I feel really good about my book right now. So, boring technical stuff. When I first scanned the pages in, I forgot that the scanner was automatically set to PDF; I wanted JPEGs. I had the first fifteen pages scanned in the wrong format. So, I figured I would save myself another trip to Office Depot by taking screenshots of those pages. Clearly was not thinking through how that would actually work. Those pages were all low resolution and blurry, and that’s partly why I was forced to/had the opportunity to fully rethink how I would make the book in digital. So then I got to page sixteen, and it’s night and day better. I switched back to the original plan, and the final page looks so much better than what I had before. I got the other pages rescanned, so yes, I’ve restarted the first issue, but not as a setback. I still learned a lot, and redoing these pages is going to be so worth it. When I realized what had happened, I felt reborn.
I’ve been thinking the past few days about people complaining about superhero media at large, because someone I follow does it often. It’s occurred to me that part of why that bothers me is because I grew out of it. I’ve always been into things that were unpopular, and the older I got, the less accepting people were about my interests. It felt very mean, to have people dismiss the things that brought me joy, because they were ignorant of it. There was a time in my life where it felt affirming to punch back at their bad but popular thing. But after a while, it occurred to me that, no matter how correct I am about Star Wars being trash, it wouldn’t do any good to publicly denounce it or rag on it when it came up. I didn’t actually get anything out of it. It didn’t make me look smarter or more refined. Other people weren’t committing some sin to not have taste, as I would recognize it. It did nothing to get me more of the things that I enjoy. All it meant was that I was dismissing something that brings other people joy, and I know how bad that can feel. If I want to stand out from the crowd, then the best thing for me and the things I like is to talk about how great they are, no matter how many people agree. So, yeah, I’m not going to tell anyone they can’t or shouldn’t do what they feel they need to in the battle against psychic noise, it just strikes me as childish to yell at people for liking something you think is bad, as if you can berate them into developing a cultured understanding of film. Like…didn’t that experience teach you empathy? Doing the right thing is hard, and I’d like to see more effort.
In general, for me it’s always a spiral to think about the current state of film. Mostly because I only ever hear about it from people who have very strong opinions that we don’t make real movies anymore, and that puts me in the awkward position of pushing back on opinions I kind of agree with. Like, if you’ve been watching a ton of movies for decades as they’ve been coming out, it would be interesting to hear about your lived experience with the way movies have changed over time, and if you think we’re actually making more or less bad movies today. But I’m going to go out on a limb here and say it’s the same phenomenon as older people complaining that all music is bad these days. You only remember the greats, you’re paying attention to the faults of the present, and maybe we just aren’t making many of the kinds of movies you like at the moment. If you go back to the supposed golden age of anything, you’ll see a bunch of drek and slop alongside the masterworks, because not all art being made at one time is going to be of the same quality. We were still making CSI at the same time as Breaking Bad, you know? There’s still a ton of really great, truly artistic movies being made and released in general theaters all the time today, no matter how disconcerting it is that the MCU is popular.
I discussed part of this before, when I was yelling at Alan Moore a few weeks ago. Complaints about the state of culture are always extremely dismissive of all the artists who are struggling to make cool and different stuff, or who are successfully and it’s not being seen. I don’t care how bad and homogeneous you see the current landscape as, it’s real crappy to pretend that no one will ever make anything “new” or “good” until some vague apocalyptic event unfolds. We’re doing it now. Beyond that, it’s also placing undue emphasis on popularity. The most popular things will have impact simply because of how broadly they disseminate, but that doesn’t mean they’re the most important things. I also think it’s a mistake to assume that something being “the most popular” is the same as “commanding the most consistent and high enthusiasm from everyone.” The MCU is so broadly popular because they’re often very broad action movies that a lot of people can enjoy; the MCU isn’t garnering screaming, frothing crowds at every screening. Most people who watch them are like, “Sure, it was fun.” Those movies have developed a reputation for delivering on that premise. All the really good, probably more culturally impactful stuff is less popular on purpose. Art with the most vision and personality tend to be more divisive and ask for more from the audience. If it’s really doing it’s job right, then it’s probably going to turn a lot of people off and stand apart. Those are the kinds of movies that movie making people like, and that’s what will influence them, and thus future movies. Like, no one wants haters on purpose, and it’s good to reach people who ordinarily wouldn’t appreciate what you have to say, but having a real perspective makes you less broad and often less popular. Popularity isn’t the goal. Look at what the MCU did to be popular.
And I get it, right? You want the cool thing you like to be recognized by others, for them to have that experience you had. It’s easy for love and enthusiasm to turn to anger and vitriol. Especially when it’s something like film, a popular medium that most people partake of at least some of the time. But if you watch a lot of movies and have a developed taste in film, you probably forget that most people don’t have that. They probably aren’t watching very many movies, and they certainly aren’t being taught about it in school. I talked a couple weeks ago about our crisis in reading education, which speaks to how difficult it is for people to really understand and analyze things critically. Most people are told to interact with movies the way a baby interacts with keys jangled in their face, and they don’t get beyond that point. That’s not a moral failing, because they’re not prepared to do so; rather, they’re prepared not to grow in their tastes, with our “everyone’s entitled to their (current) opinions (which are immoral to change)” culture. It’s also worth noting that, despite how we present movies as “something everyone should like,” not everyone is a movie person. It’s jarring, like when you first encounter someone who doesn’t like pizza, but there’s a ton of people who go to the movies to pass the time despite not really liking or getting movies.
This is actually a big part of why I hate when people attack superhero movies as “just entertainment,” an insult only one step above calling it “content instead of art.” Like, I’m not a baby, and so I’m not entertained by keys in my face. It actually takes a lot of work to make things that are entertaining, even to people who don’t like that kind of thing much. I also think we may be disagreeing on the definition of “entertainment” because we’re taking a mutual understanding for granted. I think “entertainment” is when you have fun, while I think Big Movie Opinions think it means “distraction.” I really had fun reading The Rise and Fall of Dinosaurs and The Rise and Reign of Mammals by Steve Brusatte; that’s entertainment. I had fun feeling all twisty and anxious during Bugonia; that’s entertainment. I get really excited and rambly when I talk about politics; that’s entertainment. I like all the cool powers and super fights in One Piece, but the thing that makes me say it’s truly one of the best out there is the character work and political struggles, and how insanely consistent it is over the past two or three decades. The amount of fun I get out of each element is what makes it so entertaining, not whatever superficial element that You, An Adult, think is most silly and worthy of derision, standing from the outside, predisposed against it.
On top of all that, I’ve also discussed before how I used to struggle to make art because of this exact viewpoint. I wanted to make art, which meant that I had to make something Important, or else I was worthless. It really crushed my joy and creativity, because the things that excite me and make me want to draw aren’t Important things. I do this to have fun, to forget about the flow of time, to bring joy into my world, at least. Over time, I’ve learned that I’m not the type of creative who can start from the lowest depths of an idea or experience and build from there. I have to dive deep from the surface, or else I can’t…design the snorkeling tour? Is that the metaphor I built? Really? We all take wrong turns, but my point remains valid. I want to make entertaining things, and I reject hardliners who insist that art has to try to be Important from the start to be valid. For me, making an entertaining comic means I want to hold onto the fun, cool stuff that first attracted me to an idea, because cool and fun are important. It also means I want to make something layered that resonates with people, because the most entertaining books I’ve read are the ones that I have fun thinking about for hours after I finish them. I know these are short stories, you’ll read them fast, so you won’t be getting much out of them if it’s just fun on the page, and I have to deliver that experience to you. That’s real entertainment right there. I may not be very good at it right now, but I’ll get there eventually.
And backtracking a bit, it always annoys me the extent to which people conflate what the industry is doing with where art is headed and what “almost everyone” is demanding. Studio executives are likely behind most or all of the worst things that movie buffs complain about in modern cinema, like even lighting and flat colors to make CGI easier to fit in, modular structures, and an emphasis on franchises. In a similar way that no one really wants all this “AI” they’re forcing on us, most audiences aren’t demanding the bad qualities in modern blockbuster cinema. Nor do we want the massive malpractice in marketing that perpetuates trends, or the unreasonably short theatrical runs. That’s just what we’re getting. They’re doing all this on purpose in such a way as to train us to not expect more than slop, to yearn for it, even. You can go on social media and shame people for not already having as developed a film taste as you have in an attempt to push against the darkness, but you have to know that’s not the real problem, right? We didn’t vote with our dollar for Mostly Grey Military Propaganda With a Cape because that’s specifically what we were craving, just like I’m sure there’s tons of people who want to make Deniz Camp’s Ultimates as a movie instead of the MCU. If you want people to learn and grow and watch movies better, you have to either let them be or help them see the way; since we aren’t getting it elsewhere, we have to rely on peer education. And like I said above, you’d do everyone a lot better to talk about how great your favorite things are, even if it’s in a void. Love is always more valuable, and less popular movies and media need the support more than they need you attacking the competition. I know being good is hard, and I expect the best out of people.
Weekly Art Blog 12/7-12/14/2025
Life in the Gutters 