields of works and how we understand that
AND WE DO UNDERSTAND AND WE DO CARE!
I love her so much for this! It makes me sooo mad when the assumption is that, as a consumer, I don’t care about people who make something that I love, because I do, we do! I know for a fact that people in fandoms care so much about the people involved in the creation of every aspect of their favourite piece of media.
Stop infantilising the audience! We are not whiny children and we understand the complexities of this moment. I am sooo happy that she recognised that.
2005 pride and prejudice is annoying to me in how mid it is both as a stand-alone movie and especially as an adaptation. and I wouldn't care, but somehow, people have decided that this movie - a movie that changes the personalities of literally every character besides elisabeth, changes plot points to make characters look more sympathetic, fails to convey the core message(s) of the book - is the gold standard for austen adaptations and that keeps me up at night.
Some of you might remember a couple of years ago when Scarlett Johansson sued Disney because she was making significantly less money for Black Widow than was guaranteed in her contract because so many more people watched it on streaming than in theaters, how there was a massive misinformation campaign from Disney that a ton of people on this website (and Twitter and other social media) bought into: That she was a greedy bitch who didn't respect people who needed to stay at home during the pandemic (I believe the word "ableist" was thrown around with aplomb) as opposed to someone who just wanted to be paid what she was owed. What was literally in her contract!!! And where everyone who took more than a couple minutes to actually look into and think about the situation could figure out that her issue wasn't with streaming itself, but with how little streaming was allowed to get away with paying her and other actors. But of course, a lot of people just saw the chance to dunk on a rich woman, and didn't think about it beyond readying some snarky tags and hit reblog. And in doing so, threw their support behind a much wealthier, greedier studio head who is already using similar language to describe the current strike.
Anyway we're going to see a lot of that from studios now, especially now that actors have joined the WGA and it's easier to sell them as rich and greedy than writers, because of this cultural stereotype we have of all Hollywood actors as celebrities. Don't fall for it. SAG-AFTRA represents people like Tom Cruise and ScarJo but it also represents the kind of people who played a Borg in two episodes of Star Trek: Voyager in 1997 or who had one line in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel as an enthusiastic audience member. Most actors are not crazy wealthy, and in fact, if you're a big TV fan (especially older TV and genre TV) that likely includes some actor names that you know, who played supporting roles in your fav shows, or who were even a star in something decades ago but haven't done anything major since. The AFTRA side also represents people like radio broadcasters. But even beside that, all workers deserve to be fairly compensated for the work they do, and the threat of replacing them with AI, or real actors being required to sign contracts to allow their likenesses to be used by AI forever without paying them, is an existential threat to acting as a profession in general. The actors are in the right. The writers are in the right. The studios are in the wrong. The studios have exploited new technology to get away with horrifying labor practices for years and their feet need to be put to the fire. Circulate the articles about how poorly the Orange is the New Black cast was compensated for making one of the defining shows of the early streaming boom, and of the studios saying they want to force writers to starve and lose their homes. Don't get distracted by propaganda aping progressive-sounding language about wealthy celebrities. Focus on the real enemy, the truly greedy fat cats who care more about money than people and art: the studios.
when did we decide that money and taxes and work was the destiny of humanity? why cant we just be free nature dwelling human nymphs who wake-up in flower gardens in the late afternoon and laze around with wildlife and have bonfire dance parties when the sunsets and eat berries and hunt and sing from treetops and bathe in rivers.... that's life. not this prison hellscape.
Ok just for curiosity reasons
I genuinely hate to say this but please reblog if you hit the like button for a larger sample size thank you <3
friendly reminder for the new twitter refugees:
Twitter thread by Melissa Caruso about a labyrinthine magical bookstore in Syracuse, NY. Link to the first tweet in the thread; most pictures have image descriptions! Now here are the screenshots of that thread:
I GOT A FUCKING RAISE THE POTATO WORKED WTF
This potato works. Every. Fucking. Time.
"And I wake with you memory over me that's a real fucking legacy to leave" will always be superior ✋🏽
testing something out, reblog with your thoughts on Maroon and whether you're a full blown swiftie or more of a casual fan in the tags
reblog and put in the tags your top 5 from midnights along with your zodiac sign, it’s for science
