Being a fan has lately become more or less synonymous with fanboyism. Because of this I prefer not to call myself a fan of anything. Fanboys are both incapable of handling any critique towards the object of their fanaticism or seeing any flaws in it themselves.
Let’s start with the paradox from the title. I’ve seen so many posts in various boards where fanboys of some TV-series attack any critique with the following logic: “me fanboy” -> “series perfect” -> “critique” -> “critic hates the show” -> “critic should stop watching and leave the board” -> “critic stupid.” That’s the first half of the paradox.
The second half is more often found in discussions about movies. It’s about people who did what the previous fanboys demanded and didn’t finish the film: ““me fanboy” -> “movie perfect” -> “critique involving a notion of not finishing the movie” -> “critic stupid for criticizing the film after seeing only part of it.” So critic is always wrong because it’s impossible to meet both demands.
The first half is more obviously flawed argument: unlike the fanboys claim criticizing something doesn’t mean hatred towards it. Very rarely (never) does one find a work of art than can be considered perfect, yet it’s natural for us to reach for that perfection. A transformation from imperfect to perfect requires change and critique is a suggestion or a demand for such change. A lack of critic is indifference, not appreciation.
The other part is slightly less obvious and there’s even some little notion of truth in it. Without seeing the film or show completely one’s limited to very rudimentary critique – such critique in itself isn’t very helpful or informative and that’s why I think it should be made clear that it’s made from incomplete viewing. Still it’s absurd to think that in modern abundance of entertainment people should waste their time in works that only manage to bore or repulse them: chances for a movie suddenly improving considerably after 40 minutes or a series after five or six episodes is too slim to gamble one’s time.
Besides the paradox fanboys often display some other flawed arguments. It’s very common to start by belittling the critique as just an opinion and then move on to bash the critic for having a wrong one. Another common argument against the critique is to emphasize the numbers: so many disagree with the critic so critic’s opinion must be wrong. In the end it all boils down to fanboy’s inability to see his own opinion as just another opinion.
In art there are no absolutes. Some technical aspects can be evaluated in mostly objective ways but the value of a final product is always personal.
This entry was inspired by comments to my claim that The Dark Knight was a movie worth 1 out of 5 points and that I stopped watching it after 40 minutes or so.
Ravings of Kuukkeli 
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