I truly enjoyed the article and, while you're right on about Disney, even a Disney hater like me has to give some love to Andor and the Greatness of Tony Gilroy.
A few thoughts, and I apologize for nit picking (I just so happen to be into both comic books and professional wrestling).
"WWE is a storytelling company. It builds character arcs over years. It pays off heel turns after decades of setup."
This rarely happens and when it does it is often not done well. The John Cena heel turn was fantastic but the follow up was horrendous, precisely because they did not have anything planned out. The same can be said for The New Day heel turn (and now they are no longer with the company). Cody's story played out well at WM40 but half of his story took place outside of WWE. Was that great storytelling on their part or luck? Probably the greatest story that they have told this century was with Daniel Bryan and the YES! movement. The problem is, that story was never supposed to happen. Had CM Punk not walked out of the company causing that year's WM plans to be completely rewritten, Bryan would have been in a meaningless match against Sheamus instead of winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the main event. That was a great story despite what WWE had planned. Thankfully they listened to their audience. That said...
"A pitch designed for an audience that the studio doesn’t respect"
While I completely agree with you that Disney does not respect their audience, neither does WWE. In fact, I think a good argument can be made that WWE hates their customers but loves their money. The fact of the matter is WWE is a horrible company, especially now as part of TKO, and story is not their top priority. Just look at what happened with Cody Rhodes at this year's WM. Yes there are sometimes good, even great stories, but often it is despite WWE's best efforts.
"Disney has, over the past decade, lived largely off the creative vision of two men — George Lucas and Stan Lee."
While the MCU was built on characters that Stan Lee helped to create and a comics universe that he helped to build, it's not fair or accurate to compare his level of vision with that of George Lucas. Marvel Comics has always been more than Stan Lee. There would be no Spider-Man without Steve Ditko and don't even get me started on the contributions of Jack Kirby (we'd be here all day). The first Avengers film yes pulled from the original Avengers comics by Lee and Kirby but also pulled from The Ultimates, a series that ran from 2002-2004, written by Mark Millar with art by Bryan Hitch. A lot of what we've seen in the MCU was inspired by stories and characters that came well after Stan Lee stopped writing.
Fair, you're making me realize I wasn't clear enough with the claim.
You're right that WWE stumbles (Not a WWE guy, persay). Just noticed the outsized impact of the WM40 lead-up.
But that's kind of my point: Wrestling creates mythic arcs that work, intentional or not. When they recognize what's landing with the audience, they lean into it. At least from this outsider perspective. That's reactive, sure, but it's still responsive to what fans actually want.
And you're right on the Marvel correction, Kirby, Ditko, and everyone after deserve their credit. My larger point was the phoning it in with franchise #content.
I really wish WWE would "recognize what's landing with the audience, they lean into it" more often. And for the record, you are much better off not following WWE. It really is a terrible product.
I truly enjoyed the article and, while you're right on about Disney, even a Disney hater like me has to give some love to Andor and the Greatness of Tony Gilroy.
A few thoughts, and I apologize for nit picking (I just so happen to be into both comic books and professional wrestling).
"WWE is a storytelling company. It builds character arcs over years. It pays off heel turns after decades of setup."
This rarely happens and when it does it is often not done well. The John Cena heel turn was fantastic but the follow up was horrendous, precisely because they did not have anything planned out. The same can be said for The New Day heel turn (and now they are no longer with the company). Cody's story played out well at WM40 but half of his story took place outside of WWE. Was that great storytelling on their part or luck? Probably the greatest story that they have told this century was with Daniel Bryan and the YES! movement. The problem is, that story was never supposed to happen. Had CM Punk not walked out of the company causing that year's WM plans to be completely rewritten, Bryan would have been in a meaningless match against Sheamus instead of winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the main event. That was a great story despite what WWE had planned. Thankfully they listened to their audience. That said...
"A pitch designed for an audience that the studio doesn’t respect"
While I completely agree with you that Disney does not respect their audience, neither does WWE. In fact, I think a good argument can be made that WWE hates their customers but loves their money. The fact of the matter is WWE is a horrible company, especially now as part of TKO, and story is not their top priority. Just look at what happened with Cody Rhodes at this year's WM. Yes there are sometimes good, even great stories, but often it is despite WWE's best efforts.
"Disney has, over the past decade, lived largely off the creative vision of two men — George Lucas and Stan Lee."
While the MCU was built on characters that Stan Lee helped to create and a comics universe that he helped to build, it's not fair or accurate to compare his level of vision with that of George Lucas. Marvel Comics has always been more than Stan Lee. There would be no Spider-Man without Steve Ditko and don't even get me started on the contributions of Jack Kirby (we'd be here all day). The first Avengers film yes pulled from the original Avengers comics by Lee and Kirby but also pulled from The Ultimates, a series that ran from 2002-2004, written by Mark Millar with art by Bryan Hitch. A lot of what we've seen in the MCU was inspired by stories and characters that came well after Stan Lee stopped writing.
Fair, you're making me realize I wasn't clear enough with the claim.
You're right that WWE stumbles (Not a WWE guy, persay). Just noticed the outsized impact of the WM40 lead-up.
But that's kind of my point: Wrestling creates mythic arcs that work, intentional or not. When they recognize what's landing with the audience, they lean into it. At least from this outsider perspective. That's reactive, sure, but it's still responsive to what fans actually want.
And you're right on the Marvel correction, Kirby, Ditko, and everyone after deserve their credit. My larger point was the phoning it in with franchise #content.
I really wish WWE would "recognize what's landing with the audience, they lean into it" more often. And for the record, you are much better off not following WWE. It really is a terrible product.