So I had another post that I was planning to do right about now, but recently I’ve been having some interactions with people on online forums (Reddit, Discord, etc.) that have inspired me to write this right now instead. Not working off of any outline this time around, so this is going to be fully stream-of-consciousness.
Before getting into the “meat” of today’s topic, allow me to clarify a few things. First of all; yes, I recognize the fact that I myself am a nerd, but that doesn’t mean I have to like all other nerds too. Furthermore, when I say “nerd” here, I’m only really referring to pop culture enthusiasts. Lastly, I recognize that all the things I’m about to say only apply to a minority of nerds out there, but let’s face it, they’re a very loud minority. While it’s true that most people are able to maintain a healthy balance between the things they’re enthusiasts of and all other aspects of their lives, some people out there are very toxic towards the things they claim to be fans of, and all this does is make the rest of us all look bad too.
So now that I got all that out of the way, let’s just get straight to the point of what I want to say today:
In all of the recent conversations I’ve been having online with other fans of things that I enjoy (mainly Star Wars and the MCU), I’ve noticed that most people continue to say the films and shows in these franchises that are generally the more well-received ones are simply “just better.” And yet, these people all fail to provide concrete examples as to why those films/shows are, by their terms, “objectively better” than the films/shows in those same franchises that generally aren’t as well-received.
Look, I know I have very unpopular opinions these days about, well, pretty much everything! But you know what? At least I do two things differently from all of these other people. Firstly, I almost always remember to state that whatever I say is only my own opinion and nothing more. And secondly, I always make sure to support those opinions with story examples, to explain why I feel the way I do. The people I often find myself debating with online, however, fail to do both of these things (let alone just one). They state their opinions as “objective facts” just because the films/shows they like are “the popular ones,” and then fail to provide any examples from the stories themselves (unrelated to their impact on the outside world) to justify those opinions.
To make matters worse, these same people then proceed to virtually crucify those like me, just for proposing a different way to look at things. Which is fine, if that’s what they want to do. I don’t care what any of them think or say about me. But still, I can’t deny how frustrating it is that people these days seem so pigeon-holed into their own beliefs that they refuse to even acknowledge that opposite beliefs on something can even exist! And for the record, even though I’m just talking about pop culture here (since that’s what I’m most passionate about), I’m well aware of the fact that this sort of mentality exists in many other aspects of the world too (politics probably being the biggest example, of course).
In the past, I’ve mentioned that, at least with Star Wars in particular, generational divides amongst the fandom play a role in all of this. In other words; too much time went by in between the making of each trilogy for everyone to be happy. But while I think that’s a big part of the problem, I don’t think it’s the only factor at play here. At least not when talking about pop culture as a whole, that is. This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, but a lot of the same people who like to talk about Star Wars also like to talk about Marvel (specifically the MCU).
Slightly unrelated, but I find it funny that the same people who say “I hate all of the Marvel-ish humor in The Last Jedi” also say “I wish Kevin Feige was in control of all of Star Wars! I want it to be more like the MCU!!” Which one is it, buddy? Also, be careful what you wish for. I doubt the sequel trilogy would’ve been much better had Feige put it together instead. As I’ve said many times on here before, Star Wars became “unfixable” longterm as soon as The Empire Strikes Back decided to retroactively make the whole thing about just one family, among other things.
Anyways, as I’ve also mentioned in the past, MCU fans can be very stuck-up. Almost every film in the franchise is put on a pedestal, and the few that aren’t are instead taken to the complete opposite extreme and treated like utter filth (Captain Marvel comes to mind). Like Star Wars fans, these fans seem to have a hard time accepting when people have different opinions that aren’t “the norm,” and when asked why their opinions are better than anyone else’s, all they can say is some variation of “This movie got a 90% on rotten tomatoes and made $2 billion and everyone likes it!!” Again, exterior elements that have nothing to do with the product itself. Starting to see some patterns?
Here’s the thing, though; the MCU fanbase doesn’t have generational divides, like the Star Wars fanbase does. While Marvel comics are nearly 60 years old now, the MCU itself has only been around for 13 years. So if generational nostalgia isn’t playing a role here, then what’s making these fans just as elitist as Star Wars fans? You’d think, in the case of both franchises, age would play a factor, and that adults would be more mature about all this stuff than teens are. But believe it or not, some of the most toxic people I meet when talking about either franchise are adults who grew up with the original Star Wars trilogy. Personally, I think it’s sad that adults can be that whiney, but whatever…
So upon recently giving this question some more thought, I think the answer boils down to one simple concept: Hive Mind Mentality. Or as psychologists like to call it: The Sphere of Influence.
What’s this, you may ask? I’ll admit, I’m probably not sophisticated enough in psychological theory to be able to explain it in an entirely correct manner. In short, though; if you take a bunch of uncertain people in a group, and then a few particularly loud individuals (“loud” being figurative here) in said group make up their mind about something and express it “loudly,” the sphere of influence will spread to the point where pretty much all of the remaining uncertain individuals in the group conform to the hive mind, just for the sake of conforming and, in most cases, avoiding conflict. Again, it’s a little more complex than how I’m making it sound, but that’s basically it.
I remember when The Last Jedi first came out, and people weren’t sure how to feel about it one way or the other (myself included). Then a group of VERY loud fans voiced their grievances on social media, and suddenly I noticed many other friends of mine, as well as popular YouTubers who initially liked the movie, conforming to that mentality (again, myself included). Now, before going any further, let me make something clear: I am NOT saying that anyone who dislikes The Last Jedi is wrong, nor am I saying that it’s a flawless movie (as I’ve said many times before, I have my issues with it just like everyone else does). It’s possible that all of my friends who weren’t sure how they feel when they first saw it have genuine reasons for disliking it now. All I’m saying is that I noticed that most of them only seemed to start saying they dislike it once they saw what others were saying about it on social media first. Just an observation.
Furthermore, I am also NOT saying that movies such as The Empire Strikes Back and Avengers: Endgame are only liked because of “hive mind.” Despite the fact that I think both of those films in particular are a little overrated, even I cannot deny that they both still have many reasons to be as beloved by “diehard fans” as they are. That being said, however, I’m still a firm believer in the idea that “all art is subjective,” which is something that I feel many of these “hive-minded” individuals that I’m talking about here fail to accept, and I’ve especially noticed it when debating the three aforementioned films in particular with these very same people.
As a matter of fact, just today I was writing on a fan forum (on a thread specifically for unpopular opinions, funny enough) about how I feel The Empire Strikes Back is a little overrated and The Last Jedi is a little underrated, providing story-driven reasons as to why I think that way (many of the same points I’ve detailed on this blog), and mentioned how I feel that all art is subjective. Then a couple of people replied to me saying that all art is NOT subjective, providing examples such as “Mozart is an objectively better musician than Britney Spears” and “Citizen Kane is an objectively better movie than The Room.”
Clearly, these people are too dense to realize that they’re basically comparing apples to oranges here. A classical orchestra composer who lived centuries ago has nothing to do with a modern-day pop star, and a movie made by a professional and seasoned filmmaker has nothing to do with a movie made by an amateur who is also likely a runaway criminal. Simply comparing one Star Wars movie to another Star Wars movie, though? That’s allowed…
Another thing these people fail to realize is that using external factors to try to justify their opinions is useless since timing has a lot to do with the success of all this stuff as well. If the original Star Wars came out in 1985, it might have ended up being eclipsed by Back to the Future. And don’t use the excuse “Back to the Future wouldn’t have existed had Star Wars not come first.” Back to the Future (the original, at least) was made on a super small budget. As a matter of fact, it probably had a better chance of getting made than Star Wars did in the pre-1977 world. Similarly, had something like the live-action Transformers been released in 1977, with the same exact special effects that it had in 2007 (stretch your mind here), it would have eclipsed Star Wars just because of the CGI alone.
This applies to other art forms as well. Had Appetite for Destruction been released today, it would NOT be hailed as one of the greatest albums of all time like it is. Instead, tons of copies of it would be burned at ceremonial group bonfires just because the song It’s So Easy has the line “turn around bitch, I got a use for you.” Similarly, had a band like Slipknot existed in the 1960’s, they’d be banned from nearly every venue in existence for being “too satanic.” On the flip side of that, had Greta Van Fleet existed in the mid 1960’s, Led Zeppelin would be considered “the ripoff band” instead (they kind of already were a ripoff band actually, but that's a whole other can of worms). All of these things are dependent on timing, and luck.
Slightly more on topic; comparing Star Wars to the MCU isn’t fair, either. Someone else I was debating with today was saying that if any of the people who made the sequel trilogy had tried to do Kevin Feige’s job of building the MCU, they would’ve fucked it up. And you know what? They’re probably right. But again, what the fuck does one thing have to do with the other? Besides, as great as Feige is, he probably wouldn’t have been able to “pull off” the sequel trilogy either (as I detailed above), and he also didn’t really pull off the MCU perfectly either (as I’ve mentioned elsewhere). And for the record, after I wrote about Marvel the last time, someone clarified for me that most of the flaws in Phases 1 and 2 had more to do with Ike Perlmutter, who apparently is some weirdo that Feige used to have to answer to. I don’t know much about this guy, but from the little about him that I’ve heard, he sounds like a major asshole, so thank fuck he’s gone now!
Anyways, even though the MCU’s “Infinity Saga” consisted of 23 films, absolutely none of those 23 films had to deal with 32 years worth of unrealistic expectations, like all of the Star Wars sequel trilogy films had to. But again, these same people who say the MCU is “objectively perfect” (bar a few exceptions, of course) also say that it’s an “objective fact” that the original Star Wars trilogy is better than the sequel trilogy, even though many of the same complaints people have about the sequels can almost just as easily be applied to the originals too (character regression, retcons, tonal inconsistencies, messy world-building, universe-shrinking, etc.). And again, I couldn’t care less about the fact that the original trilogy is “influential” and retroactively critically-acclaimed (I say “retroactively” cause people forget that both Empire and Return got a lot of bad reviews back in the day). Plenty of bad movies are successful and influential, and plenty of good movies fail to ever reach anyone’s radar.
And yet, when trying to explain to people over and over again why I don’t think either the original Star Wars trilogy or the MCU are as great as everyone else does, I get hit with the same rebuttals over and over: “They made a lot of money and are critically acclaimed and influential, and they make the fans happy!” Yeah, cause making fans happy is the most important thing, right? Fuck whatever’s probably best for the story at hand itself, right? It’s all about making the “fans” happy! Suuuuure…
Very few of these people actually address things from the story itself (when trying to rebuttal me, at least). So really, the only conclusion I can draw at this point is that most of these people don’t even know anymore why they like the things that they like. They just… Follow along with the norm. Simple as that, really.
And for the record, if you feel personally offended by this, just know that I’m not talking about you specifically (whoever you are). If you fit into the group that I’m describing here (you grew up with the original trilogy, you think Empire and Endgame are the best movies ever made, etc.), I would at least ask that you take a minute to ask yourself WHY you like the things you do, and avoid pointing towards outside factors like statistics and impact and whatnot. Focus on just the story itself. If you can do that, and come up with some solid reasons for liking the things that you like, and you accept that your opinions are yours and my opinions are mine, then you’re all good in my book.
And to be honest, I’m not perfect either. Back in high school and college, I used to state my opinions as if they were facts, and basically told anyone who disagreed with me that they were stupid. And you know what? Sometimes I still do that, even to this day. In my own defense though, it gets exhausting seeing things that I like get endlessly shitted on and unfairly compared to other things that I find to be overrated. But, just for the sake of being fair, I’ll try to make a more conscious effort of emphasizing the fact that my own opinions are nothing more than my own opinions. Cool?
Still, though; I can’t help but wonder why pop-culture nerds in particular seem to be more susceptible than others to this hive-mind/ sphere-of-influence stuff. If I had to guess (and I know I’m generalizing and even stereotyping a bit here), it’s probably because most of these people grew up feeling isolated in some way, hence why they became such big fans of the things that they’re fans of in the first place. It was those very things that gave them a sense of “belonging.” Therefore, conforming to the norm and liking whatever is popular without taking a minute to stop and think WHY they really like something, might just be their way of furthering that sense of belonging. And chances are, most of them are doing this at a subconscious level, without even knowing it.
Once again, if you think you fit this description, then here’s what I have to say to you: Life is pretty fucking lonely sometimes, no matter who you are. At some point or another, you’re gonna have to learn to deal with that in a healthy way. If you want to be with other people (friends, relationship partners, etc.) in a way that isn’t toxic or too dependent, then you’ll need to know how to stand on your own two feet first. Find a hobby that’ll keep you happy no matter what. Pssst: Try writing!
A lot of people skip this step in life, because they’re just so anxious to get to the “belonging” phase. And for the record, I know this applies to all aspects of life, but I definitely seem to notice it among people who, for one reason or another that likely isn’t their fault, grew up with “social weaknesses” (or in oldschool terms; nerds). Deep down, they feel lonely, so they compensate by just following along with whatever the “cool” thing is and putting down anyone who thinks otherwise. In a way, they become the very thing that gave them grief in the first place. Ironic, isn’t it?
The absolute worst example of this are all those clickbait YouTubers who make up obvious lies and just tell people what they want to hear, so that it increases their number of followers and makes them feel like they have attention. I’m sure click revenue plays a factor too, but that’s neither here nor there. I won’t mention any of these people by name, because they don’t deserve any more attention than they already have, but if you’re as a big of a pop culture enthusiast as I am, you probably know the handful of people I’m talking about. If I had to guess, most of them probably had to deal with childhood social anxiety at the most extreme level, and it probably had something to do with their “nerdy” personalities.
And while I feel bad for all these individuals, at the end of the day, we all need to become adults. But shitting on other people just for having different opinions, and not even having the decency to provide valid reasons for doing so, ain’t a very “adult” thing to do…
Another unrelated but still valid thing: A lot of people also like to say that the most important aspect of a story is whatever the storyteller’s intention was. And while I partially agree, I think the real answer is a little more complicated than that still. For instance, George Lucas likes to claim that he knew all along that Vader would be Luke’s father, and that Leia would be his sister… He’s lying. But even if what he says there is true, it still doesn’t take away from the fact that there’s absolutely nothing in the original 1977 Star Wars to indicate that this is indeed the case. By judging that one movie all on it’s own, there’s nothing at all that thematically communicates the idea that family is as important to the story as Lucas likes to say.
Conversely, Rian Johnson has already said several times that a lot of the thematic things that people like me enjoy about The Last Jedi are actually just coincidental, and that he wasn’t even thinking about any of that stuff when he wrote it. Those story choices were just what felt natural to him. Nevertheless, when viewing the film entirely on it’s own, and not thinking about the writer’s intentions, or the story’s impact, or anything else, I don’t think anyone can deny that the thematic messages it gets across are stuff like “family legacy, or lack thereof, shouldn’t define you” and “winning the war isn’t as simple as just killing one person” and so on. So again, the creator’s intention, or lack of intention, isn’t what matters. All that matters is how the final product itself comes across, regardless of whatever the creator’s mindset was or wasn’t.
On that note: I’ll also say that, for me, the best films in a series are the ones that stand on their own, yet still fit together with the rest. In my opinion, The Force Awakens has the issue of not doing enough to thematically set up it’s own sequels, whereas many MCU films (not all, to be fair) focus too much on trying to set up other films, to the point where they themselves feel less like actual movies and more like commercials. The Last Jedi did enough to interest me on it’s own, while still leaving me curious to see where things could go, without giving too much away as to what the next film would be about. It seems like a lot of people these days prefer when films have a lot of “forward momentum” and give a clear direction about where everything is heading, and while I enjoy the MCU, I feel like it had a lot to do with conditioning people to think this way. As much as I love WandaVision (it’s easily my favorite thing in the entire MCU now), and am curious about all the future things it’s setting up, I don’t need literally every story ever to work that way now…
Sorry for getting off-track! Just felt the need to get all that stuff towards the end out of my system. Like I said in the beginning, I’m writing without an outline this time… Okay, I’ll shut up now!
Peace!
PS: Mark Hamill is a hypocrite too. He keeps flipping back and forth between saying that he wishes Luke would’ve become a full-blown Sith Lord and saying that he prefers Luke as “a symbol of hope and optimism.” Which one is it, man?
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