Sorry, folks, but once again I’m forced to deal with the culture war and how it affects storytelling and how we discuss storytelling.
The Urban Dictionary has, as of this writing, three definitions for “media literacy”
[1] Media Literacy describes the act of being capable of handling different forms of media and being competent,critical and literate. It means being in control of what to interpret into things we see or hear and believing everything right away.
Media literacy is about helping people to become more competent with what they see/hear etc in the media and be critical about it.
by JetBlackColors September 1, 2015
[2] A term for critical thinking used by people who learned everything they know from video essays on YouTube.
Getting a joke is media literacy. Being good at Zelda is media literacy. Seeing this post is media literacy
by Cranes June 21, 2023
[3] A @#$#% buzzword thrown around by pseudo-intellectual Reddit and Twitter users when parroting their unoriginal analyses of movies, games, tv shows, etc. that they stole from their favorite E-celeb on YouTube. They use it to insist that the #$%#$% goyslop they consume is more profound than it really is in order to make themselves appear like intellectuals and farm upvotes on Reddit and/or likes+retweets on Twitter from other impressionable retards who read their posts.
A: “If you realized why Ellie let Abby go at the end of The Last of Us Part II, then congratulations on having basic media literacy.”
B: “@#$%# off you pretentious @#$%$#%…”
by wtrbrth March 2, 2024
The sad thing official dictionary sites and Wikipedia will tell you the first one is accurate. In truth, or at least in practice, the second definition is the more accurate while the third one is just angry, though I have to agree with it. “Media literacy” is the new buzzword used by the usual suspects to push back against people who disagree with their reading of a text or program. “You don’t think this story is solely about [insert social cause du jour] here then you clearly lack media literacy.” This statement is made by people younger than I’ve been absorbing stories to sound smart in the hopes of silencing critics. It hasn’t worked, but it has ruined the discussion. It’s another of the dividing words in current story discussion, and it’s time to discuss this foolishness.
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BW Media Spotlight 
Should The Marvel Cinematic Universe Be Rebooted Or Destroyed?
Ever since Disney took over Marvel, which they wanted for the movie studio and not the comics since they’ve bungled that up and had other publishers doing some of their properties that weren’t pre-existing contracts, the franchise has gone downhill. The writing and adaptation have fallen apart, the social pandering is more and more obvious, and the lack of interest in the source material that their movies wouldn’t exist without by the people making those movies is all on display and has hurt the very brand they sought to use. Amazing what happens when you look at the popularity of the brand name and ignore why it’s popular in favor of your own biases, isn’t it?
This has led some in the fandom to just call for a reboot. Even Film Theory under both MatPat and current host Lee have suggested it. Supposedly, Marvel Studios are one reboot away from saving Marvel movies…except it won’t. Reboots do nothing to address the actual problems with Marvel Studios, Disney, Marvel Comics, the MCU, or anything else that has led Disney’s Marvel away from what made Marvel Studios so good when they were making movies on their own and distributing through Paramount or Universal. There’s also a call to just stop making MCU material in theaters and Disney+, a similar call being made for the Star Wars franchise that has also suffered under Bob Iger’s continued destruction and desecration of Walt Disney’s legacy.
Let’s go over this idea fairly, though. Superhero fans want to save the movies, but will killing the MCU in favor of a new Marvel movieverse fix things? To properly showcase the frustrations of the superhero movie fans I bring you the following video by commentator and indie filmmaker JesterBell. Watch as she vents her issues currently with the direction the MCU has taken and tries to convince us that a either reboot or total shutdown is the solution, with the upcoming Fantastic Four movie as the best place to do a Flashpoint style remaking of the universe. We agree on the problems, but I’m not convinced this is going to help. It might even make the problem worse.
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Posted by ShadowWing Tronix on February 19, 2025 in Marvel Spotlight, Movie Spotlight and tagged commentary, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Studios, MCU.
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