#This is why we need unions

[angryraptor13]

This is why EVERYBODY needs a union.

OMG. Somebody said it out loud.

Disney is absolutely not the only studio doing this though.

It seems to have become standard practice across movies and series everywhere.

Anything that doesn't do it is like a breath of sunlight and fresh air inside a dank musty cave.

It's part of the 'fix it in post-production' epidemic sweeping through the studios. Fix it in post is often used as a time/money-saving measure - and is absolutely part of the same mess that the WGA is fighting against currently.

Rather than fixing things on-set - audio, lighting, something in-frame that shouldn't be, etc. (which is all handled by unionized crew) - they leave it for the CG folks (not unionized) to edit later.

(on ridiculously tight schedules that leave them scrambling, cutting corners, and working inhumane hours)

See also: that part where scripts aren't finished, because the studio won't fully staff the writers room, and won't pay to have writers on-set for day-of-filming script questions and fixes (which could resolve issues such as 'what kind of lighting do we need here?')

Anyway, all this shit we, as audiences, keep complaining about - bad lighting, bad sound, wonky visual effects, over-usage of not-great CGI, stilted acting on green-screen sets, scripts that seem not-quite-finished, costumes that look like they're cheap and flimsy, terrible hair and makeup, films and series that aren't as polished as they could be...

Plus the complaints we have about streaming services and their shenanigans...

All of that is enmeshed in the extreme capitalism that has taken over everything, including entertainment, to the point that studios are abusing their workforce and churning out material that - at best just doesn't live up to its potential - at worst, is just unwatchable shit.

[isawthismeme]

[mildew-mop]

Visually, Ant-Man Quantumania is like going to McDonald's and having the one employ give you a slightly wrong sandwich because there is only one person there not getting paid very well and also they don't fucking care at all. Most of the movie is just actors standing in front of slightly blurry greenscreens full of generic visual noise because any time something even slightly creative is onscreen, it does not stay onscreen for very long. I fucking swear to god there's free shit on YouTube that has been around for years that looks better.

[angryraptor13]

Is it guillotine time yet???

I think if a studio exec says they want to force you to starve to death so you’ll be made to accept garbage wages, you should crush them in a hydraulic press incredibly slowly

Like the fact that rich people have gotten to the point where they think they can just be like “oh yeah I’m literally trying to kill you” without fear of repercussions is beyond infuriating. They need to know what it feels like to be beaten to death by hammers.

[wilwheaton]

Q: Why hasn't the SAG-AFTRA strike been resolved?

A:

[curtwilde]

Port workers of India stand with Palestine

[angryraptor13]

If the MCU can't succeed without fucking their creatives over, it deserves to die. Unions FOR THE WIN!

CGI animators should unionize next. normally, their jobs would be too precarious to strike, since studios would replace them without a second thought, but if it's part of this larger general film strike, they might finally have meaningful power to better their working conditions

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Hello Madam. Sorry Madam.

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[repostedpoliticalarts]

Me: why does my stuff always get damaged en route?

FedEx: not our fault 🤷🏻‍♂��

Also Fedex:

[hussyknee]

"Is he neurodivergent or is he afflicted with cisgender heterosexual maleness?" - a novel by women since 40,000 BC.

[blogquantumreality]

What's worse is that from what I've read this kind of "layoff contagion" is largely a herd effect rather than any rational business level response to changing economic conditions; basically "oh, $COMPETITOR is downsizing, maybe they know something we don't, so we will too just to make sure!"

And of course, like all self-fulfilling prophecies, this will end up inducing the very recession they were trying to guard against.

five hundred and thirty people laid off from riot. We aren't even one month into 2024.

there is no security in the work within game development. My dad would tell me 'just work hard, be essential and earn your place' but that isn't how it is anymore. You could be the best, most amazing artist, as so many of my friends who were laid off were, and it doesn't matter. They will get rid of you just as easily. I don't even know what to feel anymore, but as someone who had been laid off in the past, I cannot convey how devastating it is to have your life uprooted just like that.

[bigmammallama5]

i saw your post about the ups strike and i'm happy for them but could you say a little prayer for us postal workers cause all their packages are about to be offloaded to us and it's about to be bad. they've already started upping hours and telling us we're going to have mandatory overtime in the upcoming weeks

Oh yeah dude I already have, yall are like the only government branch I trust lol.

I’m glad they’re fighting for their labor rights, and at the same time I wish it didn’t come to this bc it’s gonna put huge pressure on yall and have other rippled consequences. It’s a difference of knowing they need to strike vs wanting to, and we’re reaching that breaking point across a lot of industries. I support all strikers and do genuinely hope that their needs are met quickly. I just wish yall could unionize too. It’s gonna be a mess and we’ve got nothing but those assholes and their greed at the top to blame.

[stardusthuntress]

So I finally watched the 2D clone wars show, and I gotta say, it’s PHENOMENAL!!!

I now adore every second of it, in all of its sassy, oversimplified, primitively scripted, 2D glory!!!

I LOVE how Kenobi spends practically the whole time 100% done with everything, Anakin really is a disaster at heart, half the time the animators zoom in on something, just to start at a picture of a droids face while it talks - with zero motion whatsoever, Windu’s rocket punches, Yoda’s dramatic expressions, PADME and the marriage drama, the bazooka ARC (that guy had tired Rex energy, I LOVED it), a very different perspective of the moments right before Kenobi and Skywalker enter the battle of Coruscant, and it clearly was so inspirational for so many other SW shows!!! Not to mention how it flushes out so many things I’ve always wondered about!

And this is where the tradition of warning Anakin of his fate begins! And he still doesn’t get it! AND he’s 100% dramatic ALL THE TIME!!!

It’s amazing!!!

But it does bother me how many of the clones are truly treated as disposable! It’s like the only ones that make it out of the conflicts are the Jedi and the Sith! They just got mowed down left, right, and center!!! It was so cruel to them!!! And they mostly avoided giving ANY of them names!!! Cody was in it, and 1 other named guy but I couldn’t figure out what his name was. The Commander in red who led the ARCs! They were the only clones that (mostly) survived!!! It was so sad to watch them all just get disposed of so quickly and easily! They didn’t have to do that!!!

[athymelyreply]

ain’t nothin more tumblr than willingly giving yourself psychic damage to make stupid cursed fandom worldbuilding posts

[angryraptor13]

This is why unions work, by the way. A good union makes it so that failing to cooperate with the union is more costly to the corporation than complying would be.

While I'm writing things that I've been intending to write for a while... one of the things that I think that a lot of people who haven't been involved in like... banking or corporate shenaniganry miss about why our economy is its current flavor of total fuckery is the concept of "fiduciary duty to shareholders."

"Why does every corporation pursue endless growth?" Fiduciary duty to shareholders.

"Why do corporations treat workers the way they do?" Fiduciary duty to shareholders.

"Why do corporations make such bass-ackwards decisions about what's 'good for' the company?" Fiduciary duty to shareholders.

The legal purpose of a corporation with shareholders -- its only true purpose -- is the generation of revenue/returns for shareholders. Period. That's it. Anything else it does is secondary to that. Sustainability of business, treatment of workers, sustainability and quality of product, those things are functionally and legally second to generating revenue for shareholders. Again, period, end of story. There is no other function of a corporation, and all of its extensive legal privileges exist to allow it to do that.

"But Spider," you might say, "that sounds like corporations only exist in current business in order to extract as much money and value as possible from the people actually doing the work and transfer it up to the people who aren't actually doing the work!"

Yes. You are correct. Thank you for coming with me to that realization. You are incredibly smart and also attractive.

You might also say, "but Spider, is this a legal obligation? Could those running a company be held legally responsible for failing their obligations if they prioritize sustainability or quality of product or care of workers above returns for shareholders?"

Yes! They absolutely can! Isn't that terrifying? Also you look great today, you're terribly clever for thinking about these things. The board and officers of a corporation can be held legally responsible to varying degrees for failing to maximize shareholder value.

And that, my friends, is why corporations do things that don't seem to make any fucking sense, and why 'continuous growth' is valued above literally anything else: because it fucking has to be.

If you're thinking that this doesn't sound like a sustainable economic model, you're not alone. People who are much smarter than both of us, and probably nearly as attractive, have written a proposal for how to change corporate law in order to create a more sensible and sustainable economy. This is one of several proposals, and while I don't agree with all of this stuff, I think that reading it will really help people as a springboard to understanding exactly why our economy is as fucked up as it is, and why just saying 'well then don't pursue eternal growth' isn't going to work -- because right now it legally can't. We'd need to change -- and we can change -- the laws around corporate governance.

This concept of 'shareholder primacy' and the fiduciary duty to shareholders is one I had to learn when I was getting my securities licenses, and every time I see people confusedly asking why corporations try to grow grow grow in a way that only makes sense if you're a tumor, I sigh and think, 'yeah, fiduciary duty to shareholders.'

(And this is why Emet and I have refused to seek investors for NK -- we might become beholden to make decisions which maximize investor return, and that would get in the way of being able to fully support our people and our values and say the things we started this company to say.)

Anyway, you should read up on these concepts if you're not familiar. It's pretty eye-opening.

[bunnyb34r]

Agsgdgdggd the guy I helped make a bale came up to me and was like "hey so I noticed you werent here yesterday... you okay?"

And immediately I went "yeah, making that bale really killed me. Had to take off."

He thought it was absolutely hilarious and I guess he came up to RC later and told her I'm really fast with comebacks like he wasnt expecting that sgdggdgdgd

She was like "yeah she's a snarky little shit. Not at all like yall think she is"

Just bc I'm quiet and polite at work doesn't mean shit man. I'm quiet and polite bc 1.) I have to see you people up to 20 hours a week. 2.)unless you give me a reason to be anything but nice I'll be in my customer service persona and that bitch is polite and QUIET

Also 3.) I'm just fucking quiet unless I'm super comfortable with you, then I don't shut the fuck up