Every film, song, photograph, poem or even tweet is, at its core, someone telling a story. Whether it’s a hobbit returning a ring or a photo of someone eating lunch, every piece of media, from movies to Instagram, is someone communicating a story.
We live in a world where once something is out there, there’s no getting t back. When someone releases a film, it is copied and shared by its viewers instantly; there’s no taking it back. On the other end of the spectrum, you post a tweet, and the internet now owns it. Because individuals on social media seem to have a heavier presence lately, it seems that there is more criticism of various topics online; I disagree with this assumption. There is not more criticism now that more people have been given an outlet to express their voices, but rather everyone is expressing the same viewpoints; it’s just louder now.
Everyone’s a critic
With this, the world has lost the vital commodity of hindsight. People see something, and they tell the world almost instantly. This means everyone’s a critic and sometimes no one’s a critic. Within minutes, something is good or bad; there’s no time to form an educated opinion or thought because people have already made their decision. Whether it’s the iPhone bending, or a film that flopped, everything’s values have been minimized into a headline. Mass communication has its good and bad points, but the point I’m trying to make is this….
Haters – Bottle your contempt for maybe an extra hour, or day, anything. Just allow even the smallest amount of time for people to enjoy their moments, and very possibly, redeem or explain themselves; this lack of impulse control will make you look stupid in the long term.
Here’s my example: Tusk, a Kevin Smith horror film that has recently been released in America. Tusk is a story that started as a podcast in which Smith and his co podcaster Scott Mosier discovered a gum tree ad (soon to be revealed as a hoax) where a landlord was offering a free room to any tenant who was willing to dress up as a walrus for 2 hours every day. This sent the duo off into a creative outburst where they created a horror story around this concept. Skip forward a few months and Smith has written, filmed and released this crazy story staring Justin Long and Michael Parks into the cinematic universe.
Tusk opened with poor box office numbers and mixed reviews, leading to a wave of haters calling it the ‘end of Smith’s career’. Was it? No, of course not. Smith himself has stated the film made its small budget back in pre-sales to international markets. This burst of originality (originality that many people scream is lacking in the film industry bloated with superheroes and YA books) has not ‘failed’ but instead has done nothing but invigorate the filmmaker. Kevin Smith currently has 3 films at various stages of production and boundless originality that, good or bad, is at least different. Original and different films that are always welcome in my opinion.
The simple fact is: if you don’t like it, don’t watch it. Haters and trolls often do nothing but spread negativity. It’s time we start spreading a bit of positivity instead. Some People have some stories to tell, so let’s listen before we judge.
