The Sad Power of False Narratives
People Often Buy Into Hype or Rants; Find Out for Yourself What You Think
I saw two things this weekend that demonstrated the power of false narratives, which is in itself disheartening.
The first was an unfortunate 15-20 minutes of watching Fox News before heading out to a graduation party. I was at a hotel and the television was programmed to open up to Fox News when I turned it on.1 Like anyone who just turns on the T.V. for the sake of turning it on while doing other stuff, I didn’t change the channel. I sat and casually watched and it occured to me how insidious it actually was.
First, it would show a news clip. Yes, Fox News does have news stories. It was just a typical “What the President is doing today” news story. The chyron, while playing the clip had a Republican spin but otherwise accurated described what they were showing. Then they went to the studio where they had a panel of people talking about the news clip. The spin was harshly Republican, dealing in false conjecture, hypotheticals not based on fact and tiptoing to the line of outright falsehood. The chyrons on this subject underscored what the panelists were saying rather than what occurred in the story and used it to transition to the worst of Republican criticisms about the Biden administration, including calling for his impeachment.
Now, I’m used to this. Everyone gets what Fox is trying to do and where they stand. But its in the subliminal aspects of the production that its particularly evil. It draws you in with what is obviously an objective news event, presented slighly subjectively and then gears you right into the intolerant, adamant, one sided presentation of it. If you didn’t know better, you would really think Biden were the devil. You can see very quickly how Trump maintains an 80% approval rating among the GOP and how the Republican Party is so stubbornly pro-Trump; their media ecosystem is so geared to the false narrative. It you weren’t consciously fighting it, you’d get sucked in too. This is why we tell people to not just take someone’s word for things; we encourage them to go out and find out the truth for themselves.
All that in just 20 minutes.
The other thing I saw this weekend was the movie “The Flash.” Now, I’m not a 100% fanboy of comic book films, but they do make entertaining, mindless fare and its pretty harmless stuff. Its something I can take my 10 year old too and not feel bad about it, and since he binged the entire “Flash” CW series in 3 weeks, he was particularly excited to see this movie come out. I prefer other genres, but am fine with comic book films.
Now before seeing it, I had heard a number of things negative about it:
The star Ezra Miller had been involved in a number of bad off screen behavior incidents. The details on them I’m not too aware of, but I do know that Warner Brothers basically kept him from promoting the film.
Michael Shannon, a great actor who plays a key person in the film, said he didn’t enjoy filming his parts for the film, and likened his role to basically people playing with action figures.2
The Special Effects were laughable.
James Gunn, who took over the DC Comics universe for Warner Brothers prior to the film’s release has said they are going to re-work the whole DCEU. They were fine with releasing this movie as is, since it serves as a reboot of sorts. But other films and shows have already been shelved because of this plan. The feeling was why see a movie that will play no future role in the series?
The movie was a bomb. Despite early raves from test screenings and early comicbook audiences, critics gave it mediocre reviews, and general audiences stayed away, meaning the movie is going to lose a LOT of money and put Warner Brothers further in the red after Shazam! and Black Adam both also bombed.
Before going, I suspected a lot of this was just a collective false narrative that had nothing to do with the movie. None of those things mentioned above related to the quality of the movie (maybe the special effects, but I’ve seen great movies with horrible effects, so its not THAT important). None of it related to the plot, the characters, the overarching story and what actually happens on screen.
I was glad I went. It is a FUN movie. Is it Citizen Kane? Of course not. But as far as comic book movies go, it has all the elements you would expect to be entertained for two hours. It’s amusing, nostalgic,3 exciting, and genuinely fun. It’a perfect summer popcorn movie. I’ll even say that most comic book character’s first movies spend way too much time discussing the origin and extent of that character’s powers; The Flash didn’t do that at all, and instead discussed and demonstrated it in the most creative ways imaginable. Lastly, without revealing anything, I will say it ends with probably the single best comic book movie reference any movie could end with.
So again, I saw the power of a false narrative. It’s disheartening to see. I still see it this morning on Twitter as people who clearly didn’t see the movie discuss its failure. All I can do is just say, “Go find out for yourself.” The Flash will likely be in theatres for a couple more weeks but then quickly be relegated to Max. If you get the opportunity, check it out, you won’t be disappointed.
PurpleAmerica’s Recommended Stories
Not long a go I revisited the late 70s/early 80s “Superfriends” with the DC Justice League and Legion of Doom. It’s odd watching something as a kid and seeing it years later as an adult. You can’t help but laugh at the cheesiness and corny aspects of comic book characters back then.
Still, if you want to a good laugh so you can shake your head and wonder “What the hell was I thinking back in the day” kind of moment, I strongly suggest you revisit this cartoon series for a good laugh.
PurpleAmerica’s Obscure Fact of the Day
You may not remember but back in the ‘90s there was a well received Flash television show that failed to find an audience.
Mark Hamill (yes, that Mark Hamill) played “The Trickster” in the series.
When the show was recreated for the CW in the 2000s, he reprised the role.4
Hamill, who often goes to comic conventions and has been involved in the comic books industry for some time (he voiced the Joker in a famous Batman animated movie) made fun of his many characterizations in the Kevin Smith movie, “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” where he played the villain to Jay and Silent Bob’s, “Bluntman and Chronic” characters, a psychopath named “The CockKnocker.”
Man, Mark Hamill is just the best. Period.
PurpleAmerica’s Cultural Corner
Much has been made of how Ezra Miller’s offscreen behavior really damaged The Flash. Yeah, I’m gonna call bullshit on that.
It may be hard to remember, but going back 20 years you may recall that no studio wanted to touch Robert Downey Jr with a ten foot pole. He had routinely had drug and substance abuse problems, and had a series of arrests associated with them. No studio would even insure a film he was involved in. Think about that; if you spend $50 million making a movie and your star gets sent to rehab or jail, you are on the hook to pay not just the $50 million for an incomplete movie, but all the other costs associated with the hold up. Ouch. His career seemed over.
Marvel had had a string of box office duds. The Ang Lee directed Hulk for instance, starring up and coming actor Eric Bana and Oscar award winner Jennifer Connelly, cost the fledgling studio close to a hundred million as a bomb. They took a real chance on casting Robert Downey Jr. in it’s potential franchise making turn as Tony Stark in Iron Man, and cast him because of how cheap he was at the time, BECAUSE of all of his studio problems. Buoyed by a strong script, good characters and Downey (who despite it all is an outstanding actor), Iron Man became a huge success, and launched Marvel Studios on the path to being the biggest moneymaking studio in the business, and a winning streak lasting over 20 years.
Part of that was that Downey was PERFECTLY cast as Tony Stark. He’s egotistical and arrogant to a fault.
Say what you will as Ezra Miller as a person (if the allegations are true, he’s slime), he does a really good job playing The Flash in this film. People didn’t stay away from the film because of him. They were either interested in seeing it or not.
PurpleAmerica’s Final Word on the Subject
Let’s give it to the great Mark Hamill, and our (belated) wish for a Happy Fathers Day.
Ah heck, let’s give him two for one today just to underscore what a great guy he is.
Like what you are seeing here at PurpleAmerica? Share and Comment. Let your friends and family know! Forward us topics you’d like us to discuss! It’s am open community here.
Footnotes and Fun Stuff
I find this practice irritating. I see it primarily at gyms and hotels. I can’t tell whether its the hotels that do it or past guests who like to play this card, but in truth, if the hotels don’t want to irritate guests and appeal to the widest possible audiences, they would program the TVs to open to the most benign local station they can find.
Having seen the film, I get this criticism. His role actually IS reduced to this level. He’s not asked to do too much in the film except look mean and be a villain.
Indeed, some of its best moments harken back to other comic book movies (and non-movies) including Michael Keaton playing the character that began the comic book renaissance back in 1989, his take on Bruce Wayne and Batman.
Actually, the CW series often played homage to that ‘90s show, bringing back several actors and actresses to reprise roles on the series.