With Game of Thrones ending a week and change ago, apparently uniting people worldwide in an unbridled rage, it seemed like an appropriate time to tackle a subject I have been meaning to write about for a while.
Two things occurred in close succession that helped inspire this blog:
I attended MCM Comic Con in London;
My friend, Kieron, mentioned me in a Twitter thread that broached this very subject:
Being surrounded by like-minded geeks and fandom representation is always a fun, reinvigorating experience. I'm a big fan of MCM Comic Con, even if I don't really buy into the rampant consumerism of it all. I just like the atmosphere and being surrounded by my people. My tribe.
But like with any gathering of this sort, you have the people there just for fun, and you have the elitist nerds—the people who try to be gatekeepers to their fandom. They make fun of others, look down on people who don't know intricate details of their favourite shows, and take away from the inclusivity that the majority of geeky shows are all about.
With these two things taking place, the concept of fandom—and what that means—has been rattling around in my mind. In particular, toxic fandom and how it relates to the creator.
Elitist Entitlement
There has been a dangerous precedent creeping into everyday pop culture, folding itself into the fabric of how we interact with our favourite stories, shows, and IPs.
It's not new, but it's becoming more prevalent than ever before with each passing year. It is indicative of a disturbing trend, one that has a direct correlation with the rise of social media and its ability to allow people an open platform to voice their stream of conscious without any real thought or consideration into what they are actually saying or trying to convey.
It's a knee-jerk reaction; an immediate response to be 'first,' or spark attention with an incendiary remark. It also generates an echo chamber where people jump onto a bandwagon of negativity, compounding and faux-validating each others anger until their output becomes an indistinguishable blob of hatred. Some think it's a cool thing to do. Others believe themselves to be subversive for their 'hot take.'
All it really does is exacerbate the narrative of toxic fandoms and the unhealthy relationship between them and their 'favourite' creators and/or IPs.
Game Of Thrones is just the latest victim to the absurd notion that fans have any sort of control over a show. The recent Change.org petition to remake the entirety of Season 8 with "competent writers" hit the internet after penultimate episode, The Bells. At the time of writing, it has 1,599,142 signatures.
The petition's creator wrote the following to convince people of his oh-so-noble cause:
"David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have proven themselves to be woefully incompetent writers when they have no source material (i.e. the books) to fall back on. This series deserves a final season that makes sense. Subvert my expectations and make it happen, HBO!"
The expectant language in the final sentence is something else, huh? But his core message has clearly struck a chord with other disgruntled fans, even if actual GOT actors like, oh I don't know, SANSA F'N STARK has branded the petition "disrespectful to the crew, and the writers, and the filmmakers who have worked tirelessly over 10 years, and for 11 months shooting the last season."
It's easy to hate something when it arrives on your screen in its completed form. It's so simple to just jump onto your social media platform of choice and rip apart an episode, series, movie, book because it hasn't lived up to your expectations. It's all too simple to ignore the days, weeks, months, and years that can go into a creative venture.
But this isn't an issue isolated to Game Of Thrones.
People are still lobbying that Disney remakes the entirety of Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, removing the movie from canon forevermore despite Episode IX coming out later this year. It even has a little slice of the internet to call its own.
When a person begins to fill in the forms to start their petition, it's hard to believe that they genuinely believe production companies will adhere to their requests and spend millions on placating them, creating the story exactly how they would have written it. Because anything else would just be stupid now, wouldn't it? In fact, why weren't these narrative magicians hired to write them in the first place?
If that were the case, then we wouldn't be here debating poor choices, would we?
It's not like art is…
…wait for it…
…
..
.
…subjective.
I know. Mind blown. It's okay, take a moment to compose yourself. It's like waking up from The Matrix for the first time, right?
Blurring Lines
To be clear—and I mean as crystal here…
*Clears throat*
This isn't to say that you must accept everything a show does without complaint.
You are obviously allowed to not enjoy something—whether it's poor character development, lack of narrative progression, or perhaps nonsensical creative decisions, you have a right to voice your concern or disagreement of [insert personal vendetta against 'show name' here]. That's not feeding toxicity with bile, that's just having a (hopefully) thought out opinion.
Not even all those involved with a production may be happy with it. Actors can, and do, moan about inconsistencies in their characters' decisions in relation to their overall arc.
Just look at this video consisting of nearly three full minutes of the Game Of Thrones actors clearly expressing displeasure at how their character arcs unfolded over Season 8.
Peter Dinklage, in particular, makes a pertinent point regarding Tyrion's intellect, the crypt, and the dead:
But there is an inherent difference between being a fan of something and disliking a creative decision, voicing criticism over it, and believing that because you are a fan you in some way own any sort of creative right over it.
You don't.
You never did, and you never will.
The difference between considered constructive criticism and outright ripping apart a story because it wasn't how you wanted/thought it would be is akin to night and day, and comes from a place of mistaken ownership.
One emanates from a place of intelligent observation and consideration, the other is unfiltered anger and unfettered emotion. (+10 house point to Slytherin for getting the word 'unfettered' in here, right?)
Just look at the recent outcry over the Sonic The Hedgehog trailer.
So nuclear was the poor reception that the filmmaker has promised to change the look of Sonic, adding untold amounts of hours to his animation team. The movie has subsequently been pushed back to 2020. But, guess what guys…and lean in here because it's a secret and only the coolest people like you are allowed to know:
CHANGING THE ANIMATION WILL NOT FIX ANY INHERENT STORY PROBLEMS.
Many considered this a win for fans. Really, what it does is blur the line all the more between fan entitlement and a creator's vision.
Spark Joy
You may be wondering what my opinion on the end of GOT. Maybe you're curious to know about how I felt about Bran being nominated King in the new democratic republic of the Six Kingdoms as Sansa executes her own personal Brexit, shutting the North off to everyone around them. But I'm not going to go into that here. That's what Sweet Story, Bro is for.
Like everyone else, I have my thoughts and opinions—just like I do for The Last Jedi, and the many books, TV shows, movies, video games, that came before that. But I also know that if I don't like something I can choose to not engage with it, and if it frustrates me to the point that I might even consider starting a petition to get it changed…well, maybe it's time to start reading/watching/playing something else.
By all means, be upset, be underwhelmed, or even be angry—just be aware of the boundaries of what that entails. I understand that after dedicating years into a fandom an underwhelming ending can sting all the more. I get it. I watched Lost, too. But don't for a second think the artist/s owes you anything just because you don't like the decisions they made.
Be a fan, and if that thing you are a fan of stops making you happy, stop engaging with it. Go be a fan of something else. If you hate the movie version of your favourite book, right on. The novels are still there. Go reread those instead.
There's enough hate in the world as it is. These pockets of escapism that stories allow us are meant to act as a reprieve from the hardships of the world, so why not choose to engage with something that brings you joy? Something that reminds you of what it means to be a fan.
Steve R
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