salarta

I’m feeling a tad emotional tonight and like I feel like I should write something, but I don’t know what to write. Nothing really feels right.

So I guess I’ll go with whatever feels right.

I think what I want most is to be proven wrong about the pessimism I have toward certain companies, and people who work at them. I want to be shown that they do care. That they can genuinely see value in things they’ve shown disdain and disrespect for.

It needs to be sincere. I’m so sick of companies saying things that sound good and then going back on it. I’m sick of Nintendo treating Samus Aran like a pariah because they fucked up Other M but don’t want to admit it. I’m sick of Squeenix refusing to fix what they did to Aya Brea and Parasite Eve with 3rd Birthday. I’m sick of Capcom acting like Jill Valentine and Claire Redfield are only useful as supporting characters for men, mainly Chris and Leon – who they treat as if they’re the two main stars of the series. A complete change from the early days when RE1 and RE2 treated male and female characters like equal co-stars.

I’m sick of Marvel. I’m sick of Marvel trying to undermine Polaris in “subtle” ways. I’m sick of being told things that sound nice but mean nothing, and lead to nothing. I’m sick of being told Lorna “doesn’t have enough fan interest” because the person saying it hasn’t spent two seconds looking at the fandom, when I know better.

I’m sick of Marvel getting credit for things that, after all my experiences these past 10 years, looks to me like nothing more than Marvel trying to appear good for business reasons with no real genuine desire toward any of it. That they would just as soon flip around and do the opposite if they figured it would benefit them. I think if Marvel thought they’d make more money and get more popularity by writing a slew of racist and sexist comics, they would do it.

I’m also sick of seeing certain hardcore fans of companies defend their actions everywhere just cause the things they like are treated well. I get it, you like that Marvel’s putting a spotlight on the X-Men franchise and you don’t care if they treat Lorna like shit. You like Capcom putting Leon on a pedestal and don’t care if Claire’s treated like she’s just a token woman in his story. I get it. And it’s disappointing. Because even the best company ever is never objectively perfect at all times.

There’s a lot of “getting anything should be enough for you” and the like that’s just tiring and annoying. Because it’s empty. It’s acting like problems should be ignored as long as you get something. “Hey, you’re supposed to be getting paid for your work, but getting a cupcake every month is something so you should be happy with that.” It’s the same thinking that sexists use to put down women expecting better treatment in the U.S. today, as they cite other countries where women are treated worse.

And that’s the point at which those same people will try to dismiss the point because it’s not equal in seriousness. Of course it’s not. That’s obvious. Stop side-stepping the actual point of the comparison that the “logic” beneath is the same.

A lot of this has become a blur. I’ve seen these “arguments” so many times, and rebutted them so many times, that this feels like me sometimes.

Which I feel bad saying because sometimes people making those arguments are sincere, and other times they’re not, and it feels disrespectful toward the sincere ones. But I also can’t change how I feel, that it feels so rote. I don’t think I’ve had any truly unique arguments made toward things I’ve said in years.

So much of what I encounter is so based in POVs that try to excuse badness that it just feels empty.

Like I get it. Marvel spotlighted your fave in this book, so you wanna act like it was perfect and what it did with every character was perfect and fans of other characters shouldn’t expect better. At least when Lorna got a big spotlight on Secret Wars: House of M, I was able to admit that Pietro and Magneto were handled poorly in spots. I didn’t pretend mustache-twirly traitor Pietro was a good take for him and try to make excuses for it. I didn’t try to delegitimize any views that any fans of his had about that take on him.

Why is it so common for fans who are getting everything they want to be dismissive of fans whose faves get regularly screwed over?

Actually, if I’m being honest, I know the answer. They don’t want to see it. So they try not to.

I’m sad because it’s going to take a long time before anyone’s going to be at Marvel that’s willing to do better than say a lot of pretty things with no substance behind it. And that sounds like a crude and inappropriate overgeneralization, but I’m so burned out at this point that it feels true. I don’t see how anyone who works there is going to start doing right by Lorna because I haven’t seen any signs of a desire to do that from anyone working there for the past 5 years. I don’t see how anyone who’s actually capable of liking and respecting Polaris today is going to get hired into the corporate mindset Marvel has, do several gigs, successfully make a pitch to obstinate editors and execs who are convinced that Lorna sucks, and get the kind of support needed for it to be successful.

I see that as something that could happen some day far off from now. I don’t see it happening any time soon. In turn meaning I don’t see why Marvel should be getting any money or support.

This turned out to be a bit of depressing post. But you can see why I focus on the fandom as what’s best for Lorna instead of Marvel. Marvel doesn’t seem to give a shit, and its corporate fans are all too eager to make excuses for everything Marvel does. So there’s no chance really of Marvel as it is right now surprising me with a sudden turn-around that proves all my negative views about them to be wrong.

None of what I’m saying right now even actually matters. This post doesn’t even really matter. Marvel’s already failed the test of corporate and creative good. If they had passed, posts like this wouldn’t exist. I’d be espousing how amazingly Marvel’s come along with Lorna over the span of a decade instead of decrying its myriad faults.

So really, insincere, disingenuous, “say whatever sounds good” Marvel has no reason to change either. They clearly don’t want to change or they would’ve done it already. And they wouldn’t need prodding from someone like me. They’d do it because it’s the right thing to do, and take pride in efforts to be a better company with or without these comments.

I guess I’m done with this post. I’m sure some guy that hates me or wants to be overly defensive of Marvel’s gonna come along and think reading this is gonna change anything while nothing about their POV – the thing that actually matters – has actually changed.

Because to properly understand requires looking outside oneself. And they don’t do that. There’s too much presumption of Lorna “not having interest” or “getting more than enough” because that’s what they think, without taking a second to look outside themselves to wonder why anyone would think otherwise.