Have Fans Gone Too Far?

Posted on June 5, 2016 at 3:55 pm

Devin Faraci writes that “Fandom is Broken.” He compares today’s tweet-storming fans to the crazed Annie Wilkes of “Misery,” Kathy Bates’ Oscar-winning role, now a Broadway play about a fan so deranged that she holds the author hostage and hobbles him. Faraci writes about the furious fan reaction to changes like portraying Captain America as an undercover Hydra operative and the all-female “Ghostbuster.” And the New York Times has an article about Harry Potter fans who are upset — not thrilled — that author J.K. Rowling is expanding the story with a London theatrical production called “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” and the upcoming prequel film.

Yes, fans go too far. They could remake “Ghostbusters” with a terrible all-male cast (Adam Sandler? Carrot Top?) or with dancing animated asterisks in the lead roles and it would still not affect in any way the original film. Social media makes it easy for trolls (some using multiple accounts) to put a lot of negative commentary online. But “fan” comes from “fanatic.” People spent their food money to buy tickets to hear Jenny Lind and thousands showed up for Rudolph Valentino’s wake. Maybe there is a current trend toward ownership of the object of fandom, and certainly nerd-style fandom is not considered as, well, nerdy anymore, but mostly I think it’s just louder because people have so many ways to spout off publicly.

Confused by the Cinematic X-Men Universe? You’re Not Alone!

Posted on June 5, 2016 at 8:00 am

Matt Singer has words of comfort. His article is titled No, It’s Not Just You, the ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ Timeline Makes No Sense. To be fair, part of the appeal of comics is that they track characters through complex stories in even more complex settings written and illustrated over decades by many different people. And even with categories like “imaginary stories” with no precedential value, comics have always had inconsistencies and mis-chronologies.

But the “X-Men” movie series, even within its own universe, has not really worried much about logic or consistency, and Matt Singer does a great job of laying it all out. For example, it’s 1983, and Magneto, who was a child during WWII, is in his 30’s. Unless his mutant powers include perpetual youth, that does not make sense. Same for Moira MacTaggert, and she isn’t even a mutant. And this is my favorite.

Speaking of Mystique: Wasn’t she kind of a villain in the last movie? She was trying to kill Boliver Trask. Now she’s leading the X-Men into battle? Does that even have any precedent in X-Men comics?

Jennifer Lawrence is really popular, guys. Like hugely popular. They’ve gotta keep her involved somehow.

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Understanding Media and Pop Culture

Do Babies Learn to Swipe Before They Learn to Talk?

Posted on June 2, 2016 at 3:14 pm

Personal cloud storage company MiMedia has released the results of a survey of parents.

76% of parents admit to running out of storage on their phones from taking too many photos/videos of their kids
71% think Moms take more photos of their kids than Dads
Nearly 3 out of 5 parents (58%) say their child (age 0-3) was able to operate a touchscreen digital device by swiping before they learned to speak
57% think Moms share too many baby photos on social media (Facebook, Instagram, etc.)
Almost half (47%) of parents say their child (age 0-3) likes taking selfies
47% of parents share at least 1 photo/video on average of their child (age 0-3) per day, whereas 34% don’t share any
1 out of 3 parents (34% ) takes 1 video on average of their child (age 0-3) per day, whereas 13% of parents take 5+ videos on average of their child (age 0-3) per day
28% take 2 photos on average of their child (age 0-3) per day
Almost 1 out of 3 parents (28%) admits to taking substantially more photos of their first born than other children
22% of parents take 5+ photos on average of their child (age 0-3) per day
13% of parents take 5+ videos on average of their child (age 0-3) per day

Parents should be careful to make sure they are spending more time interacting with their children than taking pictures and videos of them — and that children learn about how to behave with people before they learn about how to interact with machines.

The BBC’s Tribute to American Films

Posted on May 28, 2016 at 3:30 pm

The BBC has assembled a thrilling tribute to the films they consider America’s best.

Jen Chaney on Jeanie Bueller

Posted on May 28, 2016 at 9:26 am

Jen Chaney has a delightful tribute to Ferris Bueller’s under-appreciated sister, Jeannie, played by future “Dirty Dancing” star Jennifer Grey, on Uproxx, titled, appropriately, “Save Jeannie.”

And yet the phrase uses — “Then the problem is you” — feels both wrong and unfair. Because the problem is not just Jeanie. It’s also an entire community who wants to “save Ferris” when he isn’t even in peril and doesn’t notice that Jeanie — and other marginalized kids like her — need attention too. Maybe Hughes wasn’t trying to slyly satirize a society that always gives white guys the advantages and the benefit of the doubt, but man, it really is hard to watch Ferris Bueller’s Day Off 30 years later and not see it that way.