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julisartori · 3 months ago

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Disney didn't go Woke. It went Empty: the War of Meaning in Modern Media (or why your little indie project should be weird as hell)

And unnecessary long, painfully personal, and slightly nonsensical rant about Mainstream Cartoons, Indie Animation, Making Art, (not) Following Rules, and obviously—being a filthy Queer.

There I was scrolling on the adorable cesspit Twitter has become, when I found this treasure. And I mean it, I love the headcanon.

(cut off the name cause I don't want any weirdos going after OP)

It’s kinda crazy how this would perfectly match the whole vibe of Owl House and even Luz’s arc. But, oh no, imagine the tragedy of showing a character getting a disability in a TV-7 show. (RIP Finn Mertens)

In the last years, we've seen the rise of "woke-rage". Thousand upon thousands of the same tired, repetitive complaints of “how wokeness dominated media,” “how we don’t have deep stories anymore,” and “oh, the preaching, so much preaching.”

Blah, blah, blah. BO-RING. Nothing engages more than SPITE. But they are too hollow-minded to realize the truth, aren’t they?

Do I think the antis are wrong—and are just a sad pack of miserable whiny boys hiding behind edgy thumbnails to spread lies, homophobia, and every other flavor of bigotry? YES. With every single atom of my humble body.

Do I think modern media (every kind of media) is getting less and less appealing? Also yes. But not in the way you think.

And no, I DO NOT blame the writers and artists. Let’s be real here—it’s pretty obvious they had good intentions. They were doing their best to flicker a tiny spark of light through the thick wall of restrictions and corporate rules stacked upon them. I know the creators craved for more (at least, I hope they did, or I’m just embarrassing myself here).

The issue here isn’t the “excessive wokeness.” It’s the lack of "true wokeness".

The issue is the CENSORSHIP.

The “preaching” in modern animation is just the watered-down version the execs approve. Because anything with actual substance, depth, or—god forbid—meaning would be too much for the fragile little minds of the viewers.

Oh, but isn’t the system just adorable? (particularly now with the charming rise of the far-right). They couldn’t care less if their audience—especially kids—actually thinks.

Nah, they want mindless little sausages. Obedient drones, following orders without a second thought. Clean it up, dumb it down, make it easy. Because, hey, it sells. And it gets the job done.

Sanitize the message until it’s stripped of any real meaning. Repeat it over and over until it’s background noise. Drag it in circles so people can’t stand it anymore. Then BOOM!— Our "beautiful queerness" is just "cringe-wokeness”. Works every time.

Need a irl example?

“Love is Love” started as a powerful queer statement, but of course, it got hijacked by the other side and now it’s just a punchline. Another “Live, Laugh, Love” quote, slapped on Ikea mugs with zero meaning.

Frida Kahlo became a print in every mediocre middle-aged cis-straight-white woman T-shirt with no real interest in feminism.

The system knows what they do and they nail it flawlessly. Every single time. And we are just dumb enough to lower our heads and play along—and buy their ridiculous merch, of course. (If you want a tacky mug it's okay, dear, I'm not here to judge your peculiar taste. But please buy it from an independent artist)

And unfortunately, it's not getting any better any sooner, baby. Netflix wants writers to numb-down their messages, and announce their actions out loud. Brace yourselves, ladies and friends, we're entering the new era of painfully hold-handing media. Hurray!

https://www.fastcompany.com/91264942/netflix-knows-youre-looking-at-your-phone-and-its-changing-how-shows-get-made

Are cartoons (and literally every other media) getting worse? Oh, absolutely. But no, it’s not because studios are “overrun with queers and wokeness.” If anything, queers and wokeness are the only decent thing left—but don’t get too comfortable; studios will swap them out for AI soon enough ☺️

Cartoons are getting worse because the people in charge WANT them to be worse. It’s not a happy little coincidence. It’s full-blown strategy. A PROJECT—if you allow my conspiratorial streak. And trust me, they’re putting in the work.

And then, oh finally, we have indie.

Indie, wow! The "magical" solution to all our problems! Animation, comics, books, games, short videos, you call it.

We all know the blessings and curses of going indie, and I won't overflow you with that. YouTube's free there are tons of more qualified people covering that issue.

I'm here to give my modest (and extremely based) two cents about the "content"—and once again, it's NOT what you're thinking.

Because every time I see an indie creator trying to be a bit "controversial"... Well, you're on Tumblr. You know exactly what happens to them.

(Cut off the heads of the impure)

So if you allow me, I’m going to be unapologetically indulgent and speak directly to you—yes, YOU, my lovely friend, artist, and INDIE creator.

(If you’ve got a problem with that, feel free to walk away. I’m NOT claiming to have all the answers or to be morally superior. Trust me, I'm definitely not. If something I'm morally inferior. My opinions are wonderfully clouded by my messed-up, and uniquely broken view of reality. Take everything you read here with a grain of salt—and please don’t take it at face value.)

My friend,

Really—do you really want indie creators to do the same old thing we see every single day? To copy-paste mainstream media and wash away all their personal weirdness to appease a scared (and unnecessarily clean) audience?

To spread the same tired message like a broken record? A coward broken record?

“Love yourself,” “Trust yourself,” “Power of Friendship.”

Yeah, sure, we’re ALL about self-acceptance here—big fans, truly, don’t get me wrong… But, hear me out: could we please sell it in a way that doesn’t scream “morning special”?

You know, something cooler? More creative? Actually meaningful and—dare I say it—not so painfully obvious? Can we all collectively agree to not beat people over the head with the message?

Just once? Even for kids? Especially for kids?!

Kids are not dumb, y'know?

-If you’re writing for kids, remember—they’re smarter than you think. We don’t want to turn them into brainwashed little worms.

“Oh, but my kid loved the new Disney live-action spinoff about Background Character #87!” Well, duh. That kid also spends half their screen time watching neon-porn content-farming on YouTube "Kids.”

Kids DESERVE so much more than that hollow nonsense. They deserve to be challenged, to actually feel something. Let them laugh, let them rage, and—hold my hand on this one—let them even cry over their cartoons. Shocking, I know, but they’re capable of handling more than shiny distractions and canned moral lessons.

(Ah, the dream of seeing death and blood handled with actual respect in a kid's movie—what a whimsical thought. But let’s be real, spoiler alert: we’re getting another “everyone’s fine, don’t worry about it” storyline than anything remotely thought-provoking.)

-If you’re writing for teens, for the love of all things unholy, don’t be the cringy millennial trying too hard to be “relatable.” Teens don't want "edginess". They want connection, and that's the reason they are so easily coopted to join a problematic streamer discord server. Because they crave for COMMUNITY!

They deserve better than just flashy anime fights and over-the-top gore. They’re old enough to demand real depth in their stories. And yes, brace yourself, they absolutely can handle angst.

If they couldn’t, Ao3 and Twitter wouldn’t be flooded with fan content that’s not only eight times better than the source material but also dripping with meaning.

(And the TikTok references? Teens don't think those are funny. No one does, actually. Let them go.)

(Look a timeless joke!—Clever, bold, and packed with social critique! Did Disney accidentally let a "woke" writer into their room before it was even a trend??)

If I’m going to leave anything behind in this world, then I want the next generation to THINK. To question the status quo. To fight for their rights like the rebels they should be. (and I honestly hope you're with me on this one—otherwise, you’re just wasting your time reading this overly dramatic and ridiculously self-indulgent rambling mess).

-If you’re writing for adults, don’t shy away, darling. Make them uncomfortable. Be unapologetic. Double down the weirdness. Throw in all the bizarre metaphors your heart desires and trust your audience is sharp enough to get them.

(Okay, fine, spend three minutes on Twitter and you’ll quickly lose faith in that idea. But hey! We’re not gonna bow to mediocrity because of one or two—or five thousand—bad apples, right?)

Use smut if you feel like it. Let the prudes lose their minds. Fill your walls with dicks if that's your vibe (yeah, that reference—you know the one).

Smut’s our friend, honeybee. We’re Queer. Purity never served our kind.

(And just to clarify—I’m not talking about kids here, for God’s sake! No smut for kids, you absolute fucking weirdo!)

Don't worry about hate. No art is truly complete until someone’s got an opinion—positive, negative, realistic, or wildly inaccurate. It all matters.

(Even those church guys ranting about how we’re turning people gay matter. And in my personal opinion, they probably matter the most. 😌)

"Not everyone’s gonna be a fan, Princess. And frankly, I love making it harder for them." (that one is mine actually, you’re welcome!)

Look, you do you, my love. But if I had the chance to create something of my own (without a couple of execs buzzing at my feet), I’d at least TRY to put a decent act of not restraining myself to dumb corporate rules.

Shoosh, shoosh, now. I get it. It’s not your fault. It’s hard to break free from the suffocating grip of the norm you’ve been force-fed since birth.

But what’s the point of making art if you’re too scared to say something? Too scared to make a statement?

But if you’ve got the courage, and insanity, of going indie—and let’s be real, you need a hell of a lot of both—then yeah, I trust you’ve got what it takes to create something WILDLY out of the box 💖 (Like, please do. I'm basically on my knees right now).

Oh, and for Hell’s sake, get some humility and go study storytelling. Seriously!! You're not getting anywhere with that sloppy writing (and I say it from a place of experience, by looking at my own old drafts). We need knowledge, references, and a ton of good writing if we want to change the world—even if it’s by writing silly gay stories.

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—A educação não é neutra. Ela é uma prática de liberdade ou de dominação. A educação que temos não está quebrada, ela funciona exatamente como foi planejada para funcionar: como um meio de opressão.—

(não exatamente Paulo Freire, pq fiquei com preguiça de procurar a quote certa e escrevi oq eu lembrava kkkkkk)

#indie animation #rant post #helluva boss #disney #animation #queer #the owl house #venting

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