Fan Rage & The Right To B*tch

In light of the recent "Iron Man 3" Mandarin Controversy (That I'm officially calling "Mandargate"), I watched several videos and read a few articles detailing the polarizing reactions from fans and laymen alike which lead me to write this article, Do fans have the right to bitch? The short answer is Yes, and I'll give you the long answer after the break;

I won't rehash the events of "Mandargate" since everything is posted in the article below this one. I will however discuss recent developments and previous issues that I haven't addressed before. Recently there has been a MAJOR BOOM in comic book movies and we're sort of entering into a Golden Age of Comic Book Movies where we're seeing the actualization (for better or worse) of properties many of us thought would NEVER see the silver screen. All of this is good of course as it lends credibility to the comic book medium as more than a picture books for stupid people, however there remains ONE major issue that I think studios aren't factoring in.

THE FANS! This is a point I discussed in my "Dragonball: Evolution" review, in summary;

"Why are the studios ignoring the very reason why the property IS popular in the first place?"

There are only 2 reasons why studios would make an adaptation:

1. It's popular and they wanna cash in on the popularity.
2. They want to make it popular.

VERY RARELY is something just SO DAMN GOOD that an adaptation MUST be made! I can only think of a handful of stories that has been adapted numerous times ("The Christmas Carol" comes to mind). So when adapting a comic book movie, why are the fans openly ignored or shrugged off as if they aren't the reason why that movie is being made in the first place. An Iron Man movie would NEVER see the light of day if Iron Man wasn't a popular enough character to carry his own movie. Let's switch gears a little bit, a Harry Potter movie would NEVER see the light of day if the books weren't as popular as they are. Same goes for EVERYTHING that suddenly found it's self being adapted for the silver screen.

So when The Fans get wind that their beloved story is getting a bigger budget and a live action adaptation, it raises spirits that converts will be won and all the magic and wonder they found in the series will be shown 22 feet high. For certain movies those expectations are realized...for many others, it's not, and when it's not Fan Rage consumes the Fans who had to watch a story they love be gang-raped by bad writing, bad actors and horrible direction.

YES, I AM TALKING ABOUT YOU!

But The Fans are right to rage, after all without the fans there would be NO story to tell. Speaking as a fan who had to watch quite a few of his properties be raped, I'm saying ALL WE ASK FOR IS ACCURACY! We can live with a few tweaks and ticks here and there as long as the actual story is there. As much as I hate the "Green Lantern" movie, I can't deny that it was in fact a "Green Lantern" movie with everything present for me to know it was. Green Lantern fans will agree that despite having a Green Lantern that was close enough for government work, they picked the WRONG actor and actress and didn't handle the material as best they could. Same goes for "Superman Returns" and "X3", it's not that these movies were bad, they just weren't good.

But when we talk about raped properties I'm discussing the aforementioned "Dragonball: Evolution" & "The Last Airbender", live action adaptations of "Dragonball" and "Avatar: The Last Airbender". I'll fore go my constant argument that those movies shouldn't have been made in the first place and argue the point that if these kinds of movies are GOING to be made, a much more in depth look at the source material is required than a cursory glance. Around 2011 it was announced that Warner Bros. was looking into doing a live action "Death Note" movie...which I shudder to think how that'd be handled. My question is, who are these movies made for? Because they're obviously NOT made for The Fans (or the general public for that matter, who just find these things weird instead of interesting). So what's the studios game plan here? Why do something if you're not going to do it right? Why put forth effort into something that will ultimately enrage the very reason you put effort into it? All very good questions with no actual answers aside from the pursuit of the All Mighty Dollar.

Although...I can't deny what's there... 

Moving on to another topic and something I've been meaning to address for a LONG time is the racism of so called "Diversity", which is code word for "It's only racist if White People do it.". Don't believe me? Then explain something to me, why is that when White Characters are re-cast as Ethnic Characters it's called "diversity" but when Ethnic Characters are re-cast as White Characters it's called "White-Washing". No answer? Don't worry. I'm raising this issue because recently Michael B. Jordan of "Chronicle" fame (a Black actor) is currently being considered to play Johnny Storm in the "Fantastic Four" reboot. While I love Michael B. Jordan and he did excellent work in "Chronicle" he CANNOT play Johnny Storm, for the simple fact that Johnny Storm is White and Michael B. Jordan is Black. This is the ONE place where racial discrimination is totally acceptable.

And I KNOW what people are thinking, "Why can't Johnny Storm be Black?"...the same reason why Micheal Jai White was never asked to play Superman...HE'S BLACK AND SUPERMAN IS WHITE! I don't understand what Hollywood's shtick is with this non-sense, I don't want them to MAKE a character Black that isn't, I want them to make a movie of The Black characters that are ALREADY THERE! If you're Black and you're okay with Johnny Storm being played by a Black Actor then let's flip the script, why not get Luke Cage played by John Cena (and you KNOW he'd own that role!) or John Stewart played by Luke Evans, and just for sh*ts and giggles T'Challa played by Paul Walker...are you okay with that? I mean why can't T'Challa be played by Paul Walker, just because he has an African name and is the ruler of an African nation doesn't mean he has to be Black...(true but T'Challa is Black and therefore he should be played by a Black actor...it's this little thing called IT'S ONLY LOGICAL!).

Yes, I rule an African Country...what?

I don't understand what Hollywood is hoping to accomplish by "diversifying" the cast, You CAN'T do that with iconic characters who have a certain look to them for example we wouldn't want Ian Anthony Dale as Captain American would we?  You can do that with ancillary characters who no one would notice if they were gone, for example, Perry White being played by Laurence Fishburn, NO PROBLEM! But give me Michael Pena as Superman and we have a BIG PROBLEM!

This "diversity" stuff is some of the MOST racist crap to ever come out of Hollywood and I REFUSE to fall for it. They're changing stuff that doesn't need to be changed JUST BECAUSE they wanna reach a certain audience that generally isn't interested in those sort of things (let's be honest Black People, we aren't the biggest comic book or Anime watchers, the only reason you know other Black people who watch anime and read comic books is because you naturally flock to people with similar interest but understand YOU ARE THE MINORITY!). That being said, let me know what you think and I'll get at you all later. Peace!