Put an activist - ANY activist, ANY cause - in charge of an IP and that IP, and its audience, will always be of secondary importance to them over what they are advocates for. Exploration of concepts and ideas are the foundation of good stories, but activism in entertainment is pure. F**king. Poison.

The problem is that some people want to get a message across via the story, but don't know exactly how to do it, or don't know how to do it in a subtle, well-constructed way. Knowing how to play with metaphors or styles and, of course, never mistaking your reader/viewer/audience for the latest fools

It's either "The writer's barely concealed secret fetish" or "The writer's activist-boner demanded attention".

So my takeaway for this, and I’ll admit i could be phrasing this badly, is that using an IP as solely a means for a cause and ONLY that cause, can poison the well. Even well meaning ones might wind up using it as a cudgel, if it’s -just- used to put forth a singular, solitary ideal?

Maybe someone who puts their activism above their creation. People who are creators can still care about causes, however, and voice that. I count that as activism, personally.

This is going to read very differently depending on what you mean by activism and causes. E.g. news media and such labeling any trans person (and others) activist by default. I am called an activist by existing at all, so it doesn't read well to hear activism in entertainment described as poison.

I interpret this as, if you’re writing X-Men, and you make it about rights, tolerance, and acceptance, then good. That’s the intended story. But if you’re the show runner for a Mario Bros cartoon, and do the same thing, you’re abandoning the assignment to push your own activism.

Is this based upon activists interfering with an already existing IP? In which case I 100% agree. IPs created by an activist can be ok tho. Charles Dickens works being a great example. I also wonder if some1 who isnt an activist, but putting in the odd activist msg is ok (black rights in old comics)

Thing is, who gets to say who is an activist? Is using an IP to make something reflective of current society activism, or to reach a broader demographic? Even when doing so doesn't meaningfully change the IP.

I wonder what in particular inspired this post

I can't think of any examples off the top of my head, but I've been out of most tv/film/comic fandoms for a while. When did this happen? Which IP did this happen to?