I've talked about movies and the like a lot on this blog because I love movies (which I am sure you've picked up on). I love media in general; movies, TV, music, art, and such. These are great distractions from the monotony/crippling-existential-crisis-inducing-facts of existence. There is one one thing these all have in common though, that I have a love/loathe relationship with, and that is the fans. Now, this can be extended into most anything (fans of sports, movie franchises, political factions, religions): there are people who take this all too seriously. These fans take the source material as sacred in a fundamentalist sense of the word. It is infallible and if you don't agree you are not only wrong, but a lesser person for it. These guys are the types to rattle off facts to feel superior to other people who call themselves fans. These people are assholes.
I hate these fans with a passion, because they miss the point. Instead of enjoying the community of people they seek to make it exclusionary. The reason stuff like star wars is good is not because of the movies. A New Hope was ok, Empire is damn near perfect, and Return of The Jedi was a sad joke written by the marketing department. The prequel trilogy was bad, not because of what it did to canon, but because the movies were bad from a film making perspective. Star Wars did more than show us a story, it opened up a universe to people to get together and explore. Creativity blooms when people become inspired, and these movies inspired millions. For those of you who've been hiding in bomb shelters since the 70's, there is something in the Star Wars fandom known as the expanded universe and it exemplifies what I love about fans. A bunch of people came together and started writing fiction in the universe. They added characters, expanded on somewhat background characters (Wedge Antilles), and made themselves part of cannon. Lucasfilms legitimized (and marketed) a lot of this, and fans became a major part of the process and got together to create as a group. Unfortunately, Disney is disregarding most of this for the upcoming films, and putting restrictions on what is counted as expanded universe, (now known as Star Wars Legends) which is a disservice to those who worked hard on it.
These fans sought to create and inspire with a universe that they loved. Sure you've still got people who take this stuff too seriously, but I have a solution for that. If there is anyone who decides that they need to only respect "real fans" ignore them. Much like how you should deal with fanatics, the only way to win is to not acknowledge them. Fandoms are an interesting form of community that a lot of people take joy from, so fuck people who want to keep people from that.
While writing about this something stuck in my mind and I think it deserves comment. Disney and George Lucas make tons of money from the expanded universe. More effort was put into all the comics, books, and toys then was put into the movies. George Lucas has said in the past that his movies have his name on it and that they should be the way he wants them (paraphrasing). At the same time he makes boatloads of cash off of the expanded universe. I am sure that the creators of the expanded universe get paid too, but I think that they deserve more respect. They help him build up an empire, and all of their creative efforts are thrown out. This is wrong. As Eshi said in his last post: Fuck George Lucas. I am not a fan boy, I don't care about the shit he did to his movies, I care that he legitimized fan's work, profited off of it, then claimed artistic authority and turned his back on those fans.
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