Comment on Entertainment Hypocrisy by NekozRuleMe
Yeah, I recognize The Lion King is a very well made movie despite me not liking it, but I see that there are some problems with the film. I despise any fandom that will try to say, "No, you can't criticize what I like! It has no flaaawws!" It's really annoying. That's one of the problems the My Little Pony fandom has.
And I dunno, apparently Disney thinks every one of their movies needs a bad guy. And I hate that, "You'll never get away with this!" exchange. I roll my eyes every time. :c
I think portraying a sensitive guy who has a tough facade is a nice idea in and of itself, considering it actually happens a lot in real life, but not in the way that every one of them has a sad past. Not every protagonist has to have a secret sob story past to still have a tough guy act to put up, considering the nature of our society today. It's extremely grating to me because it's all done to seem fluffy and nice but it's completely unrealistic with no substance.
And I dunno, apparently Disney thinks every one of their movies needs a bad guy. And I hate that, "You'll never get away with this!" exchange. I roll my eyes every time. :c
I think portraying a sensitive guy who has a tough facade is a nice idea in and of itself, considering it actually happens a lot in real life, but not in the way that every one of them has a sad past. Not every protagonist has to have a secret sob story past to still have a tough guy act to put up, considering the nature of our society today. It's extremely grating to me because it's all done to seem fluffy and nice but it's completely unrealistic with no substance.
One thing that annoys me especially about these kind of fandoms (though this could just be a pet peeve of mine) is when people go absolutely nuts for something to the point that what they're celebrating is becoming so over-saturated that it starts to grate on everyone else.
As for the backstory thing, I think my major problem with it is that we usually have no indication of the backstory until they tell it; all we see is some cocky rebel and then...oh hey, a sob story, feel sorry for him! There is little to no connection, violating one of the most important and basic rules of storywriting: "Show, don't tell." Or, if it is shown, it's usually a tired and whiny "my-parents-just-don't-understand-me" thing, like they're trying to take a relatively adult concept and use it to pander to teenagers. If they went more of a PTSD route and gave the character a tick where something specific would set them off, or if they broke down in private, or something that built up to the backstory rather than it being dumped on us all of a sudden (or, like you said, just a character becoming a victim of what they are told through media that they should be without a sob story at all, or even just the toughness being part of the character's personality), it would probably be more effective.
As for the backstory thing, I think my major problem with it is that we usually have no indication of the backstory until they tell it; all we see is some cocky rebel and then...oh hey, a sob story, feel sorry for him! There is little to no connection, violating one of the most important and basic rules of storywriting: "Show, don't tell." Or, if it is shown, it's usually a tired and whiny "my-parents-just-don't-understand-me" thing, like they're trying to take a relatively adult concept and use it to pander to teenagers. If they went more of a PTSD route and gave the character a tick where something specific would set them off, or if they broke down in private, or something that built up to the backstory rather than it being dumped on us all of a sudden (or, like you said, just a character becoming a victim of what they are told through media that they should be without a sob story at all, or even just the toughness being part of the character's personality), it would probably be more effective.
Yeah, I hate it when something becomes annoyingly overhyped... Like, I'm part of the MLP fandom and people say it's the best cartoon ever and I'm just like... No. Not even close.
Yeah, I've seen really bad examples where characters just suddenly have an out of nowhere sob story that really doesn't do anything for the plot... Build up is key, because without context it just feels cheap. :/
Yeah, I've seen really bad examples where characters just suddenly have an out of nowhere sob story that really doesn't do anything for the plot... Build up is key, because without context it just feels cheap. :/