Ever since the dawn of the Internet and the invention of the “comments section”, websites have been inundated with thoughts, opinions and views from those who previously never had a public platform to share their voice. What we have now in 2014 is a very large and thriving film community where people can give their two cents on the latest film news and reviews. If anything, this is the best time to be a movie fan as film discussions can be created from all around the world.
Here at Flickering Myth, we have an open door policy for comments and opinions and actively encourage people to do so. But like any offering of this nature, you tend to see three sides to the discussion triangle:
The Good
This is when genuine discussion is created about a piece of film news. Recently Zack Snyder posted up an image of the Batmobile for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and this created a lot of well-argued points for both the positives and the negatives of the new design. Some people liked it and gave their thoughts, while others didn’t and shared why. No name calling, no insulting, just people discussing what they thought about this interpretation of one of cinema’s most famous cars.
And this is why websites like Zugme exist. It interacts with film communities all around the world and it allows for the posting of videos, audio and images related to movies, creating film discussion. Unlike the forums on IMDB or the comments section of YouTube, there is no hate or negativity, just good ol’ fashion discussion.
The Bad
However, you will always get the Negative Nancies of the world. But it’s one thing to be dismissive of something related to movie and an entirely different one to use insults as part of your comment. Despite that it’s now commonplace around the Internet, the mind still boggles that a human being can’t simply write, “I don’t agree with you for X,Y and Z” and instead angrily types “your an idiot and you live in your Moms basement!” – complete with incorrect grammar.
The first option offers up the chance for further discussion, the second option kills any form of conversation dead.
The Ugly
But this is where the option to open up comments leads to bad, bad things. It’s awful enough that we live in a world where actresses’ private photo albums are hacked and displayed around the world for everyone to see, but when you start hearing the comments about them it becomes something more sinister.
Recently some set photos of Deborah Ann Woll as Karen Page in Daredevil sneaked online and while they didn’t show anything of much interest, it promoted one commenter to say “mmmm dat leg meat”.
It’s impossible to really delve into why this is worst of the ugly side of film community, but I think the ugliness of that comment speaks for itself.
Film communities are a Good thing and discussions with fans around the world should be beautiful, but often we sway into Bad and even Ugly at times. So the next time you look to write a comment on a news article, try and make the right choice of which side you should take.
Originally published September 16, 2014. Updated April 13, 2018.
