Comments on: Whining Bat-fans cause Rotten Tomatoes to shut down comments on The Dark Knight Rises review page

By: TwilightNewsSite

TwilightNewsSite — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 19:48:00 +0000

Okay.

So, as it turns out, it *was* a ”psychopaths unite” moment.

By: timbearcub

timbearcub — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 11:57:00 +0000

Sadly not just death threats; http://thequietus.com/articles/09415-denver-colorado-cinema-shooting :-/

Not saying nerd rage did this, but it does put death threats in a scarier light. I doubt the new Batman film is the new Clockwork Orange (was pulled in the UK due to copycat violence) but who knows?

By: Me McMeurson

Me McMeurson — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 02:46:00 +0000

There seems to be very few of us.

By: koanhead

koanhead — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 01:18:00 +0000

Thank you for this. You have massively improved my Youtube experience!

By: W. Brian Tucker

W. Brian Tucker — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 23:26:00 +0000

I wonder how many of the same guys furious about negative reviews will illegally download a pirated version of the movie they claim to love.

By: Wren Dreolin

Wren Dreolin — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 22:12:00 +0000

There are people in any fandom who look at it as wish fullfillment, or even a part of their identity. I am very close friends with someone who has owned a comic book store for several decades, I have been a collector, I was a member of a comic book club (as an adult), and have both worked and attended a number of cons. Some people get so invested that they feel like it is part of who they are. Either its a specific character, or comic, or book, or tv show, or genre. They come to know ALL about it and incorporate it so much into their lives to the point that it could be compared to a relationship, and not a healthy one. And if you threaten any part of that relationship or its validity (as in you don’t like something about it, or you find it lacking, or you question their knowledge of what it is they are involved in) these certain people can become somewhat scary in their reaction. You are very lucky if you read comics and have never encountered any of these people. I wouldn’t say they’re are a lot of them, but trust me, they are out there.

By: rtresco

rtresco — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 21:44:00 +0000

Long-time comics reader here, and I never considered comics or knew someone who looked at them with wish fulfillment. Would any fictional world then be labeled wish-fulfillement, like LOTR, or Narnia? Comics are good stories, quickly told. Not everything is Freudian. Stan Lee gets credit for creating “relatable” characters, the weaklings that gain super human strength and win the girl - but the relatability is more like an adjective or referential que for the reader, not an actual jumping off point for self-identifying, “Hey! I like science too, and wish I could save the day! ”.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 21:14:00 +0000

If you’re taking flak for not seeing a Batman movie, you should consider upgrading your social circle.

By: Editer

Editer — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 16:52:00 +0000

Didn’t the same thing happen to the two reviewers who didn’t like Toy Story 3 and “spoiled” its 100% RT rating?

By: wysinwyg

wysinwyg — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 16:17:00 +0000

I didn’t realize that there was any self-actualization/wish fulfillment in comic fan stuff – I’ve always thought of comics as simply entertainment, and no more, and not really having any real deep connection to anything important.

If you’re not really into comics, then you might at least be aware that the only hugely popular genre of comics is superhero comics. Imagine if you went into a bookstore and 90% of the store was vampire romances. (OK, I know, I know, doesn’t take much imagination.) Imagine that there is one little rack in the back of the store for all of literature, religion, history, science, etc. — everything else is YA novels about vampires in love.

That’s comics, but instead of randy undead it’s all about huge muscle-bound men with mysterious powers saving helpless people from evil. Almost the entire comics market is driven purely by adolescent wish fulfillment.

By: Arys

Arys — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 16:10:00 +0000

I was considering going to see Dark Knight Rises this weekend, but this is exactly the kind of stuff that makes me not want to bother. I’d rather take flak for not seeing a ‘landmark pop culture event’ movie rather than have to argue with crazy fanboys if I don’t like the movie.

By: wysinwyg

wysinwyg — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 16:05:00 +0000

It’s also the only reason they’re able to charge $4 for 12 leafs of paper sopped with chemical gloop. Just sayin’.

By: RedShirt77

RedShirt77 — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 15:16:00 +0000

Gracias.

By: RedShirt77

RedShirt77 — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 15:14:00 +0000

Nice to meet me.

By: Ken D

Ken D — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 14:19:00 +0000

OMG, Call Of Duty & Halo fanboys are also Batman fanboys!?!

By: Martin Focazio

Martin Focazio — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 13:38:00 +0000

Interesting. As a person who never enjoyed comics, even as a kid, this is a useful insight and explains much of the invective I’ve seen. I knew some folks take it (the reviews) personally, I didn’t realize that there was any self-actualization/wish fulfillment in comic fan stuff – I’ve always thought of comics as simply entertainment, and no more, and not really having any real deep connection to anything important.

That’s a TIL moment for me, right there, thanks.

By: Martin Focazio

Martin Focazio — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 13:34:00 +0000

I’m pretty sure that extending the Herp Derp extension to be the default setting for 99.999% of all internet comments would be a good idea.

By: Summer Seale

Summer Seale — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 11:51:00 +0000

It’s too bad that they took down the comments section.

I would have posted that not only am I not interested in Batman, but that I also have absolutely no intention of ever viewing it, purchasing it, renting it, or even discussing it. Add to that that I also am not interested in any “super heroes” motif, story, comics, or anything related or similar in nature, in any fashion whatsoever.

To rub salt into the wounds, as it were…

…and spit in their eyes.

By: elix

elix — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 08:45:00 +0000

The difference between entitled nerdrage and entitled spoiled dicksticks elsewhere (for example, last Christmas’s “My mom only bought me an iPad 2 and a Camaro, what a selfish bitch #christmasruinedforever” Twitter posse) is visibility. Your nerdrage-filled fanboy is busy fighting the great flame wars of the day in the trenches of comic book forums, while the general population is being vapid ignorant idiots on Twitter and Facebook in public.

/partially sarcasm

By: elix

elix — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 08:41:00 +0000

Way to give Jack Thompson something to start his career back up, Batfans. And way to drag us comic book fans back into our basements and the 80s. :(

By: DirkSJ

DirkSJ — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 08:36:00 +0000

I refer you to boing boing:
http://boingboing.net/2011/08/17/criticism-of-a-brand-lowers-the-self-esteem-of-its-adherents.html

By: Ladyfingers

Ladyfingers — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 08:34:00 +0000

I’d imagine this is why dealers and cartels are usually armed.

By: Narmitaj

Narmitaj — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 07:59:00 +0000

How about Zombie Asockalypse, a short film about zombies made with sock puppets.

By: Visceral Vixen

Visceral Vixen — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 06:55:00 +0000

I think the mistake is that there’s a difference between being a fan of something, and becoming so emotionally invested in it that it forms part of your identity – therefore when someone criticizes it you can’t help but take it personally.
I’ve seen sports fans get pretty passionate, but it’s nothing compared to what I see in the fan community! What is wrong with these people?!

By: Visceral Vixen

Visceral Vixen — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 06:47:00 +0000

Nope. When watching Terminator: Salvation all I was waiting for was Christian Bale’s giant ranty outburst against the DOP. :p

By: Visceral Vixen

Visceral Vixen — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 06:45:00 +0000

“Overentitlement.”
An over-used word these days, but one which most accurately describes geek culture, unfortunately. I think it’s going to be the word of the decade, because even though fanboys have always had rabid assholes in their midst, they seem to be louder now than they were before.
What’s that thing Asimov said? Something like “the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge”. Yep, that’s the internet.

By: Ryan Holmes

Ryan Holmes — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 06:28:00 +0000

Holy crap, are you in my brain? You are me.

By: Halloween_Jack

Halloween_Jack — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 02:53:00 +0000

This sort of nerdrage makes me sick and sad; it’s nice that comic books and superhero movies are no longer being considered the sole province of Comic Book Guy-type losers, but that’s largely nullified by the gross overentitlement on the part of people who demand both that their entertainment be flawless and that it be accepted by everyone uncritically. Whether it’s people flooding the Consumerist blog with votes against EA that ranks it as the worst corporation in America, over genuine corporate villain Bank of America, because of their disappointment over the ending of a single videogame (Mass Effect 3) or Anita Sarkeesian getting threatened over some relatively mild criticism of videogames, it’s some deeply ingrained bullshit that desperately needs to stop.

By: Dan Hibiki

Dan Hibiki — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 02:38:00 +0000

get use to it. After the success of Batman you can expect all third rate superhero movies to be Dark and Gritty. Started with Spider man and will surely move on to Super Man and others.

By: Halloween_Jack

Halloween_Jack — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 02:29:00 +0000

(Foreword for potential haters: I say this as someone who’s likely been a comics fan for much longer than you’ve been alive.) Superheroes in general have a heavy combo of personal identification and power wish-fulfillment, and Batman, for several reasons (being built up as the perfect man, cool gadgets, being rich, and general badassery) is several orders of magnitude above Joe Average Superhero in this regard. Simply put, for someone who’s really into Batman, anything having to do with the character (and particularly a much-anticipated, cleverly-promoted high-profile movie) simply can’t not be awesome.