The Super Bowl has once again come and gone. And once again, the Kansas City Chiefs are Super Bowl champions for the second time in four years. It was an eventful, high-scoring game that included two potent offenses and two Pro Bowl caliber quarterbacks. Both teams played one another hard. Both made their share of mistakes, too. But in the end, someone had to come out a winner.
And yet, the conclusion of this game just felt so unsatisfying.
For the first 58 minutes of the game, it played out like a classic in the making. The Philadelphia Eagles came out strong in the first half. They dominated the Chiefs in terms of plays run and time of possession. They even appeared to hit Patrick Mahomes just enough to aggravate the ankle injury that has bothered him throughout the playoffs. Going into halftime, he was limping severely.
But the extra-long halftime show with Rhianna gave him time to get treatment and he came out firing. The Chiefs caught up and made it a game, eventually taking the lead for the first time. But the Eagles tied it up and got a two-point conversion.
That last drive by the Chiefs looked like it was setting the stage for something special. Either the Eagles would make a big defensive stop or the Chiefs would only be up by a field goal with over a minute and a half left. In the Super Bowl, that’s a lot of time to work with. Just ask Eli Manning and David Tyree.
Then, the goddamn refs decided the game. After letting the two teams play for pretty much the entire game, the efts made this bullshit call on defensive holding on a play that would’ve led to a field goal.
Because of this call, the game was pretty much decided. There was no game winning drive by the Eagles or defensive stop by the Chiefs. It was all decided because of some unceremonious penalty that you had to squint to see.
I’ve been watching football all my life. I’ve seen my share of lousy Super Bowls that ended up being blowouts. I’ve also seen Super Bowls that were a clear mismatch. But I can’t recall watching a Super Bowl in which it’s plainly obvious that a single call by the refs decided the game.
That is not how a champion should be crowned in any sport.
We’ll never know if the Eagles would’ve gone down the field to tie or win the game. We’ll also never know if the Chiefs would’ve stopped them. But thanks to the refs, we’ll never know.
It’s a bittersweet ending to what has otherwise been an amazing NFL season. Now, the wait begins for the next season. I just hope that whoever ends up in the Super Bowl next year, it’s decided by something other than a bullshit call by the refs.
In general, I don’t care for commercials. Unless they’re for an upcoming movie I’m excited about or some local pizza shop I haven’t tried, I tend to ignore or skip them. I’ll even mute them during a live broadcast. I just find them that unremarkable.
But every now and then, a commercial will come along that really annoys me. It’s not just the aesthetics of the commercial, the cheesy nature of the scenario, or the annoying jingles that some devious marketing team conjured. It’s the overall substance of the commercial and what it’s ultimately selling. Because it’s one thing to advertise in hope of selling a product. It’s quite another to advertise in hope pushing a questionable agenda.
This is how I feel about the recent flood of the “He Gets Us” commercials that have been popping up lately. If you’ve been awake and coherent for any commercial break lately, you’ve probably seen them. They’re part of a PR campaign by Christian organizations like The Signatry and billionaire activists like David Green, the co-founder of Hobby Lobby.
And it’s not a cheap, low-level campaign either. According to NPR, it’s part of a multimillion-dollar effort intended to change or influence the public perception of Jesus Christ and Christianity, in general. There’s even plans to air a special commercial during the Super Bowl, which is not a cheap endeavor.
That alone should hint at the ambition behind this effort, as well as the deep pockets of those funding it. As for the commercials themselves, they all have a very distinct tone.
You’ve got these dark backgrounds depicting people who appear real and genuine.
They’re often include messages about how Jesus was a refugee, hated hypocrisy, and was unfairly persecuted for his beliefs.
They often end with the tagline message that Jesus gets us and with references to the organization.
Anyone who has a passing familiarity with Christianity and the bible probably knows these details about Jesus Christ, already. Even if you’re not a Christian, it’s nearly impossible to live in the United States and not be aware of basic Christian ideas. That alone makes the idea of a campaign to inform and educate people about Jesus’ life seem somewhat redundant.
However, it’s the bigger picture behind the message and the larger trends in organized religion that genuinely concern me. Because even though the message seems uplifting and benign, it’s important to understand who it’s coming from and why.
In case anyone has forgotten, the family behind Hobby Lobby has also been behind a number of court cases and legal efforts to promote “religious freedom.” I put that term in quotes because it’s a very politically charged term. In America, when most people talk about religious freedom, they’re usually referring to the rights of mainstream Christians to oppress, denigrate, or discriminate against minorities, usually individuals of the LGBTQ+ community.
To them, religious freedom means the ability to refuse service to people based on their sexuality, race, or gender identity.
To them, religious freedom means the ability of their particular religion to get special treatment and protections by the state. They’ll rarely say anything about Jewish or Islamic communities getting similar treatment.
To them, religious freedom means being exempt from laws or policies about women’s health care, adoption, or science.
To them, religious freedom means the ability to indoctrinate their children on their terms through things like homeschooling or private schooling.
In essence, their struggle for religious freedom usually boils down to an effort for their brand of religion to have power, influence, and some measure of preferential treatment over the competition, be it other faiths or no faith at all.
Now, as always, I need to make clear that organizations and efforts like this do not reflect on the character of most Christians. As I’ve said before, most of the people in my family identify as Christian. Some are very active in their church. They are good, decent, loving people. And most of them couldn’t care less about the politics or private lives of others.
They’re goals are actually perfectly in line with the teachings of Jesus. They seek to help and comfort others through meaningful community-centered efforts. They don’t need multi-million dollar campaigns to do it. Their faith is enough for them. And if others join them in that effort, then everyone benefits. That’s a legitimately beautiful thing.
But efforts like “He Gets Us” attempt to go beyond those simple, smaller acts of piety. It’s attempting to reshape perceptions of the notion that being a Christian means being an intolerant, anti-science, anti-fun, anti-LGBTQ+, anti-woman, anti-abortion, pro-gun, pro-capitalism, anti-environmentalist bigot. Considering the damage the religious right has done to perceptions of Christianity, I totally understand that.
The problem is that those behind “He Gets Us” actively contributed to that perception. They’re the ones who funded organizations that opposed same-sex marriage, anti-discrimination bills, and political candidates who claim global warming is a hoax. They’re the ones who seek favorable treatment by the courts when it comes to refusing services to certain minorities or getting special exceptions from general business practices.
It’s this disconnect that I find so troubling about these commercials. They send a message that the message of Jesus and Christianity is for everyone. It’s somehow a necessary message in the current cultural landscape. But it ignores the fact that religious right has effectively co-opted Christianity to create this current situation. And at no point in these commercials or in their promotional material does “He Gets Us” or the organization behind it apologize for that, let alone acknowledge it.
This initiative claims to want inclusivity, but ignores where that lack of inclusivity came from. It also ignores that Christianity, as an organization, has become a political force that advocates egregious injustices, outright inequality, and a distinctly fascist form of governance that a large segment of the population has embraced. Like it or not, Christianity is closely tied with a brand of politics that is completely antithetical to nearly every core teaching Jesus Christ ever espoused. To not acknowledge or confront that is like trying to change a tire on a car that’s actively on fire.
In that sense, the agenda “He Gets Us” feels less like an effort to redress actual missteps of modern Christianity and more like damage control. It comes off as oil companies trying to shirk responsibility for climate change by claiming they care about the environment too, but refuse to stop polluting.
Again, I’m not trying to say every Christian is responsible for the misdeeds of a select few, nor am I saying someone is a bad person for identifying as a Christian or even contributing to organizations like this. It’s critical to distinguish the individual people from the nefarious agendas that organizations push. If there’s one message I’d like to convey about “He Gets Us” and the message they’re trying to sell, it’s this.
Be very skeptical of their agenda.
Be very skeptical of any religious organization that chooses to spend millions of dollars on TV ads to address a PR problem that they’re responsible for.
If you truly do believe in the values and teachings of Jesus Christ, then you don’t need commercials or politically connected organizations to practice them. You just need faith and a desire to be decent to other people, even if they don’t agree with you.
When it comes to general rules in entertainment and pop culture, the rule always works until it doesn’t. What I mean by that is trends are fickle. What seems certain, logical, and even unavoidable one day for a particular genre might be shrouded with doubt the next.
In decades past, there was a general rule that there would always be a prominent place for western movies. Granted, there’s still a place for them, but it’s not nearly as prominent.
Just a few decades ago, there was a general rule that if you put someone like Nicholas Cage and Arnold Schwarzenegger in any movie, it would easily gross over $100 million. That’s no longer the case, either. It’s been quite a while since either actor achieved that level of success at the box office consistently.
I’m also old enough to remember a time when superhero movies were seen as extremely niche with limited appeal. I even remember the reaction to “Batman and Robin,” which for a time felt like a massive setback for the genre that would last a generation.
These rules were once general assumptions in the entertainment world. And they were assumed to always apply, but then they didn’t. We should never assume a rule or trend will always apply, especially when it comes to pop culture. And I say that as someone who never wants to see superhero movies go out of style.
With that in mind, I think it’s time we finally change our rules and assumptions about video game adaptations.
Now, I’m not just saying that because I’ve been watching “The Last of Us” on HBO and have been repeatedly blown away by how great it has been. One good movie or show is a fluke. That’s why there are so many forgettable “Die Hard” knock-offs from the 1990s. The reason I think the time has come to adjust our attitudes is because “The Last of Us” feels like the last critical part of a new trend that has been unfolding for a while now.
And as someone who loves video games and wants to see more successful adaptations, I welcome this. In fact, I think it was overdue. I’d been hoping for something like this for years and have been burned by one too many “Resident Evil” movies along the way.
Even if it has taken way too long, I think “The Last of Us” has finished what “Sonic: The Hedgehog” and “Castlevania” started. It helped further distance audiences from the old mentality that video game adaptations tend to suck by default. It made the case that a video adaptation can be done and done well. There’s even a proven process to it, which has become more and more refined, going back to the days of the first “Tomb Raider” movies with Angelina Jolie.
A big part of what makes “The Last of Us” work so well is that it stays remarkably true to the source material in terms of ambience and theme. It doesn’t completely retell the story of the game. It nicely supplements it. The game is the foundation and the scaffolding. The show is the meat and the substance.
Even a movie like “Sonic: The Hedgehog,” which doesn’t closely mirror any of the games, still captures the heart and tone of character. The Sonic you see in the movie feels like a natural extension of the one you play in the game.
A show like “Arcane” takes it even further than that. It actually uses that foundation to build new, more compelling lore for every character involved. Even elements not covered in the game can get fleshed out, but in a way that doesn’t involve reinventing or reshaping the characters or world. More importantly, it doesn’t just rely entirely on the built-in audience to fill in the blanks. There’s a real, concerted effort to tell a cohesive story beyond the action.
This all seems obvious now, but it wasn’t that long ago that it was deemed impossible or incompatible with video game adaptations. I think we need to ditch that mentality once and for all. That’s not to say that video adaptations will stop sucking entirely. Even with their current popularity, superhero movies can still be awful. Just look at “Moribus.”
I’m also not convinced the upcoming “Super Mario Bros” movie will be great, but that might just be because I still cringe at the 1990s adaptation that had Dennis Hopper playing Bowser.
But the precedent has already been set.
The standards have already been raised.
A show like “The Last of Us” and a movie like “Sonic: The Hedgehog” is no longer a fluke or a one-off. They are now part of a tangible, verifiable trend that video game adaptations can be great in their own right. And personally, I hope to see more in the future. There’s definitely a place for them in popular culture.
Video games have come a long way since the days of Tetris and Pong. Players today expect more story and depth than ever before. That sort of thing can definitely translate into blockbuster franchises or shows and they should. Because regardless of the medium or source, there will always been an audience for great stories with memorable characters.
This video is my quick reaction to the series premier of HBO’s The Last of Us. Please note I didn’t script this like I usually do. So it’s a little messy and I do stutter quite a bit. But if you’d like to see more of these kinds of reaction videos, please let me know.
The following is a video from my YouTube channel, Jack’s World. This video is an exploration in how characters succeed or fail to redeem themselves. There are many characters in various mediums who walk the path of redemption, but not all complete it.
Bojack Horseman is one character who tried to walk it, but failed.
Prince Zuko is another who walked that path, but he managed to succeed.
How they each went about their respective journeys is unique and it offers some powerful lessons worth highlighting. Enjoy!
The following is a video from my YouTube channel, Jack’s World. In this video, I break down the character evolution of Reagan Ridley in Season 2 of Inside Job. It’s a loose follow-up of the first video I did on her. But with this one, I discuss how her journey builds on the larger themes of the show. Enjoy!
The following is a video from my YouTube channel, Jack’s World. This video is a little exploration into why certain TV shows, bands, and movies are subject to so much hatred. Sometimes, things get popular for reasons we don’t understand and they eventually become subject to ridicule, but for all the wrong reasons. I’ve seen it many times before in my life, but I’ve never seen it manifest so strongly with a show like The Big Bang Theory.
This topic is based off something I wrote on this site a few years ago. I thought it would make a better video. Enjoy!
The following is a video from my YouTube channel, Jack’s World. This video is an entry in my Jack’s Fan Theories playlist. In it, I present a theory I came up with for the holiday classic, “Home Alone,” which posits that Kevin’s father is actually a mob lawyer. When evaluating the details of the movie and the implications of the theory, it makes sense of many critical plot points that are never addressed. Enjoy!
The following is a video from my YouTube channel, Jack’s World. This video is a deeper exploration into the character of Reagan Ridley from the Netflix animated series, Inside Job. She’s a very flawed character and a very damaged character, as well. A great many of those characters have come about in recent years.
However, what makes Reagan stand out is how her flaws and damage are channeled into her story. And it’s a story worth highlighting and appreciating.
Normally, I don’t go out of my way to highlight certain premiers or debuts of a TV show or movie. Yes, I’ve done so in the past. I allow myself to get a little giddy when I’m genuinely excited for a show. My reaction to the news surrounding X-Men 97 should’ve been proof of that. But in general, I try not to make it a regular thing, taking the time to articulate those sentiments on this site or my YouTube channel. If I do, it has to be an extraordinarily great show or movie that gets me seriously excited.
I hope I’ve made my love for that show abundantly clear. Even though I didn’t discover it until 2019 when the third season came out, it has quickly become one of my favorite shows, animated or otherwise. It’s not just that it’s a wonderfully well-crafted show, born from the same creative talent that gave us “Avatar: The Last Airbender.” It’s not just that the show has built some truly incredible lore, building an entire fantasy world full of dragons, elves, dark mages, and talking toads.
The show is just uniquely special in how endearing it is, building up all these dramatic elements that really came together by the end of the third season. It’s the kind of show that feels like a kids show in the beginning. But it quickly grows into something so much more, hitting you with all these dramatic moments that are so well-developed from start to finish.
When season three ended, I genuinely thought the show was over. There was no confirmation it would continue after that. Then, a fourth season was announced, but it was all up in the air after all the upheavals caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. I genuinely doubted that a fourth season would ever come, given the lack of news surrounding this series since 2020.
That was then.
This is now.
And today, after a long wait, season four of “The Dragon Prince” has arrived!
I cannot overstate how excited I am to binge this new season. There has been a lot of speculation among myself and fans regarding where the show will go after the third season. The ending to that season wasn’t definitive and certainly left open ended for more conflict. Now, it seems the show and this remarkable world is set to continue evolving.
The only thing we can confirm is that this new season involves a bit of a time skip, which makes sense given how the last season ended. We also know that a lot has changed in that time. Callum is now a high mage. Ezren is now King of Katolis. Rayla is missing, having gone off to hunt for Lord Viren, who survived their last encounter.
Then, there’s the mysterious Aaravos. He’s been a sinister force since season two and he clearly wasn’t defeated along with Viren. He’s now set to take center stage in this new season. And I couldn’t be more excited!
There’s just so much to love about this show. If you’re a fan of fantasy, animation, and cartoons that can be enjoyed by kids and adults alike, this show has something for everyone. And if you’re a big romance fan like me, then this show has a lot to offer in that regard too.
I’ve already highlighted the love story that unfolded between Callum and Rayla. But there are other quality romances within this show, including a few non-heterosexual romances among its incredibly diverse cast of characters. It’s hard enough finding a show or movie with one quality romance these days. To have a show that manages multiple romances is exceedingly rare, but that just makes “The Dragon Prince” all the more special.
So, starting today and probably for a good chunk of my weekend, I’ll be eagerly taking in this new season and processing all it has to offer. And if you need a new show to watch for the next couple months that is not holiday themed, check this out. Its appeal and impact is nothing short of magical.
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