Reading the article, I find it humorous that the showrunner actually thinks that the criticism about Stormfront was that you can't have Nazis as a bad guy, and not that it's just fucking tiresome to beat the exact same dead horse that every other entertainment property has already pulverized into the dirt. The first season was great because it was predominantly corporate satire, and thus relatable to pretty much everyone who's got a bone to pick with the megacorps running the place. Once the second season decided to go more into politics, it was a real damper on an otherwise good show.
Also, the showrunner apparently thinks that the glut of Marvel movies led to Trump, because they trained people to wait for someone strong to save them, and that's why Trump won. Ironically, I'm echoing Bobby's sentiments up there, though applied to all the non-political stuff (no surprise Bobby actually loves that): I'm increasingly convinced that anything about The Boys that was good was made
in spite of its creators and not because of them, if they're this retarded. This is literally as dumb as "Gamergate caused Trump," possibly dumber.
Defunctland stole his childhood and his dreams:
View attachment 1665973
Yep, it's official, Bob is stuck in the retro-future past. I'll bet he'd want to live in a
Googie-style home if he could afford to move out of the basement.
Interesting how the original EPCOT plans line up nicely with exactly the sort of worldview Bob espouses. Walt's plans were for the City of Tomorrow, a beautiful futuristic city that would cater to its residents' every needs; eliminate traffic, homelessness, and teenage delinquency; house industry titans that would prototype their newest technologies there; and serve as a bigger attraction for tourists than the theme park he was going to build off in a corner somewhere (the park was basically an afterthought because Walt realized they wouldn't get any money without including a park). However, Walt would have total control over his residents' lives, essentially setting up a mini-fiefdom where they wouldn't have any rights to vote on municipal issues, where their appliances and technology could be replaced at a whim without their knowledge or dissent. Industries would be expected to work on their newest technologies in full view of the public, something that was generally frowned upon due to the entire concept of trade secrets. And the solution to homelessness: if you didn't have a job, you were kicked out.
In this regard, it's no wonder that Bob is so enthralled with the idea. A "benevolent" dictator who knows what's best for you (or thinks he does, anyway), forcing compliance or exile, constantly surveilling you and your family, and distracting you from the dystopia with all the latest technological wonders to consoom...yeah, no shit Bob is mourning that which we lost.
In reality, EPCOT is certainly an interesting idea, and decades later, people still wonder if it would have worked. Walt wanted to secure a legacy beyond entertainment and theme parks, and if he hadn't smoked his way to dying of lung cancer before those plans could get off the ground, he might have pulled it off. Or, it might have been a massive failure that completely sank the company, or maybe it would have done well at first but ended up behind the times. No one can predict the future, and the original EPCOT serves as a good example of that.
The Defunctland episode doesn't give too harsh a judgment one way or the other, but it does go into a lot of the criticisms levied against it by Disney's own board of directors, even before Walt died. It also doesn't shy away from the dystopian elements of the original EPCOT, so Bobby would probably get really upset about that. Highly recommend a watch, and then a trip to
The Original EPCOT website for even more details:
ETA: It's probably for the best that Walt's EPCOT never got off the ground for a variety of reasons, but here's two of the big ones:
- Planned cities have rarely actually lived up to the grand designs of their creators. As it turns out, you really can't predict how thousands or millions of people will want to use their living space, so it's practically impossible to actually plan for every eventuality, not to mention the evolution of a city's needs over time. EPCOT looks very shiny on paper, but in the real world, would people enjoy living in what was effectively a human zoo?
- If EPCOT hadn't failed, Walt Disney World would not be the resort destination it is today. Four sprawling theme parks, two water parks, shopping centers, resort hotels, golf courses...there's enough at Disney World alone to take up an entire vacation. Having EPCOT would mean giving up on all the unique and creative things that Disney has been able to produce there, and I think most people probably wouldn't make that trade-off. Part of its success is due to the Reedy Creek Improvement District that was created for EPCOT, which basically gives Disney complete immunity from any county or state land-use laws, letting them do pretty much anything they want with the property. In addition, technologies that were planned to be incorporated into EPCOT like the Utilidors and the vacuum trash disposal system were used in the eventual theme parks, so part of EPCOT's legacy lives on.
