Idk if it ever aired outside the US but back in the 90s there was a kids show called Captain Planet and these five woke dei kids were like ring wraiths for Gaia and they'd like set oil executives and loggers on fire and if things got too tough they'd combine their ring powers to summer Captain Planet, a cheerful blue murder himbo who would use super powers to do eco-terrorism. This was a show for children! One regular ass tv! It could never happen today. Never. It wouldn't be tolerated.
Oh, I've seen it too. Many shows back then had eco activism as a good thing, or at least oil execs as villains. I think even that weird "Motormice from Mars" show had an oil baron as the main antagonist.
And I don't think it couldn't happen now. Media, even when revolutionary on the surface, is barely driving real world engagement and can be easily defanged. We live in the revival era of anti-capitalist messaging in media (film and even video games), and yet it's been fully consumed by capital. I hate Zizek and his clique, but Mark Fisher was spot on in Capitalist Realism.
Avatar, one of the biggest box office successes in the world, has a blatant anti-colonial message yet most people don't apply it to the obvious parallells in the rral world. We just consume, feel good for a moment for agreeing with the obvious morally correct choice, then do fuck all about it. And execs know it.
It's the mirror image of the reactionary "this kind of activism only pushes people away"
Idk if it ever aired outside the US but back in the 90s there was a kids show called Captain Planet and these five woke dei kids were like ring wraiths for Gaia and they'd like set oil executives and loggers on fire and if things got too tough they'd combine their ring powers to summer Captain Planet, a cheerful blue murder himbo who would use super powers to do eco-terrorism. This was a show for children! One regular ass tv! It could never happen today. Never. It wouldn't be tolerated.
Oh, I've seen it too. Many shows back then had eco activism as a good thing, or at least oil execs as villains. I think even that weird "Motormice from Mars" show had an oil baron as the main antagonist.
And I don't think it couldn't happen now. Media, even when revolutionary on the surface, is barely driving real world engagement and can be easily defanged. We live in the revival era of anti-capitalist messaging in media (film and even video games), and yet it's been fully consumed by capital. I hate Zizek and his clique, but Mark Fisher was spot on in Capitalist Realism.
Avatar, one of the biggest box office successes in the world, has a blatant anti-colonial message yet most people don't apply it to the obvious parallells in the rral world. We just consume, feel good for a moment for agreeing with the obvious morally correct choice, then do fuck all about it. And execs know it.
sorry for the doomer note here
Because they think they don't live in that world. They can't see the parallels because they see their world as flawless.
They think it's all fictional and made-up, and that, because they are receiving their treats, they must therefore live in a utopia.
Captain Planet, he's our hero! Gonna take pollution down to zero!