In many ways, social media is the bane of our age. It seemed like a good idea. Originally, it began with MySpace and evolved (or devolved?) into Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Let average everyday people like you and me set up a landing page on the internet so that distant family members and friends can share in our lives. It seemed like a good idea. What we found out instead was that… well… sometimes we don’t really want to know Uncle Joe’s opinion about politics or culture.
Enter: Popular Culture in the modern age. I grew up on wonderful properties like Star Wars, G.I. Joe, NWA wrestling, and so forth. Like everyone else, I have my favorites and least favorites among those. It was always fun to discuss with friends, “which was better Star Wars (A New Hope as it is known now) or the Empire Strikes Back?”, “What would happen if Hulk Hogan wrestled Ric Flair?”, “Who is stronger The Hulk or Superman?” and within these questions we let our imaginations run wild and our enjoyment of these pop culture icons grew stronger.
But along the way something happened. I think it began years ago with the rise of “snark culture” (yes, I just made that term up, feel free to use it.) You know what I mean, biting satire. Think of South Park or Family Guy only with the average Joe doing it. It started out slowly, maybe something you just didn’t like from your favorite show (those last few seasons of LOST were something else, right?) and you make a snide comment about it. Then add in social media where everyone has an opinion, and it becomes a snark-fest. A contest to out snark one another. Stir in a little Reddit and suddenly you have the internet phenomenon of hate watching everything… and it is killing what we love.
Personally, I really did not like Star Wars: The Last Jedi. I fundamentally disagreed with many of the choices made by director Rian Johnson. When asked by my friends, “What did you think about that last Star Wars movie?” I told them I had mixed feelings about it but disliked it more than I liked it. That was a matter of personal taste. It is subjective. Many people liked it, many people hated it, but the social media campaign that followed was so toxic that the civil war depicted in the Star Wars films paled in comparison to the civil war between Star Wars fans.
Recently, Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker has been met by similar backlash and toxic commentary. I liked Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker personally, but I hesitate to share that sentiment on social media due to the likely onslaught of haters and trolls who seem to be hating for the sole purpose of hating.
Comic books are a dying industry. I am not being a naysayer, I am simply looking at the numbers. I have been reading and collecting comic books for over 40 years and never has readership numbers been lower and they are lower by several orders of magnitude. I love comics. The last thing I want to see happen is to watch comic books die a death. I want to see an era where the number one comic book every week sells a million copies. But toxic fandom is not going to accomplish that.
The same thing has happened to pro wrestling. Through a variety of factors, pro wrestling viewership numbers have decreased almost in the same percentage numbers as comic book sales. 2019 in particular has been the proverbial blood bath in pro wrestling viewership. Yet the remaining fans have seemingly turned on each other in a vicious battle of words in social media. Instead of supporting the companies they love (WWE, AEW, New Japan, NWA, etc) they instead feel compelled to destroy the things they don’t. Even people who should know better and who genuinely love wrestling and have been a valuable participant in it such as Hall of Fame manager, booker, commentator Jim Cornette, seem to spend more time verbally destroying things they hate rather than calling attention to things they love. Or is there simply nothing left to like?
The infection seems to be spreading. Over last two to three years I have witnessed that toxicity run through comic books, pro wrestling, Star Wars, G.I. Joe, action figure collecting, and comic book movies to the degree I am almost afraid to like anything anymore. Social media needs a serious dose of positivity.
Politics have become so toxic that society has been strained to the point of violence. This same toxicity has now filtered into our escape. Art is an escape from the “real world”. Stories in comics and books are our way out of the mundane and into the extraordinary. The fantasy battles of comic book, movie, and TV heroes and villains and pro wrestling heels and babyfaces are meant to give us respite from our real life battles. Yet now, it seems we’ve sullied our escape with the same venom we were escaping from.
It’s ok to love something. It’s fine to dislike something. But the toxic environment fandom has created, all for the momentary delectation of a funny meme or Twitter jab, is doing none of us any good.
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