#but I don't think so - I don't believe much in the industrial worker tm

[anarchotolkienist]

The core insight of Marxism - that capitalism creates the industrial worker, and concentrates them in specific places, thus creating the necessities for an organised working class movement that eventually overcome it - proved to be false, at least in those places he identified (France, Germany, Britain). The workers movement failed to overcome capitalism. Successful marxist revolutions almost universally had a lot more in coming with the Jacobin revolutions of a century before them than they were produced by the organised mass of industrial workers. In the meantime, Marxist progressivism and belief in the inherent progress of industry as a path to socialism was socially, ecologically, and politically massively destructive. Let's not revive that teleology now.

[twelvedaysinaugust]

Something that I have been thinking about a lot lately, and that I think relates to both Louis' comments about greed in the industry and the Holivia mess, is that I just have been having a hard time connecting to Harry lately. Not in that I can't connect because I disagree with a lot of his choices (though I do) but because I don't feel like there has been a real Harry making those choices for me to even blame. He seems utterly disconnected from his own career.

I don't think I'm making a lot sense, but to try to be clearer: other than occasional moments at shows and in that single TIFF appearance promoting My Policeman, I don't feel like I have seen or heard any excitement or passion from Harry for his career. A lot of that is due to Harry's absence from social media and extremely limited interviews, but like... he didn't seem like he gave a shit about DWD at Venice or the NY premiere when interviewed. He doesn't seem personally enthusiastic about Pleasing, he just wears merch on pap walks and gives the same empty Instagram posts/stories about new drops without giving any real connection to it. Same with his own merch. He goes along with Holivia but he's barely going through the motions and he won't acknowledge her, even with all of this drama, to the point where even het fans who've believed previous PR relationships thought this one was fake. These are all ostensibly choices he made about a direction he wanted his career to take and things he wanted to do, but he does them all with the vibe of an underpaid office worker just trying to get through the task they've been assigned as painlessly as possible.

It would be one thing if he gave off the impression that he chose these things because they made him more money and that was what he cared about. I think that's the impression Taylor Swift gives off, for example. But he just doesn't give the impression that he cares at all about any part of it but making music. And I'm not so naive that I think Harry is a total victim or has no power to shape his career, but... I just get the impression that Harry has said, fuck it, as long as I get to make the music I want and get personal privacy, everyone around me can use Harry Styles TM however they want. It just seems so shortsighted and obviously problematic (I mean... at this point Harry is one bad press story away from the verge of cancellation at least once every two weeks), that it makes it wonder if there is some grain of truth to the more outlandish theories about Harry leaving Sony or 1D owing money/ongoing obligations to Sony because of the way the hiatus unfolded.

I've had a hard time connecting to Harry for a while. I agree with your observations about his career, his merch, how he's in a rather precarious position right now. I'm not inclined to believe that it has much to do with Sony or residual contracts. I just think that certain decisions beget other decisions and that it can be hard to stop something once it's in motion. Like, I think this is something we can all relate to on a smaller scale: Making one decision that you thought was the right choice at the time, but looking back with regret and realizing that it's hard to get off the path you're on now. Obviously, I could be way off base. But that's just how I view Harry right now.