The 'Fandom Is Broken' article

[NHawk19]

George Lucas may be the best modern example of this:

He created something that people embraced on a grand scale. He wasn't completely satisfied with it though so now Han doesn't shoot first and he corrects what he feels are his mistakes. Then he crafts 3 new stories that don't resonate with the fans as much.

The hate for them pretty much forces the guy off the internet. He sells his company. Then someone else, who wasn't the original creator tries to continue the stories, and whatever the original vision was is lost to something made for the fans.

 

[DeadPresident]

That's the problem with modern creatives and creative industries, the audience now owns and has full proprietorship over the content. Almost everything in pop culture is self-generated pandering for the audience, more so than ever the market creates its own products, and I think people are firmly aware of it.

This craze with remaking everything popular during the 80s and 90s is pretty much solely down to satisfying the superficial nostalgia most pop culture consumers have.

 

[chamber-music]

Remaking stuff is also about brand IP and marketing. Audiences generally are not demanding remakes of movies they liked. Most remakes aren't that successful.

Audiences seem to be in demand for sequels and prequels mostly.

I've felt nostalgia is a double edged sword.

A lot of creators like courting and sometimes pandering to their fanbase which can bite them in the ass if they ever turn on them.

 

[Incrediblejeff]

I totally agree with this article,and also I guess I'm in the minority when I say I usually agree with Devin Faraci (Most of the Time).He's usually on point with most of his articles.He just get's unhinged sometimes.

Oh and he also did a pretty good follow up article.

http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2016/05/31/yes-disney-should-have-a-queer-princess

 

[DeadPresident]

Remaking stuff is also about brand IP and marketing. Audiences generally are not demanding remakes of movies they liked. Most remakes aren't that successful.

Audiences seem to be in demand for sequels and prequels mostly.

I've felt nostalgia is a double edged sword.

A lot of creators like courting and sometimes pandering to their fanbase which can bite them in the ass if they ever turn on them.

I'm not really talking about the quality, I agree they're not all successful, but more the fact that things are getting remade as prolifically as they are right now. I'm also not only talking about remakes, a lot of humor these days is this lazy semi-meta bull**** that's meant to tap into the mundane crap the audience has to deal with.

The entire movie industry seems to be going the Judd Apatow route in terms of lazy audience wish-fulfilment/introspection narratives.

 

[Teelie]

I'm not going to bother reading the entire diatribe but to say this: People have been saying this for years. The fandom is broken. It's been broken since there were fans of something to be a fan of.

The fact it comes from this guy is ironic but it is in no way anything new and nothing will change. There will always be a vocal minority of fans who seem to hate everything about whatever the fandom is. There will never be a consensus on this is right, this is how it should be, nothing is wrong at all. That there is now a platform for the most ugly of fans and trolls to spew their message is the only difference here.

The majority of people know those people are *******s and not deserving of attention, yet they always get it. Especially when the media or someone else catches wind of them spewing those hateful things. Suddenly everyone realizes that person exists and now we all get to hear how because he said that, the fandom is broken, again.

 

[redhawk23]

George Lucas may be the best modern example of this:

He created something that people embraced on a grand scale. He wasn't completely satisfied with it though so now Han doesn't shoot first and he corrects what he feels are his mistakes. Then he crafts 3 new stories that don't resonate with the fans as much.

The hate for them pretty much forces the guy off the internet. He sells his company. Then someone else, who wasn't the original creator tries to continue the stories, and whatever the original vision was is lost to something made for the fans.

With Lucas it is important to keep in mind that 2 of the films he forced changes o to were films he neither wrote or directed.

 

[redhawk23]

I'm not going to bother reading the entire diatribe but to say this: People have been saying this for years. The fandom is broken. It's been broken since there were fans of something to be a fan of.

The fact it comes from this guy is ironic but it is in no way anything new and nothing will change. There will always be a vocal minority of fans who seem to hate everything about whatever the fandom is. There will never be a consensus on this is right, this is how it should be, nothing is wrong at all. That there is now a platform for the most ugly of fans and trolls to spew their message is the only difference here.

The majority of people know those people are *******s and not deserving of attention, yet they always get it. Especially when the media or someone else catches wind of them spewing those hateful things. Suddenly everyone realizes that person exists and now we all get to hear how because he said that, the fandom is broken, again.

The point is these aren't lone wolf assh*** or even just loud minorities. In many large scale online e spaces this crap is just how people engage with media.

 

[dark_b]

fandom is fixing things?
http://www.themarysue.com/fandom-isnt-broken/

 

[jmc]

Creators shouldn't cave into fan demands about what they should and shouldn't do about whatever story it is they are telling. I'm kinda sick of hearing about the latest hashtag to get something to happen to a particular character.

 

[Sawyer]

Of course, the one (and likely only) time I agree wholeheartedly with Devin is when a whole mess of people suddenly climb out of the woodwork to dispute him.

 

[chaseter]

fandom is fixing things?
http://www.themarysue.com/fandom-isnt-broken/

I take opposition when she asserts fandom is fixing things...only to her viewpoint. Others may not share her view. She references LGBTQIA or however long that initialism is now. Take the recent make Cap gay fan petition. If that happened, she would be celebrating it as a win for diversity...from her viewpoint. That would be an example to me of fandom being broken. Fandom hasn't changed, the outlets in which fandom can be expressed has changed. It's made fandom louder. There will always be pros and cons expressed by fans. The real problem lies with the creators. They cave to fans. They take the easy way (because of sales) and change existing characters to fit concerns for diversity. The problem lies with not being able to create new, interesting, diverse characters. It's financially safer to make Ice-Man gay than create a new gay superhero.

 

[dude stannis]

Of course, the one (and likely only) time I agree wholeheartedly with Devin is when a whole mess of people suddenly climb out of the woodwork to dispute him.

There's nothing to dispute what he says, it's just that he's as and in other cases far more guilty of the accusations he's hurling at "fandom".

 

[jmc]

I take opposition when she asserts fandom is fixing things...only to her viewpoint. Others may not share her view. She references LGBTQIA or however long that initialism is now. Take the recent make Cap gay fan petition. If that happened, she would be celebrating it as a win for diversity...from her viewpoint. That would be an example to me of fandom being broken. Fandom hasn't changed, the outlets in which fandom can be expressed has changed. It's made fandom louder. There will always be pros and cons expressed by fans. The real problem lies with the creators. They cave to fans. They take the easy way (because of sales) and change existing characters to fit concerns for diversity. The problem lies with not being able to create new, interesting, diverse characters. It's financially safer to make Ice-Man gay than create a new gay superhero.

Another example if the whole Elsa from Frozen thing. If people want to see that character as a metaphor for their sexuality then that's fine, but as someone who doesn't look at the character that way I find the notion that she has to be defined specifically that way to appease a small section of people as being ridiculous. These fans think they are doing good when in actual fact what they are asking is for the creators to do essentially free work for them. If you want a specific character to be a certain way then pay the money and get the creator to do it for you. You're not entitled for stories to be suited to your tastes.

 

[Lencho01]

A lot of ideas from fans that could have started with "Wouldn't it be cool if...?" have changed to "Not just cool, but it should happen." And since they have the means to easily voice those thoughts, they do. When it doesn't happen, they get angry.

 

[Teelie]

And none of this is new. It is only more appearent now that we have a place for everyone to yell their specific ideas at everyone else. I think the greatest example of this I can think of is Sherlock Holmes. Doyle was done and over the character. He killed Holmes off and it did not stop the fandom from demanding more. So he finally relented and churned out a bunch more stories. Mind you, this is well before the internet existed but people still act like this is a new thing.