u/Crafty-Bunch-2675

I have noticed a Hollywood trend where, major media franchises often have a stand-in character for the devil, or an outright devil character ... yet most shows refrain from overt references to God.

I always hate it when movies portray the "devil" as a joke character not to be taken seriously, or even worse "Just a guy doing his job" etc.

I always think those shows/ movies are even more dangerous than the ones that make no mention of religion at all; because they do something even worse: they portray the devil as harmless or even "cool"

the greatest lie the devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he doesn't exist/is harmless.

The most recent example of that I saw was in the show "Invincible"

I enjoy the superhero genre. I enjoy "Invincible."

SPOILERS AHEAD.

The entire encounter with the devil is treated as an inconsequential "filler episode" and is filled with many tongue in cheek jokes. Essentially the episode consists of the main superhero being dragged to hell by a demon "friend" to help with some side quest for the devil, and the devil, is portrayed as just some harmless surfer-type dude.

There is so much blasphemy in that episode. For starters, the episode shows an explicit devil character, and has "the devil" explain how the world was formed and that God (according to the show's narrative) is just a made-up character by humans.

The episode also makes light of the "eternal torture" of hell as if its just some joke/party.

I much rather when shows don't mention God or the devil at all, rather than going out of their way to be blasphemous like this.

When watching the MCU Daredevil show, I understand that gradually Kingpin learns Daredevil's identity through their constant conflict with each other.

What I don't remember seeing explained was how he learned that Matt Murdock/ Daredevil had super hearing ?

There are a few instances when the Kingpin whispers under his breath specifically to talk to Daredevil, and it's always interesting to see...because I don't remember anyone ever explaining Daredevil's powers to him.

There is nothing more frustrating than looking for a particular thing, and the website says FREE big and bold on its advertising banner, but every option you click to use certain tools or download whatever it is the website offers e.g. vector images, or an online editing tool or what-have-you ... then another box opens saying use premium to access this feature.

If I have to pay to use your so-called public domain free service... then it isn't free !

As most Catholics, I have grown accustomed to popular media making mean spirited jokes about Catholicism, Priesthood or using our faith and architecture as nothing but artistic backdrop for horror franchises, e.g. vampire related stories etc...

However as I continue to watch the Daredevil TV show, (Born again), it's surprising how much reverence is shown for Catholicism. It's actually treated with respect, there are occasionally some good discussion of morality and i don't seem to recall any instance where the Faith itself is overtly mocked.

It's also rather refreshing that rather than pretending that religion doesn't exist at all... as with most popular movies... the show actually repeatedly shows many main characters to be Catholic, including but not limited to the main character of Daredevil himself. It seems Kingpin is Catholic as well..

Plus the TV show, shows the Church being used as a neutral shelter for refugees, many times.

And now in the new series, Bullseye is also shown to have Catholic leanings as the (SPOILER)

SPOILERS AHEAD

When the villain Bullseye seeks redemption/forgiveness for his past actions and looks to right the wrongs he did... he goes to Church.

The series starts out showing that Vanessa is clearly afraid of Bullseye and is worried about him coming after her. In the previous episodes she is shown to have nightmares about it.

The Kingpin sets up a public trap to entice Bullseye. He makes plans to send Vanessa away from the event. Clearly explaining to her the danger.

Yet for some inexplicable reason, this character, which has always been shown to be calculating and cunning, makes the silly decision of coming to the public event and making a target of herself by standing directly next to Kingpin. And even when Bullseye appears... she fights off her guards and tries to fight Bullseye herself

Of course she dies. That death felt silly to me. As silly as a horror movie death caused by character stupidity.

So we're supposed to believe that a woman who could have safely run her husband's criminal empire whilst all their enemies thought him dead... somehow couldn't see the obvious danger that Bullseye would have shown up at the boxing match and tried to kill her ?

And why would she try to fight Bullseye herself ?

One of the things about starting the writing journey is the feeling that your work may never go anywhere.

However, another thing is...when you finally do get something... how do you seek compensation ?

For example, the "literary contests" sub often features contests for anthologies.

I have been so focused on trying to win a competition or at least make it to the short-list, I have never even considered what to do if I made it on a short-list of stories included in an anthology.

If your short story is selected to be included, does this mean you are entitled to part of the sales royalties?

How would you even go about querying about that ?