The limits of tolerance (pop culture edition)

If you’ve been keeping up with my last couple of blogs you know I’ve been blah-de-blahing a lot on the subject of tolerance. I ended my soapbox stint of last week with a bit of an “I’m not perfect” disclaimer, specifically with a mention about still not quite being able to see eye-to-eye with people who prefer the Star Wars Prequels to the original movies. I probably shouldn’t call it a joke because I’m not sure it is, though I also recognize there are matters of degree here. You saying The Phantom Menace is the best Star Wars movie is not the same as Pol Pot’s callous pogrom of genocide. The former is annoying. The latter is something that should never be forgotten or forgiven, and if there is a Hell I hope the people responsible have their own special place in it.

But let’s get away from that level of real world nastiness and just talk about the level of pop culture. If you’ve followed me on Facebook and/or Twitter, then first of all: I’m sorry. Second of all, you’re no doubt aware by now that I have my share of declared loves and hates in regards to nerd media, and I can sound pretty darn prejudiced with my hates. For instance I am one of those horrid, horrid people who has condemned the upcoming Batman v Superman movie without viewing and without trial, refusing to give it any benefit of doubt. That’s like, the very definition of intolerance, right?

I have to have this argument with people from time to time, and it can be a bit exhausting. As noted above, this is not about human rights issues, this is about whether I feel like it’s worth three hours of my life and movie theater prices to watch a slice of entertainment I have very strong misgivings about based on previous experiences with the filmmakers in question. Some people may have enjoyed (or been indifferent to) Man of Steel, which I similarly did not see in theaters, but even as a home viewing I found it excruciating — a term I use with the full irony of the rampant Superman = Jesus imagery Zack Snyder was shoving into the film. Sucker Punch was a movie I similarly found tone-deaf and godawful, but let’s be clear that though I am given these days to roundly criticize the gulf between what he thinks he’s presenting and what he actually shows us, I am not some sort of anti-Zack fanatic. The Dawn of the Dead remake he directed was one of my first experiences with him and was so good that I actually had a reservoir of goodwill and benefit of the doubt towards him it took years to run dry. I don’t somehow retroactively hate that movie now, but the more recent track record is such that no, I’m not inclined to look at BvS with an open mind, free from prejudice. And with allowances that prejudice does skew perspective, nothing I’ve seen from the trailers or press releases has moved me to change that.

There’s another segment of Internet opinion out there along similar lines which likes to put forth the “Marvel Zombie” argument, where those expressing lack of enthusiasm towards BvS must be mindless drones who happily and uncritically lap up all movies involving Marvel Comics characters while blindly hating all things DC.

This is a weird one, because it requires the person on the receiving end to craft a much longer response full of nuance, and nuance doesn’t seem to have much place in Internet arguments. One of the complications is that the Marvel movies have the complicated rights situation meaning there are three separate studios that have been churning out movies featuring Marvel characters in the last decade and a half. So does being a Marvel Zombie mean you loved Fox’s F4ntastic?  Ew. No, most likely there’s an unspoken nuance on the accuser’s end that they refer specifically to Marvel Studios and its groundbreaking (for better or worse) Marvel Cinematic Universe. Then I guess on the other side we’re lumping in the Nolan Batmovies? Except BvS seems to be deliberately rebooting that, so strictly speaking we’ve so far got one not-so-good Snyder directed movie stacked up against a lot of Marvel movies of varying quality, some of which I do indeed count among my all-time favorites but some of which I’m decidedly less enthusiastic about — looking at you, Age of Ultron. I don’t outright hate Age of Ultron but I found it enough of a hot mess that it makes me actually skeptical about Civil War despite it being helmed by the same creative team that gave me Winter Soldier. Since Winter Soldier stands as my absolute favorite superhero movie I should be giving them benefit of the doubt (particularly if I was a Marvel Zombie) and yet it looks so crammed with characters I’d prefer to at least wait until some word of mouth starts circulating from people whose opinions I put stock in.

Now if the word of mouth for BvS turns out to be really positive? I admit, that might still not get me into a theater, particularly since at least one positive early review stated “If you liked Man of Steel you’ll like this.” I’m also a bit leery because of rumors that Warner Bros. was picking and choosing which reviewers they allowed into their early viewings, so I’m curious about how the reaction will be after this weekend.

If the box office predictions are accurate, Zack and WB won’t be missing me — so yeah, I’m entirely comfortable with the limits of my tolerance here in taking a pass. I’m not stopping anyone else from going. Despite my misgivings, I do hope that Wonder Woman’s first live-action outing on the big screen will go well enough and lead to her own movie doing well, and thus keep the ball rolling for more female leads in action, fantasy and science fiction, but I can’t bring myself to buy a ticket just based on that hope.

David Goyer reportedly got tossed off the project (yay!) and his script may or may not have been majorly rewritten by Chris Terrio, so there’s a wild card in the mix. Also we’ve now got some DC/WB movies in production like Suicide Squad and Wonder Woman where neither Goyer nor Snyder will have direct influence (I think?) and those are the ones I’m curious about, not the least of which because we’ll finally be able to start having a real conversation about MCU vs. DCCU once the DCCU finally gets out of its starting gate.

In the meantime I’ll be over here with my prejudices and preconceptions. But hey, the writers of The Flash  managed to bring me back from my stance on Iris West being The Worst Thing Ever. If that can happen, I’m not ruling anything out.