Newsletter from Jay Wilcox - November 2019: On Deadpoolism
Good morning/afternoon/evening! And Happy Thanksgiving!
I've heard it said that you can shear a sheep again and again but can only skin him once.
At the end of the movie Deadpool, the titular character shoots and kills Ajax even while Colossus and the rest of the good guys plead for him not to. His reason for showing the villain no mercy? Ajax was "going on and on," begging for his life. Deadpool had gotten bored.
I get that this guy is not your typical superhero. I see repercussions in that.
Deadpool speaks to boys' insecurities. He has a girlfriend. He's athletic, a brutal Barbie of testosterone and wit. Look, it's easy to be edgy, but how much harder is it to be clever--especially when one doesn't have screenwriters providing material? How much harder is it to be compassionate?
Speaking of screenwriters, when can we nix the "cocky asshole" trope?
We are what we repeatedly consume. I can't help but imagine more role models--from media personalities to athletes to elected officials--borrowing Deadpool's simple answers and performative decisiveness.
Why should we show mercy toward a bad guy?
Why should I shake my opponent's hand after the game?
Why should we fund a school that clearly doesn't post good test scores? Furthermore, why should we teach literature and the humanities if all the jobs are in STEM?
Our democracy depends on pulling punches--or, in Deadpool's case, withholding a bullet. It's okay to defeat an opponent without obliterating them. It's okay to show mercy toward counter-intuitive ideals. For example, in a world of computers, does handwriting still matter? What possible benefit could exist in thwarting convenience, taking twice as long to capture a thought?
These newsletters coalesce in tiny composition books. I've wanted to write on Deadpool for some time, and I promise I'm not calling you out if you enjoy his work. Hell, I laughed a lot during the movie. I'm just trying to look hard at something that entertained me, and here's where the skinning-versus-shearing thing comes into play. The post-ironic antihero--the "cocky asshole"--cuts through a genre's conventions in ways that are hard to safely replicate. Conventions hold skin to muscle, muscle to bone, and a healthy counterculture becomes impossible if the mainstream no longer embraces its big, corny ideals. Our heroes must show mercy.
Deadpool would slice my head off. I'm boring, a screechy schoolmarm out to ruin everybody's good time. From T-shirts, in bright letters, he demands "I'M SORRY, DID I OFFEND YOU?"
Brazenness becomes its own platform. As we swing more wildly between cultural and political extremes, we risk elevating autocrats with knives out, figureheads ready to sever whatever conventions necessary to undo the evils of their predecessor. Politics are real life. Consume critically, and watch for differences between shearing and skinning--because culture requires stewardship, and we've gotten too comfortable wearing blood.
Infinite Regards,
Jay