- Joined
- Mar 23, 2016
I still think they feel like being a fan of some established IP means the producers are entitled to their love and adoration no matter what they do. Like fans are literal slaves to the IP and not allowed to question it. They are like literal cultists that are not allowed to challenge the leadership. Viewed through that lens, everything clicks into place I say.
To these producers, fans aren't people who just enjoy something, they are more like conscripts. They voiced their enjoyment of something and they become part of the group and they better now love whatever the IP holders do with their IP, cause as fans, they are obliged to love it.
In that way, IPs are now more like cults that draw people in and whoever criticises it becomes a persona-non-grata and must be stopped. Old fans are mere slaves and they most likely lack the hip and cool ideologies of CURRENT YEAR, so the producers want hip and cool people who are into CURRENT YEAR ideologies as fans, since that carries more prestige.
Anyone not liking that approach must clearly be a bigot and a nazi (for how could anyone not see the light and wisdom of CURRENT YEAR ideologies?).
Look at how Star Wars fans were treated, look at how Trekkies are treated. It's something that happens with literally every IP now and it's just the logical extension of how Apple turned its fans into mindless brand-obsessed drones.
In that way, producers can't fathom that they aren't entitled to the fans love and adoration and their attempts at mixing in their ideology to draw in more people just fails, cause the old fans tell them to fuck off - and of course, the only reason for that is that these fans are evil nazis. The producers can't fathom that they themselves are the toxic assholes in this setup, cause they are too narcisistic to even contemplate for a second that their own farts could smell any different from virgin rose water.
So in short: The producers think they can do whatever they want and the old fans must be cool with it. They want to expand the fanbase and attract people into it that they think are more desirable and the producers just scoff at the old fans.
When the old fans tell them to get lost, the producers can only make sense of it one way: "These old fans are nazis".
The results of decades of cronyism and nepotism amongst the narcistic Hollywood "elites".
I am not being ironic when I say I wish we could go back to a time where actors were seen as so low, they weren't even given christian burials on holy ground. I don't think it's a particularly appropriate way to see these folks, but ffs I am so sick and tired of the cult of personality around a group of people that shields literal child molesters and rapists.
I dunno, men can become women and vice versa by a Twitter bio, legally enforced pronouns and titty skittles.
Saying Picard can no longer become a Q due to being a robot is just robophobic. Like, yikes. Get with the times, buddy.
Well, these shows would usually also explore problems both current and past, oftentimes give them a bit of a twist and extrapolate them to an extreme in the future or use metaphors.
A lot of sci-fi was very political and the best examples of that managed to really drive home interesting points.
The show "V" from 1983, for instance, made it very clear that the aliens were an analogy for fascists/nazis undermining the USA. And even though the end of the 1st season is a bit wonky (and let's not even talk about the 2nd season), the whole buildup and how everything pans out is very well written. You've got that dickish loserfag, that becomes a thug for the aliens, cause it allows him to make a career of bullying others. The aliens do some smart maneuvers to politically take over and become unquestionable before it becomes too late for anyone to notice.
Soylent Green (set in 2022 ironically) is a movie about Earth becoming barren due to polution and overpopulation which results in high levels of social upheavel. It's insanely bleak, with people working as "furniture" (literal sex slaves included in the inventory of apartment buildings) and barely anyone from the regular strata of society has ever eaten non-soy food.
Even something as seemingly benign as the bridge crew of ST TOS was a political statement.
The list goes on, but you get the point. Sci-Fi oftentimes explores themes and ideas about current politics or social issues.
The point is, this stuff was usually handled very tactfully, very smartly and not wagging it's finger at you in a moralising way (and if it did, it wasn't as grating as it is now).
Whoever made the show also made sure that the show/movie was fun and that the social issue covered in the plot would not detract from the actual movie or show, but rather expand it.
Now, sci-fi is just a cheap vehicle to sell ideologies - like all other media has become - and the audience is expected to have fun, based on supporting the ideology. It's really weird how it turned the concept of entertainment upside down and it shows us how these people tick.
Their attitude can be summed up as follows: "If you are a true friend of mine, you will agree with what I say" -> "If you are a true fan, you will enjoy what I make". It's no longer about being objective, you have to actively agree with something and then somehow derive enjoyment based on that agreement.
On a sidenote, notable current examples to the contrary of this political fad are few and far between. Like the Expanse, which has some political and social messages, but it does so in a smart way that doesn't beat you over the head with it. It has a very strong feminist angle, for instance, with powerful/capable female characters.... but here's the deal: They are all enjoyable and genuinely badass. Avasarala might be one of my favorite politicians of any media ever. Bobby is a badass amazon. Even a side-character like Drummer has great moments.
Why does it work here? Cause the guys making it were smart about it.
