No resentment. No portrayal of marriage as a chore. Just actual love. That one time John Mulaney got made super uncomfortable because Jerry Sienfeld tried to make him confess to actually hating his own wife really. The art has to show you in painstaking detail the exact way in which to behave. The idea that by depicting an act an artist is endorsing that act seems baked into the minds of certain left-leaning sets of younger people, particularly teenagers and early twentysomethings.
That they have such deep concern for the safety and social equality of their traumatized peers and the traumatized in their own ranks can only be admirable, but more often than not the form it takes is mass harassment and scapegoating targeting not institutions or major studios but independent creators, many of them marginalized themselves.
There seems to be a much deeper affection in these circles for corporate art β for the Marvel cinematic universe and its bland, calculated inoffensiveness, say β than there is for art made by artists.
Corporate art exists to please. It exists to reaffirm the status quo and to build affection for and loyalty to corporations. When independent artists release material featuring actual deviant sexuality, though β from gay content to incest β the reaction from these same people is overwhelmingly prudish.
There is little to no desire among them to interact with adult work created by adult gay and trans artists. That art β small art, created for personal reasons β is too dangerous to touch, too full of moral imperfections and frightening images. Art is the lifeblood of human connection and introspection. It is the foremost way in which we can confront our own weaknesses and failings. The idea that depiction equates to endorsement has been pedaled in our society virtually since its inception.
