I'll start off by saying that I hate the fact I had the urge to write this article. Today saw a lot of talk surrounding Guardians of the Galaxy. Anybody who's been on the site long enough will know that my passion lies with the cosmic aspect of the Marvel Universe. Naturally, I'm incredibly hyped for Guardians because some of my favourite characters are hitting the big screen. The reason I'm so hyped has little to do with what we've seen so far from the film, it's based around the passion I have for the characters.
I know there are people out there who think this movie will suck, or that it will bomb or even that it's gonna be one of the worst movies ever. Fine by me. Your entitled to your opinion. Now, if I didn't have that attitude, my passion for these characters would drive me to defend them furiously. The reason I don't bother to is because the characters are very little known and nobody cares what I have to say. But if my passions lay with Superman, that's a whole new kettle of fish.
Here's a character with a global fan-base who is a pop culture icon. I have no interest in him whatsoever, but that's just me. What matters is, there are people out there who would defend their passion for this character in the most extreme ways possible. My problem with that is that they become more like Jehovah's Witnesses rather than dedicated fans. They're there saying all this stuff that they're deeply invested in, but you couldn't care less about.
Eventually, the fan gets discredited and hated on for their passion. Why? Usually, it's a matter of differing opinions. Take Guardians as an example again. I hope it does well, but I'm not going to go to any extreme lengths to defend the movie from attack. When Man of Steel was released, anyone who disagreed with the passionate fans got torn to shreds. Yes, this is what you'd call a "Flame War".
People get invested in these arguments and it's all for nothing. Leave people to their own opinions and if it differs from yours, do what I'm doing and vent your anger in an article.
Essentially, what I want to say is this. People are passionate about varying things. Where one person may hold a passion for a man with many powers, others have a passion for a raccoon with a machine gun. It shouldn't matter which aspect of the comic book world you invest your time into, what should matter is that you are part of a community with vast knowledge of a brilliant form of fiction, and we should be able to be passionate about those aspects without being questioned by our peers.
Thanks for reading,
Nova.