I Criticize Because I Care

Anyone familiar with me online or off is well aware of my affinity for Dragon Ball Z. Earlier this year I watched and mostly enjoyed Dragon Ball Super.

As I grow older, I feel that I am more enamored by the concept of super powered martial artists wrecking worlds with their ki enhanced attacks than by Toriyama's/Toei Animation's execution. This is not to say I do not have fond memories of the first time I watched Vegeta and Goku's Galic Gun vs Kamehameha duel or Piccolo vs Android Cyborg Artificial Human #17.

This is merely one fan's opinion that certain elements (duration of certain fights and time skips) could have been streamlined and other concepts (filler arcs and character interactions) could have been explored more to enhance a story I still continue to enjoy. Dragon Ball Super in some regards appeases some of those desires (character interactions) and goes further away from my tastes in other aspects (multi-episode "I haven't even shown you my full power yet" battles).

I don't think of myself as especially critical; it's why I feel I'd make a terrible movie critic. I can probably only name a dozen films of the hundreds I've seen (including cheap bargain bin VHS tapes that looked like they were filmed in someone's backyard) that I would adamantly steer you in another direction. Legend of Chun Li is probably the latest one on a list that includes Dragon Ball Evolution, Black Mask 2, and Batman and Robin.

There is this sentiment on many of the websites I visit that if you voice the opinion that you're not sure you like the direction the creator went with a particular plot point or character arc, then obviously you're watching this wrong and are being unreasonable.

I see that shot taken far too often on message boards all over the internet. There is this ongoing war of "what kind of fan are you" that creates these divisions among a fan base. True vs Bandwagon; hardcore vs casual; long time vs new; however the battle lines are drawn, it can ruin many a fun discussion. For some people, it's not merely enough to derail the conversation; their train of thought has to be filled with dynamite to make sure the resultant explosion takes out even more innocent bystanders.

As with any issue in life, all it takes is someone disagreeing with how critical you can be of something without being the most horrible person that existed. Once that line has been crossed, prepare for paragraphs of vitriol that pours buckets of virtual paint over dozens of strangers to mark them as "others." Others have no idea what they're talking about. Others aren't real fans or they would believe in the narrative the same exact way real fans do.

I think my favorite comment is "you criticize only because it's the cool thing to do." This has rarely failed to elicit a smile from me.

I've been a geek, mark, and nerd before I knew any of the terms intimately. I'm not that old, but I remember when having any of those three terms attached to you was an excuse to ostracize you.

I know geek culture is the "in" thing these days with Disney produced films cracking a billion and a half dollars in less than three weeks, Big Bang Theory (despite the venom spewed online) still being the no. 1 sitcom in the world, and dictionaries growing to accommodate the evolution of this generation's linguistic contributions.

There's a knee jerk reaction that the word "cool" just does not belong in a discussion turned debate turned argument turned flame war about who the biggest nerd is. Popular seems like a better option but even among these unprecedented economic gains from the geek sector, popular still feels disingenuous when it pertains to the sort of nit picky minutia that the parents of young kids that just like bright colors on a big screen could not care less about if they tried. Mainstream is probably the best fit. It's mainstream to criticize the popular thing I suppose.

Regardless, it all comes back to who's the bigger nerd as described by whatever arbitrary metrics that sometimes are not made privy to the supposed offending party.

In my humble opinion, you can adore a creative work and still feel things could have been done differently. There is a huge chasm between "criticizing this thing I like" and "you will never be satisfied by anything even if they picked it directly from your fantasies."

That's where I usually tend to find myself. If I didn't care about it, I wouldn't criticize it. You'll never see a scathing review of Keeping Up With The Kardashians from me because I am apathetic towards the show. Nor will you hear me weigh in on critically acclaimed fare such as Mad Men or Breaking Bad because while I respect the creative process and the undeniable talent involved, not every premise grabs me or aligns with my tastes. I like Z-Nation more than Walking Dead so there's a peek at how I think.

A few years ago, director Kevin Smith made the statement that "critics hate to be criticized." I believe we all have an aversion towards criticism because so few people do it correctly. Actually, allow me to amend that. The criticism that often gets through is done incorrectly.

If I said "these days, it's called telling it how it is,' would you believe me that it was always like that? Political correctness and social justice warriors being used as derogatory terms is nothing new. Very little is new, just the speed at which it gets to us. Things trend around the world before most of us have had breakfast and if timed well enough balloon into think pieces and editorials that if twitter were not around or Facebook was still exclusive to college students would not get mentioned in the local paper let alone be anything people are appalled by until they've had their coffee.

The "telling it like it is" school of thought is often flawed because more times than you care to think about, it comes from one particular perspective with limited facts and an inflated sense of "every opinion is valid, especially mine." This is not the place to dig a foxhole and fight that battle, but suffice to say, validity of opinions is something more people need to understand without taking it as a personal attack against them.

I criticize because I care. Because I care, my criticism comes from believing you are doing good work but have you consider doing this instead? It's never born of a place of "I hate that you killed off X" or "why do you hate your fans?" It always, always comes down to "I really love this thing you've created and I was just curious as to how you feel about this plausible scenario or these feelings about this character."

I want a good story. I don't need my story. I can write my own. I've been doing that for over two decades. I accept that not every one of my ideas is a winner and I am open to constructive, honest criticism that goes beyond "you suck at writing." Conversely, I am painfully aware that there are much more brilliant and creative minds out there that have considered and discarded my potential contentions before I even conceived them. At the end of the day, a good story will endure any criticism I have and I will not not like it because it's not a love letter to me.