George R. R. Martin calls out fandoms and their negative attitude towards their favorite franchises.
“I don’t understand how people can come to hate so much something that they once loved,” Martin said. “If you don’t like a show, don’t watch it! How has everything become so toxic?”
Modern Fandoms
This callout isn’t just about Martin’s books or shows but about most popular fandoms. The same fans of the show complain when they don’t like a certain part, making it into a full brown controversy.
One show Martin mentioned was the upcoming Lord of the Rings show.
“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power isn’t even on yet, but if you follow what’s going on online, the controversy about it is like World War Two. They’re dropping atomic bombs on each other.”
“You hear controversies about some of the Marvel shows and the Marvel movies, certainly about the DC characters. It used to be if you were a fan of Star Trek, you liked Star Trek. Now it seems like half the people who call themselves Star Trek fans hate Star Trek, and the Star Wars fans hate Star Wars, and the Tolkien fans hate Rings of Power,” Martin continued. “What the hell? Now maybe it’s because it’s changing, but as a writer you’d go crazy if you didn’t change it somehow. You want to tell new stories, not tell the same stories over and over again.”
Goerge R. R. Martin
Some of the criticism can definitely be applied to A Game of Thrones: the novels and the show. The last season of the HBO show was massively bad and received a lot of criticism. Martin wasn’t responsible for the last season but it is his work and he is going to be attached to that show forever.
Besides the show, Martin has also received a lot of flak for taking a long time to release his latest novel, The Winds of Winter. Fans have come after the writer time and time again and that may have also influenced his comments
Comments
I agree with Martin’s point about fandoms becoming toxic. Not everything that happens is going to be make every fan happy. We as fans are supposed to enjoy the form of media presented. But in today’s day and age where we can complain on the internet and find people who agree, that is not realistic. Everyone is going to have an opinion and not all of them are going to be good.
Martin needs to ignore the internet because they will always find something to complain about. Instead, he should let them rant and not let them know that they are getting to him. Or they will continue just for the attention.
Conclusion
Martin is working on House of the Dragon which will be arriving August 21. Following that, Rings of Power will be releasing on September 2nd. Will you be tuning in to watch either of the shows?
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Im watching Game of Thrones rn. Its one of the best shows if ever seen… I do agree with martin to an extent though. I love Marvel, but i disliked Infinity war, but that doesn’t mean i would trashtalk it constantly instead of focusing on the Marvel movies i did like…
Absolutely understand both sides here. People have opinions and are allowed to express them, negative emotions are part of people and we can’t erase that. However, I still understand the frustration with fans attaching themselves to a series and then getting very heated when something changes. I feel as though instead of moving on people show up to something they dislike and try and force it to be what they want.
Everyone is going to express their opinion and that’s perfectly fine. It’s still good to let go of a show or series you dislike and talk about that frustration with others who aren’t a fan, instead of within the fandom itself against everyone who enjoys it. But at the end of the day they are Internet conversations, no need to take them too seriously… we can all walk away and click open a new tab if they bother us.
I will be watching both. He is correct Fandom is out of control. Viewers/readers have unrealistic expectations. They forget it is all entertainment, its not reality. Was the show well made? Was the acting good? These are real expectations. People need to get a life.
People that like the same things can get passionate about something in different ways leading to disagreement. When people are around people with the same interest it can get heated.
This is way I don’t feel the need to be part of fandoms. I like Lord of the Rings but I don’t has to be in the fandom to be a fan.
I’m not a big TV person so I’m not interested in any of these shows.