If you’ve been anywhere on the internet, and recently especially, you see this ever growing and ever expanding feud between Marvel and DC comics fans. There is a constant and pretty ugly back and forth between these fans just about anywhere they can have confrontations. The real problem here however, is two fold.
Firstly, while it might seem noble to have a real fervent fandom and loyalty to a property that you love, and to a degree it is, but what these fans fail to realise, is that this idea of only one can survive does only damage to the genre as a whole. This point also relates to other IP holding studios like Sony and Fox. The idea here is that, a rising tide lifts all ships, and that idea hold true for films of a particular genre. When a movie does well, meaning usually it saw a good turn out of people and that they enjoyed themselves, that feeling is infectious. Seeing a good movie in the cinema, leads to wanting to repeat that experience. And i know you might be saying, that these fan boys are going to see these movies no matter what, but what you have to realise also, is that hardcore fanbases of most any property, only make up a small percentage of the people needed to make movies become financial successes. When people try to bring down some of these movies, they are simply making it less desirable for the average person, who isn’t a die hard fan to want to keep patronising such movies. I also know, many people will want to point to some of the numbers, and say well we can see these movies make or made more than these others, but if we look a little closer, we can see how much more related these movies really are. In the past we’ve had some spectacularly bad movies that have almost single handedly bring the entire genre to a halt. These are perfect examples of how connected these movies really are. Another great example, is the fact these feuds exist only at a fan level. Studios know that the more money a competitors film makes, means an elevated audience willingness to attend such films in the future. Long story short, they want ALL of these films to do well because that means more money for them.
The second real problem here, is that this kind of behaviour fosters an environment in which harsh and dangerous behaviours seem as part of the norm or casual life. These behaviours go so far as to make things like death threats against people who hold different opinions seem acceptable and normal. It perpetuates the idea that having a difference of opinion is enough to warrant a kind of blind hatred that in any other circumstance would be considered as bigotry or some form of it. And these things happen much more often than I think people think or understand. It also propagates this idea that to praise one thing, is to degrade its competition when there is more than enough room to have affection and praise for anything good, and fairly bring criticism on anything bad, no matter their origin.
So come on guys, being fan boys is cool until it isn’t. Lets not have this be another situation where we only realise something is a problem AFTER something bad has happened, when we can stop it now.
Cheers
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