Netflix seems happy alternating between triggering Republicans and Democrats
365 Days. Cuties. 13 Reasons Why. Atypical. Messiah. Dave Chappelle’s...everything he’s ever said. Soon enough, it’ll be Colin in Black and White. These are all controversial pieces of art dealing with controversial subjects and stirring up controversy. There’s so much controversy to be had in the dramatic portrayal of these controversial subjects for a country that seems to love controversy so much they should marry it, occasionally bringing backlash into the bedroom proceedings. And they call come from one place; Netflix.
I don’t believe in boycotting or canceling anyone or anybody. If someone has stepped on sensibilities but not stepped outside the law, they don’t deserve to have their job taken away. I haven’t and won’t watch most of the list I mentioned (Dave Chappelle being the exception). The closest I got to canceling my Netflix subscription in a fit of righteous anger was when they took The Office from the platform and had the audacity to offer Friends as a viable alternative. Pshaw to that, good sir. It’s 1” x 4” boards with a nail sticking out the end at dawn, I say.
Let’s tick off the swinging pendulum of The Offended (coming June 36th). 365 Days is basically softcore porn and deals with the plot of a woman kidnapped and having softcore porn sex with her captor. You can check off conservative Christians and feminists—though the latter use Stockholm Syndrome so often when referring to anyone of a minority group voting Republican you’d think they’d understand the concept—as offended. Cuties is just gross and warrants no discussion but you know, the French are gonna French. Those on the political and moral left trying to legitimize sexual relationships between adults and children, or sexualizing children in any way, shape, or form make me not want to hang around on this planet anymore. Color me offended. Netflix faced investigations and criminal charges regarding this film. If I trust our justice system, I have to trust it did its due diligence in the matter.
13 Reasons Why has disturbing plotlines regarding teen suicide and people get offended because teenagers are supposed to be defeating slimy nightmare creatures from The Upside Down, not engaging in real-life existential crises. Atypical has detractors who don’t like how the actor portrays an autistic person, apparently lost on them is the irony that “atypical” means the autistic person in their lives won’t act like the autistic person in the show, by definition. Messiah has been accused of stirring up Islamophobia because it’s a show with a Muslim in it and people are predictable, if nothing else. Dave Chappelle can’t breathe loudly without stepping on, squishing, and disgustedly wiping away on the stoop the feelings of someone who has a brutal track record of mistreating the genitals they were born with.
Soon enough, it’ll be Colin Kaepernick throwing gasoline on the rocket fuel that’s doused the gunpowder keg that is the potential offense of the “I haven’t watched the NFL in _____ years and won’t watch it ever again” crowd; mostly bald guys with jawline beards whose jacket of choice is camouflage. I’ve argued before that Kaepernick doesn’t deserve my anger and disdain, whether or not he deserves my support. He’s not working the job he so desperately wants to work. And yes, he did make his own bed and should at least recline in it at a 45 degree angle. And yes, it’s a wildly privileged job in a wildly privileged life and he could do with some perspective on the matter, but the suffering of the mind not doing what it loves to do is not mitigated by those truths. I don’t take part in the culture wars because they demand constant improvement—sometimes perfection—from our fellow countrymen. I’m struggling enough with a battle that’s deeper and more difficult; that of being a better person myself.
So as I continue my path as a conscientious objector to the culture wars, I laugh every time Netflix causes a stir. Because it seems they ignite the ire of completely different people. That is to say, the same activist-minded people on completely different ends of the political spectrum. People who have taken meltdowns to a professional level. People on whom the incalculable value of the 1st Amendment is utterly lost and who fail to recognize that the solution to dumb speech out of alignment with reality is free speech in alignment, not policing or limiting free speech of those who offend us.
It’s almost like Netflix is doing this on purpose. Almost as if a medium of artistic output is not supposed to have a clear and explicit political agenda. Almost like they are giving a voice to artists who are adding more positive than negative to the aggregated pot. Almost like art can and is supposed to spark debate from all corners, possibly offending along the way without the constant worry of censorship. Almost like art doesn’t have to be sanitized, scrubbed, and bland enough for no one to get offended at its existence and can simply exist outside of your approval so long as it doesn’t violate the law and basic moral rules of not harming someone’s person or picking their pocket. Almost like artists are on the fringes of society, occasionally holding mirrors up to it. Almost like they’re not the ones with political power and shouldn’t be exercising political power, because they have a much deeper and profound power than writing society’s laws; that of writing society’s songs. It’s almost like Netflix is doing their job exactly how they should be doing it, and we shouldn’t be up in arms from either end to silence their voice, or clamoring to take away the honest living they’re making. One can choose to not buy the product without demanding the law force their neighbor to do the same. But hey, that’s just me spit-balling.
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Image taken from:
https://theplaylist.net/colin-in-black-and-white-trailer-ava-duvernay-colin-kaepernick-story-20210913/
