Though I really enjoyed previous seasons, I stopped watching Prime's season 4 of The Boys. Sexual cruelty and overly graphic (and entirely gratuitous) scenes are really not my cup of tea, especially when they carry no relevance with the plot. Not that the fourth season had much plot.
Still, hearing the show had ended, I read a couple of opinion takes this morning, and came upon this one from Forbes, about "the big change" the show had made following the Trump assassination attempt. Namely, adding a warning screen before the episode rolled to let you know they really don't encourage violence and disapprove.
They also changed the episode title, which was apparently gonna be "Assassination Run", and was now just Season 4 Finale.
I'm not entirely sure of what happens that would've mirrored the Trump situation, other than (I think) they kill off some politician chick. Of course, my question is, how were these elements okay before but not now?
In a show that's spent years blatantly and aggressively ridiculing Trump and his supporters, never more so than in this election year, there've been plenty of jokes about how Trump is evil and needs to be killed.
Now that someone actually tried, we're washing our hands?
Spoiler alert, obviously I don't think that. I'm not discussing the attempt, rather the cretinous landscape that surrounds it and our modern world.
There's been a lot of similar things in the news since they tried to shoot him. Tenacious D cancelled their tour because one of the members said the gunman shouldn't have missed. Presumably as a joke, but suddenly it's not okay to joke about it anymore since someone actually tried.
Why?
I don't get it. When that comedian chick showed up with a fake severed Trump head, we allowed the joke to fly. When the Twitter mob clamored for years that the only way to stop Trump was to kill him, no one batted an eye. It was the correct, upstanding citizen opinion to hold. Suddenly now it's crass and wrong?
Why? I mean, if you ask me, it should've either always been crass and a step too far. Or never. If you were someone who thought it was okay to joke about killing Trump three weeks ago, you should be doing the same now. If you think he's evil incarnate, keep thinking it, otherwise you're just showing yourself (and the entire political sphere) up as phony.
Obviously, it's all a rigged visual exercise meant to keep you occupied and entertained. But the snarky so-called political commentators and satirists (aka the Twitter mob) should believe it. It seems now we're playing with a different visual from the last two campaigns. Trump as maybe human. Maybe also a victim. Maybe not the Antichrist.
Does it matter? Not really. Obviously, the attempt handed him the election, most likely, as it was such a brilliant PR move. I'm not saying it was staged as I don't know (and don't think so). But if we're talking image alone, it was fantastic. But these so-called engagements of the public, what you think, whether you think he should die or not, how you're having your opinions about him challenged now, it's all just smoke and mirrors to keep you glued to your screen.
What you believe, what The Boys creators believe, what the Twitter mob believes means jack at the end of the day because we're all just a directable, distractable movable mass, to be used by those who actually understand the game (since they created it).
Stop buying into all this bullshit. This entitlement that really makes you think a stupid joke you make, either on your show or personal Twitter account, actually matters. And have some balls, if you think Trump really should die and were sad the guy missed, say so. You'll still be a prick, but really, you are one anyway, you just hide it.
