(no subject)

On the one hand, Showgunners feels like well-trod ground. The Running Man did this, The Hunger Games did this, in the broader sense even Robocop did some of this. But on the other hand, it feels like it’s not trying to push past your resistance. It takes for granted that you already understand why this hypercapitalist bread-and-circuses society is bad, and goes on from there to explore how the desire to not be a marketable commodity is itself a marketable trait that can be commodified. So far, there hasn’t been any point where I felt like it hammered me on the head and went “Do you get it already?”

P.S. This story’s real thematic twin is Manly Guys Doing Manly Things. “You’re supposed to be a brooding anti-hero! Like Batman! Why aren’t you Batman?”

(no subject)

There’s this line in All Quiet on the Western Front about how people with barely any power in their lives become tyrannical with the tiny bit of power they do have. I think this explains teachers, nurses, and franchise restaurant managers.