Me waiting for y'all to stop this shipping and age nonsense so we can start talking about Hobies very real trauma and how it effects him as a black man living under a police state
I was talking to a friend about the differences in the way Hobie and Noir are affected by their direct confrontation methods against fascism.
Noir is pretty melodramatic, he says he enjoys punching nazis but he also demonstrates guilt around the "moral ambiguity of his violent actions", on top of seeming generally depressed when you look too closely at him, what with the whole Burning Matches Down To His Fingertips Just To Feel Something.
Contrasted with Hobie who seems very playful about his politics, implying that his activism is performance art, literally took Spiderpunk to the runway, etc. If we take a step back and think about the larger implications of his universe, yes, he should be deeply traumatized and you'd think it would manifest in easily identifyable ways, but it doesn't.
I personally think Hobie's truama is manifesting in my favorite type of black resistance, which is literally just "existing and being happy in a world that wants you dead is a form of defiance." You're not gonna catch Hobie looking bogged down by the weight of fascism because he's dedicating his energy into living his best life out of SPITE. His anger goes into taking care of himself and his own because the number 1 thing fascists want from ppl like him is to roll over and die
Ok I get where everyone is coming from when they see the design of Pavitr ‘Pav’ Prabhakar aka Indian SpiderMan as an expression of gender queerness, but let me be frank this is very typical Indian male costuming.
Even the toxic masculine patriarchal men have similar stylistic expressions or to be be more precise this is a traditional/historical/ye olde male aesthetic.
Having said that I love what design elements are being used here. So…
Let's take it from the top.
The FACE MASK
The Three Colors surrounding the eyes are typical spider man colours but they are done to evoke the image the traditional makeup done for the ancient dance art Kathakali. In which the whole face is painted and bold lines are drawn to emphasise/exaggerate the eyes. These eye mask lines are usually thin - bold-thin.
Same with the white lines on the cheek bones which are indicative of tusks or pincers of demons or Animorphs in folklore/myths.
The white dot in the centre of the forehead is the most common Hindu motif, expressed in myriad of ways all over the country .
The ARM/LEG BANDS/CUFFS
The bicep cuff is a part of Indian historic armour - made of malleable metal, its bejewelled ornate counterparts were then worn in day to day life. Here in the north Royals still wear it during big ceremonies. These metal bands are generally worn by warriors.
bangles (metal circles worn at wrists) are an important male accessory and are more daily wear even in present modern times, some religions (Sikh,Jain etc.) require the males to always wear one at all times. The ones on the suit were more in the shape of wrist guards which again were an armour accessory. In Indian male clothing the cuffs are usually emphasised.
Due to traditional male footwear being sandals metal ankle cuffs were employed to guard the shins and were worn during wars while thinner bands - ornamental accessories - were worn in daily wear.
There are so many other things I want to elaborate on like: The PATTERNS/LOGO,The LEG GARMENT (??!)(what’s the collective term for clothes for legs?), The Cat’s Cradle swinging/body animation ; but my ADHD is already acting up so imma leave this here.
SIDE NOTE:
I love how the heel and toes are bare in this design. It makes sense from the spider powers perspective - no barrier in contact allows for better manoeuvring and jump control as is seen in gymnastics. But also because in Hindu culture important tasks including some traditional sports require the removal of footwear and getting feet dirty is not discouraged (of course with an adherence to washing of the feet multiple times in a day)
I also loved how incorporated his wrist guard is in his spider style using it as a toy and a tool. This aspect of making use of something in a completely different way was so desi ‘Jugaad’ I was stunned.
OMG, Justin Hammer is so horrible. I can only imagine Tony having to deal with this guy his entire life. He’s handsy, he invades Tony’s personal space constantly. He assumes an intimacy that isn’t even hinted at, ignoring all the signs that Tony does not welcome his company.
The scene in the congressional hearing and at the AF base with Rhodey when they augment the Mark II suit, Hammer has an air of confidence, because he has very few peers,
But he can’t compete with Tony intellectually or financially. Even though his company is filling the gap that was left with SI stopped making weapons, he has to put himself in the same space that Tony is currently inhabiting desperate to show that they are at least equals.
This is another aspect of fem coded Tony. He asks Pepper to stay with him to help keep unwanted attention away. He PUTS UP with the touching and handsyness and responds only with low key sarcastic remarks.
Can you imagine any of the other male hero’s having this happen to them and just putting up with it?
Saw Across the Spiderverse and I loved the movie, 10/10.
This is spoiler free, but I just wanted to say that the fact Miles is a Black boy who is written to show such…vivid emotions that aren’t just anger is so amazing. He’s not an angry kid n he’s not aggressive when angry. He cries. He is allowed to be happy. He’s allowed to be human. It’s just nice to see that, especially in superhero content.
I’ve thought about this ever since the first movie, but I was a lot younger during the first movie too, so I didn’t fully grasp that.
(Also reminder, Miles is still Black even though he’s Latino as well. Him being Latino don’t cancel out his Blackness.)
It's already common knowledge that the animation for ATSV is absolutely bonkers (with the first film already breaking ground). But learning this added info over Hobie's animation is beyond nuts.
Just rewatched spiderverse and knowing all abt the spot kinda makes it hit a little different. Like his intro he's just talking abt how it's his first time stealing and he has no control over his spots and is just a complete mess 😭😭 but then he starts telling his whole story in all the chaos w the shopkeeper and I think maybe he's just desperate for someone to hear him. He's lost his job, he's lost everyone he knows, he's lost his own face. He's lost everything, even his name, and no one to tell, let alone anyone to understand this pain he's gone through.
And then all he wants is someone to take him seriously. He's lost everything he's ever known, his own reflection in the mirror, so can he at least have this?
Then I realised miles and the spot are almost a mirror of eachother. The spot only wants someone to take him seriously, to hear him, and miles understands. He tells Miguel that the spot just wants to be taken seriously. He's gone through this in ITSV, and he continues to go through this now. And then miles just. decides to put an end to it. he tells everyone to stop calling him 'kid.' (And hobie saying 'now he's getting it' or something just ugh perfect) And he proves to everyone that he's not just a clueless naive 15 year old, he escapes all those spiderpeople, he shows everyone he belongs there, he is spiderman. (and fuck Miguel for saying he wasn't meant to be) And he's going to save his dad, fuck whoever tells him he can't because he will.
And we see this with Miles' great expectations piece, it mirrors the spot's standing in that one scene, and they mirror eachother.
They created eachother, and miles understands the spot in a way that no one else does, or maybe he just hears and he listens, and maybe that's all that the spot wanted in the first place.
Miles is a recognisable reflection in place of the literal one the spot has lost. Or something. Idk
No but like the biggest thing that Miguel is missing about this whole “you need to understand that you can’t save everyone” is like yes that is true! that IS an important lesson every spider person learns BUT here’s where miguel lost the plot: you should still try. Spiderman ALWAYS tries. Like Pavitr literally said “i can do both” and whether or not he actually could doesn’t fucking matter. what matters is he tried!!! gwen actively stopping miles and miguel trying to enforce these “canon” moments is so just outside of the like spiderman philosophy of “can you always get back up/can you keep CHOOSING to try/to be a hero!!”. Even as far back as toby miguire whenever spiderman was forced by villains to try and choose mj or the children, the people on the train etc he ALWAYS chose both!! he tried!! when miguel stopped trying is when he stopped being spiderman tbh. But also the spider society arguably inherently breaks the “canon” as well like yeah Pav might have failed if he was alone but he wasn’t. Like y’all are in a situation to do good, to prevent a death and if you have the power to do that then you have a responsibility to try!! Like i’m really hoping this is where beyond the spiderverse is going!! that miguel could’ve done so much good with what he created if he just tried!!
I just love that the theme of Across the Spiderverse is to never doubt that you are loved.
You can run, you can believe that not matter what you do, people will always leave you like Gwen believes.
You can believe that your parents will never accept you, that they’ll run away from you like Miles believes.
But they learn to never doubt that they are loved.
Miles especially learns to never doubt that love, because he would do anything for his parents. He crossed an entire multiverse to save his dad, and every single spider person saw the depth of his love.
That love that was taught and given to him by his parents, that Miles gave to Gwen, and to Peter. And they later realize that to, that even though they love him, they have to show that love to him too.
They can’t lie to him, they can’t hide from him because he was the original anomaly. He’s their friend, the person who’s love gave them a new life and they’re gonna show up for him, even if everyone else is screaming at them with a resounding no.
Subtitled: How “Othering” Miguel Killed Hundreds of Cops
I loved seeing Miguel getting othered by his fellow spider-people so casually during this movie, both intentionally and unintentionally, and I believe it’s the reason he convinced everyone their loved ones had to die.
“Othering” Moments in the Movie
I’ve only seen the movie twice so I may have missed something more subtle, but here are the moments I remember where the main cast othered Miguel:
Gwen (unknowingly) making a joke (from Miguel’s perspective, re: “You’re not funny!”) of the fact Miguel doesn’t have a spider sense by letting him get decked by the Vulture.
Peter B. Parker commenting, “You’re not funny, spider-men are funny.”
Miles blatantly in fear of Miguel, on the tram shouting, possibly half-joking, “You have claws? Dude, are you sure you’re a spider-man?”
These seem like inconsequential, even humorous, moments but I believe they’re a lot more meaningful to Miguel than he lets on. It’s not that these moments are massively consequential in and of themselves, but more so that they are part of a persistent, consistent assault on Miguel's Spider-Man Authenticity™ that began with his very…
Origin.
In the comics, and what it appears to be in the movie, Miguel isn’t a “natural” spider-man. Not in the ‘bit and changed’ sense. There actually wasn’t even a spider surrogate for the virus in Miguel’s origin story. Instead, in Miguel’s universe the lab he worked in was attempting to directly recreate their original, dead-slash-vanished Spider-Man by splicing actual spider DNA with human DNA. This immediately deviates from the “typical” spider-person origin story as, usually, tests were being done on spiders and the subsequent escape, bite, and transformation that followed was a complete accident. The only actual accident within Miguel’s origin story was that it was Miguel at all, every other aspect was more or less exactly what the institute Miguel worked for was actually trying to accomplish.
A pretty notable difference between the comics and the movie is the introduction of Miguel’s injections. From what I know of the comics, Miguel doesn’t need to ‘re-up’ his spider-human powers, but we see in the movie that this Miguel needs some kind of supplement. Whether it be to replenish his abilities or to keep his delicate spider-human balance stable, we don’t know yet, but what we do know is that no other spider-person does this and it seems like a private, shameful ritual. A subtle nod to this theory, in my opinion, is Miguel’s “I’m different than them” line taking place at, or almost at, the exact moment he injects.
So, his origin is “wrong,” his creation was a “mistake,” in some manner he has to supplement is spider abilities, and believe it or not those aren’t even the most obvious discrepancies he has from other spider-people. Actually, some of his most noticeable differences lie with his…
Powers.
Compounding that “otherness” Miguel already feels within spider society, he doesn’t have “typical” spider-person powers, notably lacking a spider sense. This is because he wasn’t made the same way other spider-people were. As a literal spider-human hybrid, Miguel derives his powers — talons, paralysis, fangs, light sensitive eyes turned red by super sight — from just some normal, non-radioactive version of whatever spider breed was used in the splicing experiments. The lab didn’t actually know what gave the original Spider-Man his distinct powers, and so what Miguel ends up with is a lot more off-putting than other spider-people.
Humans, and even other spider-people (re: Gwen feeling she needs to reassure Miles he doesn’t need to “be afraid”) are frightened, or at the very least are put-off, by Miguel. I believe this can be attributed at least somewhat (if not entirely) to his powers. Yes, he doesn’t have a very approachable demeanor, but I would hazard that that wall he puts up is in response to the reactions he gets to his powers (ex: “I’m a good guy!” “You don’t look like a good guy!”). They aren’t the pretty, petite, charming powers that other spider-people have. They’re very gritty and raw, and they’re lifted directly from a species of bug that people are notoriously afraid of. And while it’s true that the other spider-people also have behaviors that associate them with the creepy crawler as well, those spider-people have a way to combat their negative character associations that Miguel doesn’t. They’re funny.
Humor is an under-appreciated, though well-established, part of a typical spider-person. The movie even goes so far as to call spider-person humor a “crutch,” but it's more than just making light of dark situations. Humor is how other spider-people connect with their community. This is why despite a persistent hate campaign from the Daily Bugle and calls of vigilantism from local police organizations, spider-people are almost always able to stay in the good graces of the communities they serve. Spider-people, through humor, are able to reassure, console, and win over the hearts of millions of New Yorkers.
So, it is especially obvious to other spider-people that Miguel is distinctly not funny. He is reminded both in comics and in the movie that he’s not approachable like a spider-man “should” be. Miguel doesn’t have humor to use as a “crutch” to offset his unsettling characteristics and because of that, he’s not well-liked by… really anyone.
These perceived shortcomings take a toll on Miguel, and are why he is so convinced of the importance of…
Canon.
Miguel views canon events as the holy grail of spider-person origins because he didn’t have one himself. I don’t think Miguel fully believes he is a true spider-man. Not only were his (atypical) powers acquired through a (botched) scientific experiment, and not only is everyone constantly reminding him that he’s not a “normal” spider-person, but Miguel’s universe already had its “canon” Spider-Man, and he died.
Or, at least he did in the 2099 comics. We can’t be certain about the movie-verse yet, but on the assumption it and the comics share a backstory, Miguel knows the full extent of his Spider-Man’s life. Beginning, middle, and end. That Spider-Man’s story is over and done within Miguel’s universe, which means that Miguel isn’t a “real” spider-man. He’s a knockoff. He was an accident, a fluke, a recreation.
With this in mind, I feel Miguel’s reasoning for dedicating himself to The Canon is two-fold:
Firstly, I think it stems from the idea that because his universe’s Spider-Man story is “complete” that is how the story must be told. There was a set beginning, middle, and end to the Spider-Man of his universe, and he’s easily able to reference it. There’s no guesswork around his Spider-Man’s story because it’s concluded. And to him, that finality is infallible, so he plays it out over and over and over in other spider-verses.
Secondly (most speculatively, but most importantly), but I don’t think Miguel has told anyone that he isn’t a bitten (or born) spider-person. In his introduction, we don’t get the usual “I’m the one and only Spider-Man” cinematic intro we had with the rest of the main cast (excluding Jess). He keeps his introduction short, sweet, and secretive. This leads me to believe he hasn’t told anyone of how he became his universe’s Spider-Man. He might think that if he did, the other spider-people would shun him. He might think they would hate him. He might think they would leave him.
A very, very prominent theme across many of the main cast’s stories is that they felt alone in the world until they found other spider-people, and I believe Miguel feels this isolation the strongest of all of them. He set up the Spider Headquarters in his own home universe. He recruited hundreds and hundreds of spider-people to join him and it looks like many of them live there for at least some period of time. I believe he’s so afraid of being left out of the social spider network that he has outright lied about his origin story, calling on the only Spider-Man story he knows the entirety of— his universe’s Peter Parker. Then, to cover his tracks he began collecting similarities across every spider-person’s reality, enshrining them in gold, and cementing them as The Canon.
And, unfortunately, what many spider-people have in common is…
Suffering.
Suffering isn’t unique to spider-people. Prematurely losing a loved one isn’t even unique to spider-people. Sadly, it’s not very uncommon at all, and those moments are often defining in people’s lives; they can be even more impactful than the joyful moments. I believe because of their efficacy, tragedies are something that Miguel could most easily use to connect with the spiderverse. Not because these tragedies were meant to happen, not because they’re a part of some greater, cosmic prophecy— but, sadly, because they’re so prevalent in every person’s life.
And most compelling of all, tragedy rarely ever has any reason behind it.
Miguel wasn’t able to find some incredible, world-defining Canon Event among the many hundreds of spider-people he met— he was simply able to find tragedy. The senseless, horrible, incomprehensible moment in every person’s life where they’ve lost someone they cared very deeply for, and no one could tell them why. There was no rhyme or reason to it, their loved one just simply ceased to exist— and what was so insulting about it was that the world didn’t end. The planet didn’t stop spinning, the sun rose the following day, and no closer came. Everyone else’s story just continued to be writ, and that was just as painful because it left them alone with their grief in a moment where they felt helpless, hopeless, and inadequate; in a moment that was impossible to reconcile because they wanted so badly, just like all of us, to understand why it had to happen. But there isn’t a why. The universe is random and underwhelming and every day a few unlucky people will draw a card that ends their game, completely by chance.
And then Miguel came along and he assigned the importance to that tragedy that the spiderverse, and all of us, felt like it deserved.
Miguel told them that their suffering wasn’t random. He told them it wasn’t just another case of wrong place, wrong time. He told them there was a purpose to their suffering. All the pain they endured, it had served to make them better, stronger, more resilient. Finally, there was a reason for it to have happened.
Miguel told them they weren’t alone. He reassured them that this horrible Thing that seemed to happen to all of them was cosmically indomitable, universally inevitable, and entirely inescapable— it was Canon. It was the price of power, it was the universe’s exchange. But now, in that tragedy, they would never be alone in their grief again, and that made all the difference.
When Miguel gave them a reason for their hurt, it became a rallying point among the spiderverse. Not only could they alleviate the guilt and the grief their loss has crippled them with, but they had something more tangible to blame it on— The Canon.
The Canon Miguel introduced to them didn’t have feelings, it didn’t feel anger or resentment or spite. It didn’t hurt them for no reason— it was simply the vehicle navigating them through to the landmarks of their lives. And there was comfort in believing that these tragedies were ordained by some unfathomable, all-knowing narrative. And so the spiderverse seemingly collectively decided it was easier to believe in the Canon than it was to believe in an unpredictable universe, until…
Miles.
Miguel sees his own perceived “flaws” in Miles.
Miles wasn’t supposed to become spider-man in his universe.
Miles has an atypical spider-man origin story.
Miles’ “canon” Spider-Man is dead.
For all intents and purposes, he and Miles are likely the most closely related spider-people to one another, but a key difference between them is Miles… doesn’t care. Sure, Miles is lonely in his own universe; and sure, Miles is overwhelmed by the expectations heaped onto him social and familial; and sure, Miles doesn’t even know he’s an accident. But he’s happy. He’s a happy kid and he was close friends with other spider-people who love and accept him, trained and mentored him. That’s not something Miguel had, and he resents of Miles for it.
We still don’t know for certain if there were other reasons Miguel chose to isolate Miles, but from what we can gather in Part One, it seems like Miguel only had the “original anomaly” excuse. Which he used to prevent Miles from interacting with other spider-people, and other spider-people with him. His reasoning doesn’t really add up though. In theory, the “damage” to the multiverse “caused” by Miles was concluded at the end of the first movie. Outside being an anomaly, Miles isn’t causing any harm to the multiverse by just existing in it (that we know of currently). So why restrict his access to other spider-people? It certainly wasn’t because Miles hasn’t experienced a crucial story beat (Dead Police Captain), because as we saw in the movie, Pav hadn’t experienced his either. Yet, Pav was allowed to join the spiderverse. From this perspective, there was no actual reason to exclude Miles from the spiderverse when he could have helped the cause.
Instead, for what appears to be no other reason than jealousy (or fear) that Miles was (and would be) so well liked by other spider-people, Miguel isolated him in his own universe for a year and four months, barring him from a society he had every right to join, and forbidding any other spider-person from even visiting Miles.
I think that’s what it comes down to with Miguel, really. Jealousy that Miles is an anomaly like himself, but unlike Miguel, people don’t question Miles’ Spider-Man Authenticity ™. They don’t make a joke of his shortcomings. They don’t “other” him. They like Miles. No one likes Miguel.
And on top of it all, probably the most infuriating (and frightening) part to Miguel is that Miles isn’t ashamed. He isn’t ashamed of being an accident; he isn’t pouring over his Spider-Man’s history trying to meet made-up expectations; he didn’t even parody the spider-people who were right in front of him when he was just coming into his own. Miles decided at 14 years old that he wasn’t, and couldn’t, be a Peter Parker copy. He accepted himself as his own, unique Spider-Man, and in breaking that mold and allowing himself to take a leap of faith, he became something incredible.
I think that scares Miguel, not only because his entire organization is founded in the belief that all spider-persons must experience specific events, and not because if Miles refuses to follow his story beats then the entire multiverse will unravel, but because if Miles is right and the multiverse can be as diverse and varied as it wants to be, then Miguel has hated himself for so long for no reason.
And I think that fear and jealousy and resentment all comes to head on…
The Tram.
Miguel’s meltdown during the tram scene felt like it came almost out of nowhere. The abuse he hurled at Miles just didn't correlate with what could reasonably be expected of an annoying chase around the city— and it was completely unnecessary. By the time it happened, Miguel had already subdued Miles. He was pinning him to the tram, he had already caught him. There was no reason to be so viscous at that point.
Except Miles had just moments ago done what everyone else had been doing to Miguel this whole time. Miles had “othered” him.
“You got claws? Dude, are you sure you’re a Spider-Man?”
The skepticism must have felt different coming from Miles, because Miles was supposed to be like Miguel. They were both mistakes, they were both the product of a dead Spider-Man, they were both supposed to be outcasts, but instead, here was Miles acting like all the others. Treating Miguel as different and lesser, and I think that was the final straw for Miguel.
I wouldn’t say Miguel had kept his cool up until that point, but he certainly hadn’t set out to hurt Miles— at least emotionally. In fact, he had previously just been trying to ease Miles into his Canon. Miguel had been trying to console him in the same way he had consoled hundreds of other spider-people before Miles.
But then Miles made a hurtful joke because spider-people make hurtful jokes (a theme, maybe, since hurtful jokes had been what provoked the Spot into a rampage, too: “I’ll become strong enough to be your nemesis. Then you’ll take me seriously.”) and Miguel, who already saw so much of his own story in Miles, was enraged by his audacity— dragging Miles down (to him, to his level), pushing his way into Miles’s personal space (look at me, hear me, respect me), and forcing him to listen to just how “other” he was too (we’re anomalies, carry the shame of it like I do).
There’s really no excuse for it. Miguel was clearly in the wrong. No one should be told they were a mistake, or that they’re the reason someone else died— and especially no one should be made to believe that the value of their life was less than another’s.
It’s horrible what Miguel said to Miles. I do believe Miguel was venting his own self-loathing, but he leveled his abuse squarely at Miles and now Miles is forced to struggle through the aftermath, and there’s no excuse for that.
Conclusion?
I don’t think Miguel is a villain, I think he’s just a damaged man. That doesn’t absolve him of the shitty things he’s done, especially to Miles, but I do think it helps to explain them somewhat. Ironically, as much as he feels ostracized from spider society, I think he’s just like every other spider-person. He’s looking for friendships and acceptance and his happy ending, and above all, he doesn’t want to be an outcast. Much of that feeling probably comes from his unwillingness to accept himself as he is and pave his own way as Spider-man.
I hope in the next movie Miguel begins to consider the similarities he has with other spider-people rather than focusing on the differences, because while the Canon may not be real (or maybe it is, guess we’ll see in Part Two), the connections he made with others through loss and grief were. He helped the entire spiderverse find comfort in one another and because of him, they aren’t alone anymore.
gently staples this thread to the forehead of the people going "ew why would you ship mohg with miquella when you could make an OC/self-insert to ship with him instead"
the answer, you'll find, is shockingly simple: because that doesn't interest me. because that does literally nothing for me. because i'd rather piss in my own eye than ship a canon character with my OC (or self-insert). i promise you, if i had any interest in that, i would do it without needing to be told, but i don't so i won't. you're asking a person who likes chocolate cake why they're not eating banana cake instead as if those two are even remotely the same
[Image description: Twitter thread by Kris the Wordsmith ✍⚔⌨ || they/them @BleedingType that reads:
“not engaging in discourse but instead using its presence to learn more is far more helpful and healthy for me.
like fuck that, I'm not gonna argue with the "if you want to ship a problematic ship, just create an age appropriate self-insert OC instead" person but WOAH
like OHHHHHH that single statement explains so mucha bout that approach to media.
if that seems like an obvious solution, it stands to reason that these people view "fully projecting onto at least one character" as the baseline way everyone reads fiction.
they think that everyone is putting themself into the story; that everyone reads while fantasizing that they are taking part in the fictional world.
no fucking wonder they thin people who are into dark tropes are sick.
they don't think "you like this in fiction, so you like it in real life," they think "you are projecting yourself into this situation in fiction because that's how reading works."
which...no. obviously no. not across the board. I don't think I need to explain why at this point.
I just think it's interesting to see the curtain pull back a little. they have no concept of people like me, for whom self-insert OCs are a squick specifically BECAUSE they start getting too entwined with real life; for whom escapism and separation is the entire point.
the very idea that a whole fleshed out character can be replaced with a self-insert OC and still serve the same purpose in the story/ship...that's a very limited, immature way of looking at things, but holy shit does it ever explaina lot about the obtuse ways these people think.”]
Honestly, it's less like asking a person who likes chocolate cake why they're not eating a banana cake - still just another type of cake - and more like asking a person who likes chocolate cake why they aren't eating like a chocolate covered fruit. On the surface, it sure looks the same, but underneath the actual dessert is completely different, and being consumed for different reasons and enjoyed in different ways.
But yes, this does honestly explain a lot, even though in retrospect it should have been obvious from the get-go. I read fiction specifically to enjoy crazy shit *without* having to actually be in the crazy shit or imagine myself in it. And yes, "crazy shit" includes all the interpersonal relationships and whatnot as well as the actual plots and stories. Sure, I like when I see pieces of myself or my experience in a story or when it resonates that way, but I also get squicked tf out if someone is too much like me or a story is too much like experience. (As I frequently joke, this is why I'm always happy to help other people write their coffeeshop aus but never want to read one again.)
I do not want to be actually in the story - so much so that despite years of wrinkling my nose at thinly-veiled OCs projected onto characters and outright refusing to even click on Reader, Self-Insert, or OC stories, somehow it didn't really occur to me that people who enjoy those things would assume everyone else is consuming fiction by self-projecting into that fiction.
this is absolutely fucking pathetic now every single fucking streaming service is gonna start doing this shit. all y'all had to do was not watch Netflix and let it flop for a few months and they would have given up
i know it's easier to see a headline and get angry about it online than it is to look into the source, but if we all did a little digging, it's evident that this is misinformation. the source is a blog post from a tech startup that is advertising their data analysis services to other streaming companies. the spike in subscribers (which lasted for two days) occurred over a four day period, of which, only the 26th and 27th of may had above average signups, the previous two days were under 50k signups per day.
what their data (purposely) fails to show is the sharp decline in signups between the 27th of may and the first of june, the day that these features rolled out, because their chart cuts off before the password sharing crackdown even went into effect. their data also does not count the number of cancelled subscriptions, and does not distinguish between free trial sign ups and paid subscription sign ups.
they are trying to make netflix look good to advertise their services. this is marketing, not actual data analysis.
