Did I say "toxic fandom"? My apologies. I meant "Fandom Menace."
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Elemental (Pixar - June 2023)
- Thread starter DCBaker
- Start date
BuddyThomas
Well-Known Member
Seeing it in a half hour. I’ll report back.
Sir_Cliff
Well-Known Member
Hoping something succeeds or fails, though, is not an opinion, but a a desire for something to happen.
An analogy I would use is two friends in a group breaking up and the one who was broken up with constantly talking about how they wanted their ex-partner to fail. They may be perfectly polite in expressing that desire, but I still think everyone in the group would find that impulse pretty toxic. In a fan context such as this, you mention people feeling disrespected by a company and it being natural for them to go from thread to thread on fan forums wishing failure upon the company in all its endeavours just on principle without needing firsthand knowledge of the thing they're talking about. I do think that's both toxic and unproductive and, at times, makes these forums a drag to read.
But, I guess we can agree to disagree.
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Figgy1
Well-Known Member
Have fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Smugpugmug
Well-Known Member
I've been reading this thread for a while as a lurker (along with the TLM one). Just thought I'd hop in and say that I'm currently at an AMC waiting for my screening of Across the Spiderverse to start and there is a showing for Elemental that is starting soon and there is a HUGE crowd waiting to enter their theater. Crowd looks to be mostly families with kids. In the moment, I forgot that it was coming out tomorrow (or it's out already) but I was very surprised to see this many people show up. Personally I don't have any interest in this movie as it looks a little boring IMO but I don't want it to fail.
GimpYancIent
Well-Known Member
It just means a lot of locations are showing it, hence more opportunities to see it, but how much audience numbers plus how it is received will not be visible until monday.
Right.
BrianLo
Well-Known Member
Ya I get that view. I think where I get lost is when the company has a 'win' - aka an original and Pixar formula, but we still want it to lose because we hate the management.
It's almost like if you hate the General Manager so much you are disappointed that your team wins. Are you even a fan of the team or just a former fan?
Another thing (not you specifically) is that we have people cheering for Pixar to be closed. How is that a rebuild? Is that really fandom or is it just veiled hatred of the company? I don't care how bad Walt Disney Animation gets, it's kind of hearsay to claim one was ever a fan if they want the studio to close shop rather than have a successful movie they don't personally care for.
I guess one could make the tarnished legacy comment. But again the legacy wouldn't be tarnished if the movie was good... starting from the position of hoping it isn't doesn't seem like one cares about the legacy that much.
BuddyThomas
Well-Known Member
I've now seen the film. It's fine. The reviews are pretty accurate, as is the Rotten Tomatoes score. It is solid and quite enjoyable, but honestly, not one of Pixar's best, although it retains the tried and true tearjerker moments of the classic Pixar movies. I admit that I teared up a few times. It's very emotional toward the end - a combination of a very sincere love story between two beings that simply cannot be with each other and a father/daughter love story that is very moving, paired with an immigration message that was more powerful than I was expecting. The world building of this film is amazing. Element City is full of surprises and some of the artistry in the animation is stunning. On the other hand, it takes a long time for this to get going, and the middle of the film sort of drags. However, as mentioned, it has an extremely emotional payoff at the end and overall, Disney/Pixar has absolutely nothing to be ashamed about here. It's a good movie, and I hope it finds an audience. PS - It starts with an UP short, "Carl's Date", and that one tries to make you cry as well. It is cute and sweet, but probably unnecessary.
BlakeW39
Well-Known Member
I mean, you're definitely right on some level. Bouncing around from thread to thread just spewing hate about things people like would be pretty toxic. I can also understand how seemingly baseless negativity can make these threads a drag to read. But I also believe we as consumers have the right to hope products we dislike, fail. That's very different from hoping your ex fails in a relationship because they broke up with you. But I suppose this is all very subjective.
To tie this back into the thread topic of Elemental, we'll see how it does. I mean I have my own predictions on how the film will do, but I'll wait to see how everything pans out.
BuddyThomas
Well-Known Member
"But I also believe we as consumers have the right to hope products we dislike, fail" - I guess (maybe) that is okay, but most of the people posting the most negative commentary possible on all of these films have not even seen them, which is totally and absolutely ridiculous.
BrianLo
Well-Known Member
This is more an issue of hoping the product itself wins up being bad, so that it can fail, because you want the company to fail. Hence my confusion, the ire isn't really aimed correctly at the product this time.
I.e. being disappointed in social commentary or cheap remakes or casting choice or lack of an original film idea, etc.
Yes you are still a fan.
Millions of fans across the world actively cheer for their team to lose games just to get a better draft pick.
I don’t care how big or complicated a corporation in, the CEO sets the tone.
If 90% of the company is moving in the wrong direction that is all on Bob Iger. That’s why he gets the big bucks.
This guy has the board in his pocket and threw the entire company under the bus during Covid.
He is a snake and this company can never hope to recover under is failed leadership.
I don’t believe for one second he plans on leaving in two years, and the only way to get rid him will be immense pressure on the board after a massive earnings miss.
So until he is gone the more that fails the better.
Textbook example of toxic fanbase.
BuddyThomas
Well-Known Member
And your review of it?
LittleBuford
Well-Known Member
How can one dislike a product one hasn’t even tried?
Sir_Cliff
Well-Known Member
This is really what gets me: hoping the product will be bad so it can fail.
It just strikes me as so irrational unless it is motivated by a deep dislike of Disney as a company. I can't imagine anyone really believes that the response from Wall Street and institutional investors will be to push for appointing a CEO who will give free reign to creatives and loosen the purse strings at the theme parks. So, what then? The company goes into terminal decline and people can feel vindicated on online fan forums for being right about Iger?
As an example of this phenomenon as it pertains to Pixar and Elemental, I saw this piece of commentary from Matthew Belloni in my inbox today about the low box office expectations for Elemental:
"Has Pixar lost its magic touch? Perhaps the answer is that original animation is now a smaller business—one that can’t necessarily support the unique culture and $200 million budgets that made Pixar great in the first place."
Hurray, we win?