‘Political’ is such a useless word in the context of what media you consume. Even if a piece of media doesn’t explicitly have a political message, it’s still political because people made it and people will act on their politics whether they’re aware or not.
If they’re unaware, then the politics likely have shallow messaging that reinforces the status quo, or the media goes through an approval process by whoever is funding the project/its distribution.
It’s so oversimplified, the belief around where politics can exist. Rarely do these people consider outside factors affecting a piece of media. Marvel movies get to use US military resources as long as the military gets to veto any creative decision for any reason. A creator can have their work removed or changed based on someone else’s politics.
Here we are, nearing 2024 and the understanding of what it means to be ‘political’ is factually stating that there are people other than straight cisgender white people.
That’s pretty disturbing to me - that my existence is considered not just political, but a political threat.
The term isn’t useless, it’s a weapon. They know the above is true, but they use it to mean “you better not say anything I dislike, or support anything I dont, or else.”
Nothing more.
I guess I more meant that the term is made useless when it’s used to describe Rey being competent in the Star Wars movies. Kinda like how therapy/abuse terms have been overused and diminish conversations around improving conditions.
But that’s a fair point. It’s not just being made useless, it’s being weaponized to advance reactionary politics.
