“fiction doesn’t affect reality” so why do you care about gay rep in children’s cartoons, or trans rep in videogames. why do we teach kids morals through storytelling. why do novels find themselves in the center of social movements. why do inventions start as plot devices before becoming real. why do people’s lives change through the fiction they read and watch. why is a fictional novel credited for kick-starting a war. why did a videogame completely revitalize a dying sport in real life. why is a TV show called propaganda. why does the US military fund blockbuster movies. why are books being banned in schools and prisons. how do these works of fiction not affect reality
the setting of Ennis and its relationship to the fantasy part of this universe is so interesting because like, there’s a specific moment in s1 where reality shifts into fantastical (after Marty watches the tape and experiences the Lovecraftian moment of seeing the truth that can’t be unseen, the trauma that will separate you from humanity for the rest of your life)
and s4 starts from the get go with that tone unreverted. unreset. this world is magical and the people in this town largely know this. this is Ennis during the dark. the dead walk. Rust’s dad does himself a little twin peaks dance in the first episode. and this most recent episode had Anders talking with that disturbing clarity that seemed to possess other characters like Ledoux and Childress in the first season
hmm I actually think people saying that true detective s4 is just s1 but with women are being racist and disrespectful to Issa López actually!!! López is using a franchise that has been mostly white and mostly male (shoutout to mahershala ali in season 3 which i know none of you fuckin fakes watched) to center issues of Indigenous sovereignty, missing Indigenous women, racism against Indigenous people, and how climate exploitation disproportionately affects Indigenous communities. Apart from the ✨vibes✨ which td has always kept gothically consistent despite different settings and characters, I know youse are not seriously saying a season of television written by a Latina woman in 2023 and centering Indigenous people is “basically the same” as a season of tv about 2 white dudes written by a catholic white guy in 2014. Ftr I don’t think season 4 is without issue but Be fucking serious.
Bonus points for humour and irony when the disappeared North Alaskan outpost researchers have The Thing on full display in their movie room. Because the vibes so far are on point for this.
Angie arresting Annie at the birthing center, Liz watching black water pour over her hands at the wake. the violence of policing and protecting capital interests existing in opposition to human lives and specifically indigenous lives.
