Creative works you enjoyed until politics happened - "How politics made me hate Welcome to Nightvale and other things"

[Red Hood]

"lol look at me and how well read I am, but with capeshit thrown in."

This is the gimmick for a good 50% of British writers that work in American comics. "I've read some obscure books, aren't I clever?"

 

[CivilianOfTheFandomWars]

Not any hot new takes here, but superhero comics.
I don't want to be the hipster who says most of their favorite comics are from the Gold, Silver, and Bronze ages, but they really are. It was fun, there were a great mix of goofy stories and genuinely raw moments that made comics appeal to so many different people. Modern Age comics, they just fall short for me.
Take Kamala Khan as Ms. Marvel. I was genuinely interested in the story of a girl trying to find out who she is and how that relates to both her heroics and her normal life. She was conflicted about her identity. Is she Muslim enough for her parents? Is she American enough for her peers? Is she heroic enough for her idols? Lot's of great material to work with. Then came the issue that was one giant PSA about voting (correctly), and everything went downhill. Every issue was suddenly a PSA about one thing or another and it unintentionally cast Kamala as a dangerous retard who can't comprehend morals until someone else tells her what to do. Morals are fine, but not at the expense of the actual story.
Compare that to some older comics, and you've got a gloriously rich history with so many different stories that it would be impossible to name all of the ones that people love.What Ever Happened To The Crimson Avenger? from DC Comics Presents #38 is a good example. It was a heartfelt, beautiful short story that knew exactly what to do. What If? Captain America Were Revived Today from 1984 is still held up as one of Captain America's best stories, and it was a one-shot that could be viewed from pretty much any political affiliation and still have the moral hold up.
Comics were simple, comics were fun, and comics had something for everyone.

 

[UnsufficentBoobage]

Comics were simple, comics were fun, and comics had something for everyone

I think every single piece of entertaiment had lost once the "dark realism" went into fashion.
A shitton of modern media has underlying "morale" of "everyone is actually an asshole or worse, if you have never ever seen them do bad things, it's a carefully maintained lie", and people just lap it up, never having to strive to be good anymore, because an average "hero" is evil and everyone loves that, so why bother T_T

 

[Shroom King]

Eminem's infamous "freestyle" for the BET awards. The guy made millions shitting on others, but he just couldn't stand that people voted for the "wrong" candidate.

 

[Mr. ShadowCreek]

I never cared for the Academy Awards or any of the awards shows to much but they were a way to kill time. The ones I was most interested in were Best Song, Best Animated Film, Best Score, and Best Film. Sometimes the celebrities would put some of their political beliefs in their speeches but most of it was good fun. Today it's nothing but blabbing about BLM, guns are bad, Trump is evil, etc. They will make some Trump joke and get a cheap laugh from the crowd and the dumb audience. It used to be fun to watch them talk about how it was fun to make the movie and how joyed they were but now it's all negative emotions. Sometimes you can just see the hate in their eyes when their talking. Other times you can tell they're just about to explode because they are trying to hold back their politics to be respectful. At least their ratings are going down year by year. That's what happens when you alienate half your audience. Ricky Gervais even warned them and they ignored him. They're loss.

 

[BrunoMattei]

Most Hollywood people on Twitter after 2016. Including comedians too.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

Further proof that subs > dubs.

So "accurate translation" was only a thing during that brief window after America was more "fundie" ("think of the children!") but before the pendulum swung to "woke" ("think of the oppressed marginalized groups!")?

 

[Super Sad Smile]

Do comedies count? I miss how shows used to openly laugh at anything and anyone like in Rush hour or Inbetweeners.

It feels like people are a lot more touchy about what goes for a comedy, so all we have left are shitty weed and sex jokes, or corny marvel banter.

 

[TowinKarz]

I think every single piece of entertaiment had lost once the "dark realism" went into fashion.
A shitton of modern media has underlying "morale" of "everyone is actually an asshole or worse, if you have never ever seen them do bad things, it's a carefully maintained lie", and people just lap it up, never having to strive to be good anymore, because an average "hero" is evil and everyone loves that, so why bother T_T

That's the major reason modern comics are so shit.

In the 90's, the Dark Age ethos of "Everyone's a selfish, immoral asshole when they think nobody is looking, any apparently good person is just well-disciplined. There are no heroes, just people who murder less than others." overran the genre and took into the early 00's to recover.

Then, having learned nothing, the comics makers threw it all away again by reinstating the same ethos, except making it about "social justice" instead of "The folly of morals in a world gone mad"



Now its : "White folks are all selfish, immoral assholes, they're bad when you're watching them, and only WORSE when they think you aren't. There are no good white men, only those who are slightly less racist and colonialist than the next."

 

[Meat Target]

Do comedies count? I miss how shows used to openly laugh at anything and anyone like in Rush hour or Inbetweeners.

It feels like people are a lot more touchy about what goes for a comedy, so all we have left are shitty weed and sex jokes, or corny marvel banter.

Absolutely. I was just reminiscing the other day about old-school Family Guy episodes, and how often they had jokes about Nazis or segregation/racism. We all knew it was a joke and was designed to make fun of those things and how absurd they were. All of it was done with the audience (and society at large) agreeing and understand that those things are not okay.

Then once comedy became preaching about current events, it eventually decayed into preaching to the choir.

I think every single piece of entertaiment had lost once the "dark realism" went into fashion.
A shitton of modern media has underlying "morale" of "everyone is actually an asshole or worse, if you have never ever seen them do bad things, it's a carefully maintained lie", and people just lap it up, never having to strive to be good anymore, because an average "hero" is evil and everyone loves that, so why bother T_T

Thanks in no small part to Alan Moore, George R.R. Martin, and Christopher Nolan. There has to be some kind of golden mean betwixt "Capeshit/Star Wars absolute good and evil" and "grimdark sadsack moral ambiguity".

 

[Jimjamflimflam]

Pretty sure last podcast on the left was mentioned in this thread but the idea of self proclaimed Satanists getting ass blasted because "people selfishly voted against the herd by voting Trump" will never not be funny to me.

So much for the individualism and self interest over everyone else your stupid "religion" preaches

 

[UnsufficentBoobage]

Thanks in no small part to Alan Moore, George R.R. Martin, and Christopher Nolan. There has to be some kind of golden mean betwixt "Capeshit/Star Wars absolute good and evil" and "grimdark sadsack moral ambiguity".

Words cannot describe how much I hate Martin. Why did Robert Jordan die instead of this smug historical fanfiction-writing dipshit T_T
And yes, I know they were friends. That is primarily why I am this MATI.

Oh yes, such a golden mean exists, and it's called "actual fucking realism", but, because nobody in industry is capable of comprehending how to be subtle anymore, they find it too bland to apply.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

One that I forgot and is a BIG one.

Education

Right now there are "ethics" classes on fucking Compsci and Computer Engineering, filled with the usual "isms" and "ists"

At least I hope these exceptional people remove some competition from "unethical" tech industries like Defense.

I actually had to go through one of those (it was at least online), though my country still doesn't care about the 'ism that much, it was still bullshit moralizing about how you shouldn't pursue a line of research that might hurt a minority indirectly, which is beyond meaningless as that can be applied to a lot of things.

 

[Ginger Piglet]

I actually had to go through one of those (it was at least online), though my country still doesn't care about the 'ism that much, it was still bullshit moralizing about how you shouldn't pursue a line of research that might hurt a minority indirectly, which is beyond meaningless as that can be applied to a lot of things.

That sounds like trying to warn people off anything that might show that women don't have penises.

 

[Mexican_Wizard_711]

Pretty sure last podcast on the left was mentioned in this thread but the idea of self proclaimed Satanists getting ass blasted because "people selfishly voted against the herd by voting Trump" will never not be funny to me.

So much for the individualism and self interest over everyone else your stupid "religion" preaches

Which reminds me, there was a guy i used to follow on deviantart who is a big "last podcast on the left" fan, anyway i enjoyed his art until the BLM shit hit the fan and made this post



well, i guess that's one less artist I have follow

 

[frozenrunner]

The Epix show Berlin Station had a fantastic first season that aired during the tail end of the Obama administration. While the writers couldn't really bring themselves to shit on Black Jesus, they wrote something great that was morally complex, principled, and critical of the American government at a time when, I'm sure, that made leftists uncomfortable.

Season two introduced Ashley Judd into the cast and made the entire focus on right-wing extremist movements... in Germany, which was pretty hard to swallow and was clearly politically motivated. The writers were so talented the season ended up being alright regardless of the silly premise.

Season three was about... something, but I could tell it was about Drumph so I just quit watching. The show was cancelled after that.

Berlin Station should have been a miniseries.

 

[Pokemonquistador2]

The problem with everything turning political is that most (if not all) artists and content creators tend to emulate the worst gags of politics-based cartoonists such as Carlos Latuff and Ben Garrison, such as the straw-men, the "in-your-face" messages and the holier than thou attitudes. Like, people should watch Changing Nature until they could recite the entire script without reading it because that is one good example on how to make a political statement without sounding like an asshole.

Spoiler: Changing Nature

The last episode of Dinosaurs, where the beetles that eat a species of vines that grow every year are driven to extinction, because their nests were wiped out to make a factory. The problem with getting rid of the beetles is that the vines grew without a halt, and Earl went on to spread defoliant everywhere, causing all plant life to wither. Then Earl's boss decide to nuke all volcanoes in Pangea to create rainclouds, but it backfires because the clouds block the sun, starting the ice age.

Comics are the primal example, I stopped caring about them when they were trying both to sell Miles Morales as being the "best spidey to ever exist", the Trump MODOK and Broly She-Hulk. Ah, and don't get me started on Vampirella being "de-sexualized". With the constant butthurt on BHNA's fandom and twitter threads about "female objectification in anime and manga is bad: an obligatory thread #8503948534098539", I fear weebshit and waifushit goes into the same ways.



Makes me think on how dumbed down the tabletop communities have become. Like, they survived the satanic panic in the 1980's but a bunch of people who should never left Tumblr in the first place have them all in a leash.

They could survive the Satanic Panic but couldn't survive Satan himself.

 

[LinkinParkxNaruto[AMV]]

Genuinely surprised that Neil Gaiman hasn't been cancelled. Why? Because of the Sandman volume "A Game of You" which featured a bunch of women doing some supernatural stuff to exorcise a being called the Cuckoo from one of their number's dreams. Only in the scene where the ritual takes place, it is explained that one of their number, Wanda, can't actually take part in the ritual. Why? Because the magic only works for women and specifically only for women who are capable of conceiving, and Wanda is trans and was originally named Alvin.

Oh yes, Wanda dies later on. This is super problematic apparently.

To be fair, "A Game of You" was one of the weaker storylines therein.

Whats more surprising is he is married to Amanda Palmer and she seems like one of those punk radfems that could meetoo him at any moment . Is also an open marriage and apparently they have marital problems, is a miracle he hasn't been Projare'd yet.

 

[Cheesegirl78]

I like Stephen King, but his TDS has turned me off to him quite a bit, and I feel a bunch of his books after "The Tommyknockers" just aren't that great.

I mostly watch AHC (formerly the Military Channel) and old Johnny Carson episodes on MeTV. I miss Johnny so much, he had more talent in his pinkie finger than the idiots today have in their whole body. They're not funny, they just bash Trump.

Seems like I spend most of my time reading here.

 

[Kulee Baba]

Borat (and to an extent every other work by Sacha Baron Cohen) was a big one for me, due to the fact that I found out what the intentions of Sacha Baron Cohen's jokes in that movie were not to troll people and take advantage of their kindness for laughs, but to do that and then pass it off as an "expose" people to push his own narrative. This would be fine, if it was non-partisan, which it isn't. Who Is America? is a great example of this because he doesn't lampoon the right and the left both. He lampoons mostly the right and goes very soft on the left. He goes super rough on doing the ol' HA HA CONSERVATIVES BAD routine yet when he makes fun of the lefties, it's the slightest sort of poking fun at them and he attacks harder-to-bait peeps on the totem pole of the left-wing.

Also, I could swear that he misleadingly edits anything he does to the public to push a narrative of "SEE. THE GOYS ARE REALLY LIKE THIS". I can bet you that most people left during the period of time THROW THE JEW DOWN THE WELL was sung and they just used earlier footage as a substitute before it became anti-semetic.

I thought Borat was the funniest movie when I saw it in theaters. Caught it on HBO years later and it aged like milk left out in the sun.

The film is cleverly manipulative, since it presents the story of the character Borat filming a documentary it tricks the casual viewer into thinking that many absurd scripted moments are real. Like when you see Borat in his ramshackle home village. In reality Borat's village weren't even Kazakhs but equally dirt poor Romanian Gypsies who the film crew paid a pittance to act. If I remember correctly each Romani got paid $4 a day and the end result is they were immortalized as a bunch of backwards retards to the delight of the West. How kind to do to people born into poverty and are widely seen as a lower caste of human throughout europe?

Borat isn't utterly laughless, it's funny to see ordinary people bend over backwards to not offend Borat. But Sasha Baron Cohen loves to push a joke till it's no longer funny. Remember when Borat shits in a rag and then brings it to the interviewee? Were they not supposed to react in disgust and hostility, is that funny? No it's not, but most laughed though because they were laughing at the character Borat the dumb Kazakh! The movie is not Anti-American, Anti-Semitic, or even Anti-Gypsy. The truth is the movie was Anti-Kazakh convincing a ton of people that this little country that's trapped by China and Russia is nothing but a shithole filled with backwards bumpkins.

It really is just an ugly meanspirited movie. And the true comedy is that a British Jew born into wealth thinks he's outting racism when he's just manipulating poorer careless/stupid people into humiliating themselves. To borrow a term from the political woke it is "punching down."