The Four Color Media Monitor

Writer Mark Millar was interviewed by the UK Times, and he claims cancel culture has ended

Mark Millar, the Scottish comic book tycoon, has claimed cancel culture is over and writers have regained the freedom to produce edgy material.

The writer, who works as an executive at Netflix, said the comic and film industry had become “safe” and “benign” in recent years because creators feared a backlash if they released controversial material.

Here's a challenging query vital for consideration: will any writers and artists have the courage to tackle issues like Islamic terrorism again? Because that serious subject was also, in its own way, a casualty of cancel culture, and it's but one reason for many of the tragedies seen in the past decade, including 2015's bloody terrorist attack at the offices of Charlie Hebdo and the Bataclan center in France, the bloodbath in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, the tragedy of Arsakh in 2023, and even the recent massacre of Christians and Druze by jihadists in Syria. And if Millar himself isn't willing to take an objective look at the subject, then what good is his statement?

He dismissed cancel culture as a “youth trend” which had now passed by and said he was looking forward to seeing more “crazy” stories on screen and in print. [...]

“The world is more relaxed again. It was a funny time and I just think it was a youth trend,” he said. “All middle-aged people get angry at whatever the youth trend is. My dad hated punks and I’m sure his dad hated whatever came before that.

“There was a nasty side to it where you would get people hunted down online, which was horrible. It’s over now, which is great, and people are just telling good stories.”

I certainly agree there's quite a few "trends" that've come around over past decades like "punk subculture", which have done massive harm to youth's mindsets. And Billy Tucci and Peter Simeti were some of the most notable victims of all the Orwellian incitement in the past decade. But to say the world's more "relaxed" again is nothing short of naive, and if that's what Millar thinks, then would he have the courage to support a Draw Muhammed contest? Let's also recall last year, there was a riot in Britain after an Islamic jihadist murdered 3 girls at a Taylor Swift concert in Merseyside. How can you truly say the world's calmer now when something that repulsive happens?

Millar added: “This period we have been in has been so safe. There’s been nothing really dangerous in terms of cinema or comic books. I’m excited as a viewer and as a comic-book reader. I can’t wait to see everything getting a little crazy again. [...]

Speaking on the Clownfish TV YouTube channel, Millar said he had never personally cared about upsetting people with his comic-book material.

However he has been a vocal opponent of cancel culture and spoke out against writers being attacked because of their political views.

I do hope he's firmly against conservative writers being assaulted over their POVs. As for whether he cares that anybody could find his stories offensive, like the violent themes seen in the original Kick-Ass GN (or even his reworking of the Avengers in the Ultimates), let's be clear. That doesn't mean they aren't alienating, or don't give adult entertainment a bad name. Some people seem to really believe adults literally crave themes in fiction like murder and sexual violence. I don't. It's only led to just so many TV police shows in the past where the central stars are almost always members of homicide investigation departments (example: Law & Order), and never a division that isn't connected to the same. Must the foremost catalyst for pursuing criminals always be the themes of murder and rape in order to be appealing to adults? Of course not. It's laughable. That's why I'm not impressed with how even comics allegedly aimed at adults seem to rely on similar themes, and some even water down science fiction for the sake of it. Why, even comedy's been watered down for the sake of the horror genre, and that too is something the comics and film industries have to mend. Would Millar be willing to consider making a similar point?

All that aside, we'll see for now if the comics and film industry are willing to move away more fully from censorship, selective or otherwise, and most importantly, if they're willing to offer audiences entertainment that's in good taste without acting like heterosexual romance, for example, is wrong. And if they're willing to mend the damage done to topics like those, that'll be good. But Millar's way behind if he believes the world's calmer again, and if he's not willing to tackle the kind of issues mentioned, then cancel culture's not over in the long run.

Labels: censorship issues, Europe and Asia, history, islam and jihad, msm propaganda, politics, terrorism, violence