It’s also “votes!”

Casted is an old form—examples are easily found in texts from every century from the 14th to the present—but it has given way to cast in modern English. In current usage, however, casted is gaining ground, especially where cast means either (1) to assemble actors for a performance, or (2) to throw out bait and/or a…

Gotcha.

“This work of fiction should be different because I think it should be different.”

I’m not saying that. You’re (repeatedly) fundamentally misunderstanding what I’m saying and what this article is criticizing.

You are right and they are wrong. Fiction doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It reflects society. It’s why representation in mass media is so important. It is cultural indicator for larger acceptable values.

Precisely why the White House screening of “The Birth Of A Nation” was not at all the launching pad for the resurgence of the KKK and the origin of the “black men will rape and kill your white women” stereotype. Fiction isn’t real!

Those with vanilla wants for fictional television can find tons of content via shows for children. Lots of safe spaces to be found, lots of completely unobjectionable material and many of those channels are included in the less expensive packages offered by cable/satellite providers.

I just said that “Nobody is denying that art matters or that the content of art matters”. Did you stop reading before you even hit the end of that sentence?

Tell that to all the people who think it matters when fictional characters are robbed of their dignity.

The difference is that the latter, on its own, is not substantive. You don’t like the way the fake person fake died in the fake story. Okay, and?

Actually, it’s more like people here are disingenuously pretending to think other people don’t make that distinction, when it’s so fucking obvious it shouldn’t have to be explained.

I think we both know that there’s a difference between depiction and actual treatment, and the conflation of the two, much like speaking of tongues, is an empty display of devotion to the groupthink rather than what it’s pretending to be.

That’s exactly the point, though. They have fictional dignity and real people are reacting as if those characters have actual dignity. The criticism is that other people are not making the distinction you’re making here.

Do you understand the difference between “it’s legal to kill fictional characters because they’re not real and it isn’t murder” and “I think this book is shitty because of how the character died”? Because it seems like you’re having trouble with it.

See, fictional characters exist in a fictional universe, where they have - stay with me here - fictional dignity which is relevant in-universe. Is this too complicated for you? Do I need to use smaller words?

Art should never be criticized for its content on the basis that its characters are mistreated. Because they’re not. Because they’re not real. Fiction is a safe space to have characters have terrible things done to them because they don’t exist.

You can’t rob fictional characters of their dignity. They literally have no dignity. They literally don’t exist. They’re not real. They’re made up.

I think the issue being raised is that instead of insightful criticism about what these shows tell us about ourselves and the real world, too many words are devoted to superficial examinations. It’s easier to say “Westworld treats women terribly so let’s petition HBO to change it” than actually enact meaningful change…

The Jez generation have been trained to parse every image and utterance for transgression against the new orthodoxy. This goes for everything from old TV shows to family photos to commercials to whatever you put in front of them. They can’t just switch it off. It’s always running, it’s reflex.