You sit on your couch to scroll through one of your many subscription-based streaming services, looking for a new show to binge. One seems to catch your eye and you pull up a blanket as you click on the first episode. Your eyes light up as you watch the first episode, then the second, and suddenly it’s 2 a.m. and you’ve just watched the most masterfully crafted piece of art you’ve ever seen. The characters, the setting, the themes, the music, everything is perfect as you wipe your eyes when the credits roll on season one, or even season two. You quickly grab your phone, wanting to see if another season has been announced. The Google search lights up and your heart drops, face twisting in sadness as you see the top search result.

Canceled.

This is something that fans of the hit show “Our Flag Means Death” felt as Max, the streaming service previously known as HBO Max, told us that part three of its planned three-season arc was canceled. “Our Flag Means Death” is a romantic comedy produced by David Jenkins, where we follow the misadventures of gentleman-turned-pirate Stede Bonnet, played byRhys Darby, Blackbeard, played by Taika Waititi, and their pirate crew. The show gained critical success since the first season’s release on March 2, 2022, its second season soon following and outperforming HBO staples like “Peacemaker” and “Love and Death.” According to Parrot Analytics, “Our Flag Means Death” had a demand 27.5 times higher than the average TV show airing at the time, meaning it even outperformed Marvel and Star Wars shows such as “Loki” and “Ahsoka.” 

What set this show apart from many of other exclusive titles on the platform was its expansive and diverse cast of characters, focusing on LGBTQ+ themes and centering around queer joy and queer love. It has queer people of color, middle aged queers, polyamorous queers, fat queers, autistic queers, indigenous queers and so many more forms of representation than those seen in any other series on the platform. It wove an interesting narrative with Stede Bonnet and Blackbeard falling in love while combining hilarious comedic moments that really pushed the genre of romantic comedies. Not to mention, who doesn’t love a good swashbuckling tale of pirates? This isn’t just a great show, this is a great gay show. 

But now the show has joined a massive graveyard of other queer projects, and people all over the internet have been digging for theories as to why one of Max’s top performing shows was suddenly given a budget cut of 40% and then dropped completely. One theory circling around is that Max and other streaming services are making shows that focus on specific communities of people to bait them into subscribing to their services before prematurely dumping them in the trash. This can be seen with Netflix and their list of popular canceled projects that brought thought-provoking art and diversity to the platform. Examples of this include “I Am Not Okay With This,” another show revolving around an LGBTQ+ main character, and “Anne with an E,” a series with strong themes of feminism and girlhood. 

Another theory is that it all comes back around to capitalism and platforms wanting to make the most amount of money possible, even if that includes destroying art. It’s not just about “Our Flag Means Death,” it’s about all the other shows people have poured their heart and souls into making that are being axed. Shows like “Infinity Train,” another Max series, are being erased from existence so companies can stop paying the creators residuals. Studios are allegedly trashing entire movies for tax write-offs, and entire companies are fighting to use AI to replace writers and actors. Streaming services are seeing art as stocks that can be dumped and traded on a whim, all for that little extra money to line their pockets.

But fans of “Our Flag Means Death” aren’t going down quietly about the company’s decision and are quickly mobilizing against Max. Many have taken to social media platforms like TikTok and X (formally Twitter) to discuss their rage and rally people behind their cause. Over the course of the last few months, fans raised more than $21,000 for their campaign, which was used to purchase a billboard in Times Square and have a plane fly over Hollywood with a banner reading “Save Our Flag Means Death.” They also flooded Max’s social media and customer feedback inboxes, and launched a petition on Change.org that has around 84,000 signatures at the time of writing. 

UNI students have also joined this fight, hoisting their sails and readying their cannons. Fliers have been hung up around Maucker Union with the title “Save Our Flag Means Death,” a QR code to the petition, and the hashtags #HoistTheAds and #RenewAsACrew. 

The cancellation of “Our Flag Means Death” is proof that it’s not a question about the bar being too high for diverse art, but rather the bar is constantly being moved just out of reach. When diverse and interesting art surpasses every expectation of success, the bar is shoved even higher so no level of success will ever be good enough. Even though fans go to great lengths to get their shows back, in the end, they almost always fall on deaf ears for these massive companies. But after all these shows are continuously canceled and the streaming services eat each other alive in their competition, what will be left? Will you still be sitting on your couch binging shows, or will you have given up since there is nothing interesting left to watch?