Thoughts on the dmc netflix show

Like theOnion once said about bugsnax: looks like shit honestly.

but for a window of six weeks it will be one of the nine most watched shows on netflix.

it is really easy to say that the netflix dmc show is bad now. but it was also really easy to say before it aired at all and the entire time it was teased.

i was prepared for the worst. and by that i mean i wanted to set my personal love of the series qualities aside and just judge it as a use of the franchise and new tv show, and for the bad part look out for versions of the characters that expressed vile ideologies that overshadowed the original somewhat sophisticated intent of the game authors. And a political message that was violent and insensitive yet very popular with the viewership.

and in a way we did get that with some offensive stereotypes but the views expressed in this show were so childish that i dont think theyre politically dangerous or anything.

i was really relieved that it turned out to be boring because i dont have to care about it at all. it also helps that most people rightfully talk shit about this show so i havent feel alienated from people that share my interests or just people i have to see due to algorithms at all. quite the opposite actually i think people have been very good at critiquing it and explaining why they like original dmc. the only bad critique i have seen has been from people that are obviously very young or inexperienced or weirdly aggressive in protecting people/properties theyre in parasocial relationships with.

concious distribution of attention

i dont care in the way i dont care about hazbin hotel. both shows make such obvious mistakes that literally anyone who makes doylist critique can see. so i managed to be mad at the writing for a hot second until i thought about how theres nothing to be learned from this that i dont already know and have seen a million times.

the shitty writing, flanderization of tropes, appeal to kids, fake edge, parasocial social media presence, immature creator, insensitive content and inability to take critique, and the more i thought about it the more the thing just felt like hazbin hotel to me.

so i was a huge fan of vivziepop as a teenager. when i felt like shit i used newgrounds cartoons and webcomics to get away from that and her zootopia universe was exciting and transgressive in the way it dedicated itself to popular fandom tropes and furry subculture. I channeled the energy into learning cartoon drawing of course, including learning her style among my other favorites.

but when she started acting immature and disrespectful towards her fans for making honestly sensible demands i just had to unfollow her. there were other creators to follow with better work and better attitudes and i soon learned more advanced drawing and writing techniques and moved on.

its weird to see that she has stayed seemingly making the same content with the same attitude for years, and that people still like it, enough to make her successful professional despite never making a finished comic. although it seems to be mainly kids or people that like to be uncritical anyways. They still tell me her attitude hurts them as fans though.

the entertainment industry works with people like this though. the least critical people usually get put in charge if the company isnt attentive and they just collect yes men in and outside the organization. so that is no surprise either.

it is easy to stop idolizing people, or possible at least. theres time, and other people, and examining why you like them at all, and why they make their mistakes, and recognizing the benefits you get from not idolizing them anymore, like requiring your interests to do better or attempt it. prioritize empathy and coherency in the things that have your attention. also youre allowed to be a kid with bad taste it is perhaps essential but your teen years is also when you should start taking politics seriously and examining your consumption patterns.

centralized fandom

people dont really suck. but crowds certainly do. firstly i want to attribute the downhill design of the internet to how shitty any engagement with fandom has become.

dmc was nice for me in the way that it was "dead" franchise not currently at the forefront of attention but certain topics collected the fans. as in if you posted about it you were expected to care. and netflix stuff was been something like that like nothing else.

when usually nobody cared about what i made, several strangers sent unwarranted (what i would consider) overreactions because of what i can only assume is refreshing the tag and reading any and all things posted in there regardless of popularity and source. but i have also recieved a lot of positive attention (way more like genuinely times hundreds) for taking a very negative stance on the show and its production.

i also saw fanartists i usually respected for their maturity on working with media, express some very unexpected opinions, and it got me thinking more deeply about the nature of disagreements in specialized social spaces.

you have to be a bit weird to spend all your time obsessing over an open and closed story for a commercial property that continues to be pretty irrelevant to average society. So that already filters most people out. Next you have to spend energy and time engaging with it. whether that be learning to do some truly sick fanart or reading novelsworth of text, so you probably dont have that much going on. For example when i go to work and go out on the same weekend i only have time to make a fast doodle and not really practice.

demon symbolism

as a modern story dmc has a lot to offer. which made the poor political message hard to watch. I really like how demons and evil is presented in dmc. As something people are capable of, and also capable of rejecting.

Evil leads to this unhindered mindset that allows one to gain power, in a pretty clear expression of supremacy, the one which has the most universal applicance being the masculine.

I REALLY like how evil/demon was made synonymous with "power" since itsuno took over directing. its this nice buzzword that can be thrown in at any time that makes the player pay attention to how the main theme of the series is currently being examined.

Inspired by classical literature, dmc REALLY likes its masculine/feminine dichotomy. and neither is ever considered to be entirely incorrect. As a man, you can just beat women, elderly and children at any time. although this is at the heart of social fear and oppression, this is a fact that society mostly doesnt want to confront, but can be very easily with the demon allegory.

What i think a hypermasculine franchise can offer is the acknowledgement of the ability to express evil. overpowering someone or something is fun, being violent can be fun and feels emotionally necessary. its wrong, but acknowledging that we have the capacity for it is healthier than picture-perfect morally correct media. its easy to draw a line to media that acknowledges fear and ugliness. dmc's clear embracing of violence and masculinity feels important and warrented as a method of expression for this reason.

To me the demonic doesnt as much enable evil in dante and other characters as it gives them a connection to the underworld, which in itself is allegorical for the real life criminal underworld, but at the same time not really because it exists too. Dmc draws a pretty clear line where crime drama ends and scary horror magic begins.

In so far as an allegory though. It means that dante was born belonging to the underworld because of his dad, even though sparda tried to escape to another class by marrying a noblewoman. What makes dante a special hero is that he was born from the Ultra Underworld and has proficiency in advanced weapons (magic) at the same time he is the lamest mercenary because he was raised as a noble, homeschooled and spoiled. it makes for interesting conflict on a deeper thematic level and just for moe (give this man his sweet treats).

actual first thoughts

I watched it with my friend i usually watch trigun with who doesnt know dmc at all and after 3 eps we were genuinely bored and rewatched severance instead. Like not to try and sound cool or anything but i couldnt find it in me to care and they couldnt get into it either. Because the netflix show is just a speedrun of the plot but with the stakes and emotion taken out (rewritten characters) and most of it is exposition and a cop plot made up by the writer that is just not for adults really or interesting to watch at all by the writing.