"Everyone is entitled to their opinion!" How many times have you heard this today...or this week...or this month? It's become a very overused phrase in my humble opinion. This may seems strange coming from me, considering that I constantly share my opinions about a great many things. The problem it seems is that a great many people wield their opinions like some kind of weapon and it also seems that, on social media, these opinions are generally negative.
Lately I have been thinking about how social media impacts how we consume art and entertainment, particularly movies. Personally, I feel that the impact has been negative, for the most part. The minute any news about an upcoming film is released, my Facebook and Twitter feeds will light up. Any casting announcement, any plot detail, will generate a flood of commentary, most of it negative. There are people who will bash a film based on a single promotional image that is released years before the final film hits theaters.
Lately I have been thinking about how social media impacts how we consume art and entertainment, particularly movies. Personally, I feel that the impact has been negative, for the most part. The minute any news about an upcoming film is released, my Facebook and Twitter feeds will light up. Any casting announcement, any plot detail, will generate a flood of commentary, most of it negative. There are people who will bash a film based on a single promotional image that is released years before the final film hits theaters.
Two recent examples of this (as of the writing of this article), are "Ghostbusters" (2016) and "Suicide Squad."
As soon as it was announced that "Ghostbusters" was being rebooted with an all-female case, the Internet went nuts. People went batshit crazy over the fact that one of their beloved movies was being recast with all women. From now until the end of time, I will be convinced that a good percentage of the naysayers were just sexist dicks who simply couldn't handle this. When the first image of the ladies in their costumes was released, it got even worse. Social media went absolutely apoplectic over it, to the point where I had to just stay away for a few days. That's how relentless it was. From the minute the film was announced, to the day it came out in theaters, the negativity just went on and on and on. Then, when the film was finally released, all of the negative "reviews" came out. I am still quite sure that many of these people never even saw the movie. Even if they did, they couldn't wait to run back to their computers to let the world know how much the movie sucked and how they were "right" all along. As I write this, these same people are still gloating over the fact that the film is projected to lose money. This Horror Nerd is so glad that he does not need this kind of validation.
For the record, I actually liked "Ghostbusters" (2016).
As soon as it was announced that "Ghostbusters" was being rebooted with an all-female case, the Internet went nuts. People went batshit crazy over the fact that one of their beloved movies was being recast with all women. From now until the end of time, I will be convinced that a good percentage of the naysayers were just sexist dicks who simply couldn't handle this. When the first image of the ladies in their costumes was released, it got even worse. Social media went absolutely apoplectic over it, to the point where I had to just stay away for a few days. That's how relentless it was. From the minute the film was announced, to the day it came out in theaters, the negativity just went on and on and on. Then, when the film was finally released, all of the negative "reviews" came out. I am still quite sure that many of these people never even saw the movie. Even if they did, they couldn't wait to run back to their computers to let the world know how much the movie sucked and how they were "right" all along. As I write this, these same people are still gloating over the fact that the film is projected to lose money. This Horror Nerd is so glad that he does not need this kind of validation.
For the record, I actually liked "Ghostbusters" (2016).
Another good example is "Suicide Squard", specifically, Jared Leto's joker. Again, from the minute the casting announcement was made, to the first promo image, to the premiere of the film, people went bananas over this. They couldn't seem to handle the fact that the filmmakers were taking the character in a new direction, both in appearance and personality. Once again, once the movie was released, people whipped out their phones to make sure we all knew how much Leto's Joker sucked.
The point I am trying to make here is not so much about people expressing an opinion. That is certainly not going to change. My point is that in today's world of instant news and social media reach, I'm wondering how it all affects how we consume entertainment, specifically films and TV shows. Does the relentless negativity have an effect on the box office take or on TV viewership? I am not sure, but I tend to think that it might. Let's face it, movies are expensive, so if people see nothing but negativity written about a film, perhaps they are less likely to go and see it.
Beyond that, I think all of it has, overall, a negative impact on our collective enjoyment of film. Even though I personally do not care what someone else thinks of a film (I either like it or I don't), reading nothing but endless negativity does have an impact on me at times. It just wears me down. Especially this drive so many people seem to have to be "right". As soon as the first negative review of a film hits the Web, some people will post "See! I knew it was going to suck!" Well, good for you junior! I hope you can sleep better tonight feeling that way.
The point I am trying to make here is not so much about people expressing an opinion. That is certainly not going to change. My point is that in today's world of instant news and social media reach, I'm wondering how it all affects how we consume entertainment, specifically films and TV shows. Does the relentless negativity have an effect on the box office take or on TV viewership? I am not sure, but I tend to think that it might. Let's face it, movies are expensive, so if people see nothing but negativity written about a film, perhaps they are less likely to go and see it.
Beyond that, I think all of it has, overall, a negative impact on our collective enjoyment of film. Even though I personally do not care what someone else thinks of a film (I either like it or I don't), reading nothing but endless negativity does have an impact on me at times. It just wears me down. Especially this drive so many people seem to have to be "right". As soon as the first negative review of a film hits the Web, some people will post "See! I knew it was going to suck!" Well, good for you junior! I hope you can sleep better tonight feeling that way.
Negative opinions about a film, even before it was been released, are nothing new. When Michael Keaton was cast as Batman for Tim Burton's 1989 film, people scoffed, saying he was too much of a comic actor. Well, that turned out fine, didn't it? There are a thousand other examples. However, back then, news items about a film were much more scarce. We didn't know about casting choices or plot details 2 years before a film hit the theaters. We heard or read tidbits, but we didn't really get a lot of information until the first trailer hit. We also didn't have the Internet (yes, I am old) and even after the World Wide Web came along, we didn't have social media for a while, so while news about upcoming films would be posted to websites, people raging about some casting decision didn't have the ability to share their lovely opinions with the entire world with just a few keystrokes. Today, that's all different. A website posts information about an upcoming film, and ten seconds later, everyone knows what everyone else thinks about it.
So.....rather than drone on and one about this, I will close by saying that I don't think that overall the Internet and social media are a bad thing when it comes to our shared experience with film and other entertainment. I do enjoy reading about what my friends thought of a particular film, or TV show. However, I do think that social media overall does cast a shadow of negativity over all of it. If a casting choice or plot decision is the least bit "controversial", people who consider themselves custodians of a particular property will spew their vitriol all over everything, and we're forced to just wade through all of it. All I can say is, don't let it consume you. If you're interested in something, go check it out, and judge for yourself.
Until next time.....thanks for reading!
The Horror Nerd
So.....rather than drone on and one about this, I will close by saying that I don't think that overall the Internet and social media are a bad thing when it comes to our shared experience with film and other entertainment. I do enjoy reading about what my friends thought of a particular film, or TV show. However, I do think that social media overall does cast a shadow of negativity over all of it. If a casting choice or plot decision is the least bit "controversial", people who consider themselves custodians of a particular property will spew their vitriol all over everything, and we're forced to just wade through all of it. All I can say is, don't let it consume you. If you're interested in something, go check it out, and judge for yourself.
Until next time.....thanks for reading!
The Horror Nerd
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