a lot of thoughts about the mcelroys, the "what if disco elysium was cottagecore and about finding a missing cat" post, and escapism, probably not very coherent but on the mind. this is basically just journalchosting actually hold on-
ive been slowly ekeing forward in the mbmbam libsyn feed since i made that chost the other day about how monster factory still has it, and i think there is sincerely something to be said about the failure of escapism as a primary goal in there. i think its interesting that their primary engagement dropped off in 2020. you could blame the three-hit guest spot combo of jimmy buffett, lin manuel miranda, and hank green. you could. but those things are only really so intolerable to me specifically because they are, primarily, failed escapism.
jimmy buffett makes music about wasting away in margaritaville. he's a happy goodtimes guy. he was born in a hawaiian shirt on a florida beach. lin manuel miranda has made his name proving that the meek have inherited the earth, defanging the most ugly parts of american history in the name of rap battles while closing public schools in puerto rico. and hank green, well. i dont really know that much about hank green enough to be a specific hater. so it kind of falls apart here.
but the mcelroys are always like this - they're a respit, a stop on the path, turn your brain off and enjoy the good good jokes boys. and that's fine. like, sometimes, it is the thing you need. and there is value in that, but it doesn't drive the scary things away. its like the never-ending story. "when you're reading a good book, you can be robinson crusoe, peter pan, captain nemo, but when the book is over, you have to be yourself again". im paraphrasing but you get the point.
it's a fantasy where the most troubling thing in your day can be that someone came to school and started peeling a lemon, asked the time, and put it away when it wasn't the right time. that's a hell of a mystery right there, and you can sic the good good joke boys on it and maybe not solve it, but definitely have a lot of fun riffing on it. the episode the week trump was elected was titled "the anxiety-free cruise". i was there when it went up, obvs, but like. you know. thats just cred for cred's sake.
the point is, sometimes something more is asked of them and the limitations become clear. and it's the same limitation that i think a lot of wholesome, escapist ideas hit up against. like that tweet about disco elysium that goes something like "disco elysium is great! but what if instead of a grimdark unwholesome soviet murder, it was hopepunk cottagecore and you live in the alps and youre helping your neighbors find a lost cat! i mean, do we really need to play as another grizzly white alcoholic detective?" and yknow, that post is fake.
but before i knew it was fake my first instinct was to tear it all the way the fuck apart. i havent even played disco elysium. but in my malicious compliance with this idea i had a lot of fun, imagining this strawman wholesome game where youre a cottagecore witch girl who has maybe a boyfriend who is pretty shitty but in a way that the author seems blissfully unaware of but more importantly, there is no conflict, until said witch girl goes to find a cat for a neighbor and the cat is just fully skinned and since its in the alps in the 1940s. there are real, honest to god, italian fascists involved. and there is no escape. it was pretty cathartic to imagine tbh! and i got such unbelievable praise for being such a skillful hater. thats not even a lie im still kind of proud of it
but it does kind of get at the same idea. its an aversion to conflict that is just not sustainable. you have to be willing to be confrontational if you want people to think about what youre doing. and to some extent this is me telling myself this, since a lot of stuff i want to make goes places i would not, if i could avoid it and keep the impact. but i cant. so youre getting the bdth arc about [ RADIO STATIC ]
i forgot the point i was trying to make. mbmbam 500-540? fine stretch of episodes if you ignore the guestperts, which i did even back when they were the talk of the town. only time will tell if this continues to be the case
