The curse and blessing of the internet is that everyone has a voice. The Flat Earth theorist gets a voice. The indigenous population protesting gets a voice. The Dark side rises and Light to meet it. It’s a wild fucking west of thoughts, ideas, and opinions spreading like wildfire, fast as a finger can hit “Enter.” But, what have we gained from that in the pop cultural context? Sure, we have creators bucking the traditional system of distribution, and putting their art out there directly to the masses. Yet, we have also spawned a whole new industry of “Influencers.” The old adage “Everyone’s a critic” has never been more apropos.
I will admit, I myself debated joining the ranks of the online critic community. Sitting smug and self satisfied behind my keyboard, dishing out what I believed to be justice for the wrongs done to me by the purveyors of content. But, the feeling, like a bad stomach bug, passed eventually, and I went back to doing my best to actually make things. However, the world kept turning. The internet kept buzzing with opinions, and belief of being “owed something” by the creators spread virulently.
Now, I could use any number of examples, but I’m going to focus mostly on the fall out from Game of Thrones final season. The series is unarguably one of the largest pop cultural totems to ever grace the landscape. Didn’t matter who you were, what color, or what age, you probably knew the ins and outs of Westrosi politics, that a Dothraki wedding without at least four deaths was a dull affair, and that there was far more beyond the wall than “Grumpkins” and “Snarks.” And so, all the world sat down to the final six episodes of the series. Their breath baited by a wait of over a year.
The plot moved fast. That is inarguable. But, the choice had been made to limit the series order so as to give each episode the budget it deserved to show the full visual glory the story had earned. In episode three, “The Longest Night,” we were given what is unquestionably the largest battle sequence ever on television. Over an hour of tense, claustrophobia inducing fighting as an incalculable number of the dead poured into Winterfell. None of your favorite character were safe. Everyone was on the table to be wiped aside in a horrifying display of death coming to take the living.
Then the reviews came. Both online, and in the very room I watched it. Because that’s where we are now. It isn’t just critics. It’s average people now who feel emboldened to not just speak their disappointment, but viciously savage any content that didn’t tell the story as they saw fit. The creator’s intent be damned.
Don’t get me wrong. I do, in fact, believe critics are an important part of the creative process. like editors, they are there to help reign in the unchecked mind. But, we’re not talking about that. Today, we’re discussing the fact that, it is impossible to log onto social media without being inundated by the savaging of something you may have loved, at best, or even been indifferent to.
I went into the final season of Thrones, knowing full well that the season was only six episode, and so the pacing really didn’t surprise me. I just thought, “Okay, this is how we’re doing this.” Yet, somehow, around episode 4 I was still hearing complaints about the story moving too fast. Reading articles claiming that foreshadowing doesn’t count as character development. Oh, the endless slew of think pieces!
The series had, unfortunately, become a victim of it’s own hype. As such, for many, the prospect of simple enjoyment had long been lost. “This show had god damn better be the best thing I’ve ever fucking seen or so help me!” one can almost hear a thousand Facebook users typing on a thousand laptops.
So, what’s the take away? I wish I knew, honestly. I’m one of the fools damned enough to still choose a career in the arts. And, so I dangle my work before the public’s maw, even as the teeth grow sharper and the roar more guttural. I have no intention of writing the Great American Novel. I want to write a good summer beach read. But, in an age of perfection or nothing, who really stands a chance?