Construction Delays Will Begin At 5PM On Friday, 16 September

Freddie DeBoer is good.

You people get that showrunners and filmmakers know all about this now, right? You get why they’re including the part where She-Hulk looks directly into the camera and recites a slogan stolen from a sign from the first Women’s March written by a junior from Vassar, right? It makes the stuff they make exempt from criticism. These are no longer shows or movies but rather volleys in the culture war, which makes ignoring their immense flaws not just permissible but a duty for all right-thinking people. We’re already living in the hell of TV shows essentially written by Twitter; nothing is more depressing to me than pointing out all the moments that showrunners stick in their work that’s designed entirely to elicit squeals from social media. (Remember Peggy Olson walking down the hallway? Meaningless! She’s back at Sterling Cooper a few episodes later! Ah, but the gif, man, the gif!) When characters deliver awkward, stilted political speeches to camera because they know it will guarantee positive reviews and manufactured virality, it makes me feel like hope is lost. And at present, in terms of this cultural moment, hope is lost - there’s no way I can fight this tide.

The bigger thing for me, beyond the death of art and criticism I mean, is just how easy it is to inspire identitarians, just what they’re willing to consider a major political success. They are the cheapest dates imaginable.