Happy Friday! This week, we ponder the potential end of Marvel’s golden age. But first:
📡ON OUR RADAR
On Election Night, voters in Ohio and Virginia showcased support for abortion rights, with Ohio approving an amendment to the state constitution to protect abortion access. Ahead of 2024 elections, Democrats aim to leverage these wins by making abortion a central issue in future campaigns. At the center of this effort: the GOP’s messaging on the issue struggles to find its footing.
The pioneering feminist website, Jezebel, announced it will shut down this week. Jezebel is recognized as a pivotal force in shaping online conversations and critical thinking around gender and race. Despite its influential role, criticisms have portrayed Jezebel as a platform amplifying women’s “uncontrollable anger.” Jezebel founder, Anna Holmes, took to The New Yorker this week to argue that the site should be celebrated for providing a space for women to express their anger as a powerful force for meaningful progress and change.
The U.S. is experiencing an unexpected surge in retirements, surpassing Federal Reserve predictions by 2 million. Simultaneously, millennials are confronting an unanticipated elder care crisis as the baby boomer generation requires substantial support. This intersection of demographic shifts highlights a major challenge coming to the workplace: the need to support both an aging population and the people thrust (with social and economic pressure) to care for them.
💡ON OUR MINDS: The Marvel Problem
Image: Disney/Marvel
Something is rotten in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The next entry, The Marvels, opened last night amidst industry handwringing.
In a tough takedown published in Variety last week, reporter Tatiana Siegel outlined the troubling state of the Marvel brand. Following creative disharmony on reshoots and the decaying quality of the studio’s CGI effects, the series’ new star— Jonathan Majors— is facing a trial following high-profile domestic violence charges.
These challenges—along with possible superhero fatigue—are colliding as The Marvels heads to theaters, already resulting in depressed box office projections and discussion of the end of Marvel’s entertainment dominance.
The projected flop is especially troubling given its status as Marvel’s first all-female-led blockbuster, which should be the next in a lineup of recent girl-power-driven hits, including Barbie and Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour.
Only time will tell if The Marvels, the studio’s 33rd, will be the hail-mary it needs— or if, as Manohla Dargis at the Times puts it: “You’ve Seen This Movie 32 Times Before”.
🥊QUICK HITS:
In case you missed these reads.
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Research shows people don’t trust AI or the executives behind it. AI tools completely make things up anywhere between 3% and 27% of the time, and 56% of computer scientists feel tech CEOs are disingenuous about their plans for the technology.
Thanks for reading,
HL
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This week’s newsletter is brought to you by Jared Leto climbing the Empire State Building for some reason.