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ghcroal.bsky.social

@ghcroal

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22.11.2023
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Latest posts by ghcroal.bsky.social @ghcroal

I have a theory that SpongeBob remains Gen Z's Classic Simpsons even into adulthood, and I can't decide if that's because pop culture has become infantilized or because childhood was the last time we had a monoculture.

11.11.2025 20:59 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Deniz Camp is also not white, and she seems to have (notably) omitted Mariko Tamaki and Grace Ellis.

10.10.2025 00:44 👍 8 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Yeah, I certainly wouldn't recommend him for the role, I was just wondering about the performance. Cool to hear!

02.10.2025 18:41 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

As the leading expert, do you see any McMahon in Sean Penn's OBAA performance? Someone said on a podcast that his physicality and the way he walked and whatnot reminded them of McMahon, but idk.

02.10.2025 17:32 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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My nephew is always hitting that pose.

29.07.2025 18:01 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Do you think Christ was a human or a funny animal? Maybe pitch that angle for the next Darkwing mini.

14.07.2025 17:35 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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During our ‘Anti-Heroes’ panel, George Croal explores the ecopolitics of Poison Ivy.

05.06.2025 15:21 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
One of the most interesting aspects of Thunderbolts*, the latest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is the film’s strong sense that the best days of the superhero genre in general and this mammoth franchise in particular are long gone. The film feels very self-aware about the diminished cultural cachet of the larger Marvel brand, and is actively interested in using that framing device to engage with bigger ideas.

Thunderbolts* exists very firmly in conversation with The Avengers, to the point that the film’s closing credits reveal that its “real” title is The New Avengers. This makes a great deal of sense, The Avengers was a crucial moment in the evolution of mainstream superhero cinema. It was the first movie from Marvel Studios to gross over a billion dollars, it established the template for the modern cinematic shared universe, and solidified Marvel as a brand unto itself.

By the time that Thunderbolts* begins, The Avengers feels miles away. Valentina Allegra De Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), the head of the CIA, addresses her impeachment inquiry by reminding the assembled public, politicians and press that the Avengers are gone. Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) muses to De Fontaine’s young personal assistant Mel (Geraldine Viswanathan) that the events of The Avengers – “the Battle of New York” – “must seem like ancient history” to her.

Mel admits that she was “in high school” when The Avengers happened. However, she feels some pang of nostalgia for it. “It’s so strange that it’s over,” she admits to Barnes. De Fontaine tries to capitalize on that nostalgia, distracting attention from her shady dealings by hosting a fundraising gala packed with memorabilia from the first Avengers movie. Congressman Gary (Wendell Edward Pierce) is unimpressed, warning De Fontaine, “This gaudy Avengers propaganda reeks of desperation.”

One of the most interesting aspects of Thunderbolts*, the latest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is the film’s strong sense that the best days of the superhero genre in general and this mammoth franchise in particular are long gone. The film feels very self-aware about the diminished cultural cachet of the larger Marvel brand, and is actively interested in using that framing device to engage with bigger ideas. Thunderbolts* exists very firmly in conversation with The Avengers, to the point that the film’s closing credits reveal that its “real” title is The New Avengers. This makes a great deal of sense, The Avengers was a crucial moment in the evolution of mainstream superhero cinema. It was the first movie from Marvel Studios to gross over a billion dollars, it established the template for the modern cinematic shared universe, and solidified Marvel as a brand unto itself. By the time that Thunderbolts* begins, The Avengers feels miles away. Valentina Allegra De Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), the head of the CIA, addresses her impeachment inquiry by reminding the assembled public, politicians and press that the Avengers are gone. Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) muses to De Fontaine’s young personal assistant Mel (Geraldine Viswanathan) that the events of The Avengers – “the Battle of New York” – “must seem like ancient history” to her. Mel admits that she was “in high school” when The Avengers happened. However, she feels some pang of nostalgia for it. “It’s so strange that it’s over,” she admits to Barnes. De Fontaine tries to capitalize on that nostalgia, distracting attention from her shady dealings by hosting a fundraising gala packed with memorabilia from the first Avengers movie. Congressman Gary (Wendell Edward Pierce) is unimpressed, warning De Fontaine, “This gaudy Avengers propaganda reeks of desperation.”

I wrote at @secondwindgroup.com about #Thunderbolts, the best live action superhero film from a major studio in what feels like ages.

How the film uses the lens of “superhero fatigue” to explore millennial ennui and the end of American exceptionalism.

LINK: www.patreon.com/posts/column...

02.05.2025 15:26 👍 87 🔁 14 💬 2 📌 0

Did you mean Bill Finger when you said "writer Jerry Robinson?"

26.03.2025 20:02 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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Marvels current best book.

It is an almost counter-culture book but with highly commercial properties.

It really shouldn't work at all. But some carefully constructed storytelling and inventive world building by @denizcamp.bsky.social makes this gripping.

20.03.2025 18:43 👍 32 🔁 7 💬 1 📌 0

The people who did this are genocidal mass-murderers and they should not be allowed to hide from that fact

I get the sense Musk is genuinely uncomfortable with that framing which is why it should be used, aside from it being true

15.03.2025 18:16 👍 567 🔁 252 💬 7 📌 6

The Shnail's multiplicitous other selves—including its regenerated duplicate and a manifestation of the doppelgänger—serve as both foils and mirrors, facilitating the Shnail's attempts to construct a stable identity through sameness and difference.

07.11.2024 20:23 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0