This is going to be a weird write up, I might get more personal and even mention some people in real life in some of my examples, but lately this whole year of 2024 has been one big realization for me regarding online fandoms, it's probably been like this since internet communities started. What they ultimately boil down to is that they are basically one big turf war between wannabe profesional wrestlers and religious cultists.
Before I get to the meat of the blog, what started this slow realization in motion was an Anime North I attended in 2022, I was at a Q&A discussion panel featuring a voice actress named Caitlin Glass and I don't particularly remember the full on question that was asked but part of what was said by a fan was and it was something along the lines of, "how could someone or why would someone prefer the 2003 Full Metal Alchemist over Brotherhood?" I was already very angry before attending the Q&A due to reasons that would bloat this part of the blog, but the way that part of the question was phrased made me very angry and I was going to shout, "don't bring this shit here" but Caitlin did a good job at difusing the situation, better than anyone could've when asked a question like that.
When I heard that part of the question it made me dislike Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood and it's fans even more than I already did, I was convinced everyone who liked media I disliked was wrong and how people can ignore the flaws of that series. I thought those people were crazy and I kept asking myself, "why do people regarding media so beloved never bother to speak out on being lukewarm or disliking it?" I thought they were spineless cowards and wished they didn't try to save face so much. I was absolutely right for liking what I liked and disliking what I disliked.
Things started to get worse when I watched, "The Batman" on Netflix at home after the Saturday of Fan Expo 2023 and after all the praise I heard about it, I was just wondering, "what was so good about it?" Everyone heavily praised a movie I found to be painfully average. I was heading into an exisitential crisis and wondering was there even a point in critiquing media anymore, I'm just a guy who unapolgetically gets into needless fights online over acclaimed media that I thought were overpraised.
After my 6 month stint on Reddit and seeing people get needlessly worked up or heavily downvoted my comments for disagreeing with the majority, I slowly came to the realization that internet fandoms is essentially a war between pro wrestlers and religious cultists.
I'm pretty sure everyone on who uses the internet to write opinions has seen a "write an unpopular opinion regarding media or franchise" countless upon countless of times. I particapted in these more times than I care to count. There's a good deal of "Youtube Critics" who announce unpopular opinions acting like he has something to prove to people because he believes he's right. Here's the thing, when you do stuff like this, it ultimately doesn't contribute to much of anything, it's just you projecting your own vanity but this is where the pro wrestling aspect comes in since really when you write stuff like this, it's nothing more than a heel wrestler and his attempt at angering the crowd.
The difference is with wrestling is that the performers are paid to do this, it's their job to annoy the crowd since it's part of theatrical and audience partcipation side of what they do. In wrestling, they play characters for the audience to get attached to and the whole point is to prove that they are, "the best". You can basically take Videl's line from Dragon Ball Z where he describes Mr. Satan as, "he's a profesional wrestler and the whole world is his ring" quite literally here.
When you do similar tactics on the internet, what exactly does getting insulted and arguing with insecure people online truly accomplish? Nothing, squat. You wasted your time better spent on other things including playing potential new favorite shows, movies or games, there's no material gain and all you have done is that you are no better than the cultists that you act like you are superior to.
This is where the 2nd aspect of my write up comes in the religious turf wars. At the end of the day, "overrated" media are only as such because chances are, you are in an online circle where people are scared of saying their true thoughts on x media. Many people online want to avoid a similar situation to the Family Guy scene of Peter Griffin saying, "I did not care for the Godfather". It's how it is, I've gotten into many online fights whether it'd be Youtube comments, Tweets, Discord, Reddit, and many other places where all it did was make me angry for even participating in them at all. I felt like I wasted my time and needlessly getting myself angry for no real gain to come from it.
Remember what I mentioned about turf? This is what I mean. Sure, it may seem like everyone on the internet likes a piece of media that you deem sub par at best, but what if I told you there are people with similar feelings as you? The thing is, they need to find a place where they feel okay to deride popular acclaimed media without the fear of getting dogpiled. There's various Reddit threads and Youtube vids with comments where people were agreed with the uploader's opinions. If they are surronded by likeminded people and know things won't turn into a scene when saying certain opinions, then will speak out.
As petty as being scared to say speak out over opinions regarding media can be, it's how crime bosses and religious cultists silence others who speak out.
To name an example, Pixel a Day uploaded a video heavily criticizing and deriding the video game Nier Automata, I'm also lukewarm on it and going everywhere online made it seemed like everyone loved the game but go to the comments section of her vid, and there are actually lots of people who are lukewarm if not outright disliking Automata. This is what I mean, people need a safe zone to say their criticisms towards beloved media.
Hypothetically, if someone made a critique heavily deriding games like Silent Hill 2(2001) and Metal Gear Solid 3, sure there will be those who lash out at the mere idea of critiquing them but there will be also be people who will agree with what the uploader has to say and will finally have a chance to confess their true thoughts.
This is why words like "overrated" and "underrated" means nothing to me, but that is a different topic altogether.
At the end of the day, all you can do at this point is just try not to talk you have something to prove, take things way less seriously but try to remain humble when criticizing and praising anything. Also, remember where you are saying certain things online and avoid giving into the temptation of sounding like a pro wrestling heel. It can be very tempting but at the end of the day, time is better off not being wasted on doing something you don't like with your free time. That's the realization I have came to.
No comments:
Post a Comment