Fandom…
In the age of social media it has “evolved” into something kind of unrecognizable. Sure the are aspects, and areas, of the different fandoms that are good friendly places. But so much of it now has devolved into arguments, fighting, and harassing actors\actresses\crew\showrunners about decisions that are made. The question would be why? These are shows and characters that you claim to love. So why when one small thing happens on a show do so many people get upset? The first thing to remember when something happens on a show is that the characters change, and grow, because of the story. You, as a fan\viewer, do not know the ultimate story arc for the season until it reaches it. So why are you judging something that you don’t yet know? Which brings me nicely to the main part of this post.
Do NOT, under any circumstances, send hate and negativity to a cast member, crew member, or show-runner that happen to be on any of the social media. Because frankly, why are you doing it? Its not because you’re critiquing the show. These people are spending hours upon hours doing early mornings, and late nights to produce a show that you claim to love. Yet when something happens that you don’t like you attack them with hateful messages on social media?
Just stop it.
There is multiple examples, from many shows, that I could use. But I’ll just do an example from Supergirl. Mostly because it’s a show that is close to my heart and even in dark moments breeds hope (hence why Kara became that Paragon in Crisis). Supergirl fandom is an interesting one because the show has an intense following of “SuperCorp shippers. Those who ship, and want, a relationship to happen between Kara and Lena. While that doesn’t appeal to me and I don’t see that in the show anyway as what I see is an amazing friendship. I understand the ‘want’.
However, the ‘want’ to have this in the show has become extremely toxic. Tweets are continuously sent with hateful messages to the show-runners; tagging cast members about putting it in the show. This is something that the show-runners have said (fairly politely I might add) is not going to happen because it doesn’t fit with the stories they are telling. More outrage came out of that with Jeremy Jordan at a Comiccon event during an interview where he made an on the spot song about it not happening and had to put out apologies on both Instagram and Twitter for it because too many people took it as an attack on their wants.
Similar things to this happen with all fandoms, not just Supergirl and not just LBGTQ characterizations. It happens with any ship that people fall into. People get “outraged” that the fictional pairing they want isn’t happening.
The problem with all this isn’t the pairings. It’s the attacks to cast\crew\etc. The threats of hashtags to cancel a show because it’s not happening and you’re not getting the ship that you want. Television shows aren’t written with “ships” in mind. They are written for stories, for entertainment. The relationships grow through the shows run because of the storylines, and the actors chemistry with other actors. Just because a pairing happens (such as Jimmy and Lena on Supergirl) and YOU don’t see the chemistry thinking it isn’t there. That doesn’t mean it isn’t. It means you’re focused on your wants and not the stories wants\needs.
Pairing two characters that may not happen in a show is what fanfiction was made for. Create your works. Write your stories. Make your art pieces. It doesn’t need to be in the show to exist. Create it. Show the cast\crew\show-runners what you make because most of them will love the fact that you are creating stuff because of their work.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t stop with pairings and ships. The hate to show-runners\cast happens with almost anything because fans of that particular show don’t like what is being portrayed in that particular episode. Sometimes that heat goes away, and sometimes not. Regardless, it is never, ever, appropriate to send hateful messages to any cast\crew of a production you claim to like.
Even outside of abusing tweets or messages to cast\crew are hateful arguments between fans. These sometimes tend to get the loudest of all around social media and just ends in arguments and name calling because each side thinks that there side is the only way.
News flash: You both have validity.
Is this a new thing in fandom? Certainly not, but it has increased quite a bit with the increased use of social media. Which for the most part just makes social media a tiring place to be. Is it really any wonder why actors\actresses end up leaving social media? Why should they stay when half of the messages they end up seeing are hate? They’ve got better things to do than to read through someone yelling at them because the part they are playing doesn’t meet up with that persons expectations.
It really does need to stop. Truly.
In the end, all of us watch these shows together. We enjoy what we enjoy. Televisions shows (and movies) are entertainment that are made for us to enjoy and discuss with other like-minded people. They’re supposed to be fun. We don’t need to get into these fights with each other because someone likes something different to you. We are all fans of the media we watch. Let’s enjoy that.
Be kind to one another…
Dreaming Screenwriter 