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Smashology


Welcome to my world, my mind and my own Wonderland. Writer, Analyst, Critic, Movie Buff, Gamer, Researcher, that's who I am.

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Nov
12th
2016

The Quickening: Why are you so angry? · 5:40pm Nov 12th, 2016

If you consider yourself a fan of comic books, videogames, movies, cartoons, etc. or if you're just a person who's interested in society, this is for you.

Dear comic book reader: Why are you so angry?

When you were a kid you had your first encounter with the comic world, probably by a gift from your parents or saving money by yourself, your first adventure was probably from Superman, Batman or Spiderman. You loved superhero stories and you wanted to share your passion with everyone else, you wanted to be one of those heroes who fought against crime... but they saw you wrong.

"That's for little kids," they said. Or worse, they made fun of you.

Eventually you grew up, darker stories caught your attention like Spawn, The Punisher or Watchmen (or Scott Pilgrim if that wasn't your cup of tea), but you still loved superhero comics and graphic novels. You only wanted a friend to read those stories, a friend to talk about those stories of adventure, action, mystery and more.

So, if the only thing you wanted was a friend... why you call "posers" to all the people who are getting into comics? Why you reject the "unique and special" girls? I mean, at first you lied to the rest, calling yourself an "expert" in everything just to make a friend. You didn't born knowing everything about comics, you learned it through time. Why do you close yourself in that world instead of helping people interested in them so they know more about?

I never liked Watchmen, both movie and comic. Its excessive nationalist tone and its immoral characters were the main cause, but I respect it because of the changes it establish for the comic world like the deconstruction of the superhero figure.

Dear gamer: Why are you so angry?

Your first game probably was Super Mario Bros., Crash Bandicoot or even Grand Theft Auto (mine was Pokémon Stadium). Do you remember the good games at the Arcade machines with your friends? Or what about spending your time with your cousins you almost never saw, playing Mario Kart? The biggest complain you had was that you lost. You didn't care about the story or how well written a character was or the graphics, you only wanted to have fun.

So, why hating people who liked a console different than yours? What happened in order to transform your hobby into a religion? Why is more important recording yourself playing and pretending a tantrum than enjoying the game?

You loved Pokémon when it first came out and the anime was popular. Now everyone loves Pokémon Go, the ones who hated Pikachu were suddenly its fans and instead of welcoming them you call them "posers", "media ignorants", etc.

Despite its flaws, a good game. But overhated by its fandom due to small details.

Dear movie buff: Why are you so angry?

Remember when you expected the movies you craved the most and you didn't care about ratings, criticism and public opinion? Before you knew you could research about that on the Internet, it was a beautiful time. It did not influence your way of thinking and if you liked it, you liked it and that was it.

That's why I tolerated this guy for over 10 years and, despite now admitting how low-quality his movies are (as well as his narcissistic personality), nowadays he remains as one of my favorite actors (don't blame me please).

So why you hate people with an opinion different than yours? Why you want a petition to shut down Rotten Tomatoes just because Suicide Squad has lower ratings than Sharknado and Ghostbusters?

This is what the actual live-action version should've been. And this is coming from a guy who actually liked Suicide Squad.

Why the otakus are angry for hating everything that's not an anime and hating everyone who doesn't watch it?

And in a more social context, why are we so angry? Why do we call a guy who watches My Little Pony "mule lover"? Why do we call furries "sexual predators"? Why do we call a feminist girl "feminazi" and labeled her as a "frustrated lesbian"? Why do we want to show our superiority being offensive to the rest? Do we feel better that way? Do we need to call attention?

I don't know if you have noticed, but Internet is full of hate, hate of people against people for just thinking different.

Getting interested in something is becoming harder thanks to the repulse of being the newcomer. The veterans will always see the new ones as "ignorants" or "stupid". Some continue, others give up.

Why hate exists? I think it's because of people's hypocrisy.

Let's analyze these examples: the girl who plays Pokémon Go and considers herself as "the biggest Pokémon fan in the world" was the one who made fun of you for playing Pokémon in you GameBoy at recess. The couple who admire the Joker and Harley Quinn thanks to the live-action movies and dress up as them in Halloween were the ones who called you "weirdo" for watching Batman: The Animated Series and for bringing your comics to school. The people who uploaded furry porn to child-oriented pages made everyone suppose furries were perverts.

And let's go outside of Internet: the girls who promoted "death to dicks" made true feminism underrated. The anarchists who set fire into a bus damaged the leftish, as well as the radical religious communitites damaged the rightish. And gays, and straights, and right to family, and emos, and rappers, and vegans, and carnivores...

The only aspect I don't like about this show is the over-the-top feminist tone. And that doesn't make it less magnificent, but it makes me think about how far have we come.

Hypocrisy and extremism are one reason but another one I have is uniqueness. When we were younger we were the "outsiders" and everyone saw at us wrong, we were the ones who barely had friends and everyone made laugh at us. Now that being the "outsider" is the trend, why do we bear a grudge on them? Isn't that exactly what we wanted in the first place? That other people got interested in our hobbies? Perhaps... we hate ourselves for being the "outsiders"?

Back then if you found somebody who did read the books of these two franchises you felt a connection and both of you felt unique (I wasn't one of them and I envy you). Nowadays everybody loves Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter thanks to the movies. In a certain way the original fans lost their uniqueness but strangely enough the veterans didn't reject the newcomers, they welcomed them. So why can't we do the same for other fanbases?

But are we really going to treat everybody like our enemies? Are we really going to hate every single person interested in something by fad?

OF COURSE NOT!

If you're annoyed by the posers or newcomers into your fandom, instead of getting angry and denigrating them, help the ones who are truly interested to move throughout this world. Behaving like this you won't have posers but true fans and most important: the chance of having a new friend.

And this even works in real life: when somebody moves into your neighborhood or enters a new school or changes job. And if that person doesn't want your help... no problem. At least you tried.

But my little brother is playing Minecraft only.

So?

But she calls every Pokémon Pikachu except Pikachu.

So?

But he doesn't know who Harley Quinn is and thinks she's the Joker's girlfriend.

So?

But that couple is here just for trend.

So?

But he likes Marvel more.

So?

But she's feminist.

So?

But today's generation doesn't value and enjoy things as before.

So?

But they're not like me and they're not thinking like me.

So?

If you're going to judge people, judge them by their actions. You decide if what they do is good or bad.

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