
Fans, let me let you in on a little secret.
You are not automatically entitled to great movies and TV shows.
...
I know. Shocking, right?
I'm old. So I can set the younger generation straight about how this actually works.
Growing up in the 1980's I was surrounded by shitty movies (and don't get me started on the desolation of the TV landscape at the time. Literal embarrassing garbage used to win Emmys because there were almost NO good TV shows). The really popular movies tended to be popular because they were LESS shitty, but they were still shitty. Once in awhile, you'd find a legit amazing movie out there (see The Princess Bride, Pulp Fiction, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and Little Shop Of Horrors for some movies from the 1980's and 1990's that have still stood the test of time). But mostly, we were fed crap and accepted crap.
On some level it's outrageous the amount of stuff general audiences tolerated back then. But the truth is film buffs had a MUCH healthier perspective about it all. It was generally agreed that most films were terrible, but part of the joy of loving cinema is seeking out those rare masterpieces and falling in love with them.
YouTube Neckbeards, Rotten Tomatoes ratings manipulators, and incel trolls have drummed it into fandom's heads that we deserve perfect movies and TV shows from our franchises at ALL times. They say if we don't get that 100% of the time we ought to be outraged at the people in charge. And the movies invariably are terrible because of their Woke Agenda.
I'm not going to argue whether current films are terrible or not. I seem to have fewer problems with them than most fans, mostly because I don't demand perfection, and also because I think the complaints about Woke agendas are nothing but a huge scam to generate outrage clicks. It's not a real problem and people insisting it is are either lying or crazy.
But the Neckbeards have conditioned people to believe the Treasure Hunt, that for DECADES film buffs held in their hearts as sacred, is something that shouldn't exist. All movies should be perfect all the time.
Not only is that an unreasonable expectation. Not only does it fly in the face of every single movie lover I grew up with and shared my passion with. But it's a majorly unfair burden to hit ANY filmmaker with, whether they are heading a big franchise, or telling a personal passion project.
Newsflash: Personal passion projects aren't ALWAYS going to be amazing. I'd argue few of them are. And people saying they are entitled to great movies are actually discouraging experimentation from fledgling directors who may not make a movie everyone likes, but whose vision is THEIRS.
One of the common complaints I hear is movies need to be innovative and not copy what's come before. And yet the scathing reviews directed at projects that try even something a LITTLE bit different shows that advice is a lie on the part of the Neckbeards. They want films catered specifically to THEM, which is not just an entirely fucked up way to view art. It's a fucked up way to view LIFE. It disturbs me how many people take their complaints seriously. It disturbs me even more creators actually take these complaints seriously, and sometimes even FOLLOW these ill-advised and completely insincere suggestions.
If you don't like a movie, believe it or not, that's okay. The filmmaker who made it is not obligated to please you. That's not what cinema or art is. And despite the Neckbeards trying to rewrite reality and convince us all it is, I know for a fact it isn't, and those assholes are lying to you. Don't believe their bullshit for a second. They are always complaining about films having an agenda. That is pure projection on their end, and THEIR agenda seems pretty clear to me. Don't fall for it.