For Tax Reasons, Here’s An Essay About Super Mario Wonder!
What can I say about Super Mario Wonder?
Well, what can’t I say, especially to justify deducting it on my taxes?
It’s… a game. It’s definitely a game, and most certainly isn’t just a couple of euros that I’m trying to write off as a business expense.
Super Mario Wonder, which I only played as part of serious research and not for my own personal amusement, has a lot to say about the current state of the world, as a piece of fiction.
For example, you should do drugs.
In Super Mario Wonder, there are power-ups that help you throughout, which could be viewed as psychodelic substances. Mushrooms, plants, fruits. The message is clear. In a world where the wealthy (Bowser) can threaten you at any moment, it’s important to self-medicate.
Let me just check the word count on this.
No, not long enough. Vocal requires a minimum of 600 words. This is why Substack is the cool kid, Vocal! At lease you’re better than Medium (which is an insultingly low bar).
What else does Super Mario Wonder, a completely legal tax deductible expense, have to say? That is a good question which I know the answer to.
TRANS! Transhumanism, that it! Yes, before all the cool kids took it, being trans meant something. Transhumanism is the belief that the next evolutionary step for humanity will be induced through technology, whether cybernetics, gene decoding, or something, figuratively and literally, alien.
In Super Mario Wonder, which was okay but not great, if I was playing it for fun and not serious research, you can turn into different species (an elephant), or become part machine (a drill). This isn’t entirely new in the world of fiction. The Animorphs series is based on teens turning into animals, while most cyberpunk sci-fi has dealt with the idea of becoming a literal tool. Coupling this with the fact Mario is canonically a plumber, Super Mario Wonder can be seen as a commentary on the literal dehumanisation needed for workers to survive.
And yes, the straws I’m grasping at do feel nice in my hand. Thank you for asking.
… I’m running out of ideas here…
NO! We’re running out of ideas!
While Super Mario Wonder is relatively fun to play, it is also yet another 2D side Mario game, a far cry from the more inventive and narratively testing Odyssey, Galaxy, and the RPG series. It’s little surprise that in the same year as Super Mario Wonder there was another middling sequel to another flagship title, The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom. This seems to be a trend across all mediums. Marvel films are just messy, half-baked assigned homework. YouTube and TikTok are filling up with pale imitations, mimicking whatever trends, whatever works. Even AI, the great promised techno-future, is neigh-impossible without derivative training. We are in a time of gluttony and starvation; a backlog of greatness with no interest in aspiration.
If Revenue is reading this, take note, because this counts as artistic merit. And if Revenue isn’t reading, everyone be cool and don’t tell them. Be cool guys, be cool.
I think more than ever we’re in this weird, sticky situation where creativity is melded with commerce in such a way that allows people uninvited, unskilled, and uninterested to have a say in the creative process. This is no longer just a matter of the modern day Medici, those footing the bill, the costumer, having a say in the work they’re commissioning, but rather elements being adjusted and dictated due to the needs of business.
Super Mario Wonder is a sign of the times for other reasons. One being Mario and company’s subtle redesign to flatter, more “cartoony” style, more in line with the recently launched movie franchise, the Super Mario theme park, and reintroducing Mario to a new generation through DLCS, re-releases of classics, and, finally, a Princess Peach standalone game.
Nintendo isn’t alone here. Sony has been delving into IP for cross-medium hits (The Last Of Us) and failures (Uncharted). Microsoft is doing the same, with their Fallout series for Amazon and their less successful Halo series for Paramount, with talks of offering their Xbox exclusives to be available on as many consoles as possible, shifting their attention from manufacturing to publishing. Netflix has gone in the opposite direction, turning their popular shows, like Stranger Things, into games.
Things can’t just be made; they must serve a purpose. It doesn’t matter if the additional product is good, just so long as they serve their function for the company. The Star Wars franchise, though panned for their latest films and shows, still helps Disney recoup the cost of buying the franchise from George Lucas, in turn profiting from a trilogy that is 47 years old. Warner Brothers are so desperate they’re cancelled fully completed films to write off the expenses on their taxes (oh hey, look at that), and filled their latest DC film, The Flash, with CGI renders of dead actors, all for the sake of lacklustre cameos. Netflix and Disney are removing shows and movies from their platforms, to save money on hosting and residual costs. We’re entering a time where profit doesn’t matter anymore, reputation doesn’t matter, even the business itself comes second to the true intent; the illusion of constant growth.
It’s the reason social media sites and search engines are abandoning their businesses to chase AI. It’s why publishes for books and games are getting into tv production. It’s the reason you’re seeing Oreo or M&Ms, products themselves, intergrated as flavours for other food products. It’s why Tesla and Amazon are getting into space travel. When you become the best in your field, you have to branch out into other fields, even if it hurts you. You can’t just be a tech company, or a gaming company, or you run the risk of not being invested in anymore, or, worse, left behind.
In a way, I’m doing the same with this essay. I’m forced too. Jokes aside, whether I do or don’t deduct Super Mario Wonder as an expense (which is a perfectly legitimate tax deduction… I think), I can’t help but be aware that there’s a plate spinning element to writing as a career. It creeps up on me every now and again; the thought that it’s been too long since the last post, or that a project I wanted to dedicate time to has been put on the back-burner for years now. I can comfort myself with the reassurance I am producing new work. I complete my horror series “The Trees Swallow People” last year, and I will be recording a poetry collection later this summer, as well as filling out grant applications, admin form, and general day-to-day life. I have obligations.
But that’s little comfort, unfortunately. You see the difference. When you post regular enough, you do see the line go up, you see the numbers grow, and, yes, you have a reason to shave off a couple of euros. I’m stuck in the same world as these media empires.
What can be done?
Super Mario Wonder, a totally legal tax deduction, is a story about many things. Drugs, transhumanism, the pervasion of creativity. It’s also about the moral justification of using everything at your disposal to make a living (like in writing an essay to justify claiming an okay-ish video game as a business expense, for instance (if Revenue are still reading, for legal reasons, that was a joke)).
Super Mario doesn’t seek power-ups for his own sake, but rather he does it to save the Flower Kingdom from Bowser (usually they’re in the Mushroom Kingdom with Princess Peach; I think this is part of the whole soft reboot thing they’re doing). Likewise, creatives don’t wish to sully themselves by making things for the sake of monetary benefit, but they must, if they are to stand up against the proverbial Bowsers of the world, to live long enough to create the things that happen to be both creatively fulfilling AND financially rewarding.
I know some of the many accounts who read me (all zero of you) will say the same thing my tax advisor told me; “Conor, you don’t have to write a whole essay to justify buying Super Mario Wonder. It qualifies as an expense of the grounds of inspiration, potential material, and research.” Is that true? Maybe. Do I not understand taxes? Possibly. Have I confused people with whether this is satire or the ramblings of an idiot? I’m like eighty-per-cent sure the answer is yes. But maybe this is also one of those pieces of work I was talking about; something creative AND rewarding, with the cheery of top that I didn’t have to sacrifice the former for the latter.
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