A MARVELOUS CULTURAL DISPLAY
After contemplating why I write semi/sort-of reviews of Marvel properties, I have to ask aloud: is it because I spent five hours making this week’s Weekly Post-Ed graphic in the style of the Disney+ show Ms. Marvel (you read that correctly, FIVE HOURS), does that mean I must write something even if I don’t have anything unique to say about the television series?
I think the answer is yes; I really enjoyed making the logo. Go ahead, scroll up and take another look, just for me. Yup, that’s five hours well spent, I’d say!
My new favorite attraction to every Disney+ Marvel show is being taken on a personal tour of a given culture or people or idea. In Moon Knight, we were given a tour of Egyptian culture and gods, culminating in a final adventure that spanned across the sands of Egypt. In WandaVision, the grieving process was studied through a powerful witch who manipulated a small town into becoming different eras of television symbolizing the Five Stages of Grief.
And now, we have the MCU’s latest show, Ms. Marvel, which draws heavily from Muslim culture in America and what it means to retain heritage while forging one’s own identity in a new place. The show followed a similar structure as Moon Knight as we eventually traveled with Kamala to her grandmother’s home in Pakistan where she solved a family mystery as well as why her powers stem from the ancient bangle that acts as catalyst for her marvelous superpowers.
Ms. Marvel is dense with Muslim culture, ranging from the graffiti art opening credits that also pay homage to the original comic illustrations, to the music that not only sets a tone for modern Muslim influences for the show but also ties into the theming of each episode. So much of the series took place in a modern Muslim household, not only acting as a window to a world that many of us have never considered, but showed, like any culture, how loving and connected family is to our own sense of identity, even while forging it in our tumultuous teenage years.
Criticism of story and plot aside, I enjoyed each episode and gained a greater appreciation for the world that Kamala (Ms. Marvel) comes from.
Ok, now for some criticism.
Can we please stop making police and/or government officials idiots in television shows? Granted, it can be argued that real world government agents act no differently, but I like a formidable foe in my fiction. Since a government agency is the villain in this show (really, it is), they need to be better at being competent. Highlights of inept police work include:
- A car pulls up and helps the hero escape, driving off with squealing tires down an abandoned road—and no agents seem to notice.
- Escaping through a loud, metal door when other characters are in the act of being arrested at gunpoint by the police—and no one notices the door closing with a loud thud as our heroes escape.
- Missing every shot fired from advanced weapon systems as our heroes escape unscathed around corners, ducking underneath falling debris.
I understand this is a relatively low stakes show in which teenagers are meant to win against the big/bad governmental agents abusing their power, but there must be a better way of showing this other than having the same police pratfalls as an episode of RENO 911. Not only do I roll my eyes at every stereotype reinforced by snobbish portrayals of governmental authority abusing power, but that the cops are not well-trained at catching the Scooby-Doo equivalent of “Those meddling kids!”, it only adds to the middle finger thrown to the audience in place of real conflict and tension in the show.
This is where Marvel Studios can do better. I’m still a believer in things taking time to get better (the first season of Parks and Recreation a prime example), and Marvel has yet to master a winning formula for their online shows. And perhaps six episodes just isn’t enough to put into place a structure that makes the audience care about the villains as much as the heroes. It was just revealed at San Diego Comic-Con that a new Daredevil series will be releasing in 2024 and has an 18-episode arc; maybe that’s something to consider in properly delivering a show that is as satisfying as the movies seem to be, budgets notwithstanding.
But I found there’s more reasons to watch Ms. Marvel other than implications for future stories from the MCU. From Kamala’s parents and family to her friends and community, to the locales and music and wardrobe of the show, all of it was fascinating and worth sitting down for six episodes to enjoy something new and yet familiar.
Just like Ms. Marvel herself.
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THE SHAPE OF AN “L” ON HIS FOREHEAD
Has anyone ever had a dreamcatcher on their wall as a kid, and still had a nightmare, and upon waking up from the nightmare with a cold sweat and a few lingering images from that horrifying experience say aloud,
“Wow, I should have believed harder that my dreamcatcher actually works. If I believe hard enough, I wouldn’t get any nightmares.”
If this kind of idiocy describes you, then let me introduce Clark Kegley, the only YouTube content creator I’ve lost respect for immediately after one video.
If you’ve ever clicked on a Self-Help video on YouTube, you’ve just acquired a sort of algorithm herpes. One click on a self-help guru (even worse on mobile if you linger for too long over a thumbnail and the video auto-plays *cringe*) and you’re bound to get these videos popping up in your feed all the time. I call it a YouTube Outbreak; and the only cure is to ONLY watch things that you want popping up in your feed for a period of months before the outbreak can clear up.
And I liked Clark Kegley. Initially. He seemed like a good dude even if he sported a greasy mustache, slicked hair combo…but I suppose he’s emphasizing that masculine look that many men look for in their “worldly” self-help gurus, so more power to him.
The video I first saw of Kegley was about his quest to divulge the top three lessons he gleaned from reading over 300 self-help books. Sadly, the top advice was not, “Stop reading self-help books,” which, in my experience, would have been the most useful. Instead, Kegley spoke about waiting for permission and how we often seek exoneration (from work, from a needy spouse/family, time constraints and other responsibilities) before starting something, how we remain sentimental to the idea of change (understand it without true action—which requires sacrifice, something most of us are not willing to give), and forgiveness in terms of others and ourselves so that we can move on.
It wasn’t groundbreaking (self-help videos never are) but I thought Kegley had some interesting ideas to share.
Then, the algorithm herpes of Kegley videos and others like his kept surfacing.
Soon, I was scrolling past swaths of celebrity commencement speeches, the everlasting advice of Steve Jobs, what Elon Musk’s diet was as a child that led to his founding SpaceX…just a constant stream of “I’ll help you improve your life if only you subscribe to my channel,” nonsense.
Usually, I’m fine ignoring videos (especially the YouTube self-help guru crowd that lives entirely on saturation of their own videos – cranking out as many as possible – and growing their subscriber numbers—which seems counterintuitive; if your videos are helping people, shouldn’t your subscriber numbers decline since they no longer need your services? Just a thought), but eventually one of Kegley’s appeared that raised an eyebrow. It was titled:
How to MANIFEST A Text INSTANTLY from a SPECIFIC Person.
If you’re wondering why I’m not linking the video here, I refuse to give this man extra views after having watched it. If interested (and I know you are, you industrious internet connoisseur), you’ll find it on your own.
Basically, the video says this:
(Paraphrasing): “Here are the three steps to make anyone think of you and message you back. Anyone. No matter what your relationship is with them.
- Fill your head with positive thoughts, only good ones.
- Write the name of the person you want contacting you with your finger on the glass of your phone. Over and over and over again.
- Wait. Within three days, maybe four, you’ll get a message from them.”
Kegley proudly summarizes, “I guarantee that this works, guys!”
First, no it doesn’t. And I know it doesn’t because coincidences do not count as mysticality. There has been literally thousands of years of research and philosophy disseminating similar belief systems. If you’re not hearing back from your father, in Kegley’s case, because he “never” contacts you first and suddenly does…the event was still possible because there was still a basis to get ahold of you even without this so-called “Manifestation”. It may be unlikely that your father does text first, but it isn’t out of the realm of possibility since a.) he is your dad and is, therefore, invested in your existence, and b.) has the means of contacting you in the first place.
If I am secretly in love with Emma Watson, the actress, it doesn’t mean that I can write her name on my phone and expect a text from her at some point in the future. The same goes for Anna Kendrick, Elizabeth Olson, and, to a lesser degree, Pedro Pascal (because let’s face it: he’s a lovely man and bends the curvature of heterosexuality in men if left stranded on a desert island, not ashamed to admit that) and anyone else I’m trying to think of that might have a phone I could develop a psychic connection with.
And while this idea of writing someone’s name on a phone screen is objectively stupid, the part that drove me to write about this guy was the end of the video.
Kegley says, (paraphrasing, because I refuse to rewatch the video to properly quote): “If it doesn’t work after three days, it means you just have to do it over. But guys, I’m telling you if you’re NOT BELIEVING HARD ENOUGH, it won’t work. You have to believe in this, 100%. And if you aren’t believing in this entirely, you won’t get results…”
That’s why this guy deserves a shot taken at his content. It’s the old: “It’s not my fault my made-up thing is the dumbest idea and doesn’t work because I made it up, it’s because you just didn’t try hard enough!”
While it’s an old formula to gaslight a victim that it is their fault for why something isn’t working (I think religions of the world call the same process imbedding guilt, but that’s a different brand altogether), it should evoke a KEKW laugh from everyone who encounters it. Every time.
But after some deliberation about posting this segment (because I don’t like tearing specific people apart on a personal website, not when I can be vague and clever about something and pass it off as fine writing), I have to admit that Kegley’s method of writing on the glass of a phone with a finger does work to some degree. For example, whenever I happen upon another of Kegley’s videos, I write the shape of an “L” on his forehead (yes, from the famous Smashmouth song), and it turns out to be true!
And I can only surmise it’s because I BELIEVE hard enough that it is.
In a way, Kegley’s videos really have helped move my life along. But now that they have, I can unsubscribe.
The YouTube Outbreak is over, I can go back to living my life again.
Speaking of, think Emma Watson will really message me if I keep writing her name with my finger on my phone screen?
I guess there’s only one way to find out…
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Wishing everyone as well as you can be. You’re not alone out there,
