The best worst reactions to the news that the next Doctor Who will be a woman

@Kupo:

No, you’re not. Your intent in writing that rant was to position yourself as better than another group of people who don’t interpret things in the same way you do and who enjoy things you deem unworthy of enjoyment. Your intent was to trample all over those people and you’re not sorry for it.

This isn’t the first time he’s done it, either. Both SFHC and myself, at least, have butted heads with Nick before because of his stubborn and snobbish opinions of “Art” and his holier-than-thou perception of people he doesn’t think can read into media as well as he can. His less-than-subtle jab at Hbomberguy also reminds me of the last time he threw up a big rant here about the guy, in which he did basically the exact same generalization thing while being completely clueless to the irony of the lack of self-awareness he was showing.

Didn’t say that was my reason. I simply observed that people are starting to get tired of Trump’s face everywhere and that we do rag on his obnoxious supporters.

But that’s NOT AT ALL the reason we rag on them and you’re using it as justification for ragging on fans of other things.

because Whedon fans are freaking cultists who fly off the handle at any suggestion that Whedon might be anything less than perfect

Could we not, please? I’ve been reading the thread and haven’t seen anybody make the arguments you describe.

This is a discussion about highbrow culture versus mass culture; whether the accessibility issues of the former make it exclusionary, and whether the latter is inherently limited in its scope. Nobody’s acted like a cultist in favour of or against any particular creator, and it’s not helpful to be the first.

This is a day of victory. The new Doctor is female, the ACA is still in force, Milo Yiannopoulos has discovered just how irrelevant he’s become, and Game of Thrones is back on the air.

Between working full time, being primary caregiver to a stroke patient, and dealing with my own bipolar disorder, I don’t have a lot of energy left for deep media analysis. I basically just want to be entertained and emotionally engaged while looking at a variety of humans that I find attractive.

Very good point. It takes a certain amount of privilege to be able to extensively analyze all the media you consume and to know all the literary/cinematic/historical references. Post secondary education isn’t required, but it does help. Even to be very well read without a lot of formal education requires time and either the money to buy a lot of books and movies or access to a well stocked library.

There’s a reason that the self appointed gatekeepers of popular culture tend to be middle class white dudes.

And I can watch The Sixth Sense over and over again even though I know the twist because it’s good storytelling. I’m sure as hell not going to watch The Village again, though.

Minority opinion, but I liked The Village up until the silly twist ending. I really don’t buy that a whole community could live in the woods within walking distance of a freeway and nobody noticed. I’m also not thrilled with the uncritical recitation of the assumption that modern times are more cruel and dangerous to live in. That’s a load of bullshit. It’s just that as a total city person, the idea of being isolated and far from help scares me. Spooky stories with settings like the woods or outer space always get me.

I think that’s the risk of that kind of cultural saturation. I can’t speak for Whedon as I don’t travel those circles, but in the game stores I frequented GoT was everywhere. All the YouTube channels I subbed were talking about it every week. Once you see something everywhere, you kinda want to get away from it.

Oh, okay. It’s my fault I have to put up with condescending assholes implying I’m stupid for liking what I like. I should have known better than to fall with a series that would happen to get super popular a couple of years later. My bad! When I started watching Buffy, I should have anticipated that twenty years later, Joss Whedon would end up directing some blockbusters. What was I thinking! You’re right. I totally had it coming.

Look no further than Trump. After all, I think it’s safe to say we rag on his fans.

Did you seriously just compare liking GoT to being a fucking Trump supporter? While I certainly don’t love seeing Trump’s hideous visage everywhere, that’s not really the problem or his supporters. The reason we rag on Trump fans is because they’re racist, misogynistic etc. and because Trump’s presidency presents a very real threat to a whole of people’s lives. I’m sooooo very sorry that red wedding reaction videos put you out so much, but you really need to take an entire stadium full of seats if you think they compare to Trump support. Of all the utterly clueless privilege blind things to say. You’re not new here. You should really know better.

I went through the same thing with Twilight and 50 Shades when the films were coming out. I was tired of hearing about them because their fandoms just baffled me. Harlequin’s been publishing bodice-rippers for decades, they never hit the jackpot like those two cash cows.

Oh, poor you. What a terrible thing to go through. You know, I don’t like Twilight and Fifty Shades any more than you do. But I’m not the first, nor will I be the last person to point out that fans of media marketed to women and girls get shit on the most. I’m baffled by the popularity of the Fast & Furious franchise. I’m probably not the only one who finds it silly and boring. However, you don’t see widespread hate for the fanbase of these movies. Why? Because, the typical fan is male.

I should note, I’m only using Fast and Furious as an example. I don’t have an issue with people liking those movies and I’m not going to get up on my high horse and proclaim that real fans of vehicular mayhem would watch the cropduster scene in North By Northwest instead.

Anyway, the problem with Twilight and Fifty Shades is not cultural saturation. It’s that they model abusive relationships as romantic. Particularly troubling when it comes to Twilight because the fanbase is mostly young and impressionable.

I’ll stop, I’m just bellyaching at this point.

It’s not the bellyaching that people are taking issue with. It’s that you’re personally insulting fans of things that you’ve deemed beneath you and instead of giving an unqualified apology and working on your behavior, you’re digging the hole deeper by doing things like comparing GoT fans to Trump supporters and listing other fandoms that you don’t personally approve of.

I haven’t refreshed in a while cause I was doing other things while reading and typing, so sorry if I’m repeating points others have already made.

@Hambeast – I saw the trailer for the “Dark Tower” and I’m pretty excited as well. I think Idris Elba is a great choice, and I honestly think Matthew McConnaughey will be terrific as the Man in Black.

I saw him in “True Detective” and recently in “Frailty” for the 2nd time, and I just really think he can pull off a complicated, evil character with subtlety. I’m not his hugest fan but I think he has much more depth than people give him credit for.

To be honest, though, I haven’t read the books in about 30 years. I think I read up to the 3rd installment and then King just stopped for a long, long time and I didn’t feel compelled to go back and re-acquaint myself with the first few installments in order to read the newer ones, so I’ve no idea how they hold up.

I always most loved King & Straub’s collaboration on “The Talisman” that includes some similar elements as are used in “The Dark Tower”, so I am pretty sure I will enjoy seeing that universe again.

Assholes in fandoms make that fandom look bad, but the reverse is also true. Right now, WWTH, you’re a credit not only to your fandoms but also to this community as a whole.

I’m watching the first episode of the new Game of Thrones tonight. Which booze goes well with it?

@WWTH

Just to repeat my personal apology to you, I am sorry for… well, basically everything I said in this thread. It’s all my own personal biases that I let get the best of me too often. I am the one entirely in the wrong and I most certainly dug the hole deeper with that foolhardy Trump comparison. That was out of line.

I’m really sorry and I hope that we can share good vibes and conversations in future threads. I really do appreciate what you’ve had to say and it’s had me thinking about my snap judgments on other things that are wholly unwarranted. Maybe I’ll give Harry Potter a try or the first season of GoT just to get a sense of its tone. I do like Sean Bean! 🙂

I’d love any other recommendations you’d like to share.

DES, are you confusing WWTH with NickNameNick?

I’ll have to keep an eye out for that. Love Squirrel Girl. I’d never really been into ‘superhero’ comics but then Malitia and Varalys showed me the light.

It was also their Free Comic Book Day issue, so you can probably find it on ebay or wherever REALLY cheap. (Or comic book stores might just have extra copies of it.)

(btw, your book apparently doesn’t hit these shores until October! That might just be my local bookshop though. In fairness it does look like somewhere you’d find down Diagon Alley)

I’m so sorry—you mentioned ordering my book earlier but when I went to thank you I couldn’t find what thread it was in! Its release day is October 3, so you are getting it on the same day as everyone else. But in the meantime, be sure to claim your preorder bookplate!

https://goo.gl/forms/szoEERMtSkmHKBcb2

Unless you’re a very small child, you shouldn’t expect a cookie for announcing that you guessed what was going to happen. That’s not literary criticism. Most stories follow similar plot beats because that’s how stories are told, and telling the story a different way wouldn’t be creative and groundbreaking, it would just be stupid and bad. (“I knew there would be a big fight right at the end!” No shit, that’s called a climax.)

And nobody of any age should expect a cookie for failing to react emotionally to a story. It doesn’t make you cool and superior.

FWIW, I’m not even a fan of Dollhouse. Although I will probably give it another shot one of these days.

The writing was mediocre compared to Buffy, Angel and Firefly. So that was disappointing. The premise did have some promise, but it went too male gazey a lot of the time. I also just don’t think Eliza Dushku has the range to carry a show. She was good as Faith, but I haven’t seen her do anything but troubled bad girl very well. You can really see it in the Buffy episode where Faith switches their bodies. Sarah Michelle Gellar pulled off acting as Faith pretending to be Buffy very well. Her complete change in body language really sold it. Eliza on the other hand, did not convince me she was Buffy at all. That episode also feature Faith wearing Buffy’s body raping Riley. As Riley thought he was having sex with Buffy, he did not consent at all. It really grossed me out that the show didn’t address that.

There, DES. Happy? I proved myself capable of criticizing Joss Whedon shows. Do I have the seal approval to enjoy my Buffy DVDs now? Or must I perform some sort of self flagellation ritual first?

And Malitia beat me to what I was about to say.

Yeah, Ryan North obviously has a certain love for the CYOA form, and has done some fun things with it.