OPINION: My feelings about NETFLIX buying WB, DC, DISCOVERY, etc.

Dear Reader,

       Instead of having my own SUBSTACK page, I, B. L. Blankenship, am writing this OPINION-PIECE here on iShookComics.net, thereby differentiating it from news articles. Normally, I have been writing lengthy rants like this on my LinkedIn page. However, when I put it on iShookComics.net, it's monetized. Essentially, just by you or someone else opens any one of the pages that I am responsible for creating on here, it makes me $0.0001. Thank you for taking the time to read my heated, visceral thoughts below concerning my feelings towards Netflix, etc, explanations why, & so forth. I tend to say what I say & then I move on. Likewise, you're allowed to feel the way you feel, buy, read, watch, or subscribe to your tastes. You're allowed to blindly follow trends or act on principles, whether right or wrong. We all are.

______________________________________________________________________________________

Comments are open. Likewise, if you want to say anything, share this, or not – that is fine. These are just my personal opinions/feelings. They in no way represent the overall managerial/personal choices made by any other part of iShook Comics, iShook, etc.

______________________________________________________________________________________

        Over the last few days, since Netflix bought Warner Bros, DC Comics, etc., my mind has been racing. As those who read my posts know, "I LOVE C. S. LEWIS." I've read perpetually everything that he's written & the man feels like a brother to me in spirit. With that said, I wish to add that even the mere thought that Netflix will be bastardizing his Chronicles of Narnia series triggers a revoltion in me that'd be near something like what Trump-Derangement-Syndrome does in others. We're talking, heavy disdain. No, I am not planning on systematically murdering the families of everyone involved before their eyes, before purging them of their lives & helping their lost souls find their way into the eternal fires of Hell. This isn't some jihad kind of thing. I do, however, hope that any intentional bastardization of C.S. Lewis by Netflix curses them as a company & everyone directly involved to a titanic degree to the extent that people will talk about it as a case study. I'm not joking. If you're in any way connected with the bastardization of The Chronicles of Narnia, damn you. I pray that your company & career suffer exponential loss as a byproduct to this. Let this unatoned intentional evil die at the root. Amen.

         Forget that I'm a lyricist, literary author, comic book writer, & artist for a minute. Let's take this to its core. The question is, "Do I (as a Christian, Minister, Theologian, Scholar, & Admirer of C. S. Lewis) feel like that bastardizing The Chronicles of Narnia, because of the subtle, yet interlocking Biblical messaging & tones makes it an exponentially bigger deal than crapping on Star Wars? Yes, I do. I also feel that anyone who lacks the intellectual capacity & heart to do properties justice should not do them. Really, when it comes down to it, I guess the malability would be like this – if the billionaire company cares as much about the property as the creator, then we're good. Ben Dunn of Antarctic Press or Mark Millar would be excellent examples of creators who couldn't care less about lording over their properties & value the money more than their mythos. Netflix bought both of their properties, treated them like kings, and they're both very happy about it. The thing is that if you really analyze C. S. Lewis & J. R. R. Tolkien, whom I both deem to be exponentially better creators & more fanatical than the aforementioned persons, it'd be like comparing chalk to cheese. Seriously, read about Tolkien & the great disdain that he had for how Walt Disney portrayed (the ancient mythological people) "dwarves" in their groundbreaking movie Snow White. He had very strong feelings about the mythology of Middle-earth & how things were supposed to be done. So yes, on every level, it is collosally different. Again, this is my very strong, heated opinion – based on all of the information that I have.

       If you don't value C.S. Lewis' work, J. R. R. Tolkien's work, George Lucas' work, etc. then you likely wouldn't care. Also, that'd mean that you were the casual customer, who shouldn't be catered to like the devout fan, so your opinions would lack the relevance of the people who'd financially contribute/support such endeavors as enthusiastic paying customers. Somebody reading that gets what I'm saying. Once upon a time, you couldn't vote in elections in the United States unless you owned property, a business, or whatnot. Basically, the thing with that was that someone with a vested interest in what was happening with the United States' opinions should matter more than a gathered mob who came in the door just to disrupt. That's also a thing in church/pastoral elections, by the way. I know this particular Church of God Cleveland Assembly Church in Southeastern Kentucky that'll have a preacher in. Things will seemingly be doing well, then, when they have their normal pastoral elections every so many years, a bunch of people who haven't attended in God knows when will show up to vote him out. Clearly, that's stupid – and the church thing makes a good & easier metaphor for all of this. There are people who show up on Christmas & Easter. There are people who're sporadic, church hoppers, unfaithful, or whatever. There are regular parishioners who don't pay tithes & offerings. Then there are people who're actively giving, working, investing in that church. I pretty much every aspect imaginable, their voices should not be equal. Are there exceptions to that rule? Sure, but you're not supposed to have rules or laws based on odd circumstances. Okay, so that's the outrage portion of this post.

       Stepping back, someone might inquisitively ask, "So, then, having some standards (instead of being a mindless hog/sheeple) & feeling the way that you feel, do you feel that someone of this mindset should go on a total or selective ban on Netflix & Co, or whoever the offending major conglomeration is?" After all, we all pick & choose, don't we? If someone was boycotting/abstaining from Netflix, that'd include Warner Bros, Time, Discovery, DC Comics, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim? Really, you can take that in any direction with any company that you feel is doing you a disservice. You could also reasonably ask how would said-company would atone for that, or is the damage they've done via the decisions they've made irrevocable in your (the once-customer's eyes)? Would you just not watch Star Wars, The Rings of Power, The Chronicles of Narnia, or whatever thing it is that you feel they've bastardized, or would you throw the baby out with the bathwater?

          Alright, answering that, anyone who knows me knows that I am regarded as a genius creator, that I have a high intellect, & that I am an even more hardcore man of principle. If I have a strong enough reason for not doing something, whether stated or unstated, then I tend to avoid it like the plague. Every now and then, I'll allow for a crack here or a crack there. Malforming C. S. Lewis' work, specifically though, is a wretched stink in my nostrils. Also, as I say this, I'm perfectly willing to add that The Chronicles of Narnia series is the least of his works in my eyes, particularly. The Ransom Trilogy, Pilgrim's Regress, Till We Have Faces all would rank higher to me than The Chronicles of Narnia, not that it's not the better choice financially.

Earlier this month, I subscribed to HBO MAX for the purpose of watching Welcome to Derry. They had a deal where it is $2.99 per month for a year, then $10 & change after that, versus $18 and change for 1 month. I got the cheaper one, actually thinking that I might faithfully hold onto them due to the excellent content. However, when I heard that Netflix, whose fault well exceeds my C.S. Lewis tipping-point & seems to be getting progressively worse, was buying it – I determined that I'll be walking away from HBO MAX, due to my being anti-Netflix. Then there is the issue of DC Comics, whom both as a comic book writer, creator, reader, and an I have been very favorable to. I have a number of DC Comics added to my Pullbox. This extends into the month of March. While clearly, I will not be adding any DC Comics titles to my pullbox if acquired by Netflix beyond this, I am currently looking at removing books. 

       I began writing all of this the other day. It was a busy day. I saved it as a draft & finished it today. If you've been seeing all of the articles that have been cranked out today, you've seen that they're all about the huge resistance & nightmare that Netflix acquiring Warner Brothers, DC Comics, etc, would bring forth. Is our viewership is skyrocketing due to it? Sure, but I'm doing it out of what I view as (1) principle & (2) integrity. The fact is that people of different beliefs, backgrounds, politics, religions, etc, are all coming together against Netflix. Some are declaring how this whole mess & all of the alleged dirty backroom dealings to buy Warner Bros./DC Comics is the thing that will cut their throat. It genuinely looks like they didn't take Paramount's #1 bid in the first 2 rounds of bidding. There are zero political reasons for this opinion, but of those who were trying to acquire Warner Brothers/DC Comics, Paramount & Apple were my top picks. The truth about the whole thing is that if Amazon got it, they wouldn't be seeking to destroy the physical distribution of movies, theaters, etc, like Netflix is. Anyway, these are my personal thoughts/feelings on the matter.

       As a comic book writer, literary author, publisher/creator, I would NOT sign my intellectual properties over to Netflix as things are. Additionally, just for the point of saying it, I would not sign away rights to my properties in any way that allowed whoever was using them to bastardize the characters or stories. They mean more to me than that & are higher quality to me than that. I would want it to be something that I'd have to sign off on. I am super easy-going, but my characters & their lives will only go in a way that is suited to them. The only exception imaginable would be through fanfiction &/or parody. That'd probably slide unless it was somehow considered slanderous or damaging in a way that was considered criminal.