American media is always abuzz about 'Big' whatever be it pharmacy, business, oil or whatever the trendy cause of the day, I'd also like to add media and medicine to that, but obviously that won't play well in our 'democratic' media outlets so I'll refrain and talk only about 'Big Story.' Story is an art as old as language, as young as childhood, as immortal as life and it too has been coopted into a multi-trillion dollar corporate enterprise. While 'indie e-books' are certainly thriving and YouTube has its niche successes, the overall popular and successful 'stories' of our day are all produced by big business and/or big media and they back each other up as necessary to continue the farce that they actually produce great tales people flock to see, rather than offering tasteless pablum we eat only because we've been starved of all other options.
I first discovered I was racist when it took me over a year to admit that I didn't like Star Wars VII. I went, as a good and faithful acolyte, to the altar with the rest of the faithful, paid my tithe, and hoped to enjoy the show. I had read all the books (now banned and non-canonical) and had even sort of liked the prequels and was hopeful for the next addition to the tale. Visually it was lovely but the plot and characters left me flat, sort of like leftover room temperature soda but with no sugar or caffeine to ease the misery. I left stunned, not at how great it was, but at how great it wasn't, but unable to admit, even to myself, that in that moment I had become a heretic. Then the next one came out and I hoped it would make up for things and maybe absolve my heresy, but it was even worse and no, I haven't seen number nine. And yes, it is because I am racist that I didn't like either new movie.
If that last sentence makes sense to you, please indulge in binging either The Babylon Bee or Jane Austen immediately, for your own sake as well as those that must put up with you! The latest travesty to strike is obviously Amazon's Lord of the Rings spin-off. I hardly survived the Hobbit in triplicate so I'm not planning on seeing how someone could make Tolkien even worse, but what really gets my goat is that nobody is allowed to not like it or else they are racist. I don't care if they have black elves or pink hobbits or winged cats, and yes, there are some of Peter Jackson's elves that might qualify as transgender, but I really don't care, I care about the quality of the tale, the believability of the characters, the cohesiveness of the plot, not the diversity quotients required by modern film execs. The whole venture was panned by Tolkien fans immediately and Amazon and its flying monkey media friends immediately labeled the whole kit and caboodle racist without even listening to their concerns. Are there some racist weirdos out there, certainly, but painting everyone with that brush because they don't like your show seems a little egregious to me, but what do I know, I'm racist as anybody!
How does Big Story plan to keep people interested in paying money to see or read stuff if they must lie, manipulate, and coerce them into 'liking' it? This is why it took me a year to admit I didn't like the new Star Wars! Turning out pretty but pointless spinoffs, remakes, sequels, and prequels of a onetime hit and ruining favorite 'brands' just to momentarily attract new eyes seems like longterm suicide to me and then ignoring your would-be audience when they offer suggestions on how to actually improve the experience and insulting them in process is even worse. I'm still hoarding my old Star Wars books and occasionally rereading them, even if I'm now a heretic; the same with Tolkien. But then I'm racist, why should that surprise anyone? I especially love the criticism bestowed on pretty much everybody that they are homophobic if they didn't go see the new gay romcom on opening night! I don't like heterosexual romcoms, why one earth would I go see one of any sort, but what do you expect of a racist?
Bullying me into paying you money to see pointless drivel really isn't my idea of entertainment and I'm guessing won't breed longterm success, hence the success of indie content producers and alternative media outlets. Netflix is already starting to crumble, take heed Disney, Amazon, and everybody else that thinks we're all just mindless sheep willing to huddle in a corner and pretend the danger will just go away, there are enough rascally goats in the mix that the whole herd may just bolt in a direction you hadn't anticipated. It is not racist to call a story out for being lame, pedantic, boring, uncreative, preachy, incomprehensible, or whatever the case may be. Refusing to see something because it has a diverse cast is one thing; refusing to see something that is poorly written, acted, produced or whatever is not. And what are you going to do when actual racism rears its head if you cry wolf so often in defense of everything else?
Story thrives when it is free, uncoerced, isn't overtly pushing a certain agenda but still has a point, where it grapples with immortal truths, where the characters are real people with all their flaws and beauties, where magic and wonder and mystery can exist, where surprises can happen. If it is merely a matter of taste or fashion or money or political trends or enforced or imitation, the result will fall flat on its face, no matter how the gods over at Big Story spin the fallout. The only thing worse than writing a bad story is blaming the poor quality on the listeners, who will then never listen to you again. You can spend your billions to produce eye catching splendors but my worn paperback is by far more satisfying on every other level because at heart a good story is really human which is the race we all share, the tale in which we are all enmeshed, and if you forget that, you'll never tell a truly good tale!
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