As a rule I don’t leave a comment, positive or negative. At
least, not until the other day. This is where our story begins.
I’d gone over to Yahoo to check my email. First I scrolled
down the page to see what’s going on in the world. They had an article posted
on “19 films featuring MCU actors currently appearing on Netflix”—basically a
Netflix commercial, with “MCU” (Marvel Cinematic Universe) actors as the bait
to lure you in. It worked on me, and I clicked.
The article delivered what it promised. It listed films
featuring Scarlett Johanssen, Anthony Mackie, Chris Hemsworth’s new action picture,
stuff Samuel L. Jackson did besides Pulp Fiction, a Chris Evans movie, and so
forth. An innocuous piece of fluff, but as I skimmed through it I realized
there was one movie missing that featured not one but three MCU actors that
apparently Netflix wasn’t running, that certain segments of the fandom might
enjoy.
Which brings us to Wonder Boys.
Debuting in 2000 and based on the novel by Michael Chabon,
Wonder Boys draws us into the life of college professor Grady Tripp, who years
ago wrote a bestselling novel but was never able to finish a second one. As the
movie opens, his current opus stands at two thousand pages and counting. The
plot, such as it is, follows Tripp around for a weekend as he deals with his
life, his stalled writing career, his visiting editor, a troubled student from
his creative writing class (who’s a talented writer in his own right), and his
affair with the dean’s wife, who’s pregnant. I considered it an okay movie,
funny in spots but a bit disjointed.
The draw for me was the subject matter (writers) and the
casting. Repeated viewings of Ant-Man for some reason stirred in me a belated
interest in the work of Michael Douglas. He was just so much fun as Hank Pym.
Since I don’t have Netflix or any other streaming service, I scoured the county
library system and found Wonder Boys on DVD. Imagine my surprise and delight
when I discovered that the film also stars Robert Downey Jr. as Tripp’s editor
and Tobey Maguire as the weirdo writing student. That’s Hank Pym, Iron Man and
Spider-Man (well, a version of him) in the same flick. It’s like a pre-Marvel
Marvel movie, at least in terms of casting.
So, if Netflix is so keen on running movies that feature MCU
actors, why aren’t they featuring this one?
Maybe because it’s not an action pic. Maybe because it
flopped during its original release. Or maybe it’s because Downey’s character
is gay and takes a shine to Maguire’s character. Which led, at one point in the
film, to this:
There you have it, Iron/Spider shippers: Tony Stark in bed
with Peter Parker. Probably not the kind of thing Netflix would want to
promote. Disney sure as hell wouldn’t want news of this to get out.
But good ol’ me, I’ve gotta tell somebody. So I made my
first and so far only comment on a Yahoo story, naming this movie and pointing
out the scene. I consider it my duty to keep Marvel fans and completists
informed.
Comment posted, I continued on with my Internet business.
Maybe a half hour later or so I checked back. The story and my single comment
were still there. I logged off and went on to other things.
Later in the day I logged back on to see if there’d been any
reaction. The story, my comment included, had vanished. Nowhere at all on the
Yahoo page. I Googled the story and found it on its original site, but without
comments and no way to leave any.
To date, that particular article has not returned to Yahoo.
Was I silenced? Did Netflix panic and yank the article? Did
Yahoo? Did Disney? Or is it all just coincidence?
Looks like my career commenting on Yahoo stories is over before
it began. Yeah well. I got a blog post out of it. And so did the five or six of
you who appear to be tuning in. Enjoy it while you can, before Disney comes
after me. Never eff with the Mouse…
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