Opinion Piece About Opinions · 5:17am Aug 21st, 2020
I came across an exchange on this site a week or two ago that's kind of stuck with me, and I thought I'd try to get some thoughts out in regard to it.
It was a blog post someone had made (not naming any names though), in which they expressed regret and apologies over having insulted Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and at the time of release had gloated about it being critically thrashed. The OP still did not like the movie, all said, but felt that they were wrong to act that way about it and wished to apologize to anyone they might have offended or hurt back then.
All well and good. But I noticed one comment on the post (again, no names given, for the sake of common courtesy) that went to the effect of this:
"I'm of the mind that you should never apologize for your opinions. Accepting your flaws and moving past them, that's fine. But no need to apologize to the fanbase for how you think."
While I'm okay with two-thirds of that all together, it's the first sentence in that comment that kinda makes me want to take a step back and think some. Because while I'm sure that there was absolutely no ill intent whatsoever in that statement, I think that there's something really important that should be kept in mind when it comes to one's opinions.
Namely, that you shouldn't have to apologize for your opinion... as long as you aren't an asshole about it.
To go with the example from the blog post that got me on this train of thought to begin with...
I don't like Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Never have, never will. I didn't enjoy the plot, I found the majority of the characters boring at best and unlikable at worst, the new villain was flat-out whiny and petulant and uncool to me, and I found Forest Whitaker's character completely unintelligible - which thus completely took me out of the intended emotion of any of his scenes. (Saw Gerrera's manner of speaking honestly made me think of The Godpigeon from Animaniacs, and that is a comparison you never want to draw when talking about a serious character or scene in a movie.) Due to all of the above, I couldn't bring myself to care one bit when the movie ended with all the characters dying.
This is a movie that I do not, simply do not get the praise and adoration it gets from fans. (It also does not help one bit that, when seeing other Star Wars fans on this site gush about Rogue One, they usually did so by punching down at The Last Jedi - y'know, bitching about SJWs and insulting it at every turn. Charming.) I did not like it at the time I saw it, I liked it even less seeing it praised in very ugly, chest-thumping ways, and there are days when I practically want to rage at people when I tell them I didn't like Rogue One and they answer with something like "You just don't understand what it means to me as a Star Wars fan".
...
But, all that being said... to continue with what I was getting at before...
I don't like Rogue One. At all. It's a movie I have many opinions on, and almost none of them good. But here's the thing to keep in mind.
There is a clear-cut and obvious difference between sharing my opinion on the movie in a way like this:
"Rogue One is a movie that just didn't work for me. The first half-hour jumped around way too much for me to connect to the characters, I didn't like Felicity Jones or Diego Luna's characters, and Ben Mendelson as Director Krennic just kind of annoyed me. The only character I kind of liked was the blind guy, he kind of made me think of Zatoichi. Forest Whitaker felt completely wasted to me in his role and I just could not root for anyone in this story. It's good that people liked it, but I just don't see the appeal of it."
...Versus, say, something like this:
"Rogue One fucking sucks. The characters are boring cardboard cutouts, the movie jumps all over the place, the droid is the only remotely interesting person in the story. The bad guy is a whiny asshole who never does anything cool or threatening, Forest Whitaker is completely fucking unintelligible. When the movie ended and everyone died, I just felt like I'd pissed away two hours on a whole lot of nothing. Anyone who likes this movie is either deluding themselves or are Trumpist assholes who felt threatened by The Last Jedi actually challenging their preconceptions. Either way, Rogue One fans are stupid assholes who should be kept from breeding. There is nothing redeemable or interesting about this movie. It should be chucked in the garbage where it belongs. I hate it and I hate everyone who defends it!"
...
See what I'm getting at here, folks? You should never apologize for having an opinion about something, especially if it's contrary to the accepted norm - but, for God's sake, you should also show a little common sense and courtesy about it.
Really, that's all it boils down to. Just - just show a little decency about things, please?
Remember when the Star Wars fandom wasn't on fire? Yeah, me neither. Because it seems unless you're praising the Original Trilogy or Mandalorian, SOMEONE is going to come down on your head, screaming theirs off. I can get not liking the Sequels. Fine. But, is civil disagreement dead? Is "agree to disagree" no longer a thing?
5340008
I'm probably being Captain Obvious here, but I think the Star Wars fandom disputes are just a more obvious example of a much broader trend in all fandoms, simply because Star Wars itself is such a big cultural phenomenon that everything gets taken up to eleven. That includes the less savoury aspects.
So the more recent DIsney films are probably - in objective terms - no more remarkably good or bad than any other sci fi films of recent years, in and of themselves, but being Star Wars films, everything's blown up tenfold.
There have always been people who forget entertainment is a luxury and start acting like it's holy writ. Wherever you get a decent-sized fandom, there will always - by some probabilistic inevitability - be some people in it who take it way too seriously.
Why that's the case, I don't know. My cynical side suggests it's entitlement caused by a relatively sheltered lifestyle and a lack of personal challenge: if someone has to lash out at people merely for having different opinions than them, they probably don't have real problems in their life at all. But I could be wrong: maybe it's the exact opposite and they're stressed due to a demanding lifestyle, which in turn makes them brittle and intolerant of anything that goes against their grain.
Myself, I was unimpressed with new Star Wars as far back as The Phantom Menace (The Force Awakens I remember enjoying as spectacle, but its derivative plot recycling is too blatant for me to feel much affection for it). I haven't seen anything since Return of the Jedi that drew me back. (To be fair, though, I literally have not seen The Mandalorian yet).
Then again, as much as I like the original trilogy fine, I've never been anything more than a casual Star Wars fan and I simply don't get the level of devotion it inspires.
5340018
That's fair. As for Mandalorian, the best way I can describe it without spoilers is as a Space Western. With, well, a Mandalorian. Very good at visual storytelling and show don’t tell.
I agree, and I get it. There's definite way to get your opinion across without being a jerk.
... hell that's a lesson I need to learn myself.
And looking at both variants of opinions, I think I kinda fall in the middle. I can get some clear thoughts, but then there's times when I go too friggin' crazy when it comes to expressing them. >.< But I never (at least I hope I don't, nor ever did) say that the fans of preferred media were bad, or not true fans. That's the one thing I can say, at least. ... I hope.
I am not comin' out lookin' good.
I can agree with this.
5340082
Glad to hear it. ^_^
5340078
Everyone slips up now and again, I'll be the first to admit that. But all the same, I don't think you've got *as* much to worry about compared to other people out there that I've seen. (And everyone has their own button-pushers. The trick is in how you deal with it.)
5340008
Sadly, it all too readily seems to be the case. "Civil disagreement" seems to have gone the way of the dodo, or even the dinosaur. It honestly scares me that people today can get so partisan about everything - politics, entertainment, whatever the hell else... Time and again I just want to say to someone, "it's Star Wars, for Christ's sake! It's not supposed to make you mad!"
5340018
Nicely said, all in all. I think you're probably on the money with your assessment of the more extreme fans out there. Either extreme, honestly, both sound equally valid to me. My father tends to have the opinion that these sorts of people are basically latching onto works of entertainment as some kind of substitute for or alternative to religion, and that's why they get so zealous and combative over differences of opinion. (Now admittedly, this opinion of his is more leveled at Star Trek fans, based on his own experiences, because he's never been a Star Wars fan at all. Though he also thinks that yeah, Star Wars fandom is insane.)
5340123
Get mad at things worth getting mad at. Not friggin Star Wars or at least not to the point of sending DESTH THREATS TO THE PEOPLE IN CHARGE. Dislike the movies or the ones in charge as much as you like, but that was not OK during the Prequels, and it’s not OK now.
5340138
Yeah, seriously. The stupidity and selfishness of some people truly knows no bounds.