The "Pandemic Amnesty" Backlash, Trump's Social Network is...Actually Popular?! Machine Gun Kelly's Turn As A Serious Actor, Can Star Wars Movies Be Fixed? (The Five for 11/04/22)
Hey, welcome to The Five, a publication about the stories that really matter.
It’s Friday, so let’s dive into Culture & Commentary.
[one]
This week, The Atlantic ran one of the most controversial articles of the year. Due to this being a hefty issue of The Five already, I’m going to just link to it, rather than pull a quote, because I’m assuming many have already found this one via social media this week.
Libs of TikTok provided some composite screenshots of what people weren’t quite ready to forgive yet, like relatives dying alone.
…And young children experiencing speech delays.
…and the celebration of the unvaccinated dying.
…while elite politicians, and the rich and famous were allowed to live the lives taken from the rest of us.
My own grandmother died alone in a hospital, without seeing a single loved on in her final 10 days of life.
To get past that, I’m going to need more than the people who supported policies like that one calling “do over.”
[two]
Wait, Trump’s social network is…popular?
Truth Social, the right-wing social network, has faced one business calamity after the next since it launched in February. Two executives resigned after its app launch was mired with problems. Another executive was fired after filing a whistleblower complaint, claiming that Truth’s parent company was relying on “fraudulent misrepresentations.” Two federal investigations are putting $1.3 billion in much-needed financing in jeopardy.
Yet users logging into Truth Social each day saw something quite different during that time: a vibrant right-wing ecosystem in mycreasingly brimming with activity.
Truth Social’s long-term future remains in doubt, but experts say the app itself has only grown more influential in conservative circles before the midterm election.
Huh. Didn’t see that coming.
I’m still not sold on the idea of “partisan” social networks…but Trump would have never had an audience for this if Facebook & Instagram (and Twitter, pre-Musk) hadn’t been censoring users.
Currently, celebs and members of the political left are migrating to Tribel. I went to the site and this was the first Tweet (errr, tribe?) I saw.
To balance it out, I went to Truth, which I had no previous experience with, and looked at the top topics.
Err….didn’t social media start out to be…entertaining?
I use social media (primarily Twitter and Reddit) to keep up more on current events, pop culture and banter…not to engage in lengthy partisan arguments with people I don’t know.
The experiences Truth and Tribel offer…at first glance anyway…is not a picture of people having fun.
[three]
I started out my career in country radio in Iowa (3-6am, Sunday mornings), and the format will always hold a special place in my heart. But not in my car—I really never listen to it.
However, I'm still bothered that Zach Bryan, often covered in this publication, took out an ad this week noting the difference between where his song “Something in the Orange” is charting on country radio (#49) vs. performance on streaming networks (#1, by a mile).
Apple Music | YouTube Music
Radio is supposed to play “the hits,” especially in the ultra-competitive streaming era, so it’s baffling to see the format turn it’s back so harshly on Bryan in favor of artists churned out (sometimes, created from scratch) by the Nashville record label machine that are significantly less popular with listeners.
With some exceptions (like the independent Texas country/Americana radio scene), the format has rejected independent artists due to the “lack of mass appeal.”
It’s tough to make that label stick to Bryan, who drew (by my estimation) nearly 10,000 to his summer show in St. Louis…on Bryan’s first ever national tour. Bryan built a fanbase online while still active duty Navy, which prevented him from hitting the road.
Fans of country music have clearly spoken here, with their streaming habits…they love Zach Bryan.
And country radio refuses to listen.
You may not care about the particulars…but the general notion that the “corporate tastemakers” are going extinct continues to be proven true.
Some people who used to lord over country radio playlists like third world dictators are are really pissed off they can’t control what the audience likes anymore.
They can’t hurt Bryan’s popularity…but they can hasten the demise of their own format.
Which…won’t bother me, I guess. I jumped off the country radio bandwagon a decade ago.
*Image via Saving Country Music.
[four]
Despite the success of the Star Wars TV shows on Disney+, the House of Mouse hasn’t figured out how to make the ultra-valuable franchise successful on the big screen…and have largely been shying away from even trying. The Rise of Skywalker released in 2019 and was so hated Disney scrapped all future films.
Justin Britt-Gibson (a writer on two beloved, but largely ignored TV shows—Banshee and Into the Badlands) will pen the story alongside Damon Lindelof (HBO’s Watchmen, Lost, Star Trek Into Darkness).
The new movies may use some Episode XII-IX characters, which is tricky due to how few people liked those movies. (I’m so apathetic I can’t even remember if Kylo Ren died or not).
[five]
As always, let’s head into the weekend with a pop culture roundup.
We’ve got a live one here…Enola Holmes 2 is currently sitting at 93% on Rotten Tomatoes. The first outing starring Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things) as the mystery solving kid-sister to the famous Sherlock Holmes (Henry Cavil aka Superman) and Helena Bonham Carter (Fight Club, Sweeney Todd) as the pair’s eccentric mother featured a heck of a leading cast…but the plot wasn’t anything to write home about.
But Cavil promised to return to the franchise to “get it right,” and it looks like they did.
Expect Enola Holmes 2 to be a streaming hit.
Now on Netflix.
Huh. Apparently we must now take rapper-turned-pop-punker-aka-Mr.-Megan-Fox Machine Gun Kelly seriously.
Noted.
Taurus, yet another entry into the sad/addicted/suicidal musician sub--genre of movies (which includes A Star is Born, Whiplash, Walk the Line, etc.)
In other words, we’ve seen it this story before (lots of times)—but the execution here looks flawless.
In theaters November 18th.
MUSIC/MY PICK: This year has seen 49 Winchester steadily grow into one of the most exciting acts in the Americana (aka “real country”) scene.
”Russell County Line” is slow burn ballad about missing home…and the perfect driving song as the temps and leaves continue to fall.
Until the next one,
-sth