Remember when being a sci-fi or fantasy fan was FUN?
Yeah, I know – it seems like a long time ago, right? Those days are gone, especially if you have a presence on the toxic beast that is social media. Because these days, if you go on a social network and express a modicum of interest in any movie or TV show that is the least bit controversial you risk the wrath of the Anonymous Anti-Fan. You know, the person who is famously displayed in the “STOP LIKING WHAT I DON’T LIKE” meme.
Love Star Wars? Well, if you express that opinion online you’ll get varying degrees of agreement and/or confrontation. What version of Star Wars do you like? The original films? The prequels? THE LAST JEDI? Heaven help you if you like (or hate) the latter.
Or maybe you like that OTHER “Star” franchise, the one with Captain Kirk. Like Discovery? Well, you’re gonna recieve huge blow-back from a certain sector of people. Think it sucks? You’ll get slammed by the players on the other side. Me? It’s not my cup of tea, not “MY” Star Trek… but if you like it? Awesome? Good for you, glad you enjoy it!
This is at best unhelpful, at worse toxic. No one is “right” or “wrong” when it comes to the entertainment options we choose to fill a chunk of our limited time on Earth. Why has this started happening, you may ask? Well, it’s been going on a long time. In the 1960s and 70s many fans who loved reading science fiction novels looked down on comic book fans. Star Trek fans mocked Star Wars fans (and vice-versa). Apple fanboys slammed Windows users. And so on. Not to mention the classic smack talk that originated with fans of professional sports.
I’m gobsmaked at how toxic social media has become. I remember the old days, when you actually EMT with fans in person, and talked about your passions. If someone did not like what you liked, there was sometimes debate, occasionally arguments, but it usually was quite civil. Of course, in the real word, you have no keyboard or anonymous user names to hide behind.
Me? I love a wide variety of things, and my tastes in things are in all probability NOT yours – or anyone else’s. I’m not “right” when I say that I HATED the latest James Bond movie. Is Spectre a blight on society, a film that should never be seen again? No (though I will never see it again, and happily so). But I know that people really love the film, and I don’t. Good for them. Enjoy what you like.
It’s not like some cosmic score card somewhere when it comes to any particular piece of entertainment – “Well, that’s 1 trillion yes votes to The Last Jedi, but one trillion and one ‘no votes’ -s o officially, The Last Jedi sucks.”
The worse part of all this is the cheerleading a franchise or a movie. Take the latest Marvel movie Captain Marvel. There was a LOT of folks opining online before the film’s release, with name-calling on both sides of the debate. Me, I mostly stayed out of it, because in the end it was just a waste of emotional and physical energy.
Captain Marvel ended up being financially successful with mostly positive reviews from professional critics. Because of this, many of those people “white knighting” the film did a victory lap. Just because you like a thing and someone else doesn’t does not mean you “win” if that thing makes money. Fandom is not a zero-sum game. Your thing doesn’t have to “win” some that the other fans can “lose.”
(Besides – You are being a cheerleader for a multi-billion dollar international corporation’s product. Is that REALLY what you want to spend time doing?)
I was watching a great interview with Craig Ferguson where he talks about Coldplay. He doesn’t like the music of the band, but he said he loved the attitude he heard from the lead singer of the band. “I don’t make music for people who hate Coldplay, I make music for people who LIKE Coldplay.” We need to think long and hard about that, and try and be respectful of people’s differing opinions. Mine is just one voice in the wilderness, but I’d rather express such an opinion than making a statement like “Anyone who likes the Justice League movie is stupid.”