Thoughts on that Jim Ratcliffe Thing

Just a quick one, because enough ink has been spilled about Sir Jim Ratcliffe's comments about immigrants. It shouldn't come as a surprise that the guy who supports Brexit and moves his business abroad to avoid paying UK taxes, then comes in and cuts a bunch of positions at Manchester United that don't have much impact on the bottom line (your tea ladies and so on), turns around and mouths off in pretty gross and innumerate ways about how immigration is affecting the UK.

But it's still dispiriting, especially when football likes to present itself as this bastion of equality and meritocracy, where everyone is welcome. And his non-apology was pretty gross - it's not that people chose to be offended, but that he said things that are offensive, not true, and that only lead to more violence. 

He claims that the UK population has grown by 12 million people since 2020, which actual UK statistics don't back up (they say it's 3 million). Referring to this number - whether 3 million or 12 million - as "colonization" is pretty clearly inviting irresponsible people to do irresponsible things, when the UK desperately needs immigrants to come in and work for the NHS and for care services for older folks and children.

Or does Ratcliffe think these roles can be filled exclusively by the UK's existing 70 million residents? Or only by white people? You wonder what Ratcliffe knows about how normal people are being impacted if he has so much money that he can insulate himself from daily life in the UK.

I read the Guardian pretty much every day, and I have to say I fear for the UK more and more. They seem ready to bring in Reform UK, which promises to do all the shit Trump and his cronies are doing over here, but in a more cack-handed way. The idea that Ratcliffe is in favor of that, because it'll reduce his tax load and cut the regulations that keep him from destroying the environment and the social fabric is even more infuriating. But he's providing ever more evidence that billionaires are less job-providers and more drains on society - maybe it's people like him that need to be stopped from colonizing our societies.

Thoughts on Wonder Man

I just finished Wonder Man on Disney Plus, and I think it was pretty great. I wasn't expecting to be so captivated by it - I wasn't even really planning on watching it right now, but decided to check it out earlier this week, just to see how it was. And, to be honest, to give it kind of a pity-watch - I expected the bad-faith review-bombers to get to work on it, since it changes the lead from a white guy in the comics to a Black guy.

But I took to it immediately, in part because the episodes were short - only about half an hour each, growing to about 35 minutes toward the end. But also in part because of the two leads: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is great as Simon Williams/Wonder Man, and Ben Kingsley reprises his role as Trevor Slattery/the Mandarin from Iron Man 3 and Shang-Chi. Abdul-Mateen commands the attention in the lead role, especially when Acting. Meanwhile, Kingsley's portrayal of Trevor grows better and more layered every time we see him, with this show casting him first as Simon's friend and then (early on) revealing that he's got his own agenda.

In between we get a lot of enjoyable business about what it's like to be a jobbing actor in Hollywood, contrasting Simon being at the beginning of his career and Trevor being, if not at the end, certainly defined by his most notorious role as the Mandarin. As a creative person myself, it was particularly enjoyable to watch them navigate that life, even toward the end, where they find themselves in a different headspace than at the start.

As far as the changes to the character of Wonder Man himself, I've already referred to the change of ethnicity - though it's interesting that they gave Simon a Haitian background. The other big change is that, instead of getting his powers through some energy nonsense, as in the comics, their origin is just... unexplained. There's some suggestion that he's always had them, or that they emerged during puberty, which would imply that he's a mutant, which Marvel's been seeding through the movies and shows for a while (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Ms Marvel, Deadpool & Wolverine and the Marvels all refer to mutants in some capacity).

But this show isn't about superheroes or their origins. It's about getting out of your own way to reach your goals, and about how you lift yourself up by connecting with others, rather than focusing constantly on yourself. This eventually becomes... literal? You'll know what I mean if you've watched the last scene.

The important thing is that Wonder Man doesn't do the usual superhero pyrotechnics (even if most of the best MCU shows, like WandaVision and Loki, also didn't), preferring instead to tell a character-based story. I've seen some reviews suggesting it might even be Marvel's best show? I don't know if I'd go that far, as WandaVision (and yes, Loki, just to mention both again) were probably richer overall, but as I said, I watched it just to see what it was like, and ended up bingeing it in half a week.

I don't know if we'll get to see Simon (or Trevor) again, but I hope so. He's not a huge character (one of the reasons why I was a little reluctant to start the show), but he's always been associated with the Avengers in some way, so it might be fun to see him pop up in Doomsday or Secret Wars. Or, while we're thinking pie-in-the-sky, an Avengers West Coast movie?