Norm Wilner ‏@normwilner
1. I can't help thinking this whole "how dare critics not like SUICIDE SQUAD" thing is the logical conclusion of social media bubbles.
2. The net encourages us to build our own communities, but those communities naturally tend towards like-minded isolation.
3. So there's "DC rocks, Marvel sucks" and "Marvel rules, DC drools", and each group fosters its own enthusiasms for things.
4. And people who spend a -lot- of time online get really invested in their thing being successful. It's the same tribalism as pro sports.
5. And just as it is with sports, you get hard stats mixed up with personal preferences and a great deal of magical thinking.
6. "Superman is awesome, why don't people love the new movie" is the same as "This team I like is THE BEST, why can't they win a series".
7. And because the overcommitted fan base for both comics and sports is predominantly male, there's also a streak of bro-based entitlement.
8. Factor in the marketing of SUICIDE SQUAD as "wicked awesome transgressive" and you can see how that might play into that psychology.
9. If you didn't like BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DEATH OF JOY, you didn't "get" what Zack Snyder was trying to do with the characters ...
10. ... but if you don't like SUICIDE SQUAD, you're a *****. I have yet to see the film; I'm just paraphrasing the response to critics.
11. It's more that they're finally being catered to after decades of being ignored, and they can't handle the power.
12. So now we're at a point where every single piece of information is treated as The Precious for fans to embrace or reject at will.
13. And when a given movie finally arrives, its quality is not as important as its statistical performance on Rotten Tomatoes.
14. Because what fans seek most is validation -- they want the world to agree with them that their chosen team or franchise is The Best.
15. It all comes down to an essential insecurity, which is why they're embracing superhero power fantasies in the first place.
16. And if you're on one side, then everyone else must be on the other side. Or on the other side's payroll, because what else explains it?
17. Which brings us back to the bubble, where bat**** conspiracy theories about Marvel payola explain the low ratings for recent DC movies.
18. If SUICIDE SQUAD -- which, I remind y'all, has yet to even play to a paying audience -- fails to top DEADPOOL, is that a conspiracy?
19. No, it is not. But good luck trying to tell people that when they've already built the story in their heads.
20. I mean, there are people who still think Bill Buckner was paid to bobble that grounder in 1986. But errors happen in sports ...
21. ... just as people's entertainment preferences are individualistic even when they're part of a herd. Some prefer DC, some prefer Marvel.
22. The domination of Marvel movies makes the DC boosters feel powerless and small. They're back to being losers. And they don't like it.
