“We should be together. Come on all you people standin’ around. Our life’s too fine to let it die. We should be together.” From We Can Be Together, written by Paul Kantner.
Okay. Fine. SPOILER ALERT! If you haven’t seen the last episode of Peacemaker season two, and you intend on doing so, you might not want to go any further. If you have decided against seeing the last episode of Peacemaker season two, then why are you still reading this?
I’m not certain this piece is about the recently-wrapped second season of Peacemaker, or if it’s about the internet. Each can be kind of scary, but only one seems to enjoy it.
Peacemaker season two ended this past week, and, no, it’s unlikely to be adapted into a Filmation Saturday morning cartoon. Some viewers have been chased away by the frontal nudity in the first two episodes, and that is most certainly their prerogative.
But don’t tell me that these episodes should not exist, and do not be so disingenuous as to say you’re pissed “for the children.” You’re doing it because you personally are offended (again, your prerogative) and therefore you feel you personally should spare the rest of the world from the suffering that which you imposed upon yourself.
Children handle nudity just fine. Historically, hiding one’s naughty bits from their young eyes has not been much of a thing. Kids still run around naked, and they still see their elders naked from time to time at home. That can’t be avoided, and I am unaware of a single incident where children were struck blind by nudity. Remember when about one-quarter of one of Janet Jackson’s nipples was exposed on the Super Bowl for a nanosecond? The professional prudes totally lost their shit — and that was 21 years before Bad Bunny!
Kids think the term “penis” is the funniest word in the English language, and they’re right. Small children look at an exposed breast and are likely to think “Oh! Lunch!” The kids are all right. But if you are going to raise your children to be as uptight, mean-spirited and narrow-minded as you are, I can’t stop you.
There isn’t a “normal” character in this, a teevee show that is so off-beat it makes The Doom Patrol look like Face The Nation. And we need to have the choice to watch and read and hear what we want, now more than ever.
If you think it’s juvenile — which is an odd epithet to lay on a show you think should not be watched by juveniles — well, yeah, that’s the point. It’s based upon a comic book whose first issue cover bleated “A man who loves peace is so much he’s willing to fight for it!” It’s a weird little story that purposely got weirder as it progressed. And this teevee series ups the ante.
Peacemaker has an IMDb rating of 8.3 out of 10. It has a Tomatometer rating of 94%. It has a Popcornmaker rating of 83%. Most important, it has a rating of “TV-MA.” That means “mature,” which, in the filmed entertainment racket, always seemed ironic. Nonetheless, “TV-MA” is code for “Uptights Beware!” and the more persnickety you are, the more you should pay attention to the warning.
“Ah,” some might burr. “But NOW Peacemaker ties into SUPERMAN!” That doesn’t mean you should ignore the rating and, quite frankly, if you saw the first season and you found it to be offensive, why the hell did you think the second season was going to be akin to Mary Had A Little Lamb?
Modern television sets have all sorts of bells and whistles that make it far more expansive than those of yesteryear. However, they do have at least one thing in common: they both have “off” buttons.
If an eye offends you, change the damn channel! Honest, we already know the world is coming to an end — let those of us who find comfort in “Nearer, My God, to Thee” politely hum along.
EARTH-SHATTERING REMINDER: The author this piece praising televised dick-swinging will be at the Baltimore Comic Con this coming weekend — October 19 – 20 — at the Baltimore Convention Center on Pratt Street. He’ll be on six panels, hosting a few of them, and bitching at the clouds as always.
