Breaking Point

What in the fresh hell is that.

I've been watching the slow disintegration of the geek space for the last tens years with a growing sense of dread. Something felt off as early as the Iron Man movie, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Something was missing, something was off, but my God Tony Stark's on the screen and the Avengers Initiative and what a time to be alive!!!! And then the freaking Avengers, people. God, that was a home run. And then Age of Ultron got shot down by the audiences and broke Joss Whedon. I can't say I really blame him, that was the first movie from the MCU I regarded as actually something thoughtful. And, while I found that concerning, I didn't really think more on it at the time.

The last few years have been much worse. Rise of Skywalker is one of the few movies that actively rewrote how I saw the world, on such a deep and primal level that, four years later, I still haven't written about it. I'm not sure I ever will, to be honest, because the reception to a movie that actively taught me so much has been so toxic, so overwhelmingly stupid, that frankly I don't really see humanity as worth the time and effort it takes to actually talk about it. Mandalorian S3's reception further put the nail in that coffin for me; not one criticism I've read has been intelligent. Not even one.

And, at the same time, modern stuff continues to degenerate. Marvel has tanked in a way that I had hoped so profoundly wouldn't happen that it's actively discouraging. The joy I had in seeing other "normal" people enjoy The Avengers has soured into a firmly-set realization that this is not the age of the nerd, this is the age of the corporation raping nerddom into perpetual slavery. I mean, look at the abortion that is that Kraven trailer up there, folks. Kraven doesn't need an origin story! He's an amoral hunter, that's literally all you need to know about him. Why some exec decided we needed this I don't know.

Watching that horrendous.... whatever that was... something in me finally broke down. I don't want to comment on this level of shit! It's not even worth talking about. And that's what the corporations are pushing down our throats. And, watching that, something in me hardened. I refuse to comment on pure garbage and rage. I have gone to great lengths to not do these things, to not become involved in this sham of a culture war. There's sure a corporations versus fans war, that much is obvious, and I will do what I must against such incursions.

I can no longer sit by. I must write. I must create again.

See, breaking isn't an end. Breaking is a beginning. Seeds break from the temperature of a fire and give birth to something new in the ashes of the old. And this is the beginning. I knew, watching that trailer, that solely commenting upon culture from an Orthodox standpoint was ultimately futile.

I do not know quite yet what I will do. But there is no longer any way I can't do it, whatever it is.