The real problem with the brony analysis community · 5:47am Jun 8th, 2015
Well, this has been a long time coming. I'll have a later post detailing what's going on with me, and why I've been so quiet on here. But as soon as I saw this video, I felt like I had to say something about it.
OK, let's get this out of the way right now: I understand the point he is trying to make here. But I felt like I had to speak out because it seemed like he was missing the central point. The real reason this situation happened. Pull a seat, this is gonna be long, and I promise that there's a point to this.
I have a question for you: How many times have you heard someone see a movie become a major hit, and they are either disappointed in humanity, or have lost faith in it because of that success, because they think it's that bad? There's no doubt that it happened with Fifty Shades of Grey, or the recent Transformers films. I guarantee you this: If the Jem movie is a hit, someone is going to whine about it to this extent.
It's a common problem with pop culture, I feel, and this happens almost every time a bad movie, song, or show becomes a hit. At least, something a person perceives to be bad. I'm not sure if it was a problem before the Internet gave everyone a voice and a platform to be heard, but it's certainly a problem now.
No doubt, you've heard people attack the fandom for liking FIM, no? I won't get into that routine, you all know it. But it's something that's happened before.
And that's why we've had this problem: It's happened for so long, that I believe the fandom now believes that anyone who is critical of FIM is critical of the people that like it, even if it's just a certain episode, because that's the mindset pop culture has set upon us.
It's even plagued people within the fandom. Ever heard of the term "Hasdrone"? I remember it vividly. It was coined when Equestria Girls came out and it was evident that some bronies really did enjoy the movie. However, some within the fandom hated the movie so much that they actually thought that those bronies HAD to have been brainwashed, because they were so convinced that EQG1 was horrible that the only way someone would enjoy it would be because Hasbro brainwashed them into liking it.
See the problem now?
That right there, above all else, is why we have this problem. We've been so conditioned to believe that anyone who dislikes something also dislikes the people that enjoy it, on the internet at least. I've had this problem, I'll admit, thanks to my time with the game community. And it's not good. I don't think this is a mindset you should be in, but I understand why it's a mindset many in the fandom fall in.
It doesn't help that we've had a few analysis guys that actually did attack others for liking certain episodes or the EQG movies. I will not name names, but I'm sure you've encountered at least one person that was like this. And sadly, as a few recent events like GamerGate have proved, it only takes a few loudmouths to get the entire community hated. No it's not right, but it's reality.
Sadly, I only see this problem getting worse in the future, the way things are going. I don't think this is a fandom specific issue either. I don't know what the ultimate outcome of this will be, but I'm dreading it, to be honest with you all.
How dare gamers criticize their lord-ladies and masters in the media!
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Honestly, it doesn't matter. IMO, GamerGate was a case where everyone lost. I actually saw an article on Entertainment Weekly acknowledging the people who were in the movement for journalism's sake, and then proceeded to throw them under the bus, dubbing the tactic an ass covering move to hide the fact that they used GG to harass women.
Everyone, if you ask me, came out looking worse. The feminists looked like extremists who wanted boys out of their games, gamers looked like they wanted gaming to be a boys club, and the people who wanted this to reform journalism were drowned out by everything else.
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The gaming community was mobilized against the faction that wanted to render gaming politically-correct, and Gamer Gaters may well wind up voting alongside the Sad Puppies in the attempt to take back the Hugos from the Tor Clique, so it may turn out well in the end.
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I....have no idea what you mean by the second half.
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Here's the Sad Puppies 3 suggestions.
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But in any case, the feminists were extremists, and the Gamer Gaters had nothing against women in general. The people who wanted to reform journalism exposed the dishonest journalists. Those who judged the case by logic saw what happened.
Also, as a side note, I REALLY hope I got my points off well enough. I GET why those who want to review pony critically feel restricted, and if I wrote this post like I was attacking a certain point of view, I'm sorry, because I really don't want to do that with this post. It's a topic that I felt like I needed to address after seeing the video, but I don't want to be rude in the process either.
Not going to comment on the whole GamerGate thing, really don't care about it. But, as someone who has watched quite a bit of review videos, I see that problem isn't 'people don't like criticism' the popularity of Sliver-Quill and Drwolf says other wise. It's that people don't like bad criticism. People like Tommy just stopped caring about the show, so his video's became less 'analysis' and more 'this is bad and you should feel bad', so in turn people stopped like his stuff. A lot of people never like the analysis community to begin with and his rant insulting the fanbase, calling us all idiots certainly isn't going to help matters.
People in general will always cling to groups despite how we also seek diversity and individuality and your right in the sense that it isn't a fandom specific issue people will insult all fandoms and great loves, for simply existing and then there are specific issues like for example Starwars episode 1 I LOVED IT (yeah sue me later) just about every starwars fan dislikes or even hates it.
This is a issue that will always exist always be around you cant help and/or stop it some people will never wish to understand and that's okay its their choice and why should we worry for the arrogance of a fool.
Gentle breeze guide your path, a warm smile welcome you home.