Have you ever had something you love that you felt so connected to? A movie, a show, a sport, a video game, a hobby? You’ll ride or die for it, no matter what it is? No matter the setbacks, if there are even tiny things about it you don’t like? For me, I’ve always had a heart for movies and cartoons, which evolved into my love of art, entertainment, and pop culture. I love that this is a society where there is so much amazing content to enjoy and a variety of it that can appeal to the different tastes we have. For those of you who don’t know the things I’m obsessed with, that isn’t just in the broad world of entertainment and pop culture I’ll basically narrow them down to being The Beatles, superheroes, fantasy stories, and of course Star Wars. There are definitely other individual movies, TV shows, and comics I’m obsessed with, but it would be a really long editorial if we fell down that rabbit hole. If you want to get to an idea of who I am as a person, those four things I mentioned.
But you get what I’m pulling at. We have those things we are so passionate about and can enjoy no matter what or have skyrocket expectations since we care about it so much that if it doesn’t meet our needs, it’ll disappoint us to no end. Now I love Star Wars and cared about it so much (I've used this example in my previous post and feel it fits), but before The Force Awakens came out I couldn’t wait to see how different it would be from the rest of the other films. I had expectations, fan theories in my brain, and speculated heavily based on what I heard on podcasts. And they played it safe, and certainly not in a negative way. It was kept aesthetically and stylistically like the Original Trilogy and while I quite liked it the first time, part of me was a little let down that it wasn’t as different as I hoped. Then, I saw it again with a different mindset understanding the kind of movie it was and I loved it the more and more times I watched it after that. It paved the way for different layers to the franchise we weren’t used to seeing and pretty spectacular character development that made me absolutely adore this franchise.
There was an open-mindedness I accepted in the Star Wars franchise that I placed in other things in life and I still want to come back for more in those lovely pastimes. However, as you've read in my previous posts you'll know that I've had the conversations with people who were done and didn't quite enjoy the franchises that I found joy in and that got me thinking. The first instinct could be to feel upset and bogged down by the negativity and criticisms, but then again there's also the idea of how opinions and personal tastes and past experiences can influence how someone feels about anything. Any franchise, fandom, or hobby. So really the short answer to my headline is yes. I do think it's fair to be done with a franchise if it's not bringing you joy anymore. As much as I like to see the good in my favorite things and connect with people who take joy in it as well because that's how much I love them, there were a couple times where I loved a franchise, but maybe not all of it to a degree. And this might be a wacky example, but I'm a really big fan of SpongeBob SquarePants.
That cartoon was my childhood and the first 3 seasons of the show and first movie are some of my favorite pieces of comedy and animation in the history of pop culture. Just my personal taste, but then since Nickelodeon knew how marketable it had become they decided to renew it for more seasons with a new showrunner. The late Stephen Hillenburg, the creator of SpongeBob, left the show because he knew after the first movie it was the proper place to end it. But it's one of the most popular Nickelodeon properties, so obviously they want to make more episodes and earn a profit off of it. And in my honest opinion, I don't really enjoy watching the newer SpongeBob episodes since it's in a different direction.
I even knew something was different about the show when I was a kid, but I still watched it. So I've come to the conclusion that SpongeBob isn't really my thing nowadays anymore and I still love the early seasons and movie with every fiber of my being, but I don't think it would be fair to keep watching it and not enjoy it. It's fair that I could move on and enjoy other cartoon shows. It's perfectly okay to move on from a franchise and find something else that gives you that joy and I found a variety of other things. So I think because I love my franchisees and have my own tastes it's easy to have that knee-jerk reaction about a hint of negativity from another person and think, "They don't get it." No. Maybe it's just not for them and they don't see things the same way as you do and that's okay.
I used to follow quite a few YouTube movie critics and I had to unfollow most of them. I felt my tastes and their tastes were similar to my own when I discovered them early on, but as years go by things change. I recognize they can be talented at communicating their thoughts in their own ways and have a way to engage their audiences, but I recognize since their opinions and outlooks aren't like mine, I don't want to listen to what they have to say. I just don't enjoy their videos anymore and rather than complaining to them or blatantly online saying, "Oh they used to be fun," what good's that gonna do? Let them live their lives and I'll find some other content to listen to. It's fine if they're not for me anymore. And I didn't want to draw attention to the specific users I unfollowed because that's not relevant and I don't want it to come across as putting anyone down. I'm not. I have no problem with people like them doing something constructive that doesn't attack creators and is just thoughtful criticism. It's just not content that I personally feel the need to engage with.
I also remember doing my Worst of the Year movie lists on my blog and voluntarily watching movies I wasn't interested in. And I'm glad I was able to have constructive thoughts about why I didn't like something, but I don't feel the need to do those again. I feel we get enough negativity online about stuff people don't like and I don't want to throw any more wood in that fire. There's also so much stuff that I'd rather enjoy watching and possibly be inspired by and talk about instead of the stuff I wouldn't want to watch. And I feel like I gave those movies my time of day to talk about them. Like I don't want to keep talking about why I hated the last Transformers movie. I know I personally didn't like it, and I had this antiquated thought that I didn't understand why people liked them. I take it back and I encourage the positivity. I absolutely have no problem with people getting joy out of stuff that I personally don't like. Arts and entertainment are about variety and it's just awesome that there's something out there for everyone to enjoy.
So I have franchises that I personally don't enjoy engaging with and I just moved on. I focused on the stuff that I DO like and that still brings me joy. People don't have to agree on everything, and I feel I'm on a whole other planet with people's opinions, but I feel there should be a level of respect involved. No browbeating over other people's opinions and maybe more of an understanding of where people are coming from. If it's not for them, it's not for them. So if you are reading this and have been putting so much energy into disliking something, I encourage you to look around and find something that connects with you and it could just be any plain old hobby. Maybe movies aren't for you, or TV shows, comics, and video games. That's what's so brilliant about our society is that we're privileged to have so much to do and so much amazing content to enjoy in our leisure. You have that choice to find stuff that brings you joy and to surround yourself with positivity and fun in whatever aspect of life or you can make a petition about remaking movies or a TV season in a franchise you used to like. Think about it. You can be done with a franchise, but deal with it in a way that'll help your well being and through that, your eyes will be more open to the world around you.
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