#misquoted: justice league

[hoshikimiyo]

and miss norway is wearing… jeans? and… a matching denim jacket over a scoop necked t-shirt. and boots. big work boots.

[delicatebluebirdruins]

rant incoming

do you remember the fucking armor bikinis from the justice league film? that happened five years ago

i didn't but at the time I remember seeing a comment that someone made saying that some of the cast made about preferring the bikinis because it allows for greater mobility (valid reason to be honest) and they preffered the lack of discomfort liking chafing and bruises (not valid because the off shot is exposed skin and things)

and I saw a thing about it on pinterest and made a comment about the above that some cast members liked it

"i found it really interesting that the women themselves preferred the armour in the Justice League over Wonder Woman edit: It was in an interview with the women in the picture at some point but I can't remember which one or where I read/watched it but I do remember they preferred JL armour because it did not cause them bruises or something?? sorry i can't remember which interview"

I got a response the other day

"Iff you can't find the source it is not a source so don't post the lie"

I actually looked it up and found a source Samantha Win (formally Samantha Jo) I have no idea what I was searching for to miss her comment but eeh (i was probably running out of space and time as 2017 i had college to get too)

and I responded after many attempts because fuck pinterest

"my comment was made under the assumption that google is somewhat easy to access. did you type anything into the search bar and read the results at any time before saying I was lying? here use this as search terms Samantha Win she is the one who prefered the bikini armor for two reasons mobility (valid) and that it didn't chaff/ bruise cause discomfort (not valid dumb as heck would you rather be uncomfortable or dead?)"

my response was ratty and i was 100% insulting their intellegience if they couldn't use google and went straight to calling me a liar

their response

"Not my job. If you make a claim you are responsible for backing it up. That is one of the responsibilities of media use. Time to grow up, child."

I'm the child? this was five fucking years ago and no one else had a problem with the comment but they did and they could have searched it up and said that I should have done better research still I'm the child? how many people in the world on the internet made claims without backing it up and then no one looking it up afterwards

does this count as name calling? both times i reported them as well as blocked instead of replying to that last one at all

kind of wish i did just to see how much further they go because they called me a child for the assumption that other adults can do their own research oh wait many don't

I actually wanted to find it because I remember how frustrated I was not finding the information to share and I was kinda excited to share it despite how rude I was

(does pinterest still have a character count?... it does it only flashes when you go over it)

DA I hope you have a day that's good but you stub your toe four times (the length of time it took for me to find my source)

edited to add: by this logic the internets misinformation will thrive anyways because people can misquote sources, make them up, take things out of context if a post has a source read it when you have the time

[misquotedmtolympus]

Ares: So you're fast.

Hermes: That feels like an oversimplification.

[swtorramblings]

Note that I continue to have mixed feelings about the platform, but I do have stuff there, so here we are.

Tagged by @fleeting-sanity​, thanks. Probably also by @swtorpadawan​, but I couldn’t read more than the first line at the time.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Looks like 26? Quite a few one-shots, and several continuing and unfinished stories. One finished, Darkest Throne, though it may get something like a sequel.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

108,051, though I’m getting ready to do a word dump there in the future..

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

I Shall Save Myself

Commander Thexan

Darkest Throne

Endings and Beginnings

Time

4. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes, I will always try to respond to comments, but I don’t get many these days..Someone goes through the trouble of making a comment I feel I should respond, unless it’s something like “Yay!” and just there to leave a non-kudo kudo.

5. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I don’t have a lot of endings, so it pretty much has to be Darkest Throne by default, but it’s fairly angsty and bittersweet. It’s not meant to be “happy”, certainly.

6. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Has to be A Good Day, which was for POC Positivity Week and the specific instructions were “Rogue One AU where no one dies”.

7. Do you write crossovers?

Frequently, notably High Justice League and Knights of the Emotional Spectrum. I also inspired by the Dark Tower series by Stephen King, Disney musicals, and the entire Film Noir genre, though I’m not sure those are true crossovers.

8. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not so far. The closest I’ve gotten is notes that seem to profoundly misunderstand how certain stories, including the one that was the reason I got into the whole fic writing thing to begin with (we all know the one), kind of mess me up and require a response.

Fic is my response. And now I’m misquoting Iron Giant, and the bad guy, to boot.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Not me. I’ll read it if there’s something that is more in my line, as well, but generally no.

10. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I wouldn’t think so. I’m amused that a number of things that have come out in SWTOR since I started are coincidentally similar to things I’ve written, but I chalk that up to common themes and criticisms.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, I’d love to have the wherewithal to do that, but I’m not popular enough or rich enough to pay what I think such work is worth.

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I’ve started stories based on things other people are doing or stories they’ve wanted, but actual co-writing, no, not so far.

13. What’s your all time favourite ship?

Going to say my smuggler Z’lia and Akaavi Spar. I haven’t written that into a story or anything, but I’ve done some of the “super short story inspired by screenshot” thing with them.

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish, but don’t think you ever will?

Knights: A Disney Musical. Maybe some day when my brain can actual do the musical parodies again. I’d very much like to, it was the closest I’d come to a love story until I started writing Z’lia in several.

15. What are your writing strengths?

Starting stories. Lots of ideas, sometimes so many it’s hard to articulate them all. Still struggling with balance.

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

Finishing stories. Sometimes, even middling stories. Which is not what middling means, but you understand.

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I can’t. I don’t know any languages but English well enough to feel anything but disrespectful trying to use them. Sometimes with fictional languages.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

SWTOR. I had been dissatisfied with certain plot lines for a very long time, decades, in fact. Then someone decided to make me, or rather my character, a part of one of those plots against my wishes and without warning, making him behave in ways I would never choose and framing it as heroic, and the dam just broke.

Yes, my fic writing started out of spite. Sorry about that.

19. What’s a fandom/ship you haven’t written for yet, but want to?

I’m not sure? A lot of my writing these days is for the TTRPG’s I’m running (four, 4, FOUR! OF THEM). I’ve dipped into Marvel and DC comics. I kind of want to write a thing about Moira MacTaggert, because I think they’ve fundamentally broken the character, but I probably won’t. I’ve started a bit with Dragon Prince, Avatar: TLA, and Detroit: Become Human that I’m kind of stuck on.

20. What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

Probably my first one, I Shall Save Myself, linked above. I’m trying to rewrite it when there’s time to be less my just rage quitting made into plot points, but it’s my most developed stories. Competing with it is the whole Bonds series, where Bucky comes to the Old Republic and saves Vaylin, and it gets out of hand from there.

I guess I can tag? Maybe @sandwyrm and @aearyn? I know they still maintain their AO3 accounts? Anyone else that wants to. I’ll tag @jarael due to inspiring Bonds in the first place, not to do an AO3 thing necessarily.

[corhore]

Other Anon is and isn’t wrong. They misquoted but had the right spirit, and it wasn’t a confirmed thing. It was a rumor due to comments that the director Andy Muschietti made. Comments that included “not the powerful justice league we know”, “half solar-powered alien and two idiots” (that’s where anon misquoted), and “I embrace the fact that these underdogs are going to save the world.”

That sounds more believable. Sounds like he meant "two idiots" in a joking way.

Although calling the Supergirl, Flash and fuckin Batman underdogs is kinda silly.

[spiderdreamer-blog]

On Voltron: Legendary Defender, Debunking Conspiracy Theories, and Expectations

Disclaimer: All opinions herein belong solely to me, the author. All rights reserved to my readers/followers to disagree and tell me to go to hell.

Voltron: Legendary Defender took its final bow last December with a season that had, at best, a mixed reception, and at worst, downright controversial. And it’s not hard to see why from certain points of view: endings are difficult even under the best of circumstances for a planned-out animated television show, and the series had already made decisions that left many fans unhappy. It then proceeded to make a few more, and the reactions fly wide and sundry to this day. While I’ll offer my own opinion on it shortly, my overall goal here is to discuss some of the, well, I’ll just say it outright, conspiracy theories that have dogged the creators of the series since even before the final season. Misinformation is rife on the Internet, and I am compelled to correct it based on my knowledge base of televised animation production, which I would say is fairly strong after many years of study.

FIRST, OPINIONS

To begin with, after all’s said and done....I quite like the final season! Now, is it perfect? Of course not, neither is the rest of the show because that’s how this works. There are choices I ultimately don’t agree with but are arguably still executed well, and many of its episodes stand up to the best of what the series can do. “Shadows” is an illuminating, often heartbreaking set of flashbacks that fills in the gaps of our understanding about Honerva. “Battle Scars” makes touchingly sad use of a clever sci-fi conceit. “The Grudge” gives a character study to someone who sorely needed one (Acxa). “Day Forty Seven” marries a tricky visual strategy with a nice showcase on the supporting cast, and both it and “Clear Day” have a ton of classic VLD gags (Keith being terrified of a broken-down carny ride in the latter had me rolling), while “Knights of Light” goes all-in on phantasmagoric visuals and kickass action. And throughout, it remains a gorgeous, beautifully acted series with absolutely wonderful characters. Given all that and some personal connections it helped me with (we’ll get to that shortly), I cannot, in good conscience, say it ever outright became a bad or unworthy series.

CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND WHY THEY’RE DUMB

The trouble of the Internet is that it’s very easy to misquote/take quotes out of context to serve an agenda, and that’s especially true of people who give lots of interviews/public statements. Producers/showrunners Lauren Montgomery and Joaquim Dos Santos, artists I have admired for a long time via their collective work on shows like Justice League Unlimited, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and The Legend of Korra, and many other projects, frequently gave interviews whilst promoting the show during its release and shortly afterwards. Naturally, this led to the above phenomenon of sort of....reading the tea leaves to try and predict where the show would go/whether things like ships would be fulfilled (this also rampantly occurred with the voice cast, which always creeps me out, tbh). Admittedly, I’m guilty of this too, but there’s some, I would argue, who take it too far. Because of this and other factors, I wish to attempt debunk three conspiracy theories that have arisen either out of things they have said or what I believe to be misinformation about how TV animation works (yes, Netflix “counts” as TV, don’t be silly). I hope these can be both entertaining and illuminating and not come off like I’m a pompous windbag.

Conspiracy Theory #1. Lauren and Joaquim hated Shiro as a character and resented not being able to kill him off via executive meddling, hence why he was “sidelined” afterwards.

It’s a well known fact that Voltron is a long-running franchise largely designed to sell toys and merchandise. As with much of children’s television in this vein, there are often people higher up than the artists making decisions based on those factors that can then be integrated into a series. This was no exception: despite original plans to stay true to previous versions and off Shiro, the higher-ups said “no dice, we’re making a toy of him. He lives, period.”

This fact has been mentioned several times across various interviews and that it changed much of the scope of their plans for the series. However, this sentiment has always been expressed, to my mind, in fairly neutral terms of “this is how working on a show like this goes, and we make the best of it”. Nor do I agree that Shiro was sidelined at all: his clone played a significant role in the series’ larger plot and got one of the best fights in the entire series against Keith, said relationship continued to be heavily emphasized, and he was granted captainship of the IGF Atlas, arguably the coolest non-Voltron vehicle ever. To me, these are not things you decide to write if you “hate” a character and want to sideline him, nor is giving him an ultimately happy ending. Most creators are not that spiteful at all to any character, even ones they give unhappy ends (such as Lotor; it is clear they put every ounce of conceivable effort possible into making him a tragic hero here).

Conspiracy Theory #2: Ezor was given a reprieve/inserted back into the series after her presumed death as a result of the backlash to Shiro/Adam.

“The Grudge” features a vengeful Zethrid on the warpath trying to kill Keith and the other paladins to spite Acxa, her former friend, and it’s ultimately revealed that she’s doing this out of grief because Ezor left her, believing that her girlfriend’s rage at the universe was going to consume and kill them both. Given that the last time we saw these two, they were being exploded, it’s not an unreasonable jump to make, though the end of the episode features all three reconciling in a touching moment.

I myself was a little thrown by how this played out: the episode seems to be building up to the fact that Zethrid believes Ezor to be genuinely dead/that’s why she’s targeting Keith in particular since he was partially responsible for the aforementioned ‘splodiness, but then Acxa reveals that this is not the case. What I assumed had happened was that presumed death was the original intent, but mid-writing the episode, they decided to soften things even as the episode is still clearly structured to end with reconciliation. However, some began airing theories that they changed the episode last-minute after the backlash to the arguable “bury your gays” moment with Shiro and his ex-boyfriend, Adam.

Now, it’s not impossible for animated shows to be changed after the fact. Lines and roles can be redubbed, though often this depends on budget, and there is a built-in process called “retakes” where bad/janky shots or scenes will be redone. However, what doesn’t quite work out here is production timelines. Usually, when an animated series has come to its end, cancelled or otherwise, post-production takes place long after everyone else has moved onto other projects, and usually without the involvement of the full production team (Greg Weisman has said that he helped post-production on season 2 of Young Justice essentially for free because of this). I don’t know if that was the case here, but either way, it’s incredibly unlikely that they heavily reanimated, redubbed, and rewrote an episode in less than the five months’ time between seasons 7 and 8 (especially since Ezor is briefly present already in the next episode and in the epilogue). That doesn’t make good business sense, for one, and the possible fate of both of them also did not nearly receive the same level of attention as Shiro’s storyline did. Now, I will say animated FILMS can be changed dramatically up to the release date, but those are structured far differently in terms of production timelines and resources. TV is more locked in, as it were.

Conspiracy Theory #3: Lauren and Joaquim are homophobic/didn’t listen to advice from other creators about how to handle representation/tried to shift blame to the higher-ups.

This one comes partially from a news site called GeekDad, which published a purported expose about how the showrunners allegedly ignored advice from sensitivity readers about how to handle these things and did not seek out guidance from gay crew members/creators on other DreamWorks shows. This article was, in my opinion, a complete crock, and I will not be sharing it here because we do not honor bad faith arguments with more hits. No quotes are given for these claims, and the rest is filled with more misinformation about how animation production works (”last minute”, as noted, usually means something quite different here, and given how contracts work, one cannot precisely use ideas from people working on other projects without opening up some serious legal issues), as well as heavy conjecture on Lauren and Joaquim’s motives and beliefs (and, how interesting, I will note, that a woman and a mixed-race Latinx man are getting the brunt of the blame here).

Here’s the thing: ultimately, I can’t tell other people how to feel about representation or what they feel is a lack thereof. That’s ultimately up to each individual viewer. Personally, Shiro’s story overall meant a lot to me as a queer viewer, and he’s one of my favorite characters in the series. I was thrilled that he was able to walk off into the sunset, clearly loved. Are there better ways this could have been handled? Sure. But I think Occam’s Razor applies here: given some comments made by both the showrunners and the cast (and particularly given the support of Bex Taylor-Klaus, the voice of Pidge, who came out as nonbinary and bisexual during the show’s run), there were definitely roadblocks involved in queer representation on the show and for Shiro. I believe that to be a far more likely explanation than this idea that they deliberately set out to hurt people, because I don’t believe they did based on apologies they have made since then. Hurt still may have been caused, but content creators are very rarely that spiteful towards their audience (it’s not IMPOSSIBLE, mind gestures at Steven Moffat). I don’t know either of them personally/can’t read their minds, of course, but I do believe all of this came from an ultimately sincere place.

(Now, you might wonder, “what about She-Ra? That doesn’t seem to be having problems being real gay.” Well, I think She-Ra has a different set of expectations given that it’s a “girl’s show” and Voltron was a “boy’s show”, and DreamWorks is not necessarily an outright hivemind on these matters. Additionally, the language around the gayness in the show is very careful and vague outside of confirming things like “dads”; nobody is saying in-universe that Adora has “a crush” on Catra or vice-versa. Much of the queerness is communicated visually. It is also potentially not in Noelle Stevenson’s best interest to speak out more openly on these matters given her relative age and experience; Montgomery and Dos Santos have been more open, certainly, but there is a sense of care and not wanting to burn bridges in their words).

And on that note, I think it’s time to speak on our final subject:

MANAGING EXPECTATIONS

Credit to @radioactivesupersonic, a dear friend and colleague who I met through the series, for inspiring this part of my post. We’ve discussed our personal journey with the show and how we both approached things differently: I had always seen it as a show that was often wonderful, but made by flawed human beings and thus under no expectation to be perfect. He initially saw it as The Wonder Show that could never step wrong and if it did, well, they’d take it back eventually, right? It’s a feeling, I imagine, many struggle with, and I can’t say I haven’t in the past.

But art, especially ones made under corporate directives, is hard. It’s messy. And it is made by people who are going to mess up, be imperfect, etc. Ergo, I think it is generally careful and prudent to...well, you can certainly be excited and enthusiastic. That’s the fun of being a fan. However, I would caution many, especially younger fans, to not get too attached to an idea of where you think the series should go and build one in your mind that is the perfect ideal. That will inevitably lead to disappointment since the creators are not you and are arguably not obligated to think like you.

Are there things I wanted in the series that I didn’t get? Of course there are, but that’s true of anything. For example, I was never sold on Allurance/always preferred Kallura as a pairing, so to see the series go for the former was a resounding “meh”, though I never precisely hated it (look, I had to live through Makorra, you try telling me this is anywhere NEAR that level of “fuck off”). I would’ve liked more time with some of the supporting cast since they were so richly developed, even the most minor of characters. But the different directions the show often went in could nevertheless still thrill and delight me because I concentrated on what they tried to do, not what I necessarily wanted (that’s what fanfic is for).

I hope this has been informative and entertaining, and despite possible calls to go to hell, I would appreciate a lack of angry messages or blowing up my notes with harassment. This is just one fan’s opinion, in the end. Be kind to each other.

[amalgamatedcosplay]

Is The Flash in Justice League autistic?

So, after seeing Justice League which blew me away with its visuals, acting and comic bookesque story I was left wondering about the Scarlet Speedster, Barry Allen.

Ezra Miller as Barry was fantastically quirky and the lighter side to the team as The Flash should be, this Flash is a lot younger than the other heroes falling more in line with Cyborg's age than his usual Comic Book age.

However in his initial interaction with Bruce, as well as his interactions with others he shows traits of autism, which being autistic I can see, he doesn't ubdesrtand social norms, he's awkward, his cues and timing are off and he's all around a bit of a social awkqard mess. Now that could just be a social thing with him but one line stuck out to me. Please forgive misquoting.

"People are, confusing, it's like they're on another wavelength... People are too... Slow." This spoke volumes too me, as my mind is constantly processing everything around it and thinking at a mile a minute never getting a chance to slow down. Much like the Flash, see Barry isn't just physically fast, he's mentally fast, the universe seems to him like it's always playimg catch up, now this may have been the writers finding a way to describe the way his mind works, but it really does echo the mind of someone on the higher functioning end of autism.

See autism is a spectrum, those of us who can "socialise" but find major difficulties with or without medication to help us with cues, norms ans the sucg, though most high functioning don't require medicatiom, and low functioning autism where society and social interaction can be a nigh impossibility for them without meducation.

Barry fits into high functioning, he's able to socialise, but finds himself struggling. He questions the idea of Brunch "You wait in line for an hour for what is effectively lunch, I don't get it." He sees the world around him, he knows what is "normal" and how to socialise but he can't execute it.

While everyone is focussing on the matter at hand, he's thinking of the next part of it, or something completely different.

One note worthy point of this being when he needs a specific part to a request from Batman, and almost breaks when Batman can't give that specific.

Batman: "Just save one."

Flash: "Okay but which one?"

Batman: "Just... save... one."

This throws Barry off, he doesn't know who to save. To delve more into his character could spoil the movie so, let's sum up.

Do I think Barry is autistic in this depiction? Maybe, though it's hard to tell without seeing more of the character, it could just be his brain getting used to it's new speed and processing power but who knows. I'm definitely looking forward to the solo film and the other Justice League movies.

[supeskenobi]

Superman or: How I Stopped Being Apathetic And Learned To Love The Big Blue Boy Scout:

Last year when I finally watched Zack Snyder's Man of Steel, I was blown away. Not just because it was an incredible movie (in my opinion), but because Zack had done something which I thought unlikely to happen. He made me care for the character of Superman. For as long as I can remember, I was always apathetic to Superman. No strong opinions one way or another. I'd seen the Reeves' movies when I was younger an, aside from that; I cared very little for the character. I suppose it may have had something to do with the idea in pop culture that he is just this nearly indestructible God who can't be killed (bar Kryptonite) and is just a boy scout. Even when I first got into superheroes when I was twelve, I immediately fell in love with Batman.I thought it was awesome how a guy, who has no superpowers and who witnessed a horrifying ordeal, became the hero he is. Hence the reason why I only saw Man of Steel last year instead of when it first came out in 2013. Now I love the character, thanks to Zack and co. Yet his Superman is polarizing to say the least; just look at its Rotten Tomatoes score of 55%. Many people will say it's "grimdark" (To slightly misquote Charlie Brooker "Anyone who combines words like grim and dark to make grimdark is just a funt.") and isn't the real Superman because he's not smiling. Which I assure you, he does. People don't like this take on Superman as it's nothing like the Superman of yesteryear. The Superman of their childhood. And hear in lies the crux of the problem with the character of Superman. He's not been allowed to evolve in the media and within popular culture as much as a certain other DC character. Batman. Just think about it.Since 1966, Batman has appeared in nine films including this years Justice League; it's sequel and Matt Reeve's Batman movie in 2019. Not to mention the eight or so animated shows and their subsequent movies. Superman, on the other hand has appeared in seven movies including this years Justice League, it's sequel and Man of Steel 2. Plus an animated series.Between 1966 and last years Batman v Superman:Dawn of Justice, Batman has gone from: campy to dark back to campy to gritty realism and then back to dark. Apart from the gap between the '66 movie and the '89 movie, the longest gap between Batman movies was between 1997 and 2005. Eight years, Compare that to Superman IV:The Quest for Peace and Superman Returns which had a twenty-year gap between the two. My point is that the gaps between Batman movies are so small that it allows the audience to familiarize themselves with a new iteration of the character with each reboot.Hence, the reason Bale's Batman is so popular. Batman has evolved in the public eye.The twenty-year gap between Superman IV and Superman Returns meant that a lot of people grew up with one iteration of Superman meaning Reeves became the de-facto Superman, anything other than this was not the real Superman, and that was bolstered by Superman Returns which was a continuation of the Reeves movies (but with a new cast). Then along comes Zack Snyder who gives us a slightly different take on the character which most people are not used to. He portrays Superman as a character who has flaws and who isn't perfect. A person who's trying to find his place in our world.Yet unlike Batman, whenever there's a new take on the character most are well like and few aren't *cough* Clooney *cough*, Snyder's version is disliked and as stated before, not the true Superman. I feel the twenty-year gap between Superman IV and Superman Returns has actually harmed the image of Superman within popular culture. Now maybe this was down to WB who think that Superman isn't as much of a bankable character as Batman, who knows. But at the end of the day,to quote BvS, "The fact is, maybe he's not some sort of devil or Jesus character. Maybe he's just a guy trying to do the right thing."Superman is a more interesting character than most people would believe. Just because Snyder's Superman isn't like Reeves or doesn't smile 24/7, it doesn't make him any less Superman. 

[comingupforblair]

I kinda love and hate that Justice League is involuntarily acting as a lightning rod for other dceu projects. All biased negativity is focused on it instead of Aquaman and other dceu projects that are gearing up to start production like Shazam. They're being allowed to breathe and not worry about what idiotic rumor or misquote might come up next.

That is handy. I’m sure They’ll start again soon. By January, we’ll have rumors that James Wan wants to drop out and Jason Momoa wants to go too and we’ll hear how a ‘’source’’ watched it and said it was terrible and everyone will believe it.

[ladystylestores]

Why Isn’t the ‘Southern Strategy’ Working?

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Good morning. There are long lines for coronavirus tests. Tech companies are pulling back from Hong Kong. And President Trump’s racial appeals don’t seem to be working.

The so-called Southern strategy — appealing to white voters by focusing on racial issues — has worked very well for the Republican Party. It has helped the party persuade many frustrated white working-class voters that the Democratic Party doesn’t care about them.

Richard Nixon’s campaign invented the strategy, and he won the presidency twice. Ronald Reagan praised “states’ rights” in a tiny Mississippi county known for a Ku Klux Klan triple murder. George H.W. Bush ran the notorious Willie Horton advertisement. The Southern strategy has been “the most successful strategy in the history of modern politics,” Cornell Belcher, a Democratic strategist, told me.

The basic bet has been that Republicans win when voters focus on race. Steve Bannon, who helped run President Trump’s campaign, described the flip side of the idea, in 2017: “The Democrats,” Bannon said, “I want them to talk about racism every day.”

Sure enough, Trump has put race at the center of his re-election message. He did so in two aggressive speeches over the weekend and defended the Confederate flag yesterday. “Almost every day in the last two weeks, Mr. Trump has sought to stoke white fear and resentment,” Maggie Haberman writes. (She’s also on today’s episode of The Daily.)

And yet this time seems different: The strategy isn’t working. Trump’s poll numbers are slumping, and some of his 2016 supporters cite racial issues as a reason they plan to vote for Joe Biden.

Why is the Southern strategy suddenly flailing? I count four main reasons:

The country is changing. It becomes more racially diverse each year. And most Americans under age 35 are quite liberal. The horror of the George Floyd video and the ensuing protest movement have also changed the minds of many Americans.

People are afraid. Historically, many white Americans didn’t see how racism hurt them, Belcher said. But he now hears white voters in focus groups say they’re worried that the country is coming apart. “They talk about, if we continue on this trajectory, it’s going to be dismal for our kids,” he said.

Trump has gone too far. Most white Americans remain moderate to conservative on immigration, affirmative action and more. But many also believe police departments are biased, and many don’t like symbols of slavery. Reagan offered an optimistic, patriotic message that let many voters downplay or overlook his racial appeals. Trump is practically forcing voters to take sides on racism, Terrance Woodbury, another Democratic strategist, told CNN’s Ron Brownstein.

Voters are simply too unhappy with Trump’s handling of the coronavirus. “As long as that’s true,” The Times’s Nate Cohn told me, “I don’t see how he has the freedom to employ wedge issues.”

Of course, the usual caveat applies: The campaign still has four months left.

For more: FiveThirtyEight’s Clare Malone has written a brief history of how the Republican Party “spent decades making itself white.” And The Times’s Emily Cochrane reports from Maine on Senator Susan Collins’s effort to win re-election despite Trump’s unpopularity there.

THREE MORE BIG STORIES

1. Testing troubles

As the United States nears three million coronavirus cases, many cities and states are still struggling with testing. Sites in New Orleans have run out of tests five minutes after doors open. In Phoenix, where temperatures have topped 100 degrees, residents have waited in cars for as long as eight hours to get tested.

While testing has increased considerably since April, it has not kept pace with the recent explosion of the virus. Some experts blame the lack of a federal system, which has led cities to compete for testing labs and supplies.

In other virus developments:

2. Plans for the fall semester

The fall semester is starting to take shape, with most colleges planning to open — but not with business as usual. Harvard will teach all courses remotely and no more than 40 percent of undergrads will live on campus. Georgia Tech plans to resume in-person classes without requiring face masks, leading more than 850 faculty members to sign a letter expressing concern.

One deterrent for going online-only: Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced yesterday that international students enrolled at universities without in-person classes would have to leave the country or transfer to another college. It’s part of the Trump administration’s continuing crackdown on immigration.

3. Unrest over Phoenix police shooting

Another video of a shooting by police — this time with officers in Phoenix fatally shooting a man in a parked car over the weekend — is leading to protests.

Police officials said the victim, James Porter Garcia, had pointed a handgun at one of the officers before he was shot. But a friend told local news media that Garcia was unarmed, and activists have demanded the release of body-camera footage from the officers who shot him.

IDEA OF THE DAY: Pop culture at the Supreme Court

In a unanimous Supreme Court decision yesterday — holding that members of the Electoral College cannot vote for whichever candidate they want — Justice Elena Kagan referred to both the musical “Hamilton” and to the television show “Veep.” We asked Adam Liptak, The Times’s Supreme Court reporter, for some context, and he replied:

The two best writers on the Supreme Court are generally thought to be Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Elena Kagan, and neither is a stranger to pop culture references.

In 2008, Chief Justice Roberts quoted (some say misquoted) Bob Dylan in explaining why the plaintiff lacked standing in a dispute between two phone companies. Instead of citing a case to back up a legal proposition, he cited a lyric: “When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose.” (What Dylan actually sings, of course, is, “When you ain’t got nothing, you got nothing to lose.”)

The chief justice, 65, also drew on the classic rock canon at the argument of a copyright case in 2011. “What about Jimi Hendrix, right?” he asked. “He has a distinctive rendition of the national anthem.”

Justice Kagan, 60, has made her own contributions. In a 2013 case concerning signs on trucks, she gave a hypothetical example of one: “How am I driving? Call 213-867-5309.” That was a sly reference to “867-5309/Jenny,” Tommy Tutone’s indelible 1981 hit, which reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and will still get people of a certain age onto the dance floor at college reunions.

PLAY, WATCH, EAT, CHEER

Get baking

Maple-blueberry scones are “the perfect thing to bake when you’re looking to funnel some angst into something delicious,” writes the cookbook author Dorie Greenspan.

They are big and glazed and possess a unique texture — tender and flaky at the same time — thanks to a technique for mixing the butter with flour. Created by the chef Joanne Chang for her Flour Bakery + Cafe in Boston, you can find the recipe here.

Read a timely new memoir

“The Beauty in Breaking,” written by Michele Harper, chronicles her life as an emergency room physician through the lens of the patients she has treated. Each chapter highlights a different case, like a newborn baby who isn’t breathing. Along the way, Harper tells her own story — of experiencing abuse, divorce, racism and sexism, and of becoming a doctor. Elisabeth Egan, an editor at The Times Book Review, called the book a “riveting, heartbreaking, sometimes difficult, always inspiring story.”

Baseball sets a date

Major League Baseball announced that its season would begin on July 23 with a game between the New York Yankees and the Washington Nationals. But will it actually happen? Some players and managers are skeptical.

At least four teams have canceled workouts this week because of virus-testing delays, and several players have already said they will sit out the season. “We haven’t done any of the things that other countries have done to bring sports back,” Sean Doolittle, the Nationals’ closer, told The Washington Post. “Sports are like the reward of a functioning society.”

Diversions

Games

Here’s today’s Mini Crossword, and a clue: Guacamole ingredient (five letters).

You can find all of our puzzles here.

Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. — David

P.S. Dana Canedy, the administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes and a former Times journalist, will run the namesake imprint at Simon & Schuster. It is one of the biggest jobs in book publishing, and she is the first Black person to hold it.

You can see today’s print front page here.

Today’s episode of “The Daily” is about Trump’s re-election campaign.

Subscribers help us report stories from around the world. Please consider subscribing today.

Ian Prasad Philbrick and Sanam Yar contributed to The Morning. You can reach the team at themorning@nytimes.com.

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Joker Director Says He Was “Misquoted” Concerning Comic Book Connections

It’s no secret that the upcoming Joker movie, starring Joaquin Phoenix as a new version of the Clown Prince of Crime, is a standalone film that won’t connect to other recent live-action DC and Warner Bros. movies like Aquaman and Justice League. But a recent report that suggested Joker won’t have anything to do with […]

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Joker Director Says He Was “Misquoted” Concerning Comic Book Connections

It’s no secret that the upcoming Joker movie, starring Joaquin Phoenix as a new version of the Clown Prince of Crime, is a standalone film that won’t connect to other recent live-action DC and Warner Bros. movies like Aquaman and Justice League. But a recent report that suggested Joker won’t have anything to do with […]

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from WeeklyReviewer https://weeklyreviewer.com/joker-director-says-he-was-misquoted-concerning-comic-book-connections/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=joker-director-says-he-was-misquoted-concerning-comic-book-connections from WeeklyReviewer https://weeklyreviewer.tumblr.com/post/187757698722

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Joker Director Says He Was “Misquoted” Concerning Comic Book Connections

It’s no secret that the upcoming Joker movie, starring Joaquin Phoenix as a new version of the Clown Prince of Crime, is a standalone film that won’t connect to other recent live-action DC and Warner Bros. movies like Aquaman and Justice League. But a recent report that suggested Joker won’t have anything to do with […]

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from WeeklyReviewer https://weeklyreviewer.com/joker-director-says-he-was-misquoted-concerning-comic-book-connections/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=joker-director-says-he-was-misquoted-concerning-comic-book-connections