The Fanboy Paradox

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.

You Can Suck My… Blood

Vampires have always been among my favorite creations of imagination. There aren’t many better ways to ensure that I’m going to watch a movie than put a vampire or few in it. Sadly vast majority of vampire films are complete garbage. Last year two vampire movies of importance were released – one being important because of its commercial success and the other because of its quality.

Twilight is probably the most successful vampire film ever. Teenage girls around the world drool over Edward and wet their panties with this cinematic failure based on books that are at times described as the worst written bestsellers today. It amazes me why girls are so interested in such naive romance that depicts them as helpless weaklings saved by and worshiping a strong, perfect man.

I’m very tempted to claim that Twilight is the worst vampire film in history. It’s writing is on par with average fan fiction (i.e. bad), actors seem like they’d rather be somewhere else and the vampires are just pathetic – glowing in sunlight, no weaknesses (to better contrast Edward with Bella’s fragility I assume) and attending school at an age of one hundred and some. Romance is clumsy, characters are thin, no real drama and definitely no horror (unless one counts the horrific experience of watching this).

While Twilight rakes in the big money another movie has gathered lots of praise in the background – a Swedish film Låt den rätte komma in (or Let the Right One In in English). It’s based on a book by John Ajvide Lindqvist and offers much darker version of love story between vampire and child. The world where 12-year-olds Oskar and Eli live is cruel and imperfect, and neither of them are flawless. Characters feel real and possess the depth rarely seen on screen. Both of the young actors do excellent job at portraying their complex and disturbed roles.

Låt den rätte komma in isn’t a horror film but drama with supernatural elements. It doesn’t try to fit into genre molds but tells the story in ways it sees fit. It’s also one of the rare movies that are better than the book they’re based on – while the book is good as well the movie script written by the author himself is more focused and tighter. The story is driven by characters’ motives and it’s refreshing for a change to see film where events unfold in logical way.

Before this January I wouldn’t have believed that the best vampire film ever had been done in Sweden last year. Now I have no other choice but to say that Låt den rätte komma in is my favorite vampire movie of all time. If you haven’t seen it now is the time.

I mean NOW!