I am a Zack Snyder Fan.
There is no shame in saying this. I love the stylized and visual violence Zack presented in his movie "300". I enjoyed his take in adapting panel per panel the "Watchmen" graphic novel. And I consider "Man of Steel" the best superhero movie of all time.
Admitting to all this offends a small group of people. They call me in their broad-stroke articles a "Snyder Cultist," or "A misogynist," among other non-flattering concepts. At first, the name-calling bothered me. I feared to express my fandom because of the retaliation I would get. That is no longer the case. What changed? I began a process to understand toxic fandom, toxic media, and the cycle of hate culture. I went down a small rabbit hole and came out on the other end a bit more enlightened.
Toxic Fandom
Articles have been published all over the internet accusing fans of being toxic. Journalists and Twitter blue check bloggers accusing fandoms of being misogynists, racists, homophobic, trans-phobic, among other ugly terms. There is a harsh reality to face when reading these articles. It's true. Every single fandom has toxic fans. Whether it's the video game industry with their "Gamer gate" to the STAR WARS fandom and "The Last Jedi," debacle to the "Captain Marvel" fans vs. the "Alita Battle Angel" fans. Toxic fans are everywhere.
What journalists and bloggers fail to understand (or choose to ignore) is that this phenomenon is not new. Every item if pop culture has a group of passionate fans trying to impose their ideas on others. You can go back to fans of fantasy and science fiction literature in the '70s and '80s. The great war between "Star Trek" and "Star Wars" fans. Magic the Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh, and other card collection games share their own private conflict among themselves.
What journalists and bloggers fail to understand (or choose to ignore) is that fandoms are not toxic. People are toxic. And fandoms are made up of different people, backgrounds, races, and sexual orientations. No fan is greater than the other, and no fan is inferior. They're just passionate fans expressing their love or misguided love to something that they hold dear. With the rise of social media, all fans have a voice.
That, unfortunately, includes toxic fans that give good-natured fandom a bad name. Toxic people exist everywhere. Whether its, the political spectrum to "RWBY" fandom, to your own family. And now they all have 280 characters to express, their love, anger, disappointment, and rage. It is not only misguided to Label entire fandoms as toxic. It's downright malicious.
Toxic Journalism
I've said before in this post. Journalists either fail to understand this or choose to ignore the reality of toxic fandoms vs. toxic people in fandoms. Journalists are smart. Is it safe to say all journalists are toxic? Are all journalists lazy and corrupt? It would paint the entire journalist landscape with a single broad stroke, but it wouldn't be fair. Not all journalists write articles stating that if you like "Batman v Superman" you are likely a Trump supporter. Not all blue check bloggers post that a man's daughter committed suicide after watching his films. And not all media considers fans as the enemy of fandom. If there are toxic fans in fandom, it is because poisonous people exist. Logic would also assume that there are toxic people in journalism. Whether they care to admit it or not, that is their problem.
Toxicity sells. How many clickbait articles do you read on the internet to generate a negative response? Just this past Memorial Day, a website published an article accusing Captain America of joining the war effort for "Selfish" reasons. What was the purpose of that article? What was the writer trying to achieve? Did the website expect a positive response? Again, journalists and bloggers are smart. So one has to wonder.
Happiness, joy, and just a sense of awesomeness reached a fever pitch with the release of Zack Snyder's Justice League on HBO Max in 2021. Especially in these dark times, news like that felt like a breath of fresh air. Yet a few journalists started writing articles saying that the event set a dangerous precedent. These articles painted broad strokes, implying that the #releasethesnydercut fandom was just a front to protect misogynist, homophobic, trans-phobic fans. We fans are smart and know that we're not what these journalists paint us to be. This is especially true when the movement has brought so much good to people around the world.
Zack Snyder Fans. What do we do?
It's in our power to break the cycle of hate, but we must face certain realities. Some are not going to be to our liking.
Zack Snyder's Justice League is going to be DESTROYED by critics. The movie is not even out, and this a fact nonetheless. All we have to do is look at Zack's track record with the critics. His films are not critic friendly. Especially his vision of Man of Steel and Batman V Superman and the DCEU and general. The faster we come to grips with this conclusion, the easier it will be for us to break the cycle.
The critics have a right to not like what Zack does in his films. Art is subjective. More than seventy percent of critics hated Batman V Superman. They're entitled to their opinion. No matter how many video essays or articles we fans do, their opinion will not change. And we can't force them to change it. Just as they can't force us not like the movie.
Toxicity from journalists and fans will be forever present in the fandom. As long as there is something you enjoy, there will always be others who want to tear down what you love. Whether its fans fighting back to defend from critics or other supporters to journalists who simply "didn't get it." This is a reality we must come to grips with.
Even though those are three negative elements, we must come to grip with, there is something that can't be taken from us.
We won!
Yes! We won! Good at the end, triumphed over evil. What seemed impossible is now possible. Zack was hired to carry out a vision for the DCEU, and circumstances derailed that vision. If you are like me, watching Man of Steel and Batman v Superman back to back felt incomplete. That will no longer be the case. Soon we will all enjoy the three movies as we were meant to see them. And there is nothing a toxic fan or journalist can say, publish or post that can erase that.
This is what victory feels like. Snyder fans everywhere. Subscribe to HBO Max the moment you get a chance to. And simply bask in the glory of winning.
