EPISODE 202: HIDDEN FIGURES

POP CULTURE SPIRIT WOW

Hey, can we start with a moment of self care? Would you mind? Because this week has been like one long version of this, just getting louder and louder.

(Speaking of which, someone actually did A ONE HOUR VERSION of that sound. I feel like we all need to say some prayers for them. That cannot be healthy, even if it is also enormously hilarious.)

(Also, speaking of things that are both disturbing and enormously hilarious, there is a Twitter account called @EmergencyPuppy that has begun posting things like this (click on the photo to really appreciate it):

So yeah, self care. How about we give ourselves a moment right now just to breathe. And to savor breathing. No matter what else might be going on, breathing is still pretty great.

ahh.

Now, when was the last time you noticed the world around you? Some days I literally find myself praying just to be able to see the world in front of me. I get so distracted.

The stuff on your walls, the taste of your coffee, the sounds outside. Even just colors. Colors -- I mean how great are they??

This is the good stuff, y’all. We better take a moment to enjoy it.

ahhh.

One of my newsletters ended last year with a list of the writer’s top 40 songs for 2016. I hadn’t heard of pretty much any of them. I’m sure that doesn’t mean I’m old and they’re young and I have fallen into the generation gap and can no longer up. It can’t possibly mean that, because I’m only 47 and that’s old, is it?

Don't look at me like that, Edward. I feel young. Shut up.

Day by day, I’ve been sampling some of his choices. And yesterday I came upon this song “Titled” from Christine and the Queens. The video is really simple, just four people dancing against on a blue background. I can’t even figure out what the song is about. (Favorite line: “I’m doing my face with magic marker.” What does that even mean?)

But I don’t care, because God it’s relaxing.

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I’m pretty committed to this newsletter not becoming “Hey Kids, Let’s Have Fun with Ranting!” or “15 Newest Facts That Help Prove Civilization is Coming to an End.”

Now, maybe that’s the worst kind of foolishness. Maybe spending time posting the latest story from pop culture (even if it will make you completely rethink what you thought you were seeing at the end of the original Star Wars!) is basically the same as inviting all your friends to the bijou while the Germans are marching through Paris. It’s certainly becoming clear that many of the institutions of our democracy are protected only by our shared commitment to them, and are under enormous strain right now.

But I don’t know. Somehow to me it feels like all the hysteria is just kind of feeding on itself, like it’s alive and hungry and we’re the Cheetos. (Fun fact: for as exciting as he can be, Hysteria is actually super gross. He always has a thin film of irradiated fake orange cheese around his lips, and he never stops eating.)

So yeah, my plan is to fight off the crazy as much as I can, or at least to not subject you to it, even if the sky does seem perhaps a wee bit to be actually falling.

Howard, Where are You When We Need You?

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Have you noticed all the talk this week about whether it’s okay to punch Nazis? It really has become this year’s “If you could go back in time would you kill baby Hitler?” (Ah, America. What would we be without your disconcerting predilection for Nazi-themed memes?)

I can’t say I have been following the debate that closely. (Sorry, Mom.) I do know, as I’m sure do you, that the reason we’re talking about it at all is because on Inauguration Day, as he was being interviewed on camera (by the Australian Broadcast Network, in fact), white supremacist and ethnic cleansing advocate Richard Spencer got punched in the face.

I honestly don’t know how I feel about the question. I tend to think that calling Spencer a Nazi, whether true or not, immediately skews the question towards yes, of course it’s okay to punch him. I mean, are we going to say Indiana Jones should have just asked rather than punched his way onto the plane in “Raiders”, or that while he was being dragged behind the convoy he should have voiced his very strong disapproval of what the Nazis were up to?

Don’t be ridiculous. Nazis, the real-life nightmare monsters of the 1930s and '40s, have been transformed by history and Hollywood into sickos and buffoons whose ongoing harm gives us satisfaction and entertainment. See a Nazi, of course you punch them. That’s what the little mustache is for.

But is it okay to punch not-a-character-but-real-life-person Richard Spencer, or anyone else that’s just plain awful? I’m going to say no, probably not. In fact, I think punching them is often what they want, so that then they can tell their crazy followers, Our worst fears are true, society is falling apart, on with the cleanse! (If only we could convince them a juice cleanse would make them feel much better.)

But having said all that, priest though I try to be, let me also just acknowledge, if you poke a bear again and again, I’m not sure you can cry wolf (ARRGGHH MIXED METAPHOR) when you get mauled by it. Maybe you can press charges, and good for you, our world is so much better for people harassing other people and then suing when they respond in predictably poor ways.

But whether it’s legal or ethical for people to behave in that way, God forgive me but I’m not sure you can say you didn’t kind of have it coming.

Am I a bad person? I’m sorry.

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Here’s the bit about it all that I did find super interesting from a pop culture point of view: Nick Spencer (no relation), the current writer of the comic book “Captain America”, a character who, as seen above, knows a little sumpin’ sumpin' about punchin’ friends of the Fuhrer, reacted to this whole punching Nazis concept. And not in a positive way.

“Today is difficult”, he wrote on Inauguration Day, “but cheering violence against speech, even of the most detestable, disgusting variety, is not a look that will age well.”

If you follow that link and scroll through, you’ll see further reflections from Nick along the same line, including the intriguing point that there was once many years ago an issue of “Captain America” dedicated to exactly this point of whether it’s cool to attack people for saying awful, inflammatory things. (Spoiler: Cap was not down with that.)

"WHY CAN'T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG?"

Anyway, for a hot second (Nick) Spencer’s comments became a thing among comic book professionals and fans online, with everyone weighing in both about the question of Nazi-punching and the fact that the writer of “Captain America” was against it.

I found it super-fascinating, because the fact is super hero comic books not only generally require people to punch each other, but to do so Every. Single. Issue. And, most of that punching is being done by heroes, characters who are meant to represent our best qualities. (We live in a world where many people’s favorite super hero is a guy who literally shreds people with his metal claws. And many of us – myself included – currently find ourselves HUGELY EXCITED because in March we get to see a movie where his costar is a little girl with awesome sunglasses who gets to shred people with her own little claws.)

Now, not every super hero comic is like that all the time. Marvel has a book out right now called “The Ultimates”, for instance, in which this team of heroes come together to consider what are the biggest “some day that’s gonna be a real problem” issues in the universe, and then how to solve them. So for instance in the Marvel universe, the biggest bad of all (literally) is this more-than-planet-sized being with a crazy techno helmet called Galactus. Here he is.

Say what you will about his color choices, tell me we wouldn't all look better in that headpiece.

Galactus is known as the “World Eater”. Because basically, when you’re a million stories high it turns out you get seriously hangry.

No one really likes Galactus. He is not fun at parties. He always looks like he’s wondering whether to eat your planet now or later. But no one has really tried to deal with him, either. It’s the classic problem of super hero stories, the characters usually just react to bad stuff. They’re never proactive.

For their first mission, the Ultimates seek out Galactus to figure out a way for him to be able to survive without turning planets into Snickers bars. And in doing so, they discover he’s had a glitch in his system – when you think about it, how could the need to consume whole worlds regularly NOT be a cosmic glitch? --and that in fact he was meant to be this cosmic agent of restoring life to dying worlds. So in fixing him, they not only save the universe, they improve it. It’s a hopeful, innovative take on doing the super hero thang.

There’s a couple other comic books like this, too, but not many. And certainly not most issues of “Captain America”.

So what with all their debate over punching Nazis, I wondered how comic book writers think about all the punching that they are expected to have their characters do. Does that sit well? Does it ever get old? Is it out of date?

And I thought, what the heck, why not ask an expert? So I tweeted at Nick Spencer. And what do you know, he responded! Which was very unexpected and very cool.

Here’s the question I posed: “Hey Nick, love the comments you had this week on punching Nazis. Thanks for them. Do you think it’s possible to write super hero comics that aren’t mostly about punching?”

Here’s his response (pulled from individual tweets into paragraphs because I can’t figure out how to show individual tweets on tinyletter and also because just because we have social media doesn’t mean we have no more need for paragraphs):

I absolutely believe you can write superhero comics where violence is either peripheral, or even entirely absent. The point of superhero comics is to inspire people to try to be their best selves. They’re about people trying to help others and to make the world a better place, not a more violent one.

Now, of course, they take place in a fantasy world where certain things, like vigilantism, are laudable. But even still—I try to find ways to make sure the violence is either justified by some moral criteria, or as an incomplete solution. Usually, the violence in my books is stuff that passes the time until someone comes up with the real solution.

Though I’ve by no means got a perfect record on this front – again, fantasy world, ‘good’ violence, all part of the show. Still [I] try.

Some superheroes really benefit from tacking towards nonviolence btw: Superman and Fantastic Four come to mind immediately. Cap, in my mind, comes very close to the line – he’s a solider, but he should always be reluctant to fight. Has to be a necessity.

Same for Sam [Wilson, who is also Captain America right now, it’s a whole thing]...Other characters, if I write them, the violence has to be a cautionary tale – Punisher, Wolverine, even Batman to some extent.

To me, what’s useful about those characters is they can demonstrate the diminishing returns of a fists-first approach.

Thank you, Nick!

If I were a betting man, I would say that our super hero stories are going to tend towards more punching in the next four years rather than less. But I would love to see some of us storytellers consider what Spencer is saying. Even just to explore the idea in a Batman or Wolverine (or a NCIS, for that matter) that the violence they sometimes need to use still can’t get the job done by itself, that it has diminishing returns. That’s not a super hero story I’ve seen told.

(Art by Skottie Young)

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Aside #1: Once at Comic Con, pop culture’s yearly San Diego jamboree, I came to a street corner to find myself standing next to the editor in chief of a major comic book company. It was the first day of the con, the streets were mostly empty (a rare experience those days).

And I’m usually no good at dealing with people that I recognize – prone to earnest talking that sounds like I’m weeping (not a joke), but for some reason I took the risk and said to him I really liked the creative things his company was doing. Nothing pushy, no gush – a miracle.

And he gave me this really strange, somewhat frightened look. I thought, maybe he’s expecting me to get weird. (And if that’s the case, does that mean it would be okay to ask him for a job? )

But I played it cool, told him I didn’t mean to bother him. And then, out of the blue, he explains it’s no bother. It’s just, most of the feedback he gets from people online is negative.

Now at the time this company was doing amazing work. Almost every new title they were putting out was creative and original and found an audience. Seriously in that moment they were the Apple Computers of comic book storytelling. (Still kind of are.) So even with all the crazy of the online, I would have expected at the least – the LEAST -- a 50/50 split of positive and negative reviews. Nope.

It was a good reminder to me that it’s always nice to thank people for the stuff they’re doing that is making your life better. Many of them threw away lives that made a lot more sense to their parents and their friends and everyone else including maybe themselves to try and do that, and yet they rarely hear that they’ve actually succeeded and they weren’t crazy (entirely) and for you their risk made a difference.

If you had to summarize Comic Con in one sentence, it would be “Thank you artists, your stories have changed my life.”

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Aside #2: When I didn’t get rehired as a writer on "Preacher", of course I was disappointed. There’s so much in the longer arc of that story that I love, and some rich cosmic concepts, and also I got to work with some really fantastic people.

But I will say, I did wonder at times about being a strong advocate of gun control while working on a show that regularly features people shooting and/or getting shot. (There’s a scene in episode nine in particular where an entire room full of people gets blown away. You also get to watch it again and again.)

I have no qualms about pitching violence in the room. In fact a couple times I made other writers laugh because I kept pushing for certain moments to be more violent. It’s the job of a writer to be true to the world of the story and true to its characters.

But job over, I do wonder going forward about how to understand my responsibility as a writer, and whether or when writing stories about guns and shooting doesn’t feed a gun culture I find deeply problematic.

No answers, no judgments. Just questions.

As of yet I have never had to hold off parishioners with a semi-automatic weapon.

But there's still time, I guess...?

(I do recommend episode nine of Preacher, by the way. It’s deeply disturbing – DEEPLY. But it’s really well written and shot. And it has probably our best twist of the season. It was so much fun to break the end beats of that story....)

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I had originally planned to write all about the Oscars today (see: the title of this week's episode...) but it didn’t quite turn out that way, did it? Next week, I promise.

Between now and then, if you’re looking for a movie to see, I highly recommend “Hidden Figures”, the story of a group of African American women who were responsible for some of the math and engineering that allowed John Glenn to orbit the planet and later put Glenn and the rest on the moon. I was a little worried it was going to be “The Help” in outer space ( as Leslie Jones quipped on SNL last weekend), and it does get a teensy bit schmaltzy at a couple moments, but it’s a fantastic story, with some wonderful performances. (And I can promise you I’m going to write about it next week.)

++ LINKS ++

This piece in Monday’s New York Times about how contempt has infected all our discourse is a little depressing, but it’s also a good corrective going forward. It helps me understand why responding with contempt is a real problem even when you’re dealing with hugely contemptuous things.

Also in the New York Times, a New Yorker writes about what have been her favorite words at different points in her life. (Personal favorite: “stromboli”.)

Lastly...I don’t know if you heard, but...

Wait, though....something...not quite...

WHAT DO YOU MEAN, “LAST" JEDI? WHO IS THE "LAST" JEDI? IS IT AN IS OR AN ARE?
AND WHY ARE THEY THE LAST? IS THERE SOME SORT OF FOOT RACE? ARE YOU TAKING AWAY OUR TOYS? DON’T YOU SEE HOW FRAGILE I AM?

​Breathe. Breathe. There's an Episode IX. They can't kill everyone.

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So after the name broke and all we started freaking out, someone who goes by the “Your Mother is on Twitter”-type handle of @BrushYourTeeth noted that when put alongside the title of Episode VII, the phrase “The Last Jedi” seems to be continuing a sentence: “The Force Awakens the Last Jedi”.

I am so excited telling you this I am covered in hives.

So I saw the Tooth Mom’s tweet, and I responded to her just to say amazing catch.

That was three days ago. And again, this was just a reply to someone else, which means people on Twitter would only see it in their feed if they were also following the Tooth Mom. Which is unlikely.

But for some reason all day Wednesday people kept liking that comment of mine. Like, A LOT of people. Which makes no sense and also all the sense because Twitter.

Then yesterday morning a number of people sent me this link to an article. Here’s the article's main image:

Yeah. That's me. Not @BrushYourTeeth, who had the amazing insight, but me, the doofus who said "Whoa, awesome."

So, if you’re wondering how to get ahead online – first of all, stop, because that’s ridiculous and the world needs you to go do something. But also, apparently what works is just to acknowledge when someone is really smart. Which is actually come to think of it pretty much the best possible experience of the internet.

Have a good week. When things look bad, remember what they taught us in grade school: "Stop. Look. Listen."

Everything in me wants to say yes, but...