Things get difficult today as we discuss ALLEN V FARROW and toxic fandom
It feels like these conversations never end these days
It’s Monday, March 28, and here’s where we are…
A little transparency to kick things off today.
I am having a hard time managing my energy this month. I am starting to figure it out. I have a Star Wars column I’m prepping for you, but there are some other things I chipped away at that I ended up not liking again, and it forced me to take a step back and ask myself what it is that I’m supposed to be sending you.
I’ve started to fall back into some of the bad habits that I got into at HitFix, becoming largely responsive to what’s being released and feeling like I need to work on the same promotional calendar as everyone else. Realizing how easy it is to just drop into that pattern is alarming. It’s easy to just dance to the tune that the studios play. That’s what they depend on. Part of the reason I burned out was that there’s a constant onslaught of new material that is all trying to make the exact same amount of noise, and if you have to write about it all, you will absolutely go numb to it.
I launched this newsletter at a very strange time for all of us, not just for me, but there’s no way to quantify just how weird the timing has been. Writing about this industry this year is just bizarre and the industry itself is shifting and mutating in ways that almost defy encapsulation. It felt like this year really laid bare just how shabby the access-driven entertainment journalism world is, though, because without this steady drip of hype, it was clear just how little there was for many of these outlets to actually say.
I hate when I feel like I’m on a treadmill doing this. That’s not a great way to process art, either for the writer or the reader. I don’t want you to feel like I’m going through the motions, and I certainly don’t want to send you things that feel tossed away. I don’t look at this newsletter as disposable, and that’s what I think a lot of online writing is. It’s designed to be read rightthismoment about something that is happening rightthismoment and if you don’t read it at that particular point in time, there is zero value to it at all. When I think of all the disposable words I have pumped out to tell you about a casting choice you’d see with your own two eyes a year later or speculating about something that we’ll all see within a few months or trying to find new ways to say, “Here’s a new trailer for a thing,” I just want to weep.
Maybe I feel like I’m trapped in Groundhog Day because of this pandemic year we’ve been collectively having, or maybe it’s because everything really is one big loop, the background on a Scooby-Doo episode, endlessly recycling while we scramble down a carton hallway. It feels that way because I see these things just play out in cycles. Maybe they get a little worse or a little better, but time really does seem to be a flat circle these days.
Case in point…
RAMPING UP FOR MORE FANTRUMS
Fantrums do not impress me and, sadly, they do not surprise me.
I feel like I’ve been writing about toxic fan culture for a long time, and it’s not going to change, and it’s not going to go anywhere. If anything, it is getting worse, and every time a studio indulges these fan bases, it escalates. The conversation itself is so layered in bullshit that it can be genuinely depressing to wade in and try to make sense of it all, but
First, I don’t need to hear again how Zack Snyder’s fans raised money for suicide prevention charities. Doing something good does not absolve you of any other responsibility for your behavior, and just because some of his fans did a good thing, it does not mean there is not a vocal percentage of his fanbase who continue to be the absolute worst. If anything, they seem to now use this as a shield that “proves” that they can’t possibly be toxic.
Warner Bros. was finished with Zack Snyder’s vision for this universe somewhere between the opening weekend of Batman v Superman and the moment they hired Joss Whedon to royally fuck up the theatrical version of Justice League. They remain just as done with Zack Snyder’s vision as they were at that point. They agreed to finance and release Zack Snyder’s Justice League because they saw it as an easy way to have a “brand-new” giant-budget superhero film on their streaming service without having to pay for an entire brand-new giant-budget superhero film. They also saw it as an opportunity to earn some goodwill with a fanbase that has harassed them for the last few years, but what they’re starting to realize is that there’s no making this fanbase happy. They gave them the thing they asked for and even before most of them had the chance to screen it, they started demanding David Ayer’s cut of Suicide Squad and two sequels to ZSJL and a restored timeline that leads into The Flash and any number of other things that they’re just not going to get, setting up more years of noisy harassment.
This is a moment where Warner needs to make a choice. Right now, if you look at any social media post made by the company, you can get a very quick crash course in just how ugly and shitty the Snyder fans can be. James Gunn just dropped the trailer for his new take on The Suicide Squad, and almost immediately, Snyder’s fans started spamming every place it was posted. You can go to Twitter and see the way they do this to anything the company posts, no matter if it’s appropriate or not. For example, check out this tweet:
Again, giving money to something doesn’t automatically make you good or decent, but at this point, any effort from a corporation to try to support communities that feel like they’re under attack is probably a good thing. So how do Snyder’s fans react? Like this:
Or this:
Or this:
It goes on and on and on, and it is mind-boggling to me how tone-deaf they are. Here’s a tweet about Warner parntering with MACRO and The Black List to create a screenwriter incubator program:
Again, the replies are just jammed with these single-minded children throwing their horrible Veruca Salt tantrums. “But they aren’t swearing! They aren’t saying mean things!” Get out of here with that. If I started a conversation face-to-face with someone about any topic except Zack Snyder, and all you could talk about was Zack Snyder, that conversation would be over, and I’d walk away wondering how you got your skull dented. Understanding when it is or isn’t appropriate to discuss things is one of those fundamental lifeskills you might want to get locked down before you get an internet account, but these people make this their entire online personality. They’re currently review-bombing other Warner Bros movies on IMDb to drag their scores down, as this person pointed out:
There is no filmmaker I am blindly devoted to. I certainly have filmmakers who I like more than others, whose work speaks to me in some way, whether aesthetic or thematic, and I get excited when they’re putting new movies out. But I’ve been disappointed enough times in my life to realize that film, even when you’ve got wildly talented people involved, films sometimes just don’t work. It’s an art, not a mechanical process. I can’t imagine spending this much time and energy focused on the work of one filmmaker and I certainly can’t imagine this kind of non-stop campaign on behalf of someone else’s work.
I don’t believe that this is about artistic integrity. If that’s the only reason they’re dedicated to this particular cause, then I presume they’re going to be very busy addressing every film that has ever been released in a form that was less than 100% satisfactory to the director, and then after they finish that, they can start petitioning to make sure that every film ever reflects the vision of the original writer as well. That should keep them busy roughly until the last bit of heat from our sun dies out in four and a half billion years, since compromise is baked into almost every part of the studio filmmaking process. Part of being able to effectively work in film and television is learning an ability to deliver something that delivers on your original intent without being driven crazy by all of the ways you will compromise.
Snyder’s not helping things at all, and he’s starting to look less like a victim of circumstance and more like a troll who knows full well what kind of trouble he’s causing. ZSJL ends roughly sixteen different times, and there’s a shot involving Superman opening his shirt to reveal the suit underneath that feels like an absolutely perfect ending. Of course, Snyder went out of his way to shoot and tack on an epilogue that runs what feels like an additional hour and a half after that point which is basically a look at what he would have done with the next two Justice League films, like a “Next Time On Justice League” teaser. He knew what would happen and now it’s happening and no one should be remotely surprised. He says he’s done with his Warner Bros movies in interviews, but he spends his days quietly using social media to affirm the actions of this toxic fanbase. I don’t buy that he’s unaware of these tactics. Far from it. I think he sees all of this as a validation of his vision and while I’m sure that feels great, I’d love for him to give James Gunn a call to explain why he should throw his film in the trash so that Warner Bros can re-release the David Ayer film they didn’t like again.
Oh, that’s insane? Yes, yes it is. Doesn’t prevent “fans” from acting like that. But, yeah, that’s insane.
Let’s wrap this up with the trailer James Gunn just released. When you look at where DC is headed as a company, there’s really no part of their plans where continuing to throw money at Snyder’s horrible fan base makes any sense at all. I think it’s smart to embrace the idea that every film series requires its own tone, its own attitude, and it does sound like they’re working to make room for different filmmakers to try radically different things. Snyder had his moment, and instead of embracing the victory of finally seeing his last film restored to the “original” version, his fans are determined to turn this into simply one-stop on an unending Wonka factory tour where they want it all.
I’ll look forward to this in August, and I’ll be curious to see if Ann Sarnoff sticks to her guns. She spoke to Variety last week in very blunt terms about this being the end of the road for Snyder, the Ayer cut of Suicide Squad, and pretty much anything else this fanbase is demanding. I hope she means it. I don’t think David Ayer went through anything even remotely akin to what happened to Snyder. There was no personal tragedy. He wasn’t replaced by another filmmaker. He made a studio movie and he didn’t win all of his fights. That is not a scandal, and it does not demand another fucking movement online.
In the meantime, if you’re one of these people, feel free to reply to today’s column in the comments section, but I warn you… if you are abusive or if you can’t discuss these things rationally, I will have zero patience for it. It’s a big internet, and there are plenty of places for Snyder’s fans to run wild being awful to anyone who dares to challenge them. This particular corner of it is mine, though, and I’m done with this nonsense.
And speaking of not-even-slightly incendiary topics we could discuss…
THE ART IS THE ARTIST
Since we’re already talking about things that are guaranteed to irritate people, now’s the time to discuss HBO’s recently-wrapped documentary series Allen v Farrow.
I watched all four episodes before commenting, and I’ve also read Woody Allen’s Apropos of Nothing and plenty of the defenses of Allen that have been published over the years. At this point, I presume Allen’s said all he plans to say about this in public and that’s probably a good thing. There’s no good way for him to continue this conversation.
Let’s start by saying that the documentary is about far more than just this particular case. At its heart, this is a documentary about the way powerful men can manage any situation, no matter how scandalous, and there is a simmering, scathing anger threaded throughout the entire series. I presume at least part of that anger comes from realizing just how masterfully Allen and his entire team managed to play the media, and how willing the media was to be played. There was a narrative that Allen pushed that absolutely became the dominant narrative for decades, and it really only has been recently that the situation began to shift for reasons that had little to do with Allen directly.
I believe Dylan Farrow. I believe her unreservedly. More than that, I believe that the only reason Woody Allen isn’t in jail right now is because a prosecutor made the difficult decision that testifying in a high visibility trial would have further traumatized a child, hardly a reason for someone to spend the next three decades loudly blathering about how innocent they are. Even more than that, though, I believe her because Woody Allen has been making movies his entire career that lend credence to the idea that he did this thing. When someone tells you who they are, listen to them.
I know the documentary series leaned heavily on Manhattan, and that’s a movie that deserves an unpacking all its own. I’ll write about it at some point because I genuinely think it’s a great film, just like I think Luc Besson’s film The Professional is great, even though both of them also come with baggage that is hard to contextualize. For me, though, the film that I think is the most personally revealing, whether it was intended that way or not, is Crimes and Misdemeanors. It’s a movie about living with the weight of having done terrible things in your life, and while it was deservedly nominated for three Oscars, it was a box-office failure, and that doesn’t surprise me at all. It is one of the darkest films in his whole filmography, a film that posits that the universe is a cold and cruel place, indifferent at best, openly hostile at worst, without any true moral law or consequence. It is a cynical film, but it feels honest as well. This is a mature, difficult work, and while there’s no easy one-to-one autobiography here, considering when this was made, it feels like someone who is genuinely wrestling with these moral questions and coming up short. I would argue that Husbands and Wives is equally damning and equally revealing, and neither of these films paint Allen in a positive light. The characters he writes are full of weakness and moral failings and they make horrible decisions, and Allen’s steadfast refusal to condemn anyone is a real window into his world view.
The series makes a strong case for the way Allen used his public image to wage this war, and I was flat-out amazed to see Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering actually call out Leslee Dart, Allen’s PR person at the time of the incident, digging into the way power is used to shape a public narrative. Many of the pieces I’ve read in defense of Allen since this documentary aired use the exact same talking points and the exact same language, and that’s not because these people are part of a conspiracy. It’s because Allen’s team has done the job they were supposed to do, blanketing the media with his version of the narrative to the point that it has become the only version of the narrative. I can’t blame anyone because I’ve regurgitated those same talking points many times over the years. The documentary’s greatest value is the way it carefully, methodically challenges the narrative that Allen’s been pushing this entire time, and when I hear him complain that he doesn’t feel like this series presents his point of view, I think he’s wrong. His point of view is amply included here, and he’s been very vocal over the years about what he says went on. I’ve heard his side of the story, and he explained as much as he seems to feel he needed to explain in his autobiography.
That’s not to say I feel that the documentary is the only word on the subject. As with any subject, this should be a beginning point if you’re genuinely curious about the truth. The final episode raises the question about what you do with Woody Allen’s film if you believe the charges, and I feel the same way now as I did before the documentary. His films are his films. They exist. You’re free to watch them or not watch them, but they’re not going anywhere. I haven’t seen a new Woody Allen film in many years now, and I have no interest in supporting his ongoing work in any way. It’s interesting to see how angry people get when you tell them that, though. There are people who not only continue to support Allen but who get angry at the mere idea that you might not want to watch his work. I think I understand it, and I had to really examine my own reactions over the course of the four hours of the documentary.
The truth is Woody Allen’s films helped shape the way I think about art. They are certainly not the sole influence on me, but they have been there as long as I have been consciously thinking about film, starting with my profound frustration in 1977 to see Annie Hall win Best Picture instead of Star Wars. I was seven years old at the time and I couldn’t imagine that any film anywhere could be any better than Star Wars, which was the perfect movie, and I swore at that point that Woody Allen would be my lifelong enemy. When I started trying to figure out what screenplays looked like on the page, I found a book that featured several of Allen’s scripts, and they were among the first that I ever read. I didn’t even know if I liked them or disliked them at that point… I just knew that I could read the words on the page and then look at the movie and see how one became the other for the first time, and that was fascinating. Little by little, as he kept releasing a new film every year, he became part of my cinematic diet, something I relied on, something that was simply part of the fabric of movies for me. I loved some of his films, liked some of them, and outright hated others. More than anything, what he represented to me was a model of success that seemed properly scaled. He wasn’t the biggest box-office name. He didn’t automatically get acclaim and awards every time. He didn’t make giant movies. He just figured out a way to tell stories of a certain scale, one per year, in a voice that could not be mistaken for anyone else’s.
It is hard for anyone to admit that they could be influenced or shaped by work produced by a person they find morally deficient or despicable. You feel a sense of weird shame almost, like their sin is somehow partially your sin because you were entertained or moved or inspired by them. That’s not true, though, and one of the things you have to do if you’re going to consume any art whatsoever is make peace with the idea that art is made by human beings, and sometimes, great things can come from broken people. It’s wonderful, certainly, when we hear stories about someone who made something we love and the stories make us think that they’re wonderful and that they’re doing good in the world, and I think it’s important to support the artists you want to support for whatever reasons you want to support them. I also think it’s important to think about what your money supports, but short of simply not spending any money on any art ever, there’s very little chance that you will not at some point subsidize someone who you radically disagree with.
It’s interesting to see how Ronan Farrow’s position on this evolved over the years. It sounds like the other siblings in the family basically compartmentalized all the turmoil when they were young and that they didn’t get into the details of things with Dylan until adulthood. I can only imagine the trauma that this entire family went through, and even if the “only” thing that happened was Woody’s relationship with Soon-Yi, that would have been enough to send any family into turmoil. It’s clear that when he finally listened to Dylan, it changed something in him, though, and his work on the Harvey Weinstein story seems to have been driven largely by his sudden shift in understanding. There’s a good chance that Farrow never would have gotten involved in that story if he didn’t have this particular motivation and that Weinstein would still be chugging along, business as usual. Woody Allen hates being lumped in with Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein, and I get it. I hate being brought up in conversations about Harry Knowles, but the truth is that I was in business with him for a decade and while I may not have been aware of everything wrong he was doing, I knew about his issues with the truth and with entitlement and I let them slide because it suited me. I will spend the rest of my life wrestling with the legacy of Ain’t It Cool, and it would be wildly dishonest of me to pretend that I was completely blameless for the various sins of the site. Being honest about your role in whatever damage you cause in the world is essential if you have any plans to undo that damage or repair it in any way. Woody Allen wants you to believe that every single trauma visited on his family was because he had a simple affair and Mia Farrow is a crazy person who is still trying to destroy him three decades later because they broke up. He seems to have spent those decades worried about his career while she has spent the last three decades doing charity work and worried about her children. I think actions speak louder than words in many cases, and Allen’s preoccupation with his legacy seems to be a profound statement about his priorities.
Meanwhile, she talks about how she regrets ever meeting Woody or bringing him into her life, and again… I understand those feelings. Some relationships leave a deep scar when they are over and it’s hard to see how we got anything good from them in the first place. If she’d never met Woody, though, she would have never had Ronan. My marriage ended in a bitter divorce, but I have two kids who I love more than life itself as a result, and I don’t regret anything. If there is any larger lesson to take from Allen v Farrow, both the documentary and the actual real-life story, it is that we cannot boil any of this down simply. These stories upset us so deeply because we feel betrayed when we realize that people who make things we love are broken or damaged or rotten inside. You cannot separate the art from the artist, but you also can’t be expected to run a background check on every person involved in everything you watch. Terrific things can come from horrible beginnings. We should focus less on how to erase the horrors of the past and instead look at how we build from them to make a better tomorrow by learning from what’s come before.
AND FINALLY…
I’m totally in the tank for anything where Ewan McGregor returns to the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi. I’m not even going to pretend like I’m not. By far, my favorite thing about the prequel trilogy was that casting decision. Disney sent out their casting announcements today for Obi-Wan Kenobi, the limited run series on Disney+, and it’s nice to see both McGregor and Hayden Christensen back together. It’s cool that we’re finally going to get a Darth Vader appearance by Christensen where there’s no Anakin at all. There might be flashbacks, which would be interesting, but with this taking place ten years after Revenge of the Sith, we should also see plenty of Vader himself. I’m curious to see if James Earl Jones is still going to voice the character or if this is the moment that Disney starts to make the jump to a new actor for the gig. At some point, if Vader’s going to have an ongoing life of any kind for Lucasfilm, they will have to make that difficult decision.
What really surprised me was the announcement that Bonnie Piesse is returning as Aunt Beru alongside Joel Edgerton’s Uncle Owen. After seeing The Oath and everything Piesse has been through over the past fifteen years, it is flat-out astounding to see her rebound into this role. I love the idea of seeing more of Owen and Beru, and this definitely means we’ll be seeing a young Luke Skywalker as well. Out of all the Star Wars projects currently in development, I think this is the one I’m most curious about from a character perspective. This is where I feel like I’m really invested. Yes, it’ll be fun to see a Boba Fett show, and there are plenty of other interesting things coming, but as a first-generation Star Wars fan, there are always going to be story elements and characters that speak most loudly to me, and Obi-Wan is one of them.
It felt like McGregor showed up ready to play in the prequels, and I’m not sure we ever really got to see his A-game in those films. Now he’s got some age on him, some experience, and Star Wars in a very different place. Because we’re not dealing with the full weight of the prequel trilogy and all of the expectations everyone had for the films, it finally feels like he’ll get a chance to just live in the role a bit and give us more dimension.
It’s strange, but I’m starting to feel like franchise-building really belongs on streaming services where they don’t have to think about conventional running times or how many shows of something they can fit into a day. One of the reasons fans love franchises is because they want to get lost in these alternate worlds, and looking at how much more real estate there is for character and storytelling in a six-hour series makes me think we’re in the middle of a sea change. Creators are starting to stretch their legs in this weird new world where everything is “content,” and it’s the wrong moment to hold fast to conventional ideas of how to do things. This moment may be driven largely by commerce, but watching people start to take full advantage of it creatively makes me feel like it could be a great thing in the end.
I’m going to focus on a way to get more content into your inbox in the next few weeks instead of this once-a-week thing, and I appreciate your patience as I wrestle with the various demands on my time. In the end, all of this is going to be for you guys. I’m just not used to playing the long game this way, and years and years of instant give and take have left me scrambling to recalibrate the way I approach the work.
Let’s close things out with my weekly media diary. I missed last week’s Friday column, so this is two week’s worth of media. Don’t judge me. As always, anything I particularly enjoyed is in bold.
THIS WEEK’S BOOKS: The Essential Robert Bloch by Robert Bloch; Foundation by Isaac Asimov; Later by Stephen King; Movies (And Other Things) by Shea Serrano; Elevator Pitch by Linwood Barclay; The History of Stand-Up by Wayne Federman; Cinemaphagy: Cinema of Flesh Eaten, Corrupted and Entombed - On the Psychedelic Classical Form of Tobe Hooper by Scout Tafoya; Taking Shape: Developing Halloween from Script to Scream by Dustin McNeill and Travis Mullins; Nothin’ But A Good Time by Tom Beaujour & Richard Bienstock; Are You In The House Alone? A TV Movie Compendium 1964 - 1999 edited by Amanda Reyes
THIS WEEK’S COMICS: Epic Collection: The Amazing Spider-Man - Spider-Man No More; Epic Collection: The Amazing Spider-Man - The Goblin Lives; Epic Collection: The Amazing Spider-Man - The Secret of the Petrified Tablet; Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 11; Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 12; Fatale - Book One: Death Chases Me; Savage Avengers #19; The Trials of Ultraman #1
THIS WEEK’S PODCASTS: [thanks to a weird stutter in my iTunes, I’m not sure what was this week and what was last week, and I’ll just have to roll this one over until next time]
THIS WEEK’S TV: Wellington Paranormal S1 E3; Superman & Lois S1 E3 - E5; Search Party S3 E8 - E10, S4 E1 - E5; All In The Family S8 E10, E11; The Real World Homecoming: New York S1 E2, E3; What’s Happening S2 E16, E17; The Voice S20 E3 - E6; Perry Mason (2020) S1 E6; Never Have I Ever S1 E4; American Idol S19 E5 - E7; Last Week Tonight with John Oliver S8 E5, E6; Bob’s Burgers S11 E14; Firefly Lane S1 E5; Allen vs Farrow S1 E3, E4; Barney Miller S1 E1, E2; A.P. Bio S1 E6 - E13, S2 E1 - E13; This Is Us S5 E10, E11; Your Honor S1 E8 - E10; Married At First Sight S12 E10, E11; Superstore S6 E13, E14; Resident Alien S1 E8, E9; Somebody Feed Phil - Dublin, Venice; Invincible S1 E1; Solar Opposites S2 E1
THIS WEEK’S GAMING: Watch Dogs: Legion; Spider-Man: Miles Morales; Just Cause 4; Spider-Man; Maquette
THIS WEEK’S MOVIES: First Date; Mayday; Come True; Billie Ellish: The World’s A Little Blurry; Kid 90; On The Count of Three; Conan the Barbarian; The Thin Red Line; Sitting Target; Hysterical; Paul Dood’s Deadly Lunch Break; Gaia; Stray; Under The Volcano; Woodland Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror; The Last Blockbuster; Barb & Star Go To Vista Del Mar; No Way Out; In The Earth; Treasure Planet; Lapsis; Hold That Ghost; Kansas City Confidential; Executive Order; Ninjababy; Broadcast Signal Intrusion; The Oxy Kingpins; The Lost Sons; Jakob’s Wife; Offseason; Witch Hunt; Without Getting Killed or Caught; Dear Mr. Brody; Best Summer Ever; Language Lessons; The Spine of Night; Nobody; Alien On Stage; Sound of Violence
I like half of Zack Snyder's movies, I love Man of Steel (it's the best comic book movie in my opinion), I don't care for Sucker Punch, and I hate Batman v Superman. I'm no super fan, but I thought Justice League was great. I enjoyed the hell out of it. It honestly even helped me hate BvS a little less, but that film still has so many issues that I'll never truly embrace it. With the success of the narrative, acting, tone, and even the CGI of JL being so much better in Snyder's hands, I am curious to see what David Ayer wanted to do for Suicide Squad even though I think he helped create the worst version of The Joker we've ever seen on screen. With a guy like Leto, it was right there to create a "Thin White Duke" version of The Joker, like Denny O'Neil used in the 70's and 80's, but he went a direction that was a big swing and a miss with all the ridiculous tattoos.
All that is to say that while I know there are some bad actors in any fan group, I think we can all fall into the trap that social media is reflective of real life and it's not; it's a funhouse mirror. 90% of content on twitter is by 2% of the country. It's not at all reflective of people or fan groups or society. Social Media is built, purposefully remember, to amplify the worst impulses in the worst kinds of people.
I quit Twitter over two months ago and now have no social media presence, and I can tell you that it is the best thing I've done for my own mental health in years. If I had kids, I would delete their social media accounts and made sure the only phones they had were prepaid flip phones. I know you can't delete your social media Drew, as you need to keep your presence there to continue to promote your work here, but if you could, I would recommend it for you and to anyone, honestly. I feel so much better without the doom scrolling. Without shouting into the void. There are a couple of great people I "met" through twitter, but I'm keeping in touch with them other ways.
Social media brings out the worst in good people, and it helps bad people form mobs online. It's a hive of scum and villainy, and Twitter is its Mos Eisley. Life is better lived in the real world.
Hmm. Some of these things I agree with others I do not. Snyder seems to be 100% against online harassment and has said in multiple interviews that’s the case. He even made enemies of former allies called “Geeks & Gamers”(a group of geek Youtubers with alt right opinions) for simply saying he wasn’t affiliated with them and to “stop the hate” during an interview with some people associated with G&G. You’ve never seen a group start eating their own so quickly. It was hilarious.
I really don’t think there’s too much wrong with people demanding the entertainment they want. So long as it’s something harmless like “ #release the whatever cut” who cares? Calling it a “fantrum” is interesting(great word play. Copyright that shit). I wonder how you’d react if it was something you were passionate about? I’m sure you’ve released a passionate article or two back in your older days at AICN or Hitfix. These fans don’t have that kind out outlet. They just have Twitter. Again, I’m talking just about the ones that aren’t the death threat crazy nut jobs. These types of campaigns have been going on since Star Trek got canceled. And WB only has themselves to blame. Why? They gave in the first time. As soon as that happened, as soon as they approved the Snyder Cut, this was inevitable.
The ask of the Snyder cut was for his vision for Justice League. That’s what he delivered. The original version of the film would’ve contained teases for sequels. Probably in the form of after credits sequences, but it’s interesting that people complain about the “endless” epilogue but will sit through 10-14 minutes of credits to see an after credits sequence in, say, a Marvel film. The only one I had a problem with was the (spoiler) final Martian Manhunter sequence. I wasn’t surprised to learn that this was a compromise & not Snyder’s intended ending. Originally there was suppose to be a Green Lantern there. The studio balked. But I loved the Leto/Affleck sequence. Loved it.
You are 1000% right on the Suicide prevention. It’s being completely used as a shield. I wouldn’t go as far as to say “I don’t want to hear about it anymore” because...well Suicide Prevention is important & these fans talking it up might just reach the right person at the right time. But the worst of the worst of the Snyder fans are using the money raised as a “How bad could we be?” thing. Which is all kinds of gross. Snyder talks it up and he should. I hope when you said you don’t want to hear about it that’s not part of it. Because we all know what happened & it’s a cause more important to the guy than most people can imagine.
I will say this about the Snyder Cut. I’m shocked at how good it is. For a studio to see *that* film & think spending 25-30 million(or whatever the real amount is) to actively make a significantly worse film? Whoever made that choice should never be aloud near a film again. Plus remember they were leaking to the press that the film was “unwatchable” back in 2017? I truly think that had they released this version(well an hour shorter), instead of that Frankenstein’s monster, we would be seeing sequel. No doubt(but probably not directed by ZS). The Flash doing his speed force thing in the finale is the most crowd pleasing, stand up & applause moment in almost any Superhero film. And it’s in a friggin Zack Snyder film of all places. Imagine all the dominos that fell after the Justice League movie crashed & burned. Affleck had enough & tapped out as Batman. Ray Fisher never got his Cyborg movie. No more Justice League movies.
It should surprise no one that fandom contains some seriously ugly personalities. It’s tribalism. Whether it’s a sports team, a political party, a religion, or yes, a movie. It can bring out the entire spectrum of human emotions from the positive to the negative. Poor Kathleen Kennedy is targeted like few ever have. YouTube “Star Wars + Kathleen Kennedy” & you’ll see some seriously sick shit. But there’s a lot of good too. But for some reason the negative is what people focus on.
Go read the comments section of old AICN articles & you’ll see it all. Great debates, bullying, racism, funny jokes, body shaming, sexism. Some of it from the article writers. AICN was the spark that started all this ugliness. But it was also a great place to talk movies with geeks. True, deep dive geeks. Think of the therapy bills that place caused poor Kevin Smith to endure.
Social Media gave fans a direct line to be heard and seen like never before. It’s up to each individual whether or not they think that’s a good or bad thing.
Finally, I’d love to see Snyder finish his vision. Outside of the DCAU, his takes are the first live action DC movies I’ve enjoyed. They aren’t what I would do with the characters but I dig his interpretation. I find his Batman far more interesting than anything Nolan did.
PS. That “The Suicide Squad” trailer left me feeling very meh. Give me R rated takes on these characters any day. But the “bag of dicks” line and Harleys line about God & Rain? Felt like a Judd Apatow/Seth Rogen style comedy. Plus I found the cinematography to have that flat digital look. Film is so superior to digital. Digital can work wonders but film...is film.