To paraphrase an intelligent and articulate YouTube personality by the name of Chris Hartwell, we live in an age of extremes. All too often do I visit the comments section of a Facebook post or a tweet from another YouTube personality that I notice a random stranger had taken the time to go out of their way and point out the supposed error of the individual that had just posted. I wonder if the people who go and specifically target these personalities actually get some type of pleasure from spreading negativity in the form of harsh words or even physical threats, all because they didn’t agree with what the person expressed.

I’ve always told myself that if I don’t agree with what another person says, that I first attempt to understand their point of view before coming to a conclusion that I don’t agree with the person. Specifically, in pop culture fandom, these supposed fans of popular properties are too quick to judge a new installment or a trailer for an upcoming film before they even truly understand what it is they are complaining about. The latest installment in the well-known Star Wars saga divided the huge fanbase because the creators of the film took the story in a totally different direction than what the fans had expected. The direction of the film was due to the fact that the episodic installment of The Force Awakens was criticised to be too similar to the previous classic A New Hope which was filmed back in the 1977.

Fans of such famous properties should get accustomed to the fact that studios will eventually change things up in the boardrooms to try and keep said properties fresh and intriguing before the story in progress begins to feel too familiar or even stale. As a fan of popular properties such as Star Wars and Marvel Studios films, I am aware that the popularity of certain installments within each series will have studio heads trying to figure out how they can continue the success that the previous films have brought and therefore replicate it.

Eventually though, there will be a film that will stir emotions or cause me to outright disagree with what they did in order to keep the story fresh. As a fan myself, I will try to understand why the decisions were made in the cutting-room floor in order to try and keep some civility in the chatrooms of popular social media sites and apps. The same mentality can even be applied to more important matters in the world, such as politics and certain public figures. All I ask in the end is that all fans and followers of popular subjects attempt to do the same thing.