Hey, so I'm just copying and pasting the translation I found on sadpanda.
No idea if the translation's wrong, so feel free to make any corrections. I just want to spread this story, maybe spark some discussion for anyone interested in the message.
It's an interesting idea, although for me personally, I love sitting around with friends talking about and criticizing movies / shows. When I listen to criticism about shows that I love, sometimes it just makes me feel like I'm part of a more exclusive club of fans, and that I 'get it' while they don't.
Although at the same time, I can kind of understand where this is coming from too. I remember when I was but a wee lad out to watch the first pokemon movie on opening night at the local theater. During the scene where Ash dies and Pikachu attempts to revive him via electrocution a lot of adults in the theater started laughing! I had no idea what to think about it, it made me re-analyze my fandom of the series all-together and I stopped watching the show. I could hear that laughter every time I turned the show on saturday morning, I felt embarrassed to be a fan in some ways, I mean, it felt like the world was laughing at me for being moved by one of the shows most serious moments.
Perhaps one important thing is where and who the criticism comes from.
It's an interesting idea, although for me personally, I love sitting around with friends talking about and criticizing movies / shows. When I listen to criticism about shows that I love, sometimes it just makes me feel like I'm part of a more exclusive club of fans, and that I 'get it' while they don't.
Although at the same time, I can kind of understand where this is coming from too. I remember when I was but a wee lad out to watch the first pokemon movie on opening night at the local theater. During the scene where Ash dies and Pikachu attempts to revive him via electrocution a lot of adults in the theater started laughing! I had no idea what to think about it, it made me re-analyze my fandom of the series all-together and I stopped watching the show. I could hear that laughter every time I turned the show on saturday morning, I felt embarrassed to be a fan in some ways, I mean, it felt like the world was laughing at me for being moved by one of the shows most serious moments.
Perhaps one important thing is where and who the criticism comes from.
On the contrary, this is a problem of someone being so sensitive to peer pressure that they feel they have to abandon something they liked just because one person said something bad about it, while at the same time, not being capable of thinking critically enough to actually find good things to say about what they do like. Even the harshest critics, contrary to popular belief, will like things even when they can tear the series to shreds, critically. The Transformers Wiki is a good place to showcase adult fans that realize how ludicrously stupid their favorite childhood cartoon is, even while obsessively noting every detail of it and still enjoying it.
This is the argument used by fans to say that other fans who notice problems in any part of any work they still enjoy are somehow "traitors" to the work. (Like Kantai Collection, but think Kisaragi's death in the anime was cheap and done with little fanfare or meaning? YOU BETRAYED THE WHOLE SERIES!) The argument made is also so broad and absolute that it declares anyone who dislikes anything for any reason does so just because they are cruel people who want to hurt anyone who does like that series.
Enjoying a series is like watching a magic show: while some will accept the magic tricks for what they are, others will watch to try and figure each trick out. There are a lot of people who accuse the latter of trying to "ruin the magic", but hey, it's completely possible to appreciate a good magic even after figuring out how it's done. At the same time, though, it's just as bad for the latter group to mock the former for just enjoying the show for what it is.
The main problem I have with the story is not whether or not it's right, but rather the very idea that there is a right answer, that there is a "right" way to enjoy a series. People will choose to watch and enjoy something for different reasons: nitpick, analyze, criticize, or just buying into the story. Doesn't make anyone more or less than a fan; there are no "true fans" or "hipsters" just as there are no "fake fans" or "posers" or whatever.
Enjoying a series is like watching a magic show: while some will accept the magic tricks for what they are, others will watch to try and figure each trick out. There are a lot of people who accuse the latter of trying to "ruin the magic", but hey, it's completely possible to appreciate a good magic even after figuring out how it's done. At the same time, though, it's just as bad for the latter group to mock the former for just enjoying the show for what it is.
The main problem I have with the story is not whether or not it's right, but rather the very idea that there is a right answer, that there is a "right" way to enjoy a series. People will choose to watch and enjoy something for different reasons: nitpick, analyze, criticize, or just buying into the story. Doesn't make anyone more or less than a fan; there are no "true fans" or "hipsters" just as there are no "fake fans" or "posers" or whatever.
Even then, however, there's also the fact that some criticisms are just plain valid, and fans are, frankly, aware of this, but simply willingly blind themselves to those flaws.
This storylet ultimately comes off as a complaint that, if you don't like something, it's because something is wrong with YOU, not the work in question. If you try to describe to an artist or author or game developer or whatever why you didn't like something, and how they can improve, then you're only doing that to destroy that artist. Bug reports and suggestions in game forums are just attempts to destroy the game that must be met with pitchforks and torches. (And I have seen 'fans' attacking people making bug reports as "people who just hate the game because they hate the game" far too often to really give this sort of argument any credence.)
I mean, to pick a glaring hotspot of controversy, if you don't like the Twilight series, or have ever derided it in any way, that makes you an evil person for trying to destroy something. (And you can substitute in any sort of franchise you hate if you happen to be someone who liked Twilight in spite of the hate it tends to get online.)
I also find that the more emotionally they try to deny the flaws, the more they tend to become someone who violently turns against a series and everything remotely related to it, as this character does, when the flaws become something they can no longer ignore. You know, sort of like what happens with this irrational, emotional backlash in this story. Having the ability to accept the flaws in something you love will just make you a happier, emotionally healthier person, overall.
I'll tell you what; I'll never watch the Power Rangers again. I don't think my heart could take it.
It's not that traumatic.
I mean, I adored Transformers when I was little. I had every one of the toys I could get my parents to buy. I had buckets full of them and even Fortress Maximus, the toy that was as big as a kid, and could fit bunches of littler Transformers inside of it.
A few years ago, I was curious, and started watching the Transformers Prime series. Far from a masterwork of literature, and quite blatantly aimed at kids with storylines to match, but it was entirely watchable and even enjoyable if you didn't mind your plots on the simplified end or dialogue that was Totally Radical.
Then I recorded and watched the pilot episode of the first generation Transformers. Oh. My. God. What the Hell did I ever see in this crap? It was just insultingly badly written. It's not just dumbed-down plotting, it's plots that require you have absolutely no ability to think critically at all to accept any of the things that are happening. Everything that happens shatters disbelief since the only logic the series follows is that there were obviously a few things whoever was in charge wanted to cram into the episode, and they didn't care at all how they strung those few events together to get there.
Still, if nothing else, it's fun to just go through the Transformers Wiki, and see all the reactions other people have had. In its own way, a really terrible work is capable of being the funniest thing you will ever watch. There's a reason Plan Nine From Outer Space is considered a cult classic; the more something really awful is done with a totally straight face, the more absurd, and hence, unintentionally hilarious it becomes.
It doesn't have to take away from your previous enjoyment. Hell, I can still go back and watch Transformers and enjoy it, and even genuinely enjoy some of the newer iterations of the series. Sometimes, it's just fun to see giant robots awkwardly talk about relationships with humans that could never work out for a million different reasons, or just watch some idiots trust Starscream AGAIN no matter how obviously badly that will turn out.
If you can think critically enough to understand why you liked it, you can learn something about yourself, how you've changed over the years, and possibly even have a better idea what sort of things you'll like to see in the future, as well. Answering that "What did I ever see in this?" question is a little difficult to dig through, but will probably make you a better emotionally balanced and mature person on the whole.
I think children's shows are getting a lot better, though. I can stand to watch a good deal of the stuff my niece and nephew watch with them. Maybe it's that there is greater market pressure to put out children's entertainment that the parents won't shut off in disgust, or maybe criticism is making the medium as a whole better, but it's still a positive sign.
