Running a Book Club with Bane from under the NPR Tiny Desk (Filler Episode, March 13)

Hey, Team.

It’s a Lunar Eclipse this week! Space freaks me out, so enjoy it as much as you want and don’t tell me anything about it, thank you.

Here’s what’s on the docket today:

Tom Hardy’s depiction of Bane is allegedly circulating in the thirstier zones of TikTok. While it has not yet made its way to my FYP, with the way I treat the internet, it’s only a matter of time. This newsletter’s own account, theparasocialhour, is living on borrowed time until it gets hit by the knot missile. The feed is already wall-to-wall masked cosplayers because of my debut essay about monsterfucking (beehiiv publication tbd), what’s one more burly masked man?

Please indulge me, a massive Bane fan, with a very earnest aside about Bane: I hate that Tom Hardy played him. I hate how he’s depicted in the Schumacher extravaganza.

And while he’s animated to appear non-white, he’s still voiced by a non-Latinx actor in Harley Quinn (also he deserves more than ’splosions jokes). Frankly? I’ve just been chasing the high of Sicilian-Spanish American actor Henry Silva’s turn as El Rey de los Rudos in Batman: The Animated Series. Even in civilian clothes, he’s exactly how luchadors appear out of the ring in film and tv– a tailored suit and a smart hat. This means a lot to me, I am so deadly fucking serious.

He’s a formidable foe of Batman not just for his bulk but also his wit– Bane is supposed to be as smart or smarter than Bruce. Fuck you, Joel, you know what you did.² He’s supposed to be the mastermind of the plot, not the patsy. Fuck you, Christopher, though I’m not sure you know what you did. Bane comes from Santa Prisca, a fictionalized Puerto Rico. His animosity toward Batman stems from his goal to destroy Bruce Wayne– an American capitalist whose endeavors have led to the abuse and subjugation of his home island. His attempts to bring vengeance upon Wayne are thwarted by–shocker–Batman, who has a vested interest in not getting shattered by a self-educated and majorly pissed off Santa Priscan. Fret not: Bane gets him with a quebradora con giro. Sometimes he hates Batman because he had a fucked-up vision of a giant bat, which, fair. Relatable, even.

Back to one. What does Tom Hardy have to do with the Omegaverse? Woe betide ye! I’ve got a video essay locked and loaded that details this ever-expanding genre of romance literature. Dark Romance as we know it, it could be argued, though I’m not going to argue it much right now, is the way it is because of how the Omegaverse has evolved.³ And who is patient zero of some of the most potent Omegaverse prose? Tom Hardy’s Bane. Christopher Nolan is directly responsible for Haunting Adeline. Or something. This is what happens when you flatten a multidimensional Latinx character and then cast a white guy to play him.

Let’s chitchat about fame and parasociality! I’ve referenced this musical duo before in past Filler Episodes, admitting to learning about them only after their viral Tiny Desk Concert performance.

As of writing, the video on NPR’s YouTube clocks in at 28M views, 533K likes, and with over 30,000 comments. For some perspective, NPR’s channel has 10.9M subscribers. Clips of the concert on TikTok rake in massive engagement, this video alone has garnered nearly 356K likes, over 2,000 comments, 48K favorites, and approximately 40K shares (this includes sending via direct message, downloading the video, reposting, and cross posting to other platforms)

Some light investigating reveals scary fucking numbers. Here’s their streaming between August and December 2024 (note, their Tiny Desk was in October):

Google Search trends within the parameters of September 1 2024-October 31, 2024 for web search. Their metrics are not clear to me but it’s from a scale of 0-100. Is this like… the search goes from nothing to a 5% increase, a 100% increase, but we don’t calculate over 100%? What determines 100% capacity of searches? I have no idea but I know what peaks and valleys look like.

Google Search trends within the same parameters for YouTube search.

Look at that spike in early October– the week netizens flocked to YouTube to watch the show for themselves, swirling in the zeitgeist, before a sudden drop when the cycle moved on to something fresher.

I like the new album– something that really hooked me on their music was their sense of humor, which does not falter here. The short film attached to the album is like something out of Tim & Eric’s Bedtime Stories: a nightmarish gameshow version of the music industry populated by grotesque body modifications, a ghoulish music producer that recalls simultaneously Teddy Perkins (Atlanta, Season 2, Episode 6) and your most colorist family member, and an Alpha⁴ Male Great And Powerful Oz Memoji that determines the duo’s paths as artists.

In addition to new music, the album Includes live recordings of their TDR performance. I recall, but unfortunately cannot pull up evidence since it’s been nearly half a year, coming across online reactions of folks who searched them up after the performance. Expecting the same acoustic sound but instead finding they are more along the lines of hip hop and trap, a portion of would-be fans turned away. The inclusion of this recording is very savvy in two parts:

While not quite as extreme, this reminds me of Chappell Roan’s meteoric rise immediately post-Tiny Desk. Musician Eliza McLamb wrote a piece about the unspoken cost of such a sharp drop in anonymity. Within the piece she includes this graph which is bone-chilling:

Give the piece a read, and if you want to think about it further, it features as a point of discussion in the A Bit Fruity episode McLamb was a guest on. I’ve written briefly about Chappell Roan and how she’s treated by the public, something that has ceased to be a freak event but has become the consumerist norm.

As the citizenry of the internet mature and take stock of the online world’s total enmeshment, more and more works reflecting on the phenomenon rise to the surface. There is often a misconception that just because a person is “known,” they also have media training, financial security, legal representation– these numbers do not always translate into real life currency. And yet, if there’s a K at the end of a follower count, that person is held to a standard that ordinarily only applies to a figure on the level of George Clooney. As a rule, a lack of anonymity equates to a lack of humanity. And that’s only considering the people who are intentionally creating with the goal of being seen.

Viral sensations are one-offs (usually), a one-hit wonder with none of the catchy choruses but all of the throngs of strangers feverishly echoing the words back. The latest podcast of Comedian, Author, and neo-Gonzo Journalist Jamie Loftus, Sixteenth Minute (of fame) does the courtesy of following up on figures who became part of the internet’s international lexicon. Think Tosh.0’s Web Redemption segment, but with actual care and consideration given to not only the person at the epicenter of the virality but the cultural structures that surrounded them then and now, which determined how the world treated them. Simply put: who ends up a sample on a Gregory Brother’s remix and who gets a brand deal is directly linked to the intersections of racism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, classism, sexism…

Virality, with all its trappings of poison and pain is still something that offers itself as an option for elevation. Background and supporting artists of viral moments post after the fact when the views start clicking up. For artists who are not known names, this may be their only chance to receive acknowledgement (and hopefully further employment) of their considerable skill. K.Dot Angels still in costume showcasing their choreography, back up singers dancing with the viral sounds of the musician they were supporting in the most horrifyingly cluttered room, repetitive expressions of whatever word or gesture made a person viral (or for the bold, a rug pull crypto scam ala Hawk Tuah). Actually, now that I think about it, isn’t there a Sixteenth Minute episode about Left Shark? Or did I hallucinate that? He was on NPR though. NPR confirmed hotspot.

Story time TikToks are posted with feigned shock and promises of “I didn’t think this would blow up” once they start doing numbers. It’s a social contract to pretend your designed-for-engagement tale of woe/disgust/humiliation/horror wasn’t intended for as many eyes as possible. Though it’s starting to wear thin and audiences are quick to call bullshit on the doe-eyed act. Despite the curated nature of an internet in late-stage capitalist decay, authenticity is still highly valued. So posters need to start lying better.

A lyric directly references the one thing I’ve wondered since the duo’s debut at the NPR office: “¿Y ahora que vamos a hacer?, el Tiny Desk me jodió (So what are we gonna do now? The Tiny Desk fucked me up)” While they’ve claimed in interviews they are being facetious, they also admit there is a kernel of truth in their work. And looking at the stats, it’s a sizeable kernel, I’d think.

:)

It’s a vibe, ok???

Fellas, is it gay to harbor a bond of affection toward someone you have no sexual attraction for?? Half baked brain fart coming in hot and wet but I’ve always had such an issue with “bromance” as a term. It’s manscara and guyliner for intimate relationships. We can’t stop coming up with bouncy copy in order to pitch a natural and healthy tenderness like it’s a product rather than an instinct. It’s all but entirely just a marketing ploy, and marketing broke my brain! We double plus good’ed our way into men refusing to hug without a narrative device. The male loneliness epidemic was invented by the same focus group that gave us girl crushes! Don’t ask me to elaborate, you'll only think me insane and not fun!

“To be a teenage girl is to simultaneously be pop culture’s ultimate punching bag, cash cow, and gatekeeper.” There’s something madonna-whore paradox-y about the way the teenaged girl is treated and used in modern capitalist society. They are the tastemakers and beacons of cultural shifts yet are perpetually kept ground into the dirt, dismissed as childish, flaky, inconsistent, and vapid. We kick them in the head and run to where their twitching finger points, the abuse is repeated before we can even catch our breath.

And I’m Literally always saying that!!!

Okay, that’s all for now, Team. Talk soon (threat)!