Dear Fandom, may I have a word?
Sep. 14th, 2013 09:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
puppetmakerCome over here. That’s right. * Twap * What is wrong with you? Seriously!?!?
The past month or so I can’t swing a sehlat without hitting some group of fans upset about something and swearing to “do something about it” including “never watching again”. And the perpetual “they are ruining our show” is echoing a lot right now too. I think part of it is that the new fall season is about to start and people are antsy about things that they have discussed/fantasized about all summer.
Most recently were the promo photos that ABC pulled from the third season of Once Upon a Time. Yes, they were a little rough but I was enjoying them. The group shot looked like the group shot they did last year and the year before for the show but it is being compared to LOST. Guess what kids, the guys who are running this show are the same guys who did LOST but the comparisons really stop there other than some really solid character arcs and storytelling. And frankly I was revamping Mr. Gold’s costume to reflect what I was seeing in the photo which I can’t do now because the photos got pulled because of a vocal minority.
Then there are the pitch and pitchforks that are going after “Star Trek: Into Darkness”. To the point where the actors are coming in to defend the film that they enjoyed working on. It is not the worst Star Trek film of all time. I am not saying it is the best but woe betide you if you admit that you liked it because apparently then you are wrong about everything in the world. And then there are the Star Wars fans that are in a sheer panic because JJ Abrams has been handed the keys to that kingdom as well. Original Star Trek isn’t vanishing off the planet because of the new franchise nor will original Star Wars.
There is the kerfuffle about Mr. Affleck and Batman. Which I heard back in 1988 when it was announced that Michael Keaton was tapped to play the cape crusader. That film and his performance changed the superhero movie forever. Like your dark superhero films? Thank Tim Burton and Michael Keaton. Interestingly Mr. Nicholson’s performance as the Joker was never questioned at the time. But Heath Ledger was bashed right out of the gate and for many his became the definitive Joker. Yes, these changes aren’t all gems but I would plea for people to give it a chance.
Supernatural has been a fan whining magnet. They always seem to complain that the creators don’t understand the characters. They don’t give them what they want and if they do, then the complaints about “that’s not what I meant” or “no I didn’t want this” fall from the lips of the same people who were clamoring for the thing that they got. I have to say that the writers have been very clever in the way they have responded to the fans with some rather tongue in cheek. I think Chuck is one of my favorite characters in the city with Charlie a close second.
I am not going to even get into X-men Days of Future Past.
I am not saying that I have never rolled my eye or said ‘oh come on’ from an announcement/spoiler from a show. However I have never started a petition to get someone fired from their job or get a show to do what I want. I have never boycotted or asked other to boycott a show because I don’t like what they did.
Give the creators a chance to tell their stories. If fans want to tell theirs, they have options to do so. Just don’t get upset when something that you wrote gets used in a show or movie and try to sue the creators of the show for using your idea. They aren’t reading your fanfic, you just happen to be thinking along the same lines that they are and they are the ones that laid the pipework that brought you to your conclusion.
The noise of a minority is causing a majority to go silent because they don’t want that sort of vitriol directed at them. And I find that a sad state of fandom.
I am grateful for fans that are willing to give things a chance and allow other fans to have different opinions.
The past month or so I can’t swing a sehlat without hitting some group of fans upset about something and swearing to “do something about it” including “never watching again”. And the perpetual “they are ruining our show” is echoing a lot right now too. I think part of it is that the new fall season is about to start and people are antsy about things that they have discussed/fantasized about all summer.
Most recently were the promo photos that ABC pulled from the third season of Once Upon a Time. Yes, they were a little rough but I was enjoying them. The group shot looked like the group shot they did last year and the year before for the show but it is being compared to LOST. Guess what kids, the guys who are running this show are the same guys who did LOST but the comparisons really stop there other than some really solid character arcs and storytelling. And frankly I was revamping Mr. Gold’s costume to reflect what I was seeing in the photo which I can’t do now because the photos got pulled because of a vocal minority.
Then there are the pitch and pitchforks that are going after “Star Trek: Into Darkness”. To the point where the actors are coming in to defend the film that they enjoyed working on. It is not the worst Star Trek film of all time. I am not saying it is the best but woe betide you if you admit that you liked it because apparently then you are wrong about everything in the world. And then there are the Star Wars fans that are in a sheer panic because JJ Abrams has been handed the keys to that kingdom as well. Original Star Trek isn’t vanishing off the planet because of the new franchise nor will original Star Wars.
There is the kerfuffle about Mr. Affleck and Batman. Which I heard back in 1988 when it was announced that Michael Keaton was tapped to play the cape crusader. That film and his performance changed the superhero movie forever. Like your dark superhero films? Thank Tim Burton and Michael Keaton. Interestingly Mr. Nicholson’s performance as the Joker was never questioned at the time. But Heath Ledger was bashed right out of the gate and for many his became the definitive Joker. Yes, these changes aren’t all gems but I would plea for people to give it a chance.
Supernatural has been a fan whining magnet. They always seem to complain that the creators don’t understand the characters. They don’t give them what they want and if they do, then the complaints about “that’s not what I meant” or “no I didn’t want this” fall from the lips of the same people who were clamoring for the thing that they got. I have to say that the writers have been very clever in the way they have responded to the fans with some rather tongue in cheek. I think Chuck is one of my favorite characters in the city with Charlie a close second.
I am not going to even get into X-men Days of Future Past.
I am not saying that I have never rolled my eye or said ‘oh come on’ from an announcement/spoiler from a show. However I have never started a petition to get someone fired from their job or get a show to do what I want. I have never boycotted or asked other to boycott a show because I don’t like what they did.
Give the creators a chance to tell their stories. If fans want to tell theirs, they have options to do so. Just don’t get upset when something that you wrote gets used in a show or movie and try to sue the creators of the show for using your idea. They aren’t reading your fanfic, you just happen to be thinking along the same lines that they are and they are the ones that laid the pipework that brought you to your conclusion.
The noise of a minority is causing a majority to go silent because they don’t want that sort of vitriol directed at them. And I find that a sad state of fandom.
I am grateful for fans that are willing to give things a chance and allow other fans to have different opinions.
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no subject
Date: 2013-09-14 02:14 pm (UTC)However,
I hope you'll admit that M. Night Shyamalan should never be allowed to adapt another property again. What he did with Last Airbender was an affront to humanity as a whole... :D
no subject
Date: 2013-09-14 07:07 pm (UTC)He was great at directing; I wish he'd stuck to that. -_-
...You know, I try not to be one of the reactionary fans, and to give what I think of as unusual choices for casting or story direction a chance, but I honestly think I *would* sign a petition to NOT have him involved in another Last Airbender project. As long as that petition was not written in All-Caps or other rage-y language.
If you don't like a way a show is going, then stop watching it. Find or write the version you'd like to have seen happen if it bothers you that much. (You won't be alone in this, I assure you.) But trying to claim a show creator doesn't understand their own characters (if they are their own characters) because they chose to send them down a different path than you, a member of the audience, would have picked? That's some hubris right there. There's a difference between something not going how you wanted and something being a bad choice or poorly written. Learn to recognize the difference, people. Tailor your criticisms appropriately. You'll find the resulting conversations much more rewarding.
That being said, there is a percentage of They Who Are Upset who I agree with / feel their Upset is indeed warranted...if not all the actions that their ire has moved them to.