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racefortheironthrone · 1 year

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Hi- er, this is my first-ever writer's strike, how does one not cross a picket line in this context? I know how not to do it with things like Amazon and IRL strikes, but how does it apply to media/streaming?

Hi, this is a great question, because it allows me to write about the difference between honoring a picket line and a boycott. (This is reminding me of the labor history podcast project that's lain fallow in my drafts folder for some time now...) In its simplest formulation, the difference between a picket line and a boycott is that a picket line targets an employer at the point of production (which involves us as workers), whereas a boycott targets an employer at the point of consumption (which involves us as consumers).

So in the case of the WGA strike, this means that at any company that is being struck by the WGA - I've seen Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney, Warner Brothers Discovery, NBC, Paramount, and Sony mentioned, but there may be more (check the WGA website and social media for a comprehensive list) - you do not cross a picket line, whether physical or virtual. This means you do not take a meeting with them, even if its a pre-existing project, you do not take phone calls or texts or emails or Slacks from their executives, you do not pitch them on a spec script you've written, and most of all you do not answer any job application.

Because if this strike is like any strike since the dawn of time, you will see the employers put out ads for short-term contracts that will be very lucrative, generally above union scale - because what they're paying for in addition to your labor is you breaking the picket line and damaging the strike - to anyone willing to scab against their fellow workers. GIven that one of the main issues of the WGA are the proliferation of short-term "mini rooms" whereby employers are hiring teams of writers to work overtime for a very short period, to the point where they can only really do the basics (a series outline, some "broken stories," and some scripts) and then have the showrunner redo everything on their lonesome, while not paying writers long-term pay and benefits, I would imagine we're going to see a lot of scab contracts being offered for these mini rooms.

But for most of us, unless we're actively working as writers in Hollywood, most of that isn't going to be particularly relevant to our day-to-day working lives. If you're not a professional or aspiring Hollywood writer, the important thing to remember honoring the picket line doesn't mean the same thing as a boycott. WGA West hasn't called on anyone to stop going to the movies or watching tv/streaming or to cancel their streaming subscriptions or anything like that. If and when that happens, WGA will go to some lengths to publicize that ask - and you should absolutely honor it if you can - so there will be little in the way of ambiguity as to what's going on.

That being said, one of the things that has happened in the past in other strikes is that well-intentioned people get it into their heads to essentially declare wildcat (i.e, unofficial and unsanctioned) boycotts. This kind of stuff comes from a good place, someone wanting to do more to support the cause and wanting to avoid morally contaminating themselves by associating with a struck company, but it can have negative effects on the workers and their unions. Wildcat boycotts can harm workers by reducing back-end pay and benefits they get from shows if that stuff is tied to the show's performance, and wildcat boycotts can hurt unions by damaging negotiations with employers that may or may not be going on.

The important thing to remember with all of this is that the strike is about them, not us. Part of being a good ally is remembering to let the workers' voices be heard first and prioritizing being a good listener and following their lead, rather than prioritizing our feelings.

#labor #unions #wga strike #labor history #labor 101 #boycotts

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kitkatopinions · 2 months

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Do you think all the people saying that Zaslav killed RT and RWBY realize that having multiple criminal investigations hanging over your company’s head along with a track record of financial mismanagement, discriminatory work culture, and abject horrible working conditions make you not a very sought after commodity and that when all of that affects your biggest show it makes people not want to pick up the IP? Or am I just crazy?

Yeah, we can and should talk about how horrible Warner Brothers is, but it isn't like this is an example of Warner Brothers cutting a good amazing profitable product that had nothing but upsides. There's plenty of other examples and I'm not trying to defend Warner Bros. But I feel like RT has a massive history of mismanagement, scandals, abuse of their staff, and a lot of bigoted content over the years...

Let's take off the rose colored glasses, that's all I'm saying about these people acting like none of this is on RT and their higher ups (which included Miles Luna btw.) We've heard reports that somehow Warner Brothers actively improved conditions at RT. But RT's biggest cash cow in RWBY couldn't sustain First memberships and their own horrible misconduct led to boycotts prior to V9, while their cheap merch led to frustrations of the few loyal people they'd otherwise managed to keep. Them closing down wasn't the fault of a critic on YouTube or 'the RWDE' or even the company that shut them down. It's the fault of RT higher ups and everyone who made that environment so awful.

#rwde

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tomorrowusa · 5 months

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Elon Musk has turned Twitter X into a haven for hate speech as well as bots from Russia and other malevolent countries.

Musk himself promoted an antisemitic tweet – probably to show his far right pals that he's just one of the guys. Because of that, he's losing his few remaining respectable advertisers and is coming under scrutiny by governments in the US, UK, and the EU.

An advertising boycott of social media platform X is gathering pace amid an antisemitism storm on the site formerly known as Twitter. Apple, Disney, Comcast and Warner Brothers Discovery have all halted advertising on X, US media report, following hot on the heels of IBM. The European Commission, TV network Paramount and movie studio Lionsgate have also pulled ad dollars from X. It comes after X owner Elon Musk amplified an antisemitic trope. The corporate boycott has also been picking up steam in the wake of an investigation by a US group which flagged ads appearing next to pro-Nazi posts on X. A spokesperson for X told the BBC on Thursday that the company does not intentionally place brands "next to this kind of content" and the platform is dedicated to combatting antisemitism. Mr Musk came under fire on Wednesday after he replied to a post sharing an antisemitic conspiracy theory, calling it "actual truth".

Yeah, "actual truth" as the type of stuff you'd find on Truth Social. 🙄

The White House denounced Mr Musk's endorsement of the post. "We condemn this abhorrent promotion of antisemitic and racist hate in the strongest terms," said spokesperson Andrew Bates.

The Washington Post has a list of major advertisers who have suspended their ads on Musk's platform.

IBM IBM pulled its advertising from X on Nov. 16 after the Media Matters report identified it as one of several blue-chip companies whose ads had appeared next to tweets promoting antisemitism. [ ... ] Apple The maker of iPhones and MacBooks decided to pause all advertising on X on Friday after Musk endorsed an antisemitic post on platform, according to Axios, citing unnamed sources, and the New York Times. Apple was reportedly the platform’s largest advertiser, spending nearly $50 million in the first quarter of 2022. [ ... ] Lionsgate A spokesperson for the entertainment and film distribution company told The Washington Post it suspended advertisements on X on Friday afternoon, saying the decision came after “Elon’s tweet.” [ ... ] Disney The entertainment giant suspended advertising on the social media platform Friday, a company spokesperson said. [ ... ] Paramount The media, streaming and entertainment company is suspending all advertising on the platform, a spokesperson said in an email to The Post on Friday.

[ ... ] Comcast The global media and tech company is pausing ads on X, company spokesperson Jennifer Khoury said in an email on Friday. Philadelphia-based Comcast, with a market cap near $171 billon, provides a range of broadband, wireless and other services.

The European Union has also stopped all advertising at MuskX.

No more ads on Elon’s X, EU Commission tells staff

Truth Social is having HÜGE financial problems. Perhaps the two ought to merge; a lot of people wouldn't notice the difference except for the logo. 😆

Chris Hayes at MSNBC put Elon Musk's antisemitism in historical perspective.

youtube

To people still on Twitter/X: How do you explain to others why you remain on a platform associated with vile hatemongers?

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high-caliber-bitch · 1 year

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This whole boycotting the Hogwarts legacy game is beyond dumb. JKR is problematic, but the amount of royalties she gets from the game is insignificant. She doesn't even own the creative rights to the wizarding world in the US. Warner Brothers does. Avalanche worked their asses off to make a gorgeous game and now assholes are boycotting it because JKR is problematic. Everything is problematic if that's how you're going about it. Why don't we boycott the Witcher? The creator of that universe is problematic. It was decided years ago by the community around HP that JKR doesn't speak for HP anymore. We collectively decided that spiritually she is not the embodiment of the HP universe. I have a ten year old who loves and I mean LOVES Harry Potter. Do you think she's going to boycott HP because JKR is problematic? No. She's going to enjoy what she enjoys because she enjoys it. This whole splitting hairs nonsense is so ten years ago.

#Hogwarts legacy #Harry Potter

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celestemagnoliathewriter · 1 year

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Feel free to ignore, but-

Do you think it's wrong or hypocritical to be excited for the HP reboot? Like, I am beyond excited and really hopeful that it will turn out well since they can go in depth more for the books, but of course, JKR has kinda... gone off the deep end. again, I want to watch this show unironically, and I am so happy we get new content, but I hesitate to show excitement because of JKR and her opinions. IDK it's just something I've been thinking about a lot recently. I don't want to seem like I support her, because I don't, but at the same time the idea of a reboot fills me with a lot of joy and excitement.

Hello, anon, and thank you for your question! I have been thinking about it as well, and it's a discussion I've seen on Discord, here on Tumblr, and elsewhere in the world. To answer your question, I am going to give you a long-winded answer. I will provide you a short tl;dr of my opinion and then get into it below the cut.

The tl;dr: I don't think it's wrong or hypocritical to be excited about the reboot, as long as you're conscientious about the way you engage with new merchandise and media. I see it the same way as how we interact with most evils of the world. Is it cheaper/easier/faster to buy on Amazon? Oh yes. Does it line Jeff Bezos's pockets? Also yes. Is it avoidable? For most people, yes. Not for everyone, and not for everything. Ditto for Walmart in the USA. The key difference I see with the HP reboot is that it's associated with HBO Max and Warner Brothers, so there are these two entities involved, that, if you truly wanted to boycott and not support any finances going to JKR, you'd have to cut off these services. That being said, it can be done. No one needs HBO Max or WB to live. However, because it's part of this bundled service that provides other media/goods, it requires closer examination. Moreover, there is value to engaging critically and conscientiously with the intersection between institutions, cultural phenomena, and social justice. The world isn't morally black and white,* and our engagement with it shouldn't be black and white either.

And now for the essay, below the cut.

Have you ever seen The Good Place? It's one of my favorite shows. There's this one clip about the point system, meaning the way people go to The Good Place/The Bad Place, or a Heaven/Hell equivalent, and one of the issues is that no one has been good enough to get to The Good Place for hundreds of years. Why? The world is smaller and more complicated. This clip will show you what this means.

Why mention this? Well, it helps to explain what our role is, or could be, in a world in which cooperation with one entity or person necessarily means cooperation with more forces around us. Take HBO Max, whose parent company is HBO, whose parent company is Warner Media. WM also owns CNN, CartoonNetwork, DC, TNT, TBS, Warner Brothers, adult swim, etc. If you choose not to see the HP reboot and dissociate yourself completely from any entity that puts money in JKR's pockets, you need to avoid not only HBO, but anything Warner Media produces. I'm not saying you can't or shouldn't do this - it's up to the individual to determine what they deem acceptable and morally good.

We have to go further. Take CNN: their money goes to Warner Media, which helps to fund the HP reboot. Does this mean that any establishment that plays CNN in the background (hotel, restaurant, bar, etc.) should be avoided? If we're going to be very strict about this, then yes. CNN isn't a necessary good. You can get news from other sources, and you can stay in hotels, go to restaurants, etc., that don't play CNN, or just ask them to change the channel.

But then, where's CNN getting their money? We ought to look at their advertisers and see which companies we should boycott. Among such advertisers: Humira and GEICO. Now you can say - wait, Humira is an important medication for lots of people. GEICO you could do without, there are other insurance companies. I haven't even touched who the CEOs are for these companies and what money they're paying lobbyists, consultants, and other entities to keep their market share. Humira keeps getting new patents and indication uses on it so Abbvie can charge a premium and not give its formula away for generic production. They're making shitloads of money to keep the product patented.

Now you may say, Celeste, what does this have to do with trans rights? Abbvie makes money, pays money to advertise on CNN, CNN gives some of that money to Warner, Warner uses that money to make HP reboot. Money flows in and out. I will grant you this: it is very remote, but think about every entity that flows in and out of this cycle.

I ask my students about this all the time: is there any possible way to be completely free of ethical or moral complications in a world like this? The answer is obviously no. So the question becomes what can we do about it, other than retreating to the mountains and living as hermits (and by the way, that's actually a terrible decision, because if you subscribe to the belief that I do that we have a moral duty to help others, you're certainly not helping anyone by disengaging from the world and avoiding problems because they make you feel uncomfortable.)

So what is it that we can do? Let's think seriously about what it is we struggle with. We don't want money going to JKR, but as I just demonstrated, you'd have to go to various possible lengths to do this. It's possible, but let me ask another question: is the time, effort, and energy you're putting into this actually improving the lives of trans people? Is it actually improving the local laws and policies that put trans people's lives at risk? It's easier to pinpoint one person as our problem and the face of evil, but that gives too much power to one person. In fact, the power sits more with you than with her.

That doesn't mean it's a bad thing to feel uncomfortable. It doesn't mean it's a bad or even a pointless thing to avoid the HP reboot and all its associated entities at all costs. You are most welcome to do so; you are also welcome to watch the show with a very critical lens/eye on the world around you.**

I would ask, if you're of the inclination to avoid all the associated entities of the HP reboot (CNN, Humira, GEICO, and all its other associates), what would happen if you invested the same time and energy into local groups, charities, and organizations that support/help trans rights? it may seem smaller, but consider the impact you as an individual can have on a real-life human being in front of you, who needs help, rather than spiting someone else who lives an ocean or more away. You're welcome to spite and help the person in front of you. However, as a comment on human limitations, we all do have to decide our own most personal important issues.

For many of those on Tumblr and younger people on the internet, it can be trans rights. For others, it might be workers' rights. For yet others, nuclear disarmament and peace. Clean water. Clean energy. We all have our pet projects, and that doesn't mean we should neglect other issues, but if we take on everything so strongly, we will not be able to act.

This brings me back to The Good Place and the character of Chidi Anagonye, the moral philosophy professor who cannot act because of his anxiety. He ruins his life, and others', by his indecision over moral quandaries, which appear everywhere.

No, you're not going to be perfect. That's ok. As long as you are trying, in my opinion (which is based on years of studying morality, philosophy, and ethics), you are moving in the right direction.

My on-the-ground moral recommendations: it's OK to see the HP reboot if you're already subscribing to HBO Max or plan to for other things. I might also recommend doing on the ground, in person or monetary efforts to help trans people with basic human rights like housing, food, and personal safety. That, the personal connections and improvements we make, will be far more effective at making the world a safer place for trans people than continuing to center the argument on JKR. She is but one person, and so are you. You may not be as wealthy, but you have a voice, and using it in your own locality/context will do far more good.

You're most welcome to send questions or ask for clarifications.

*(I will add, as an aside and more of my own opinion, that the black and white thinking I find among people of all backgrounds is more or less a defense mechanism against having to critically reflect/think deeply about what makes us uncomfortable and navigating confrontations or things that challenge our worldviews. Human beings are really terrible with cognitive dissonance and we don't like looking at ourselves in a bad light, and I mean that in the way that white people can sometimes get uncomfortable with the concept of white privilege. It's not a slight against the individual white person but rather a phenomenon to sit with, reflect on, and pledge to improve.)

**I would also like to address the contrast between the HP reboot and Hogwarts Legacy. Unlike the HP reboot, HL is its own entity and far easier to avoid, because you have to buy the actual game. But again, if you want to avoid any/all money going from Hogwarts Legacy and its makers to JKR, you'd have to avoid gaming systems, stores that sell the game, and all those involved in creating it. That being said, HL and the reboot are QUITE different because one must be purchased as a separate entity while the HP reboot will presumably be available via streaming, which means it's bundled with other shows and services, which is what complicates this. If the HP reboot were only available as a DVD or online purchase, I would have further questions, and I think it wouldn't sell for that reason exactly, based on the backlash to HL.

Edits, a few hours after the original post:

After doing some discussion with valued fandom friends, I thought it important to add a few considerations.

First, an immediate consideration: deeply consider the way you and others are discussing the show. Though it might not seem like a big thing, enthusiastic support, without considering the ramifications the show has for people in the trans community, and/or trans allies, will distance those people in the fandom. One way to do this is to keep discourse private among friends, and/or to refrain from discussing it at all in public spaces. Think of the message it potentially sends to trans folks/trans allies to be enthusiastic without considering the underlying messages you are sending in support of JKR and her views.

Second, a longer term consideration: one way to curtail or curb the success of the show (though highly unlikely) is to wait to see it until it is cancelled or complete. That's a long wait, potentially, but it would reduce the immediate views and support for the show. That's not necessarily a perfect solution, but it might be the one that says "we're not going to give this our immediate attention, and we are willing to wait until it's not as profitable or important." This isn't necessarily a perfect solution, but it may be one of the most ethical ones if you're very interested in seeing the show.

Please do send questions and comments if you have them.

#asks #send asks #harry potter #hp reboot #harry potter reboot #philosophy #morality #got my professor hat on

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silveragelovechild · 1 year

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Warner and James Gunn have no idea how much they have fucked up.

We’re talking Elon-Musk-Buys-Twitter levels of fucked up.

I had been looking forward to the Flash movie, but now, what’s the point?

I give up on Warner’s DC movies.

Warner and James Gunn deserve whatever fan backlash they’ve created.

#Warner brothers has fucked up #James Gunn has fucked up #Warner brothers deserved the fan backlash #boycott Warner brothers #cancel HBO max

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ladyvictoriadiana · 1 year

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Why the "good faith" argument doesn't work for HP/ JKR

TL; DR: JKR has, even though the discussion of racism and anti-Semitism in Harry Potter has been around for decades, never shown any support for a good faith interpretation of her works by acknowledging and apologizing for her "mistakes" - quite the contrary.

As the upcoming Harry Potter HBO series will undoubtedly, as has the publication of the latest Wizarding World Videogame, lead to an influx of "good faith" arguments by liberal HP fans who want to find reasons to watch the show without feeling guilty for compromising on their values. And I just want to help debunk these arguments*.

To break it down: Many liberal fans I've seen argue against a boycott of Rowling's works or related franchises use the following argument: "JK Rowling didn't know what she was doing, we should consider her works in good faith and not project our modern sensibilities on it" - this is basically a version of the "They are just a person of their time" argument that gets used all the time. However, this just doesn't work - especially in 2023.

Why? Well, because JKR has never shown any support for this argument herself. The arguments of racism and anti-semitism being present in the books (published 1997-2007) and movies (released 2001-2011) have been around for quite a while - just by searching for the keywords on Google and specifying the articles to be released between 1997 and 2001 I found a variety of articles on both topics which mentioned the portrayal of goblins as anti-semitic stereotypes [1] and discusses how race is portrayed in the book [2]. By widening the search parameters to include the end of the movie releases, I found more articles in a similar vein, arguing both sides of the aisle.

This means that JKR, at this point, has had over 22 years to address these concerns and clarify her stance both on racism and anti-semitism**. If she were acting in good faith, she would have done so. She would have, at some point between now and 1997, put out a statement along the lines of: "I have been made aware that my books/movies contain racist and anti-semitic stereotypes that harm the marginalized communities. I was not aware of how much harm I was causing because of the privileges I have experienced as well as a lack of critical thinking skills at the time of writing these books. I am deeply sorry for any harm that I have caused and will ensure that future publications will do their best to minimize this damage. Furthermore, I will endeavor to educate myself further on both of these topics and will, additionally, donate x amount of money to charities that support anti-racist and Jewish causes." Now, I am sure that JKR and her agency would be much better at formulating such a statement than me, but you see what I mean.

Now, concrete measures would, of course, have depended on when precisely such a statement was published and how it was published - in collaboration with publishers or Warner Brothers or only by JKR herself. But the fact that such a statement was never published and that JKR seems to have taken no measures to support those communities she has harmed to me suggests that she is fine with what she wrote/produced. And that, to me, suggests that she is, at best, ignorant and, at worst, racist and/or anti-Semitic.

I can understand making mistakes and being blinded by your privilege - I myself for the longest time did not realize why certain tropes in German fairy tales (and Harry Potter) as well as a variety of other books I read as a child/teenager are anti-semitic and/or racist and also had to be educated by other, better-informed people (largely online but also at uni). Making mistakes is understandable - but how you deal with them shows your true character and intent. And JKR, in my opinion, has not dealt with her "mistakes" (if you are willing to extend her enough good faith to call them that) in a way that shows she has matured, educated, and informed herself.

On the contrary, as her latest release within The Wizarding World shows, she is still using anti-semitic tropes literal decades after people first brought to the public's attention how problematic this is and how she is harming vulnerable communities with her works and her seal of approval on related franchises. Rather, she seems to be doubling down, which shows her lack of concern for the Jewish community and her lack of willingness to change.

This is what should turn any liberal HP fan off the works and any, especially official, related works forever - not that JKR lacked critical reading and thinking skills in 1997 when she first created the goblins from pre-existing folklore and created a world that claims to be race-blind but has an entire creature-race of slaves but that she still has not made any changes in her attitude or her work to show that she is aware that she made mistakes and caused harm.

Please feel free to add additional commentary, especially if you are part of communities hurt by JKR, as well as sources or opinions to this post. If I have said anything that you consider wrong or problematic, please do contact me via this post or via DMs - I have tried, in the last years, to educate myself as best as possible but I am aware that I am not perfect. I also hope it provides some arguments when coming across remaining HP fans.

*Just to clarify: I myself am neither Jewish nor am I a person of color and I would ask you to not just read my post but also read content by members of both communities discussing their concerns with Harry Potter/ JK Rowling. I will also not argue against these points from the perspective of either of these groups (because I don't belong to them) but rather wish to provide a general argument.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/26/movies/potter/readers-comment-on-harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone.html

[2] https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2000/07/31/under-the-spell

** I am aware that JK Rowling, in the early 2000s, visited a Holocaust Museum and compared the ideologies of Deatheaters and Voldemort to the ideologies of the Nazis - however, this does not address the issue of her using anti-semitic stereotypes to portray the goblins in both her books and movies (and just always felt a bit icky to me personally).

#harry potter #jk rowling #anti jk rowling

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raindduks · 1 year

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'don't boycott hogwarts legacy because the developers still deserve support and the studio may close if they dont get enough ppl buying the game'

look me in the eyes. game devs are paid in full before the game is even shipped. they are only paid after release if they are kept on to bug fix/update the game. the studio is supported by warner brothers. the game devs can and will find work elsewhere if they have to downsize.

if anything not buying the game (or downloading it for free through legal platforms! piracy is cool tho) shows other publishers that there is no money to be made here and that games like this shouldnt be made in the future. hopefully it even shows wb that people arent willing to support shitty people even for well-beloved franchises.

boycott the damn game

#and in case anyone tries it #im a literal game developer #thats my job thats my job title #hogwarts legacy #is a piece of shit concept and not even that interesting of a game #elden ring has more fucking spells than a damn wizard game #im just ranting at nothing because i saw this dogshit arguement earlier today

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archaeocommunologist · 1 year

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are you dumb or are you stupid. go look at the plot of the game. two things can be true at once idiot the idf is bad AND the game is literally just blood libel MADE BY A NEONAZI (leavitt).

I'm neither dumb nor stupid. As far as I can tell, Leavitt is not a neo-Nazi, he's just a right-wing shithead. The plot of the game is reminiscent of antisemitic tropes, I agree, but to call it "Blood Libel: the Game" or to compare it to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion is, frankly, hysterically overblown. It's published by Warner Bros., for god's sake. Are you really trying to tell me that the C-suite of fucking Warner Brothers is so captured by neo-Nazis that they were willing to publish something as extreme as what you're describing? Don't make me laugh.

There is a certain subset of fandom-brained Tumblr users that have a, shall we say, expansive view of what constitutes antisemitism in media. We saw it with Dracula Daily, where there were several 10,000+ note posts asserting that the concept of vampires itself was inherently antisemitic. That's just not true, despite there being elements of antisemitic caricature in Stoker's work.

Similarly with Rowling and her goblins. The goblins do recapitulate antisemitic tropes and they contain elements of antisemitic caricature. But that's not because Rowling is a secret antisemite, it's because she is a bad and un-reflective writer who regurgitated a portion of the antisemitism that is endemic to our media environment. She also does not support slavery, despite seeming to do so in her work.

Look, don't buy the game, I don't care. But it doesn't fucking matter. It's just another little culture war for the left-adjacent fandomized twitterati. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised to discover that some of this outrage is actually part of their marketing strategy. Have fun with your pretend boycott!

#harry potter #hogwarts legacy #antisemitism

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jewishbarbies · 8 months

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I'm glad that the Flash movie bombed though. That should teach Warner Bros a lesson when it comes to keeping horrible people.

it won’t. people didn’t boycott the flash movie. they still went. the problem was the bad cgi and once news of that got around, people either didn’t go or didn’t see it a second time. warner brothers seems to prefer employing horrible people so i really don’t think this will change anything, considering lena dunham is directing the polly pocket movie.

#Asks #anonymoose

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doberbutts · 2 years

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And to make the Amazon thing more tangled, it you have prime, you can use it to subscribe to someone on Twitch. Someone gets to choose exactly who that money goes to, and it really helps smaller streamers. Watching Amazon's streaming service stuff is the same as watching any other movie or show from any other large streaming or media network. I hope anon doesn't watch HBO, or CW, or NBC, or Netflix, Hulu, Disney+ or its cable network, Discovery Channel. They *all* have issues. A more manageable goal is arguing for diversity, better working conditions, and the ability for the employees and cast to unionize for all these large companies

As I said before when they said "just watch the OG movies instead of giving money to an evil company"- do they think Warner Brothers and Time Warner somehow are not evil companies? Because New Line Cinema doesn't exist anymore after getting swallowed by Time Warner... So I'd still be giving an evil company money if I were to pay for the OG movies (as if I don't have them on physical disc by now as well as digital copies but still).

Anyway fighting for unions and better paychecks and benefits and working conditions is hard and advocating for a boycott that doesn't even make sense (because by definition Amazon already has its money and will continue to have it for the next 8 months) is way easier. Fighting for more diversity and better representation and more sensitivity means someone has to actually support the shows that are trying and we can't have that either.

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eyecantread · 1 year

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I've said it before but I'll say it again: I can't boycott Hogwarts Legacy because I wasn't planning to buy it in the first place. I outgrew Harry Potter years ago. That said, people who are planning to buy it would do good to stop and consider if they're comfortable with their money going to feed noted transphobe and friend to public flashers JK Rowling and evil corporation and shitty game dev Warner Brothers.

#Harry Potter #TERFs #LGBTQ #Video Games

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darkangel1791 · 10 months

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Why Actors Are Going on Strike

BY LAURA ZORNOSA

Time.com

UPDATED: JULY 12, 2023 4:37 PM EDT | ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: JULY 12, 2023 4:28 PM EDT

Just after midnight on the West Coast, the contracts between the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) expired—meaning that a deal between the two had not been reached. SAG-AFTRA’s negotiating committee unanimously voted to recommend a strike to its national board, which is expected to formally announce the strike on Thursday.

On June 5, nearly 65,000 of the approximately 160,000 members that make up SAG-AFTRA approved a strike authorization with a 97.91% “yes” vote. The union includes actors, dancers, DJs, puppeteers, recording artists, singers, stunt performers, voiceover artists, and other media professionals.

Two days later, SAG-AFTRA entered negotiations on its agreement with the AMPTP, including Amazon/MGM, Apple, NBCUniversal, Disney/ABC/Fox, Netflix, Paramount/CBS, Sony, and Warner Brothers. On June 30, the contracts between the two were extended, and they now expire at midnight on Wednesday.

“There has been a sea change in the entertainment industry, from the proliferation of streaming platforms to the recent explosion of generative AI, and at stake is the ability of our members to make a living,” Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the SAG-AFTRA National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator, said in a letter about the strike authorization referendum. “We must ensure that new developments in the entertainment industry are not used to devalue or disrespect the performers who bring productions to life.”

On Tuesday, SAG-AFTRA agreed to AMPTP’s last-minute request for federal mediation, which would bring in a neutral third party to help work toward a compromise. SAG-AFTRA clarified, though, that it would not extend the negotiations for a second time.

“We will not be distracted from negotiating in good faith to secure a fair and just deal by the expiration of our agreement,” the guild said in a press release. “We are committed to the negotiating process and will explore and exhaust every possible opportunity to make a deal, however we are not confident that the employers have any intention of bargaining toward an agreement.”

Among SAG-AFTRA’s demands are increased minimum pay rates, increased streaming residuals (neither of which have kept up with inflation), and improved working conditions. Royalty payments, which are contingent on the number of a show’s reruns, are no longer reliable. Streaming, which has shifted to shorter seasons over longer periods of time, has made less work available to actors. And union members want guarantees from studio and production companies about how, exactly, artificial intelligence will be used—they want to protect their likenesses and make sure they are well compensated when any of their work is used to train AI.

On June 27, more than 300 actors—including Meryl Streep, Quinta Brunson, and Jennifer Lawrence—signed a letter to the SAG-AFTRA Leadership and Negotiating Committee stating that “SAG-AFTRA members may be ready to make sacrifices that leadership is not.”

“We hope you’ve heard the message from us: This is an unprecedented inflection point in our industry, and what might be considered a good deal in any other years is simply not enough,” the letter reads. “We feel that our wages, our craft, our creative freedom, and the power of our union have all been undermined in the last decade. We need to reverse those trajectories.”

When was the last time SAG-AFTRA went on strike?

SAG-AFTRA has a long history of strikes and boycotts. In 2021, the union barred Donald Trump from ever rejoining because he obstructed the peaceful transfer of power to Joe Biden—and because of his attacks on journalists. (Trump had resigned from the group earlier that month.)

In 2018, SAG-AFTRA announced a strike against the global advertising agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty after the advertising agency stated that it would no longer honor its long-standing contract with the union. Ten months later, the advertising agency agreed to sign SAG-AFTRA’s new commercials contract.

SAG and AFTRA, which merged in 2012, went on strike together for the first time in 2016, against eleven American video game developers and publishers, which became the longest strike within SAG.

In 2000, before they merged, SAG and AFTRA issued a controversial six-month work stoppage over the protocol for paying actors who appear in TV commercials. Twenty years prior, SAG and AFTRA jointly called for a successful boycott against 1980s’ Emmy Awards, striking for an increase in minimum salaries.

How the ongoing writers’ strike factors in

In 1960, SAG went on strike against AMPTP over pay, joining the Writers Guild of America (WGA), which had already been on strike for more than a month with similar demands, largely over pay rates. That marked the first industry-wide strike in Hollywood.

In a historical echo, today, the WGA has been on strike since early May. If SAG-AFTRA’s demands are not met this time around, it will join the WGA on strike, bringing Hollywood to a near standstill. In preparation, SAG-AFTRA has called for volunteers to serve as strike captains, and WGA captains—already on strike at several studios—have offered training from the picket lines.

What this means for movies and TV shows

If SAG-AFTRA members do go on strike, any film or TV production that has not already been halted by the WGA strike will essentially shut down. Overseas productions, in particular, where studios have tried to continue shooting some shows without WGA writer-producers, are likely to feel the impact.

#actor's strike #sag-aftra strike #studio actor's guild #american federation of television and radio artists #sag aftra #sag-aftra

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rhtakeuchi · 1 year

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I need to get this off my chest. I see so many folks jumping on social media and blasting folks with a sort of false moral superiority in a world that really doesn’t work that way.

Chic-Fil-A is terrible, sure, but let’s not forget there are a lot of brands you probably aren’t boycotting that are just as horrible. From 2017-2018, AT&T, UPS, Comcast, Home Depot, General Electric, FedEx, UBS, Verizon, and Pfizer all donated about or over a million USD each to anti-LGBTQ politicians (https://www.forbes.com/sites/dawnstaceyennis/2019/06/24/dont-let-that-rainbow-logo-fool-you-these-corporations-donated-millions-to-anti-gay-politicians/?sh=4eca033e14a6)

McDonald’s, Walmart, and Amazon have donated hundreds of thousands to politicians opposed to LGBTQ rights. (https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-walmart-mcdonalds-companies-show-pride-donated-anti-lgbtq-politicians-2021-6?amp)

Let’s not forget all the many subsidiaries these huge companies have, as well as the many licenses they provide or pay for. You have to decide where to draw the line, but it’s likely even your favorite companies are licensing something from someone terrible.

For example, if you want to boycott J. K. Rowling effectively, you would need to pressure Warner Brothers, the licensor for the Wizarding World, and stop them from granting licenses that give royalties to J. K. Rowling. That means no longer supporting the companies who pay WB for that license — like Lego, Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, NBCUniversal (who pays massive amounts through theme park licenses), Target, and so many more.

In Lego’s 2020 statement about their Harry Potter sets, they say they pay WB for the license and don’t deal with J. K. Rowling directly, but that is the same as Hogwarts Legacy and all other licensed goods. Everything goes through WB, not Rowling (unless you bought stuff directly through Pottermore back when that was a thing). Buying Lego, HP or otherwise, goes toward the payment of the various licenses for each franchise they buy into. But Lego also has some really good initiatives, clearly says they don’t agree with Rowling, and otherwise support a lot of people, so that’s a pickle. I won’t fault you either way. It’s no secret that I’m a VIP with a massive amount of points right now.

It’s much easier to boycott things you weren’t going to buy or use anyway. I know this well. Most of the companies listed in the first part of this post don’t even have holdings in Japan for me to need to deal with them. I know I have the privilege of saying I can boycott them. I know folks reading this might not have that privilege, just as I can’t avoid Japanese companies tied to abhorrent political views here because that would be all of them.

It’s easy for some folks to get on Twitter (a social media platform owned by someone who has also said very troubling things) or Facebook (which has maintained a problematic naming policy that has primarily affected minorities) and boycott a game you weren’t going to play anyway (that isn’t even that unique and is so buggy they can’t release it for half the platforms) while still buying from companies that still pay WB for that same license.

But my point here is not to criticize folks who make selective stands. My point is we’re all making selective stands. I will judge my friends based on their actual views and not their ability/privilege to afford to boycott billionaire-owned mega-corporations or franchises.

Back in 2018, Warner Brothers came after a Harry Potter themed fitness charity group I belonged to since 2014. They forced our group to change our name, then they still weren’t satisfied and launched a lawsuit in 2020. The group was forced to disband last year. It was devastating to deal with both Rowling’s views and the attacks from WB. We proudly supported the Trevor project and other LGBTQ organizations over our many years, with many of us identifying as members of the LGBTQ community. One of our mottos was “I solemnly swear that I’m up to #somuchgood.” We were a community that used our love of our shared fandom to inspire folks to be active both in a health sense and charity sense. We raised millions of dollars for various charities, which is I guess why WB attacked us so strongly over shirts and medals we gave out with the donations. (https://amanda-farr.medium.com/potterhead-running-club-takes-wizarding-boys-fanthrophy-online-community-to-the-next-level-a8ab55519872)

I won’t be vilifying my community for the fandom that brought us together and that we shared and that inspired us to do good. I know the good we actually did. I know all the various clothing, bandage, and food drives we did on top of the charity walks/runs. I know the good things we are still inspired to do in less massive ways. I also know we have done and will do more than a lot of folks ever will do. (https://racery.com/blog/2016/07/06/hogwarts-running-club-virtual-race-for-the-trevor-project-wow/)

I would hope that in our selective stands, we are mindful that while it might be easy for some to give up a brand or franchise, there are good folks and entire communities of good folks who still band together because of them. Just do what you can to do good in this world.

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