Why We Should All Fear the Wrath of Fans | The Backdrop

The big movie studios are using fandom focus groups. Uh oh.

[Vesperitis]

The old maxim still holds true; “If the audience tells you what they feel, they’re most likely right; If the audience tells you what to do, they’re most likely wrong.”

[internetcitizen]

If you fear the wrath of the fans, watch out for the indifference of the former fans

[EmoryOglethorpe]

For every Wrath of Khan, there’s dozens of Superman IV or Pacific Rim: Uprising

[Matkatamiba]

People are generally good at knowing if things are good or not, but not why. It's worth listening to fans to know if it's hitting the mark, but don't listen to them on HOW to fix it.

[smelly]

I think one thing to learn from wrath of khan and others, is that if your produce something quality, fans will come and forget and forgive.

Alternatively I think many fans get angry with bad quality things and blame the wrong things. They think wokeness killed their show and not bad writing

[ajwaddanwarr]

I gotta agree with the majority of the people in what is a surprisingly level headed comment section, look at fan reaction for when to change course but don't ask them for direction, rather dig deep creatively and find a new direction and surprises and delights everyone.

[faldorthegreat]

Step 1: buy popular IP for easy sales to built in fan base.
Step 2: make something awful, then blame fans for not liking it.
Step3:
Step 4: profit?

[saintlugia]

I think the most important part is understanding the assignment.

The castlevania series was made by someone who made up a lot of stuff, but it was good even though the creator wasn't a fan.

Xmen 97 was good and was made by a fan with tons of call backs.

The most important thing is for people to understand what the apeal of the thing they are making and execute that.

The thing is having nonfans is how you get a halo tv show, an avatar movie, a dbz movie. You have to understand what makes something work and if you don't you will fail more often then not.

[LegendsOfBloodGulch]

To all studio execs. Here's a crazy idea, make new properties instead of milking every legacy franchise to death. The fans can't complain if you don't continuously dig up the corps of their favorite IP and poke it with a cattle prod.

[VeritabIlIti]

If being a Halo fan has taught me anything, it's that the hardest place for a creative is being stuck between the higherups and the fans. Not only do you have the shit job of getting told how to do your job to please the fans, but then if fans arent pleased (and they never are) you become the target, not the executives and faceless boards that pushed your team in that direction.

[seanaugagnon]

I feel like I should play devil's advocate and point out The Witcher. Because I don't think that every fan is some super hardcore fan and they ruined it. I think the people who made The Witcher decided to go against all fans. At least that's what it seemed like.

[thereadersvoice]

Nicholas Meyer said in an interview, "You can kill him, if you do it well. From a storytelling perspective, you can do anything, if you do it well. But, if you do it badly, people are gonna throw things." This summarizes one of the core tenets of writing: if you have an interesting and engaging story to tell, people will go along for the ride. But, if your story is jam-packed with unlikeable characters, preachy messages, and condescending overtones, no one is going to give you the time of day. Similarly, if you're afraid of your own audience and how they might react to what you give them, you're probably in the wrong line of work.

[SpedeVesku]

People who act like that Wolverine having a comic-accurate costume now is some kind of bad thing, probably argued for years that the original X-Men movies "had no choice", but go with black leather and are now mad that they have been proven wrong over and over again.

[achromat]

I feel there's a lot wrong with the assessment, which itself seems to ignore some of the very things that are mentioned here.

Fandoms have indeed always been problematic, and while I wasn't aware of all the details of the ST: Wrath of Khan mess, I knew there was drama behind it, which is more of a gaslighting of fans rather than the fan's fault. If Roddenberry is positioning people to engage with the fans and they're parroting those ideas in their protests, why isn't this simply on Roddenberry?

On that note, this has very much been a two way street when it comes to franchises being owned by people that see it purely as content and going to specific audiences to get their take on a given franchise. Everyone that hates what the franchises they once loved have become are not toxic, but you're only interested in giving them the attention. The tone of the argument in this video intimates some nuances, but responds with none.

The primary problem with the franchises in their current form is in part that they exist to serve the widest demographic in an attempt to be the least offensive or the mildly progressive but tell no stories worth telling. It's a terrible thing to only gaslight the people that spend all their time raging against the inclusion of diversity and not express any anger at the terrible stories being told by these companies.

In many of these cases, the best idea would have been to take a break and refresh when someone had an actual idea. This would help to make most things Disney has for example feel like they have a reason to exist. After Endgame, we desperately needed a break to decide what happens next, because what happened after told us they had no ideas. Instead, we're constantly bombarded with product, which takes few chances, tells no story, and serves no purpose, except to led in to new product. This is a trend most major studios have been going down and it rightly deserves to be shouted from the rooftops as to the damage it does in creating and sustaining apathy in the fandoms it's supposed to be appealing to.

Toxic fans have existed forever, and companies abusing their properties at the expense of fans have also existed forever. It serves no purpose to highlight one without calling out the other.

[klvinbr]

counter argument: sonic movie franchise is on the third movie when if they didnt listen to fans they would had floped on the first one

[chronomitch]

I'm all for ignoring toxic fans, but it doesn't excuse bad writing, huge plot holes, and uninteresting or even plainly insulting characters. I don't need or want fan service or remixes of past stories. I'm all for new things and new story directions. I also don't mind socio-political messages in storytelling. However, the writing, characters, and plot (i.e. the basic tenets of storytelling) have to be good enough to support these things. See Andor. Despite not feeling at all like Star Wars, Andor is incredible because it has excellent writing, characters, and production.

[travisschubert]

7:27 You do realize the only people who are getting 200 million dollars to make their fanfiction into films are not people you are defaming. People like Leslye Headland come out and state they make Star Wars the way they want it to be, tell people not to watch it if they don't like it, then cry racism and sexism when people don't watch. Fans aren't always right, but neither are creatives or studio execs. Like your own example, Wrath of Khan, sometimes quality speaks for itself and changes minds. But just as often, and moreso now, creatives and execs believe that consumers should shut up and mindlessly consume content, regardless of quality or preference.

[kyrudo]

I think this video should’ve also acknoledged too that sometimes the fans ARE right.

Dragon Ball Evolution was a mistake.

The Sonic movie got saved and re-edited thanks to Fan backlash and now they are going into their 3rd movie.

Yes, fans don’t usually know what they want, but ignoring all together and not having one foot in the door to the type of content they expect is also a recipe for disaster.

[edwardnowakowski]

As a fan who’s been told for a decade that the series’ I used to like aren’t for me. I don’t attack anyone, but i can’t help but smile when they fail.

I just wish there were any series that were “for me” anymore.

The Witcher isn’t “for” fans of the games and books

The new Star Wars movies aren’t “for” fans of episodes 1-6 or KOTOR.

The only marvel movie in recent years that felt for me was the new Deadpool because it felt like a celebration of many characters’ histories

[seanlancendorfer]

The best parts of lasagna for me was the meat and cheese. So when i made my own, I loaded it up with those two ingredients and it was terrible. A recipe requires subtly and direction to maximize flavors, something I did not understand as just the one eating what i was given. A personal touch could make it stand out but it has to be off of a well constructed base. Make a good lasagna, and you'll feel like you got just enough of all the things you like. Load it with cheese and sausage, and you'll get a stomach ache. Make something of quality and no one will have any real reason to complain unless they don't like lasagna, and you weren't going to satisfy those people no matter what you do or add to the dish. You get a microwave, by the numbers, lasagna, don't be surprised how bland and unfulfilling it is compared to one that was made by a good chef. Hold on, the metaphor keeps going. Seasoning to taste, adding some inspired ingredient choices or factoring in dietary restrictions may change who enjoys the meal or allow more people to eat it, and there is no problem with that, but sooner or later you stopped making a lasagna all together.