Toxic Fandom and the curse of the internet megaphone.
I think my title is self-explanatory but I just want to have a rant.
As fans of cinema we can lament the perceived lack of new ideas, the decline in cinema attendance or the shift in the movie industry away from “Art” to “content” for streaming services… there is a lot of stuff to complain about.
What grinds my gears is all the horrible toxic nonsense that sloshes around the internet.
When I was young movie studios made movies, people who were professional film critics would see the movie then write a review which would be published in a newspaper or magazine or talked about it on TV this in combination with seeing a poster would be what you based your decision to see a movie or not. To be honest that worked pretty well for a long time.
As useful as the rise of the internet has been for finding out about movies and actual discourse about film in a positive way. It has also facilitated swathes of ridiculous people who now have this digital megaphone to spew bile about movies and TV shows.
From what I can gather these “Toxic Fans” seem to have an agenda based around the following.
“Women or female characters can not be strong emotionally or physically and can not be heroes”
“Women of females must reinforce standard beauty stereotypes and be love interests or secondary characters preferably rescued by a suitable male hero!”
“Non-white or Non-straight males should not be cast as leading men or heroes they must be secondary characters or even better the comic relief”
“The belief that every single non-white, LGBTQ+ or actor with a disfigurement or visible disability are fundamentally untalented and only get roles due to a grand “woke” conspiracy.”
These opinions seem to be vomited by mainly white males who have fallen for the lie that EVERYTHING that they have not achieved in their life (that they were under the impression would be handed to them on a plate) is NOT due to their fundamental lack of any talent, intelligence or people skills It is ONLY because their achievements have been robbed from them by women having rights and jobs and progressive societies just existing where there are non-white people and visible LGBTQ+ people with intelligence, talent and people skills out there achieving stuff.
These toxic people cannot grasp that rights are not a pizza, you do not have less because others get some.
It makes me sick! I am slightly reassured by the obvious fact that the majority of these individuals are not actual “Fans” because any self-proclaimed Star Wars fan who is upset about Rey being a strong capable female has not been paying attention to Star Wars.
It’s also funny to me that Pixar movies are criticised for being “woke” when they employ statisticians who advise the production so that the mix of people you see in the movies reflects actual modern society so nothing is forced it is just an actual representation of modern society. So these people want filmmakers to deny reality to make them feel safe in their delusions.
It's just all bias by fragile man-babies who think they are owed something.
When any book is adapted into a film the book does not disappear if you don’t like the film. The same goes for things that are remade or rebooted.
If someone makes a female-led Ghostbusters movie it did not delete the original Ghostbusters from (1984) and it also absolutely did not attack, hurt or kill your childhood! Please get a grip!
IF YOU SEE SOMETHING THAT YOU DON’T FANCY WATCHING COMING OUT
JUST DON’T WATCH IT! This is not rocket science!
This brings me to my next point these toxic people feel the need to voice an opinion on a film or TV show they have not seen and have no intention of seeing but they are desperate to poison the discourse around a project based on their agenda of hate.
These people will have been giving the Barbie movie a one-star review long before it came out in cinemas purely based on it being a female-led movie directed by a woman.
I regularly see negative reviews left on Letterboxed about films that have just completed principal photography and are six months away from being released.
Some YouTubers and influencers go into seeing something with an agenda of hate and through the lens of being “Anti-woke” and will always be disappointed and put out negative opinions.
Homophobes with a platform will rip apart any Disney project now regardless of what it is. The internet is a mental place and these people are disturbed.
Don't get me wrong there are crap movies and TV shows made but what makes them crap is never the skin colour, sexuality or gender of the cast or the characters.
It just really makes me angry that these people seem to dwell in the sphere of movie fandom…
I dwell here! this is my dwelling!
I don't want to be associated with these racist, homophobic, transphobic, misogynist, bigoted man babies !!!
The very existence of these knuckle draggers make me feel the need to apologise for being a white, near middle-aged, straight, cis, male who has an interest in cinema and likes writing about it. I can only hope people can take me seriously.
Thanks rant over !!
