Broom Kid said:
Fandom in general is pretty mentally unhealthy. It only makes sense that smaller, more intensely-focused sub-fandoms would be seen as being even more “yikes.” The mainstreaming of fandom is maybe one of the worst things to have been facilitated by the internet in the 21st century, not just in how it helped normalize toxicity in discourse, but in how entertainment discussions have become both distraction from, and proxy FOR, ACTUALLY import and and meaningful things happening in the real world.
The more we get distracted, the more we convince ourselves the distractions are more meaningful than they actually are - the more meaning we undeservedly project onto entertainments, the more warped and shrunk our perspectives become, the more toxic and reactionary we are - until the baseline we occupy every time we log on is frequently scared, angry, helpless, and disillusioned, at all times, of most things; things which we can’t control and never could because we don’t actually make movies or tv shows, we just watch them - which only causes us to further pursue pop culture distractions as a form of “escapism.”
It’s a pretty dumb, ugly, vicious circle that’s been mainstreamed and normalized to a fairly disturbing degree. Its partially why our cultural memory is maybe two-weeks long at best.
Broom Kid, I’ve seen you bring this up several times before, to the point where I legitimately wonder why you are on a site which proudly proclaims its intensely-focused sub-fandom cred if you believe that such a thing is unhealthy.
While I agree with you that many people use the internet to hyperfocus on their negativity with regards to movies and shows, these online spaces are also filled with people who have genuine appreciation for these properties. These are people who saw Star Wars with their friends and family and through enjoyment of these films formed stronger bonds of friendship because of them. These are people who took some of their ideas and philosophy to heart and used them as empowering messages in dark times in their lives.
Most of toxicity in fandoms arises when the art in question becomes so vast and varied in quality that gatekeeping and no-true-fan-ing becomes the norm. It arises when schisms erupt and battle-lines are drawn, when versions of art are suppressed and its creators gaslight its fans for decades, when creators declare levels of cannonicity and declare decades of creative work null and void, and the creative reins are handed to those who replace those works with other works of dubious quality. In this way the toxicity of the Star Wars fandom has long been cultivated and encouraged. Yet despite all of this there is a tremendous amount of goodwill for Star Wars even now. I believe that site has in some small way helped in keeping the suppressed art alive and reversed some of the toxicity the creators have cultivated around the fans. I believe that this preservation and the fandom which created it is good, and more than that it is right. All acts of appreciation for art are good, and even criticism when tempered with praise.
I want to leave in 2019 the idea that a fandom is toxic purely because it is a fandom. If you find yourself becoming a more angry, worried person because of a fandom then absolutely it is unhealthy and you must find a way to regain that former appreciation or find a way to leave peaceably. But I love Star Wars, the Original Trilogy. I appreciate the bold intent behind the Prequels and the vast imagination of the EU. I find wonderful vivid characters and excellent production quality in the Sequel Trilogy, and adore the Mandalorian with my girlfriend, who now also has a new appreciation for this world. People are allowed to have strong positive feelings for works of art, and they are allowed to come together to express those feelings. I don’t think that is a bad thing.
