Editorial #9 - Toxic Fandom
Let me start of by saying this: above all else, when it comes to movie and popular culture, I am a fan. More than being a critic, or a pundit, a writer, a blogger, whatever it may be, I am a fan. I don't go to the theater, follow news stories, get excited when trailers come out because it's my obligation to (99 percent of the time). I go because I enjoy the exhilarating experience that following a story, seeing new characters, and seeing what other's people's visions are. So keeping in mind that I am firstly and most importantly a fan, I would like to state something that I think is becoming increasingly more evident as the weeks roll by.
True, authentic, genuine, heartfelt fandom is dying. And it's being eaten up by a toxic, wasteful, disgusting side of popular culture that we have opened up.
There's no particular point when this began. Not really. It started to grow gradually in the past five or so years as the world began to realize that huge comic book films and space epics were reaching their peak (they still haven't hit it, but I think it's close). And then, slowly you would begin to see something. When a new film would come out, you would of course have those who praised the film, and those who said they didn't like it. That's the subjective nature of film, and yet you would see something else growing out of the shadows. This third group that refused to be silenced and wanted their voice to be heard.
These fans said things like, "I don't like this movie because there's a black character" or "I think X actor is bad because they're X" or "I hate X because it's stupid". Popular culture no longer became a safe space where you could express your opinions freely. No. It was a place where you were attacked because you legitimately believed something, and were told that you were wrong even though there is no physical, possible, tangible way that an opinion can be wrong. All opinions are valid THAT ARE BASED IN REASON AND FACT. And the fact of the matter is that we are seeing more and more people hate and spread negativity simply because they want to.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi I think encapsulates the epitome of this. The film wasn't perfect, not by any stretch of the imagination in my opinion, but no film is. In my opinion, the Canto Byte sequence was reminiscent of Prequel-era Star Wars, but I loved the rest of the film. And there were those who genuinely didn't like the film for what it was, which is fine. But then there was an explosion, an uproar of a side of fandom that expressed such malignant, hateful thoughts that spewed out of place of cowardice, fear, and evil. Fans began to send death threats to the cast and crew simply because they were Asian, black, or even white. The director, Rian Johnson, received threats to a huge extent, and there were campaigns made to remake the film simply because they didn't like it.
And so we stand today; whenever a film comes out, fans are not free to express their opinions anymore simply because you have to either take a left wing or right wing approach. There can be no film that is simply "okay" or "good", not anymore. There is no middle ground, no room to explore what being a fan really means. And that's eating away at my heart.
I want to implore fans who genuinely enjoy being fans, who love the experiences of going to the theater, following story arcs, listening to friendly debate, to not tolerate this. That when you see people attacking you for what you believe in simply because it's not what they believe, to make a stand. Because if we do nothing, then fandom will slowly crumble from the inside.
True, authentic, genuine, heartfelt fandom is dying. And it's being eaten up by a toxic, wasteful, disgusting side of popular culture that we have opened up.
There's no particular point when this began. Not really. It started to grow gradually in the past five or so years as the world began to realize that huge comic book films and space epics were reaching their peak (they still haven't hit it, but I think it's close). And then, slowly you would begin to see something. When a new film would come out, you would of course have those who praised the film, and those who said they didn't like it. That's the subjective nature of film, and yet you would see something else growing out of the shadows. This third group that refused to be silenced and wanted their voice to be heard.
These fans said things like, "I don't like this movie because there's a black character" or "I think X actor is bad because they're X" or "I hate X because it's stupid". Popular culture no longer became a safe space where you could express your opinions freely. No. It was a place where you were attacked because you legitimately believed something, and were told that you were wrong even though there is no physical, possible, tangible way that an opinion can be wrong. All opinions are valid THAT ARE BASED IN REASON AND FACT. And the fact of the matter is that we are seeing more and more people hate and spread negativity simply because they want to.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi I think encapsulates the epitome of this. The film wasn't perfect, not by any stretch of the imagination in my opinion, but no film is. In my opinion, the Canto Byte sequence was reminiscent of Prequel-era Star Wars, but I loved the rest of the film. And there were those who genuinely didn't like the film for what it was, which is fine. But then there was an explosion, an uproar of a side of fandom that expressed such malignant, hateful thoughts that spewed out of place of cowardice, fear, and evil. Fans began to send death threats to the cast and crew simply because they were Asian, black, or even white. The director, Rian Johnson, received threats to a huge extent, and there were campaigns made to remake the film simply because they didn't like it.
And so we stand today; whenever a film comes out, fans are not free to express their opinions anymore simply because you have to either take a left wing or right wing approach. There can be no film that is simply "okay" or "good", not anymore. There is no middle ground, no room to explore what being a fan really means. And that's eating away at my heart.
I want to implore fans who genuinely enjoy being fans, who love the experiences of going to the theater, following story arcs, listening to friendly debate, to not tolerate this. That when you see people attacking you for what you believe in simply because it's not what they believe, to make a stand. Because if we do nothing, then fandom will slowly crumble from the inside.
No comments:
Post a Comment