Struggling with toxic fandom
I've always had a massive problem with toxic fandom and their actions over the years in general but now I believe we're entering a era where toxic fandom is actively being rewarded for its bad behavior. This is beyond frightening to me because I've always believed that if you do bad things, bad things will happen to you. But in the case of toxic fandom (along with trump rising to power), the universe has shown that if you do bad things, you'll get everything you've ever wanted and that's an absolutely horrible message to send. I mean if kids discovered this, then more of them will grow up to become monsters which is something the world really doesn't need.
What frustrates me is that every time I talk about this problem is that whenever I talk about this problem to someone, they either say "just ignore them" at best or "you're just a filthy whiny sjw so go kill yourself" or some other horrible thing. But the rise of skywalker and the snyder cut debacle clearly demonstrate that toxic fandom is more powerful than ever and that for all the talk people make of fighting against toxic fandom, they are more than willing to succumb to their demands out of fear. That's not fan love, that's terrorism. This is bad for everyone. It's bad for the studios since it just makes them look like cowardly spineless worms, it's bad for sane fans whose names will be forever smeared by the toxic fans, and it's bad for art because it stifles creativity. We constantly complain about overly controlling committees, but toxic fans are starting to turn into overly controlling committees.
With how 2020 has been so far with the coronavirus pandemic, the Australian forests burning on fire, kobe bryant's premature death, and trump using the pandemic to justify his unbridled racism, another incident of toxic fandom being rewarded for it's deplorable behavior just reminds me how powerless I am against this cruel unfair universe.
What do you think I should do about this and please don't use this thread as an excuse to antagonize and villify me.
First of all, I'm not accusing all fans of being toxic. Secondly "the new star wars films are agenda driven" news flash the creation of stars wars has always had a political agenda behind it. I mean apart from selling toys, what did you think the ewoks were for in return of the jedi? Lastly, this isn't about political agendas this or quality that, this is about bad people being rewarded for making the working environment of actors, critics, creatives, etc, extremely unsafe which is just going to drive creatives away from beloved franchises. I mean the whole reason Lucas gave up the rights to disney was because toxic fan backlash drove the guy away and he was tired of dealing with them.
"George Lucas sold Lucasfilm Ltd, including Star Wars, to Disney to secure the future of the company he had worked so hard for most of his working life to build from scratch. In his own words:
“I felt that I really wanted to put the company somewhere in a larger entity which could protect it. Disney is a huge corporation. They have all kinds of capabilities and facilities, so that there’s a lot of strength that is gained by this…I’m doing this so that the films will have a longer life, and so that more fans and people can enjoy them in the future. It’s a very big universe I’ve created and there are a lot of stories that are sitting in there.”
In Disney's original press release in 2012, George Lucas was quoted as saying:
"For the past 35 years, one of my greatest pleasures has been to see Star Wars passed from one generation to the next. It’s now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers. I’ve always believed that Star Wars could live beyond me, and I thought it was important to set up the transition during my lifetime."
See this is why toxic fans keep getting their way. People like you and henry cavill assume all fans are sweet innocent lambs and that the people who make these films are these great and mighty demons who destroy everything in their path. Also if Lucas didn't sell the rights due to toxic fan backlash, why did he tell the new york times in 2012 "why would I make anymore when everybody yells at you all the time and says what a terrible person you are?"
It's like everyone forgot just how horrific the backlash against lucas for the star wars prequels really was. But you know what? There's no point in trying to convince you. So go ahead and continue assuming that toxic fandom doesn't exist and just villify disney like everyone with george lucas after the prequels, but heed my words, someday, an innocent person might end up dead due to toxic fandom. Good day
Let's not even get started on the rick and morty fandom who harassed the show's female writers for the flimsiest of reasons, not to mention the schezshuan sauce incident.
The mainstream has become a complete, utterly mess, maybe we all should get away from this madness, and start to live within smaller, but easier to manage fandoms, with cheaper, but still entertaining works of media, that might work.
Any fandoms that spring to mind in this regard?
Not a fandom, just a small example of less popular media:
These days a saw a cartoon series called "Gari and His Demons", it was pretty fun, sometimes a little dirty, but this is a web cartoon after all.
Try to look into stuff like that for example.
What's Gari and his demons about?
It is about a demon hunter who really hates his job, he kinda sounds like Rick from Rick and Morty.
You really think that'd work?
But it is better than answering with hate. Hate will just breed more hate and you will never out hate your enemies. But if you show compassion, you may be able to dull their hate enough to calm them down and maybe, just maybe convert them to your side. And I am meaning everything from pop culture disagreements to politics.
There is too much hate in the world and it is not one person's or one political party's or one countries fault, but society as a whole. We have forgotten how to be kind to.one another.
This is of course my opinion of the matter.
You're right. If I continue to hate then I'll essentially become the thing that I dread most. I mean if I keep dwelling on this then I'm essentially the same as the snyder fanatics who harassed the studio into releasing the snyder cut all because they can't move on from failures. Maybe being a little more optimistic and compassionate might help.
Indeed. You may not change the world immediately, but you can influence kindness and that can influence others to do the same, and then slowly, you can fight to change the world. There is this quote from Gandalf that I love, from The Hobbit. "Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay… small acts of kindness and love "
The sad reality is that until someone actually dies, the people responsible won't be properly punished.
You'd think those kind of people would be properly punished after what they did to jake lloyd.