Fandom Negativity - Are We Ruining Our Own Enjoyment?

I love fandom, and overanalyzing pop culture, and theorizing about my favorite shows as much as the rest of the internet. But over the past couple of months, looking particularly at the fandom community, I’ve been getting concerned. There seems to me to be a lot more negativity out there, not in the mainstream but within the fan communities themselves. And I’m not just talking about toxic bullying and the like. Theorists and commentators seem to tear apart movies and shows more and more, and get angrier when its not exactly perfect according to them. Internet commentators and fandoms as a whole, not all but enough, seem to be so invested in criticizing things that they forget to actually enjoy it in the first place.

This feeling that fandom is getting too negative to even enjoy the thing they are a fan of has risen and ebbed in me for at least a year, depending on what has been going on, but it came to a head when Fantastic Beasts 2 came out a little over a month ago. Within two days of it’s release I saw at least a dozen videos recommended to me on YouTube proclaiming that it was terrible and the worst thing ever. That level of extreme negativity, that I couldn’t avoid or opt out of, convinced me this was a systemic issue and not a flash in the pan. 

Part of the problem comes from what I believe to be a misunderstanding of the word “criticism” as pertaining to art/film/books etc. Criticism is both a form of analysis and a way of expressing disapproval, and people seem to have conflated the two. Being critical, especially in the less academic world of internet sites, youtubers, and social media, tends to boil down to being negative. Being critical is taken as criticizing, and finding the flaws within a work. Which is a part of criticism but not the whole of it. Critical analysis is about both cons and pros.

Focusing on the negative version of criticism seems to take away being thoughtful. I love having discussions about everything I watch with any and every one. But there is a difference between discussing the validity of the twist at the end of the new Fantastic Beasts movie, and saying “the twist ruined the movie.” Unbridled negativity shuts down discussion, rather than encouraging it. If a reviewer bashes on something, then they aren’t having a discussion about it, or a thoughtful engagement, they are just ranting. Which can be fun for the person ranting and the people who agree with them, but its neither criticism in a review sense or fun for anyone else.

And this doesn’t mean you have to “find the good” in everything you see or review. I absolutely loathe the novel Tess of the D’Urbervilles. I have since I read it in high school and I would be hard-pressed to say something nice about it. But there is a huge difference between saying “I hate this book because the prose is far too flowery for my taste and I think its portrayal of women is sexist” and “this book is terrible.” The novel is a classic and sometimes considered a masterpiece, so many people do in fact find worth in it. It’s a matter of opinion and perspective.

Finally, even if it is bad, on a technical or societally-agreed upon level, does that really matter if people who consume it enjoy it? There is a whole class of movies known as “so bad its good.” They made a bunch of Sharknado movies for a reason. These things have worth in the eyes of people who watch them and do what they should – entertain. I personally liked the first three Twilight novels – I chose not to read the last one. Were they examples of excellent writing and high art? No. I think I described them to a friend as the book-equivalent of bubblegum at the time. But did I enjoy them? Yes. Sometimes you just want entertainment bubblegum.

I know that reviewers are not solely to blame for this shift to communal negativity. The algorithms used by YouTube, Google, Twitter, etc. actively incentivize negative content. They get the most virulent reaction, the most clicks, and so they get promoted by the platform. The news media has the exact same problem. At the same time, even if one’s title needs to be negative click-bait for success, that doesn’t mean the content itself does. A piece can be titled “is this the worst thing ever?” and the content say “no, that’s clearly hyperbolic, but I don’t like these aspects for these reasons.” And regardless of algorithms, creators are responsible for their content. The algorithm didn’t make you do it.

Sadly, there is no way to avoid the communal negativity of fandoms. When individual fan communities or commentators become toxic you have the opportunity to leave it, even if that sucks. I’ve done it and it always makes me sad. But I can’t when half of my suggested YouTube videos are filled with fandom bashing and negativity. I don’t have to watch them, but it’s still impacting me.

I enjoy most things I read and watch. I know my tastes well enough to predict pretty well what will jive and what won’t. I love thoughtful discussions, and academic analysis of works, no matter how silly. I don’t think fandom needs to be a barrel of uncritical sunshine 24/7. But we are fans because we care about and like something. Only looking at the things we don’t like about something ruins our enjoyment of it. So while we can of course be negative and find fault in things, we can also be positive and enjoy ourselves. Because isn’t that why we got into it in the first place?