Consumer Entitlement With Entertainment Products: Or Why Everyone Needs To Stop Worrying So Much About Imaginary Stuffs And Find Better Things To Do With Their Time

Consumer Entitlement With Entertainment Products: Or Why Everyone Needs To Stop Worrying So Much About Imaginary Stuffs And Find Better Things To Do With Their Time

Consumer Entitlement with entertainment products. A combination of words so mismatched that it boggles the mind and yet recently it has become a real problem online. A subsection of any given entertainment property’s fandom must now always fly off the handle and do so in the most obnoxious and disrespectful way possible. Whether it be petitions, tagging the entertainer on social media, or just being pigheadedly rude in general about the entertainment property, if there is a wrong way to announce their discourse, this subsection of the fandom will find it. It’s shameful, toxic, and reveals more about the individuals engaged in the activity than it does the movie, TV show, video game, comic book, or novel they are raging against. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Before we begin, it’s important to start off with a few definitions in order to limit the scope of this conversation. These definitions come from the Mirriam-Webster Dictionary.

Consume:

1.

To do away with completely: Destroy

4.

To engage fully: Engross

5.

To utilize as a consumer

Consumer:

One that consumes, such as:

a) One that utilizes economic goods

Entitled:

Having a right to certain benefits or privileges

Entitlement:

1.

a) The state of being entitled

b) A right to benefits specified especially by law or contract

2.

Belief that one is deserving of or entitled to certain privileges.

Entertainment: 

1.

a) Amusement or diversion provided especially by performers

b) Something diverting or engaging

Now that I’ve defined the terms, I’ll define combining the words consumer and entitlement.

Consumer Entitlement: The state of being or belief that one is deserving of or entitled to certain privileges with products they consume fully and/or utilize as a consumer.

In some instances, you as a consumer may be entitled to certain benefits and privileges as defined by the user agreement of the product you are consuming. For example, if you purchase a new car and it comes with a special warranty that grants you free service within the first 50,000 miles driven, then that is a benefit or privilege you are entitled to with your purchase. Another example, you buy an online membership for a video game console and that membership allows you to download certain games to play for no additional charge, then that is a benefit or privilege you are entitled to with your purchase. The list of consumer products that come with entitlements is fairly large but well defined in the terms of service. You pay for the product and will receive the following services, benefits, and privileges. It’s cut and dry. Simple.

Consumer Entitlement with entertainment products, is simple too, or at least it ought to be. You purchase a book, then you are entitled to exactly one book. You buy a ticket to see a film, then you are entitled to precisely one showing of that movie. You buy a cable subscription, then you are entitled to however many channels of TV you are paying for. Simple. You buy a product and receive it. These purchases are not guarantees that you will like said product, merely that you will receive them, however a growing presence of fans on the Internet disagree. They believe they are entitled to more, to satisfaction tailor made to their exact specifications. Let’s look at a couple examples:

Game of Thrones final season:

I bet in the run up to the finale the showrunners for Game of Thrones never saw the kind of backlash the internet threw at them coming. Certainly it was to be expected that the ending of such a hugely popular show was likely going to disappoint a few fans, but this ended up being more to the tune of over a million fans. According to a change.org petition that was started recently, 1.2 million fans (at the time of this posting) want the last season of Game of Thrones to be written with competent writers (the petition’s words, not mine). Whether you have enjoyed the final season of Game of Thrones or not, they promised you a finale and that’s what you got. They delivered the product, which was their only job. They created the finale in hopes that a mass audience would like it, but there was no guarantee that viewers would like it. The truth about whether the audience liked it or not is not something we can really gauge at this moment. Too soon to tell. I never take the internet haters/trolls at face value, because they tend to be a highly vocal minority. It may be that a lot of people were happy/content with the ending but chose to remain silent. The problem with that is that the angrier portions of the fandom are filling the void with their vitriol. The fact that somebody bothered themselves to create this petition was bad enough, the follow through by over a million jaded fans is what’s even more hugely disappointing. The type of vitriol and negativity that some people are spewing about the final season of Game of Thrones is the kind of toxic juvenile crap one might expect from a political debate on Facebook, not a TV show about dragons, ice zombies, warfare, and a more-or-less standard medieval melodrama. It’s downright shameful behavior on the part of the fans and shows why we can’t have nice things: because many of you would just complain about it anyway.

Star Wars – The Last Jedi:

At the end of The Last Jedi, Luke Skywalker refuses to fight and instead uses his Jedi powers to stage the ultimate show of strength and intelligence by not fighting at all, perhaps the most Jedi thing a character in the Star Wars universe could do, and many of the fans were livid. Apparently, they wanted Luke to show up and save the day by being a total Jedi badass… which kind of defeats the purpose of being a Jedi. Certainly, they are trained in the art of defending themselves but the core tenants of the Jedi code are knowledge, peace, and helping others. Luke, through knowledge of the Force found a peaceful solution to help the rebels escape the First Order. Essentially, he did what any great Jedi should have done. Somehow, a lot of fans didn’t see it that way. They started a petition too, not nearly as successful as the Game of Thrones petition, but they still managed over a hundred thousand signatures. They’ve even started a shady crowdfunding campaign, with allegedly over $400 million dollars donated, which is almost certainly a lie and more than enough money to actually fund the making of a movie seeing as the newer Star Wars films were each made in the $200 million dollar range. This latter campaign is even more onerous than the Game of Thrones petition, simply because the originator is using fandom’s hatred for the film and fleecing those fans for money. They may not have actually raised hundreds of millions of dollars, but I bet they’ve raised tens of thousands of dollars from gullible fans and that’s horrifying enough. Again, this is just absolutely shameful behavior. If you have enough time to sign a petition and donate money to have a film illegally remade, then you have enough time and money to be doing things that better impact society as a whole rather than spending so much time worried about space people with laser swords.

Robert Pattinson cast as Batman:

Robert Pattinson, the actor perhaps best known as the vampire Edward from the Twilight films series has been cast as Batman according to reputable film trade source Variety. In less than 24 hours after the announcement, something familiar happened. You guessed it! Another ridiculous petition to have the role of Batman recast was made, and already has thousands of signatures. Imagine being the actor and having just signed a contract to play Batman, a character that is beloved by millions. You signed the contract in good faith in order to play the role well and to give the fans a new version of the caped crusader to rally behind… only to find out that the majority of the fandom news sites were talking about this petition to get you fired. Imagine the feelings of hope you had for playing the role being deflated in a mere 24 hours. This is peak toxic fandom, one so bitter and controlling that it feels entitled enough to try and manipulate the creation of an entertainment product before it’s even made. Robert Pattinson isn’t my first choice for Bruce Wayne/Batman, but I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, as Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck (both odd choices for the role) did a good job playing the Dark Knight. Who knows, maybe Pattinson will surprise us all. Maybe he’ll be the best live action Batman. I’m willing to give him a chance, and I say that as someone who can’t name a single film he’s starred in that I’ve enjoyed.

All of these examples are the kind of stuff that makes my blood boil, and one of the reasons I take short breaks from social media from time to time. It’s like the inmates are trying to run the asylum, and you know what, I’m not going to give journalists a free pass on this either. Every time they post an article with a click-bait title about these petitions without condemning them, they are endorsing them. You rarely ever see these articles as op-ed pieces, more as just a talking point of “hey, look at what these fans are doing. Do you agree with them? Sound off in the comments section!” It’s like throwing gasoline on a lit fire. It’s not just the fans that need help, it’s often times the journalists that are so hungry for article views that they signal boost this crap that need help too.

For those of you who supported any of these fandom initiatives, listen to my boy Michael Jordan:

This behavior on the part of fandom is seriously shameful. As in, if you took a part in any of these 3 specific instances (or any other similar ones for that matter) you should be ashamed of yourself. The creators of the Game of Thrones TV series owed you nothing. The individuals responsible for the new Star Wars movies owed you nothing. Robert Pattinson was the sparkliest of all the damned movie vampires ever and neither he nor Warner Brothers owe you anything in regard to the next Batman film.

Before anyone says otherwise, I’m not against petitions. I think they can be a great thing for societal change as well as for entertainment fandoms. Multiple TV shows have been saved from cancellation by successful fan campaigns which included online petitions. Director’s and extended cuts of films have been eventually released due to positive fan campaigns and petitions. Good can come from a petition, but only if the message in the petition is positive and well-intended. The petitions I’ve discussed in regard to Game of Thrones, Star Wars, and Robert Pattinson are none of these things. They are mean, rude, disrespectful, and proof positive that some members of the various fandoms are deeply troubled people who are way too concerned about entertainment properties and not nearly concerned enough about reality.

In case I have left things uncertain, let me be clear now:

The companies and individuals responsible for creating entertainment products owe you nothing in any way, shape, or form. They are making a movie, TV show, book, etc. for you to consume. That is it. There is no implicit guarantee that the product will be good, that you will like it, that it will live up to your expectations, or that it will get released at all (many entertainment products get cancelled before they are completed). The only thing they guarantee upon release is that there will be an entertainment product for you to consume. The fact that many consumers obsess over their product is neither their fault nor their problem. It is a situation the consumer has created all on their own, and by default need to fix on their own.

I’m not saying you can’t criticize whatever entertainment you consume. Sometimes we buy stuff and it sucks. The characters are boring, the production value is non-existent, the music’s kinda lame, or the ending was just plain awful, etc. It happens. When it does, it’s OK to say so. Although, I would recommend saying so in a civil fashion that is designed to engage conversation, not stoke the fires of vitriol. There’s already enough hate on this planet. You don’t need to add to it. Also, stop contributing to the problem by creating petitions to have existing entertainment products altered to suit your vision of what they should be. That isn’t something you can dictate to content creators. Products are sometimes disappointing but it doesn’t mean you have the right or the entitlement to demand that they change the product to meet your specific needs. That’s ridiculous. It is what it is, warts and all, so deal with it. Buy other products in the hopes that they fill the hole in your soul created by whatever entertainment product let you down.

My solution to the Consumer Entitlement with Entertain Products problem is simple: If you don’t like the direction and/or ending of an entertainment product, then create your own entertainment Intellectual Property and write a better story, deeper characters, with a more appropriate ending. Yes, it’s that simple. It’s not as if there aren’t tons of fantasy stories to be created in a similar vein to Game of Thrones, which if we’re being honest is just George R. R. Martin’s parody of Lord of the Rings anyway. It’s also not as if you couldn’t create your own sci-fi series reminiscent of Star Wars, which if we’re being honest was just George Lucas taking all of Akira Kurosawa’s samurai films (although mainly Hidden Fortress to start with) and running them through a sci-fi blender. All I’m trying to say here is that all of these types of entertainment products are inspired by other entertainment products. If you want a better sci-fi/fantasy epic, then create it yourself. You don’t even need to release it. Just write it for yourself to appease your need for whatever it is the entertainment product you loved (until you didn’t… because reasons) was no longer able to provide you. Or, do release it and see if the world agrees that you’ve written a better sci-fi/fantasy epic. Be the solution, not the problem.

Look, I get it. I’m asking a lot of you. Maybe too much. If creating a brand new IP is too much for you, then write a fan fiction for your favorite series. AO3 exists for this very reason, to allow you to write your own take on existing IP and to read what other people have written as their unique take on the IP. Yeah, AO3 is dark and full of horrors but it’s also filled with some great writers making some stellar fan fiction. If nothing else, instead of putting all of your energy in trying to get the companies who release products to change them to suit your needs, you could write the outcome you want, publish it on AO3, and take pride in the fact that you finally got to see some form of your desire made corporeal. Heck, you might even get some readers to enjoy your fan fiction and make some new friends.

Bottom line: Life is too short for any one human being (let alone an entire group of them) to get so angrily wrapped up in a piece of entertainment that they would spend more time trying to get the companies who made them to alter an already released product to appease their selfish needs than they would spend on trying to be involved with the future of the country they live in or the key issues that are driving a wedge in modern day society. There are bigger things going on in the world than whatever happened in the last season of Game of Thrones or the latest Star Wars movie. It’s like the Doctor said:

Hopefully, we’re on the same page now, but if not, then I will allow the band Cracker to drive my point about creators and their relationship with the consumer home. If you still want to be toxic, that’ll be your choice. I can lead a toxic fan to reality but I can’t force them to accept it. Regardless, here’s a classic college radio jam from back in the day. Enjoy!