The Independent and the Cult of Alita: Battle Angel

Disney may have race-swapped The Little Mermaid, and the word is out that the next 007 is a black woman, and both of those things are absolutely absurd and absolutely worthy of comment, but while I was getting distracted from doing that by getting drunk at my parents' wedding anniversary, another story popped up that I just couldn't resist. Now, as you're probably well aware, I love Alita: Battle Angel; I saw it four times at the cinema, snagged a giant promo poster of it at one of my local Odeon's charity giveaways, started buying the manga, of which I now have all five volumes, framed one of the exclusive Odeon posters and put it in the hall, and I even recently bought the film on Digital, making it the first film I've ever bought on digital, in the hopes that I could share the film with people who, like me, were getting drunk out of their minds at my parents' anniversary house party. In addition to all that though, I've also written several posts about the film, refuting the Mary Sue and Screenrant's criticisms of the film and comparing it to 2019's progressive darling, Captain Marvel. As sad as it is though, I was expecting Alita: Battle Angel to pretty much disappear once its theatrical run was over, to become an underground cult film, loved by many but never receiving the appreciation it truly deserves. But it looks like I was wrong because apparently, if you like Alita: Battle Angel, you're part of a cult and a member of the alt-right, let's get stuck in.

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/alita-battle-angel-alitaarmy-fandom-james-cameron-alt-right-a8984711.html

Today's article comes from one Adam White on The Independent and is titled "The Cult of Alita: Battle Angel - alt-right parable or neglected classic?" And I find his use of the word parable to be very interesting as a parable, at least according to Google, is a story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson, I'm sure he'll explain just what moral and spiritual lesson Alita is illustrating though, but then again, he calls it a cult in his title, so maybe not. Our author starts by setting the scene; telling us about the film and giving us a little story about one time the Oscars tweeted about what film needs to be seen in the cinema, to which a fair few people said Alita: Battle Angel. I like how this is presented to us though, that somehow the Oscars asking a question and getting the same answer from thousands of people can't possibly be genuine or organic. There almost certainly was a viral element to it, else the response wouldn't have been so strong in support of Alita: Battle Angel, but does that negate the response entirely, no, nor does it throw any weight behind the counter attack within the thread from progressives saying that they're all bots, or that they're only pretending to like the film because they hate Captain Marvel, because that sounds spot on, doesn't it. It's not like the film's currently rocking an audience score of ninety-four percent on Rotten Tomatoes, compared to Captain Marvel's comparatively tragic fifty-five percent, or are they all bots too. But for some reason, our author seems confused about the film becoming so loved, like a film has never been forgotten by the general public, save for a small and passionately devoted fanbase, that's never happened before, no film in history has fostered a cult following; Dredd, Donnie Darko, Big Trouble in Little China, Event Horizon and The Fog, to name a few.

And another thing,  as one of the commenters on that Twitter thread demonstrates, Alita: Battle Angel wasn't just forgotten by the normies, it became a target of the progressive left, they've attacked the film again and again, you're probably going to go on to attack it in this very article, and that's giving you the free shot of putting the film's title and the alt-right in the same sentence. Alita: Battle Angel becoming wrapped up in the culture war wasn't solely the work of its defenders, it's just as much, if not more the fault of its attackers, who called the film problematic and sexist and associated its defenders with the worst people the progressive left could possibly think of, you know, the thing you did in your title. But our author answers his rhetorical question a few paragraphs in with this gem; "But like Most things on the internet, there is a darker underbelly. The alt-right make up a not insignificant proportion of Alita's fanbase." Prove it. No, seriously, show me where this alt-right underbelly of the #AlitaArmy is, is it on Reddit, because I haven't seen it, is it on Twitter, because Twitter's not big on the so-called alt-right being on their site in the first place, First Amendment be damned. And as we all know, Youtube's just a hotbed for the alt-right, that's why its algorithm endlessly boosts the content of 'advertiser friendly' news channels and late night talk shows, while strangling traffic to politically incorrect channels that criticise the progressive narrative and burying them under music videos and talks shows. That such channels stay as popular as they are is a testament either to our society's collapse into fascism, or the strength of their message, which one it is depends on who you ask.


And that's just assuming that what our author would define as alt-right is indeed alt-right, I mean, naturally someone like Sargon or Steven Crowder would be called alt-right, even though they blatantly aren't and just post political content that goes against the narrative, but what about channels like Bowlestrek, Clownfish TV and The Quartering, smaller channels that cover exclusively or almost exclusively media and entertainment news, are they alt-right too. Our author doesn't really define what the alt-right is, so I guess they would be, because being labelled alt-right is like being labelled racist or sexist or white supremacist, it's a meaningless attack on your character and an attempt to undermine your message before you can undermine theirs. But isn't it funny how our author talks about how conspiratorial the #AlitaArmy is, because they apparently claim that Disney funded a smear campaign to derail Alita: Battle Angel, once again, this claim is presented without evidence, and this would be the first I've heard of it if it's true, which is unlikely. To me, this feels less like an honest representation of the truth and more like an effort to delegitimise the #AlitaArmy as crazy, because Disney is totally not a really shady company with a massive monopoly. With regards to a certain controversial film, let's not forget the rumours of them threatening cinema chains, or them censoring critical reviews, which they absolutely did, tens of thousands of reviews vanishing doesn't just happen for no reason. And when a company has the leverage and influence to do this, and the ability to possibly get away with it, them hurting the success of a possible rival to said controversial film isn't even that absurd an idea. But apparently, the #AlitaArmy is hysterical and conspiratorial, and is representative of the internet as a whole, and do you know what, minus the #AlitaArmy bit, I actually wholeheartedly agree with him on this point.

The left is in a constant state of hysteria about pretty much everything, and if it conforms to their worldview, they'll believe just about anything, no matter how insane or petty or just outright untrue it is. Not a day goes by where something doesn't send them into a frenzy, be it the Donald and his spicy tweets, one of their own stepping out of line, or someone they can't control does or says something even slightly controversial. Not to mention the paranoia, they seem to genuinely think that fascists are taking over the world and that they're literally everywhere, which sounds reasonable. Going back a point, that maybe a part of this too, the fact that they can't control the #AlitaArmy, enter the notion that people only like Alita because they're misogynists who hate Captain Marvel, the position of one Mary Sue author I've discussed before, it's ridiculous, but as that author and comments on that Oscars twitter thread suggest, it's actually something at least some of them believe, its doublethink, plain and simple. But our author then says something very curious, "Alita: Battle Angel is a zippy and gloriously hokey sci-fi spectacle far better than its tepid critical response earlier this year implied." So, it's better than the critics said eh? congratulations, you've validated the position of the #AlitaArmy, well done. And while I can't speak for the #AlitaArmy, I can even agree that its sequel-bait ending wasn't good, given that the sequel is probably not going to happen, and that it did hurt the film in its final moments. Look at this, we're in agreement on stuff, how long do you reckon this is going to last, I'll give it till the next sentence.

Our author then even further validates the #AlitaArmy and contradicts himself in the process. After saying earlier that it was "unexpected" and "unusual" that Alita: Battle Angel was the go-to answer of so many people, now he's saying "that Alita: Battle Angel has sparked such devotion shouldn't come as a major surprise." After talking about Iron City and confusing Motor Ball with Basketball, he continues "Alita herself is also intriguingly joyous and heartwarming as a heroine," demonstrating that he does in fact understand the Alita love, as "with all of that in mind, it's not hard to rationalise why the film has become quite as beloved as it has." But after building the case for liking the film, he's then going to undermine all of it and make himself look like a massive tool because "what many within #AlitaArmy won't do, however, is actually tell you why they love it so much." Are you joking, come on, you gotta be joking, tell me, if the people defending Alita: Battle Angel aren't saying what's good about the film, what exactly are they saying. Is there not example after example after example in the twitter thread that you yourself linked to of people saying why they love Alita, talking about the visual effects, Rosa Salazar and the film's themes of self-discovery, all while people sit there calling them bots and trolls as if it's not an honest position to like the film.

Isn't that odd; you have the likes of Lindsey Ellis, a Youtuber I actually kind of like, saying "Anything but Alita: Battle Angel," and not giving a single reason why, rather than liking the film being an ideological position, it seems to me more like hating the film is an ideological position, as if liking the film somehow makes you a bad person, if you're even a person at all and not a bot. It's rare that a critic of the film says anything constructive, and yet you claim that the fans are the ones not making good points, you sir, are a dishonest idiot. Our author carries on being dishonest by talking about an incident where the Alita fanbase attacked a journalist when she asked them why they liked it. I found it very odd though that no names or links are provided, unless they once were and got memory-holed after it came to light that this author misrepresented the entire situation. This journalist's name is Kylie Harrington and she isn't too pleased with this Independent article, feeling that it misrepresents the situation she found herself in, with people being hesitant to talk to her after she seemingly mocked them with a tweet that she's since apologised for, as our author states. Harrington was met with hesitance and distrust by the #AlitaArmy, who felt that the media had been hostile to them in the past, yet our author is flipping the script and telling us that they attacked this journalist, which is a lie, he also didn't bother to talk to Harrington himself before publishing this article, which is a very odd thing to do if you want to represent things truthfully.

So our author has lied about the #AlitaArmy, and from this lie, he intends to spin it into the Alita fanbase being alt-right, why, because of "outlandish conspiracy claims," "YouTube antagonism" and "malicious targeting of a female journalist," nice try, author, I see what you tried to do there, but sadly this isn't about sexism, they didn't "[maliciously target] a female journalist," a journalist who you refused to name, but yeah, totally, this means that the #AlitaArmy is alt-right, the progressive left has never attacked a journalist or antagonised on YouTube or spouted conspiracy theories, these things are totally not vastly more applicable to the progressive left than your misrepresentation of the #AlitaArmy. Again, it's important to note that our author has not defined the alt-right, which might not seem important, but it is, he's lied about the activities of the #AlitaArmy and expects us to take his word on it that these are also the activities of the alt-right, when in reality these are lies and the alt-right can and does mean whatever this author wants it to. The label of alt-right, just like Nazi or racist or any other, has been redefined and abused to the point that it's meaningless. But the progressive left seems uniquely scared of the alt-right because it's an ideology that's built on the same core ideas and philosophies, it's the other side the coin to the progressive left, a right-wing counterpart to them that operates in very similar ways. That is why they're the latest and most frightening bogeyman; because they are a direct response to the progressive left, they are the progressive left, just with different colours.

And with that in mind, our author continues to misrepresent the sides of this internet conflict. Alita: Battle Angel was not "positioned as a right-wing alternative to Captain Marvel;" it was, as you even say in this same paragraph, positioned as an apolitical alternative, a film that wasn't trying to force feed you identity politics while Captain Marvel was, as you put it, "proudly feminist." Because feminism's really popular, don't you know, so popular in fact that a survey in the UK conducted by the Fawcett Society, a feminist organisation, found that seven percent of the population identity with the word, seven percent, less than a tenth, which didn't stop them from trying to spin it into Britain being "a nation of hidden feminists," but that's feminism for you, ignoring reality as usual. And as for Brie Larson, the woman who told white men that their opinion on A Wrinkle in Time didn't matter because it "wasn't made for [them]," who shared a picture of herself on Instagram looking mopey in a pair of cool shoes, shades and a handbag with her name one it, and captioned it with "thinking about Stan," and who also pissed off an entire country with a film that was slammed as 'racist' and 'stereotypical', yeah, she totally isn't a bigoted, narcissistic, hypocritical  scumbag. But the lies just don't stop as he then calls the #AlitaChallenge an alt-right campaign, because boycotting an aggressively political film starring a thoroughly unlikable actress in favour of an apolitical passion project isn't reasonable apparently.

But then our author goes even deeper into the shit by trying to make the case against the claim that Alita: Battle Angel is apolitical, and he completely missed the point. Alita: Battle Angel having liberal ideas in it is something I'd concede to, there is clear symbolism in Iron City and Zalem above, not just a class divide but a social and cultural one as even the wealthy and powerful can lose their privilege of living in the sky city. But Captain Marvel isn't liberal, there are no themes of class divide or corruption, instead we have the poor, innocent refugees on the run from a tyrannical and oppressive regime, who must be saved by an all-powerful, beautiful, strong woman who cannot lose and is always right, whose best friend is a black woman who's also the best mum and the best pilot in the world, but, like our all powerful hero, was never given the chance she deserved because society held her back. Captain Marvel isn't liberal, it's a wank-fest of progressive politics, one that wouldn't know subtlety if it poisoned its Starbucks Latte and as a result, refuses to let you forget just how progressive and empowering it is. The issue is obvious, people don't like being talked down to, people don't like aggressive political messaging in their entertainment, and Alita: Battle Angel didn't do either of those things, it was a film, whereas Captain Marvel was feminist propaganda and sold itself as such on the back of the MCU. So don't give me this bullshit about Alita: Battle Angel not being apolitical, by your logic, every film that's ever been made is political, you are deliberately misrepresenting the problem to make the #AlitaArmy look dishonest, which is pretty damn rich for a shameless lair such as yourself.

Oh but you see, the cast said some stuff; Rosa Salazar took a jab at the Donald and his wall, therefore there's no difference and the #AlitaArmy are hypocrites. Never mind that, by your own admission, Salazar received nothing close to the press exposure of Brie Larson. Never mind that this political aspect is not reflected in the film itself, but merely the thoughts of one of its stars, while not only is Brie Larson's ego and Feminism reflected in the film, it's a core aspect of the character and of the film. Idiot, Tom Cruise is a scientologist, that doesn't mean I can't enjoy Mission Impossible, Chris Evans is a massive progressive who can't keep his mouth shut, I still like Captain America. Actors are allowed to be insufferable twats because they're people too, but it becomes a problem when it starts to bleed into the film itself, that doesn't happen with Alita: Battle Angel, it does with Captain Marvel, constantly, to comedic degrees, the film's endless and aggressive messaging is insufferable to watch, and made all the more so by Carol Danvers' complete lack of charm and charisma. But getting back to the article itself, apparently the #AlitaChallenge was underpinned by toxic ideas, I can't wait to see where this goes. Our author then quotes someone, I don't know who though because once again, no links or names, but apparently this Youtuber describes Alita by saying she "doesn't talk down to the fans, one that is believably powerful, one that is attractive without being overly sexualised," he quotes again, "[she is] the perfect wife, the perfect daughter and the perfect friend."

That sounds about right to me; Alita is among the most optimistic and selfless characters you'll ever see, but I already know how you're going to try and spin it, and I would love to know where these quotes came from, but you don't link to them, I wonder why, is it because like the incident with Kylie Harrington, people actually knowing the full story would blow this little hit piece of yours to smithereens. I have already laughed out loud a few times from reading this article, but nothing I've read so far made me laugh harder than his spin on these quotes, because apparently, this is a "collection of misogynistic themes, relating to female likability, "believable" female strength and regressive views on how women should express their sexuality." Fucking What?! First off, thinking that a female character doesn't talk down to her audience is misogynistic, is it, how does that work, finding a female character likable and not all high and mighty is misogynistic, that doesn't make sense. Finding a female character's strength to be unbelievable and unearned is misogynistic too, don't you know, and finding her attractive while not thinking she's sexualised, respecting her as a beautiful and powerful woman, that's about as misogynistic as it gets, the mental gymnastics is hurting me here, I can't imagine what's it's doing to our author. And let's not forget all the feminists who wrote articles about how sexualised Alita's design was, Molly Freeman of ScreenRant for example, are you going to tell me that criticising a woman's body because she's too sexy isn't misogynistic, or do they get a pass because they have the right politics, while obsessing and complaining about a woman's body.

Let's also not forget the little detail that Alita herself expresses her sexuality, Ido doesn't program the Berserker body to have big breasts and a thin waist, Alita does, the body conforms to her subconscious image of herself, as in it's how she wants to look, that is the ultimate in a character expressing their sexuality, and the people whining about it were feminists because her tits were too big, tell me again who has the problem with female sexuality. But unfortunately, our author shifts gears and starts lying about something else entirely; GamerGate, because for some reason, the progressive left refuses to just let it die, or, for that matter, to stop lying about it. GamerGate was not a hate campaign, this is and always has been a lie, that they still talk about it like some kind of cultural apocalypse from which an epidemic of misogyny spawned is more sad than it is funny, because it was five years ago, the only people who still care about it are people like you and that's because you're terrified of it. And even if it wasn't five years ago, but was in fact, say, a month ago, it still doesn't matter to this Alita situation outside of your mischaracterisation of the #AlitaArmy that you've tried to associate with GamerGate, which you've also mischaracterised, your entire argument is just lie after lie after lie. And while we're on the subject of lying, you then have the balls to claim that this has "come to define an Alita fanbase that for the most part is celebratory rather than toxic."

What utter twaddle, first you say that the film's fanbase has a not insignificant number of alt-righters, then you try to lie about them harassing a journalist, you've called the ideas that underpin the fanbase toxic, you've called the supporters of the #AlitaChallenge alt-right, you've tried to associate them with a hate group that isn't actually a hate group, you're just peddling the age old lie that it is, how shocking, but now the Alita fanbase is mostly celebratory. I'm speechless, you're so bad at lying that you can't even maintain a consistent lie for more than a few sentences, you're a fucking moron. Which is it, author, is the fanbase mostly positive, or is it a den of Nazis, which is it, is it underpinned by toxic and misogynistic ideas, or is it just a bunch of people who love a movie and want to share that love with others. What you don't seem to realise is that after lying for an entire article about how bad they are, saying in the second to last paragraph that they're actually a largely positive fandom torpedoes your entire narrative, like we needed any more proof that you're a disingenuous smear merchant. And after undermining and smearing the fanbase of this film, you then have the balls to say that the film "deserves to be memorialised as an odd triumph," you can't have it both ways you hack, you can't expect us to think you're being even remotely sincere here when your entire article is an attack on the film and its fanbase.

And if you think he's done attacking them, you're wrong, because as he wraps up this article, he just has to get in one more dig, "Not as a reflection of everything scary and destructive about geek culture and the internet today. Egomaniac he may be, but James Cameron deserves better." Author, apologies for the bluntness, but Fuck Off. Cameron deserves better does he, sure, I guess he does deserve better than a gaggle of antagonistic misogynists, or he would if it was true. Because geek culture is scary and destructive, no, it's scary and destructive to you, just as the ideas of the progressive left are scary and destructive to anyone who isn't a backwards cultist. Captain Marvel received a backlash because the ideas it promotes are very unpopular; normal, not insane people hate feminism so much that only seven percent of Britons identify with the word, according to a feminist funded study. Alita: Battle Angel meanwhile is not a feminist propaganda film, nor is it another product of the Hollywood machine, it's a film with genuine passion behind it and that is why people have latched onto it. And they've done so in spite of journalists like you on the attack against them and a film that doesn't parrot the toxic ideology for which Captain Marvel is so rightfully loathed.

Dance, Little Flea

I knew that this article would be stupid, with a title like that, how could it not have been, but honestly, I wasn't expecting such a level of dishonesty, if I didn't know better, I'd say this actually smells a bit malicious. There's something off about this article; the mental gymnastics of saying that Alita is loved by misogynists, the unwillingness to provide details on anything about which he comments, calling the fanbase alt-right in one paragraph and calling it celebratory a few paragraphs later, lying about the activities of the #AlitaArmy and ascribing intent to them in a completely uncharitable way. Adding to the smell of malice is the simple truth that Alita: Battle Angel isn't that big of a film, and that it ended up in competition with a much larger and more controversial film that had the entire progressive left behind it. Feminists and progressives don't hate Alita because she's problematic or sexualised or any other nonsense buzzword, they hate her because she contradicts their narrative, because deep down, even they know that what they believe doesn't make sense. How can Alita become a hero for misogynists, how can it be championed as an apolitical film when it's riddled with liberal themes. And what does our author do to try and get around these holes in his worldview, he lies and attempts to smear, because at the end of the day, it all comes down to this; if you disagree, you're a bad person.


It seems I was wrong about Alita: Battle Angel being forgotten; there will always be the fans like myself, the general movie going public having long since forgotten, but I guess there's another faction out there that will help to keep the flame alive, the people who hate the film. The progressives who were left bitter by a film that blew a hole in everything they believed, from the insecure feminists who thought she was too sexy, to the progressive believers who lie and spin to justify their own hatred, not just for a sexy cyborg hero, but for the MRA trolls and alt-right misogynists who chose her over their precious Captain Marvel. There's one final reason this article stinks, and it's one word in the title; cult, because the #AlitaArmy doesn't deny reality, it doesn't respond to disagreement with smears and lies, it doesn't reduce its enemies to bots and trolls who's opinions are worthless, or justify hating them through character assassination, meanwhile I can think of at least one author who either agrees with those failings or perpetrates them himself, all while trying to convince the reader that other people are in a cult and not him, almost as if he's trying to convince himself that it isn't so. If you intend to tell other people that they're in a cult, dear author, then I'd be careful where you throw stones in that glass house of yours.