Politics seeping into Entertainment

[Slaughter None]

As multi million companies go headfirst to support(or not) the current protests/riots, everything is being affected or rather infested with politics going from News(but this was already affected ) video games to movies to Tv shows to art ,affecting people who don't care or don't know about these political issues. Entertainment used to be a common ground free of politics (mostly) even during the 1960's we weren't as divided as we are now. This is sad, what do you think?

[Heloin]

All human media since long before even Gilgamesh has been political. It's how it's always been.

[Asardia]

even during the 1960's we weren't as divided as we are now

I don't know man, the assassinations of prominent civil rights leaders, the controversy on hippies, the Civil Rights Movement, women's rights, the Vietnam War, and drugs all accounted for MASSIVE divisions in American society. Governors and locals were openly defying federal law and Supreme Court rulings as if it were Reconstruction all over again.

Then you have comic books from the 60s like the X-Men, where Magneto and Professor X were based on Malcolm X and Dr King......

[Necroghastia]

Entertainment was never not political. Ibsen, Shakespeare, Aristophanes... they'd laugh in your face if you said their works weren't political.

[SatoSere]

Entertainment was never not political. Ibsen, Shakespeare, Aristophanes... they'd laugh in your face if you said their works weren't political.

Hahah, now I remember my sci-fi writing project. No matter how hard I try not to, it will ALWAYS be political.

[Slaughter None]

IDK, maybe this was always the case but it seems extremely personal these days.

[Hirota]

IDK, maybe this was always the case but it seems extremely personal these days.

Part of that can be you reading more into it or you are on some level looking more for it than you used to. Outrage culture is a thing.

And as already mentioned there has been politics in entertainment for ages - The original Star Trek had plenty of political commentary in it. But I think what you might be talking about situations where political commentary feels more forced or injected rather than organic. I've seen that on some media and I find it really jarring.

I think that's because of hammy writing - I personally don't have much of a problem with political commentary in entertainment as long as it fits the flow of the entertainment.

[Jedi Council]

Yeah, um, no.

Entertainment, like most art forms, has always been political. Now, some shows have been more political than others, but to say that somehow entertainment media is supposed to be this fun neutral zone is ludicrous

[Silver Commonwealth]

As if that would be a bad thing. Like others said, entertainment has always been political, similar to other art forms. It would be hard pressed to find a work completely free from politics.

[Jedi Council]

IDK, maybe this was always the case but it seems extremely personal these days.

What about it feels personal? What examples can you give?

[Sanghyeok]

Entertainment is always political. Even things you don't think are political are political. Do you remember those FPS games you played where you invade countries in the name of the US? That's political. But nobody complained about that.

[Tinfect]

Entertainment used to be a common ground free of politics (mostly) even during the 1960's we weren't as divided as we are now. This is sad, what do you think?

What you actually mean to say is, "entertainment didn't ever challenge my beliefs and was completely inaccessible to marginalized people".

[Sanghyeok]

Entertainment used to be a common ground free of politics (mostly) even during the 1960's we weren't as divided as we are now. This is sad, what do you think?

What you actually mean to say is, "entertainment didn't ever challenge my beliefs and was completely inaccessible to marginalized people".

+1. People only complain when it's not their belief that is being propagated.

[Silver Commonwealth]

What you actually mean to say is, "entertainment didn't ever challenge my beliefs and was completely inaccessible to marginalized people".

+1. People only complain when it's not their belief that is being propagated.

That, or when their belief is not portrayed positively by showing the darker side of the coin, and asking to reconsider their stances.

[Nuroblav]

Always has been

[Sierra Lyricalia]

Entertainment used to be a common ground free of politics (mostly) even during the 1960's we weren't as divided as we are now. This is sad, what do you think?

What you actually mean to say is, "entertainment didn't ever challenge my beliefs and was completely inaccessible to marginalized people".

Yah. Ignoring politics is (in the US, at least) something only children and rich white people can do without suffering grievous consequences.

Entertainment is always political. Even things you don't think are political are political. Do you remember those FPS games you played where you invade countries in the name of the US? That's political. But nobody complained about that.

^This^ person gets it. Imagine thinking the national anthem and military jet flyovers before football games aren't "political."

[Earthbound Immortal Squad]

As multi million companies go headfirst to support(or not) the current protests/riots, everything is being affected or rather infested with politics going from News(but this was already affected ) video games to movies to Tv shows to art ,affecting people who don't care or don't know about these political issues. Entertainment used to be a common ground free of politics (mostly) even during the 1960's we weren't as divided as we are now. This is sad, what do you think?

It always has been political but there is a fine line between a subtle political message and just trying to shove politics down your throat. When you say "free of politics" I assume you mean the former instead?

[La Paz de Los Ricos]

Politics seeps into everything. There's no possible, possible conversation or topic or idea in this universe that will not eventually become political. It's unavoidable.

[Sanghyeok]

Always has been

Damnit, you.

[Nuroblav]

Always has been

Damnit, you.

Hehehehehehe...

But yeah politics is in a lot of things. Good luck avoiding it.

[Giovenith]

Art was always political.

Also, whenever someone describes something as "political" in a disparaging way, I find more often than not it's not politics themselves they have a problem with so much as it is politics that they disagree with, as well as an inability to distinguish between apolitical material and political material that they have simply grown accustomed to; for example, believing that the increasing number of female, LGBT+, and person-of-color roles in media is "political," as if the majority of roles being played by white straight men is just something that occurs naturally without any kind of biased motivation to it.

[Deacarsia]

Entertainment used to be a common ground free of politics (mostly) even during the 1960's we weren't as divided as we are now. This is sad, what do you think?

What you actually mean to say is, "entertainment didn't ever challenge my beliefs and was completely inaccessible to marginalized people".

Actually, what he meant to say is “most entertainment did not try to push radical agenda down the throats of ordinary people but generally reflected the values of the silent majority.”

The purpose of entertainment is not to “challenge beliefs,” by which of course you mean to push your beliefs, but to entertain the audience. It is right in the word, after all.

[Diarcesia]

What you actually mean to say is, "entertainment didn't ever challenge my beliefs and was completely inaccessible to marginalized people".

Actually, what he meant to say is “most entertainment did not try to push radical agenda down the throats of ordinary people but generally reflected the values of the silent majority.”

The purpose of entertainment is not to “challenge beliefs,” by which of course you mean to push your beliefs, but to entertain the audience. It is right in the word, after all.

What they're saying is that the act of "entertaining the audience" in a way that their beliefs aren't challenged is also political, because it enforces the status quo. If one subscribes to this thought, then politics in entertainment is all-pervasive and zero sum. One either maintains the status quo, or challenges it.

A better-framed question would be, "Is this entertainment with political messages? Or is it a political message masked as entertainment?"

[Jedi Council]

What you actually mean to say is, "entertainment didn't ever challenge my beliefs and was completely inaccessible to marginalized people".

Actually, what he meant to say is “most entertainment did not try to push radical agenda down the throats of ordinary people but generally reflected the values of the silent majority.”

The purpose of entertainment is not to “challenge beliefs,” by which of course you mean to push your beliefs, but to entertain the audience. It is right in the word, after all.

If you think entertainment has only ever been for entertainment you are sorely mistaken.

[The New California Republic]

Ummm...I hate to break this to you but the arts have included political themes for millennia. I'm sure there are even cave paintings that mock the head of their hunter-gatherer community.