Fair enough,

I imagine Doom would give it a good try though. He seems pretty experienced with traversing dimensions, visiting hellish realms and murdering/swindling cosmic being out of their power.

It’s very much the question of whether Doom can live up to the hype and defeat God, tyranny, and capitalism. By and large, he doesn’t, so he can’t.

*nods*

And that is why it is an esteemed opinion.

I guess I just daydream of a Kirby written and drawn crossover and the ensuing game of evil monologue tennis and far out weaponry.

Fair enough,

I imagine Doom would give it a good try though. He seems pretty experienced with traversing dimensions, visiting hellish realms and murdering/swindling cosmic being out of their power.

It’s very much the question of whether Doom can live up to the hype and defeat God, tyranny, and capitalism. By and large, he doesn’t, so he can’t.

*nods*

And that is why it is an esteemed opinion.

Fair enough,

I imagine Doom would give it a good try though. He seems pretty experienced with traversing dimensions, visiting hellish realms and murdering/swindling cosmic being out of their power.

Propaganda in Fiction

When I critique ideological content in fiction, I often hear claims that I’m politicizing something that is inherently neutral–or, conversely, people say that the works they write are without ideological content and are simply intended to provoke emotion. This represents a misunderstanding of how fiction works. It is impossible to create a story altogether apolitical because it always forms as a reflection of the author’s philosophies, and any attempt to consciously remove political references would in itself be a political act in the rejection of popular ideological content. There is no escaping the fact that fiction is, by its very nature, a form of propaganda. Authors who don’t recognize that will produce inferior works by not understanding a component of their writing. You need to wield propaganda well to be a competent author.

Another issue with the subject of neutrality is “You can’t stay still on a moving train.” You can either subvert the status quo by choosing a political agenda that runs contrary to popular opinion or enforce it by sticking to storytelling conventions.

Let’s look at Timeless, a very consciously political time travel show about American patriots chasing anti-American terrorists through American history to preserve it–or, the parts of it deemed important. Its fundamental premise is that America is good and worth maintaining, a given assumption of American audiences, so Timeless is based on a conservative political agenda. Even though it’s an automatic assumption, its presence in the show is inherently political. From this baseline conservatism, Timeless presents nuance and can subversively challenge the political status quo assumptions of audiences.

The metatext to Timeless is Trump conservatism. In an era of patriotic fervor over the supposed greatness of American history, which conservatives wish to return, the plot device of time travel allows for reflection on that history and reevaluation of whether or not it meets modern expectations of greatness. What does “Make America Great Again” really mean? Here, Timeless rests upon a knife blade of political messages, either to produce a subversive look at American history and challenge Trump or to uphold the traditional view of history and support Trump. There is no neutral path.

Timeless takes the progressive path, vividly depicting the ugly side of American history with prejudice and violence that does not meet modern standards of greatness, while still fundamentally conservative for the baseline assumption that American history is worth preserving regardless of its blemishes. Timeless puts forward a progressive version of American patriotism, recognizing the flaws of history and also featuring marginalized historical figures worth honoring despite modern traditionalism that would ignore or downplay their actions. 

An interesting example is their depiction of Bass Reeves, a black U.S. marshal from the late 1800s with a record that made one biographer compare him to a beloved white fictional character, the Lone Ranger. As the result of a research goof, Timeless depicts him as the literal inspiration for the Lone Ranger character instead of just the only real American historical figure who is comparable to the fictional character. There is much musing on whitewashing of American history that is inappropriate for the depiction of a man worth honoring for his own accomplishments. It’s certainly a result of racist history recollection that he is not widely known and the focus on the Lone Ranger even dilutes that in addition to being wrong.

As a result of the depiction of him at all so thoroughly contradicting the status quo depiction of white people being the only ones to make American history great, white conservatives have a hard time believing he exists at all. I’ve found that when I bring up Timeless making a research error in his depiction, they’ll reject the whole narrative of him existing at all because they’ll only accept the idea of such a status quo-breaking figure under the premise that the Timeless writers did their research and will otherwise assume he is simply a creation of subversive propaganda. I assure them he exists, but I don’t know if they believe me.

The very decision to depict Bass Reeves at all is inherently political–even though he exists and is an interesting character worth inclusion in a time travel show. You could say it would be most politically neutral to acknowledge his existence because his existence is a matter of historical fact and then say you could be specifically progressive by discussing the racism of the time with a nod to modern politics or conservative by positively framing traits of his with a nod to modern conservative politics–his arrest of his son for murder could certainly be framed as a one-of-the-good-ones black man opposing the violence in the black community, say–but the passive historical fact that he even existed at all is subversive to the conservative premise that only white men made America great. You can’t stand still on a moving train, and to passively follow expectations by ignoring him in American history is to actively uphold white supremacist conservatism.

If you think you can watch media without politicizing it, all that’s really happening is that you’re watching something that upholds conservative assumptions you have about the world. And, likely, you’re in a position of privilege where those conservative assumptions give you a feeling of security for believing that your group is what makes society great. It’s mentally itchy when those securities are challenged, like a wool sweater on your brain, but to ignore such challenges is an active conservative political act. There is no political neutrality.

I’m absolutely heartily behind the viewpoint I’m getting from this, which is insisting Bass Reeves was the inspiration for the Lone Ranger dilutes Reeves’ accomplishments, which were far more real than any fantasy character.

That is one of my points, yes.

Did not regret reinstalling Tumblr tonight 📚

“In a hundred years of movies, homosexuality has only rarely been depicted on the screen. When it did appear, it was there as something to laugh at, or something to pity, or even something to fear. These were fleeting images, but they were unforgettable, and they left a lasting legacy. Hollywood, that great maker of myths, taught straight people what to think about gay people… and gay people what to think about themselves.” (The Celluloid Closet, 1996)

Also see certain panels with Lightray and Orion in Jack Kirby's Fourth World. Because by this point Jack is definitely not coding things by campy accident ✊

January 2020:

February 2020:

March 2020:

April 2020:

More . #LokiSeries #loki #marvelcomics #fanart #MCU #thor #comics #marvel https://www.instagram.com/p/B-2D984AcOh/?igshid=1cqhuzc8likw4

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Loki. #LokiSeries #loki #marvelcomics #fanart #MCU #thor #marvel #stayhomeanddraw #stayhome https://www.instagram.com/p/B-4Yfo1AmtD/?igshid=ugwti2lu7c56

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the insane amount of money that must be put into PR and advertisement rn i stg...

Of all the things I can imagine my tax money going to, I think a coronavirus vaccine is one of the ones I support the most.  And I’m betting it wouldn’t cost me as much as a bunch of killer drones in some nation that has never threatened me or my family.

this looks like a shot from the What We Do In the Shadows-style version of Revenge of the Sith

Pearl trying to befriend humans like

This wouldn't be too unrealistic considering the panic buying going on these days...

IF YOU WANT BERNIE TO GET THE NOMINATION OVER BIDEN

Here’s what you need to do:

Vote for Bernie in your primary

There are still two-thirds of the possible delegates available so it’s not even close to being over yet. A lot of people think voting in the primary doesn’t matter but this is where you determine the direction you want to party to go & if you prefer Bernie over Biden then here’s the following schedule for the primaries:

What the expect & how to prepare

In 2016, there was major flaws with in-person voting in states like Arizona. This election is exactly the same, with states like Texas and California having people in line waiting past midnight LONG after polls were supposed to close. This is blatant voter suppression and is meant to discourage you from voting. If you don’t have mail-in ballot in your state MAKE SURE to prepare for the worst: wear comfortable clothes, bring water, bring snacks, and get ready for whatever fuckery they might try to pull so bring an extra ID. 

If you work on the day of your primary or caucus HERE IS A WEBSITE that allows you to check your state’s laws on time-off voting. This will tell you info on the following:

How to volunteer 

You can also phone bank, text bank, or canvas for Bernie. Even if you’re in a state that already voted you can still do all these things! You ARE allowed to canvas out of your home state. Check your area, there are events happening everywhere or you can host your own. ALSO!!! volunteer as a poll worker if you can

AND!! if you’re fluent in multiple languages you can really help to get the vote out in communities that often get overlooked by campaigns. 

“sat out” You mean young people who work shit jobs with shit hours and shit benefits couldn’t get out of work to go vote in the same numbers as the retired crowd? 6 hours to vote at colleges in Texas yesterday in the middle of midterms yeah shocking…

Before you go around blaming your peers or “the youth” you better ask yourself why low voter turnout might be, in a country with a history predicated on voter suppression

hmmmm….. it’s almost like… the system is.. maybe… designed this way? 

His name is Michael Kwan, he’s one of the only 8% of Utah’s judges who are people of color, and he’s been suspended 6 months with no pay.

source: USA Today

source: New York Times (warning: paywall)

Where is people’s free speech now?

So why aren’t people screaming about Freedom of Speech? Since this is exactly what it is supposed to protect…