Well, the Highland Games are over for the summer and we’re sliding into North Carolina Ren Faire Season. The Carolina Renaissance Festival is probably the biggest. It’s certainly not the only one or 100. A chance to see some really lovely costumes and great acting on sets. Given Dior’s take on the Scottish Highlands, it would be interesting to see if that plays into fall. Keep expecting to see a meet-cute romantic comedy about an India-American immigrant meeting a local Scottish-American guy at a fall festival and bonding over beers, dancing, and food. Obviously, a straight 90s romcom doesn’t seem to be popular with Disney or large entertainment companies right now, but a small indy A24 company could probably shoot a series of romantic comedies with Ren Faires as the background for practically nothing.
It’s certainly better than the late stage British Orwell empire pieces we’re getting propagandized with constantly in Rings of Power or House of the Dragon. You don’t have to be a genius to work out those two along with most Marvel reboots are getting a little too into money laundering at the expense of real costumes, acting talent, and lighting/sets. It's worth a couple laughs at the trailers, but there's no reason to watch. The two sloppy British intelligence psyops remind one of Orwell’s short story a few years before the Suez Canal Crisis ended their empire. For anyone who has not read the excellent Such, Such Were the Joys about his days in boarding schools written in late 1945-46, late stage British empire propaganda devolved into roughly two factions of weekly boy’s serials:
- British propaganda about upper nobility meant to keep the local population serving the aristocracy and not revolting against the landowners.
- An upper class British boarding school of right princes and nobles from across the British empire (namely different races) all getting along at school to push various cultures together.
Neither worked long-term. In a decade after Orwell’s death, the fragile British empire would crumble at the Suez Crisis in 1956. Hubris asks if the US Anglo-American Empire will implode in the Middle East too in the next few years over Gaza for similar reasons. It’s hard to say, but normies seem to be defaulting to “British actors? Why bother?” Thankfully there’s plenty else to do. A major trend since the start of summer has been seeing less and less people glued to their cell phones. Maybe 90% the beginning of May, now it’s closer to 10-20%? That’s a huge demographic change. It’s certainly worth noticing people cutting the electronic cord. Personally thought that an overlooked market for Ren Faires would be selling cases that make modern phones look like ancient magic technology for laughs, but maybe in the future. Alright, it’s off to learn about elves juggling, new music groups, and baby dragons for a few weeks. Real life for the win. We wish you a great week too.