Anghus Houvouras on the week’s big nontroversies…
Nontroversy – Things people are discussing and seemingly angered by on the internet, but no one is actually affected by or truly concerned about.
Social media is a mine field when it comes to nontroversies. On any given week there are a half dozen minor meltdowns prompting mobs of virtual torch wielding ‘movie lovers’ to come together and decry these perceived misdeeds, demanding action and shaking their fists until losing interest or the next nontroversy presents itself.
In an effort to shed a light on these pointless crusade, I bring you ‘The Week in Nontroversies’…
MCU Daredevil isn’t like Netflix Daredevil
Why are people upset about this?
Charlie Cox returned as Matt Murdock aka Daredevil in this week’s episode of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and his return was hailed as ‘exciting’ by some and ‘excrement’ by others.
This version wasn’t the brooding, dark version of the character that carried the Netflix show through three seasons. This was a lighter, more fun Daredevil who smiled, cracked jokes and was down to fuck. This lighter, less traumatized version of Matt Murdock did not sit well with fans that struggle with the concept of change.
Why is this a nontroversy?
First, what did you think was going to happen? It’s Kevin Feige’s Disney+ Daredevil and everybody should have expected that the character would be getting a slight makeover to make him more four-quadrant friendly. Charlie Cox told us that MCU Daredevil was going to be “It’s own thing.” He was absolutely right.
I’m also guessing that a lot of people hating this version of Daredevil were ‘pre-offended’ due to their perceived problems with the She-Hulk show. Seeing Daredevil do the ‘walk of shame’ will no doubt end up in a lot of videos about ‘the decline of Marvel’ and how Feige is tearing down his legacy one cameo at a time, but I think most people were just happy to see Charlie Cox back in the role and had a good chuckle at the gag.
It’s clearly a nontroversy, because it doesn’t seem to matter what happens with Marvel shows. They’ve become the Howard Stern of media properties. Those who love the shows and movies continue to watch while those who hate the latest MCU offerings continue to watch and create content that only serves to promote additional hate-watching, blissfully unaware that Disney doesn’t care if you love it or hate it, so long as you’re helping those viewing hours and Disney+ subscriptions moving in the right direction.
Chris Pratt as the voice of Mario in the Super Mario Bros. Movie
Why are people upset about this?
For some reason, fans consider adaptations of video games to be sacred ground, even though history has taught us that these movies usually turn out to be utter garbage that fails to capture what made the game so special in the first place.
Apparently there is a vocal group of fans who believe Mario should be voiced by one of the original game voice actors, while others are completely against the idea of casting famous celebrities in roles for animated films instead of talented voice actors you’ve never heard of. A third, smaller group believes Pratt doesn’t sound ‘Italian enough’, which is a proverbial Pandora’s box of cultural insensitivity waiting to be unleashed on an unsuspecting platform.
Why is this a nontroversy?
There are generations of Super Mario fans out there that are excited to see the most iconic character in video games get his own movie.
The target audience for this movie is kids who I doubt will care much about the voice acting, even if it doesn’t sound like what they hear in the game. Kids are funny that way, if for no other reason than the brutally honest assessment they will give you on a wide variety of topics, unencumbered by a lifetime of bullshit and baggage and bereft of weird, pointless political ideologies.
The majority of tickets that will be sold for The Super Mario Bros. Movie will be kids and the parents who take them to the theater. They don’t care that Chris Pratt is doing the voice or even know who Chris Pratt is.
People seem to forget how good of a voice actor Pratt can be (see The LEGO Movie) . The guy is legitimately entertaining and capable. While purists might scoff at the casting, its hardly an ‘Ugly Sonic’ scenario that will put people off of the movie and require expensive alterations to the finished films.
And don’t forget: Chris Pratt is only the voice of Mario for English speaking territories. There are dozens of other territories where he won’t be. This is a total nontroversy. This movie will make crazy bank whether Chris Pratt is voicing Mario or not.
What are your thoughts on these nontroversies? Let us know on our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
Anghus Houvouras
