Already seeing geeky types on the Internet bash critics for not liking Bright, the film brought to you by David Ayer and Max Landis. Usually, I'd just laugh and move on but it seems like these people really want to skirt over what a lot of people are reporting as legitimate issues about its depictions of racism. I don't plan on seeing the film, but it continues to make me wonder if the same people defending problematic issues in geek culture are the same people responsible for our current political climate.
Don't want to make this a "If you like Bright, you're a racist," but I feel like there's this growing dark side to geek culture that expands year by year where films that have really uncomfortable undertones keeps getting a pass because it is some geeky thing that nerds just gobble up without thinking about it critically. And then they latch onto it so much that any critique of that thing is an attack on their identity as a nerd. Then they lash out in really immature ways and I just wish we could actually have mature, thoughtful adult conversations about how sometimes some nerd stuff is quite problematic and we need to deal with those issues.
Look, I love me some nerd stuff, heck, my username used to be lotr-sam0711, but boy am I not going to die on the hill of saying geek things are these flawless culture touchstones that have no issues. LotR could have used some more ladies, but I also understand it was a product of its time and very much influenced by Tolkien's WWI experiences in the British army which probably didn't involve a lot of ladies in combat. So in some ways his inclusion of Eowyn could be argued as rather progressive for the time. So I totally get people who say enjoy Brandon Sanderson's work as it is more progressive and quite good and maybe people find it more palatable for their modern sensibilities.
I think we've had this whole generation of nerds grow up investing themselves so deeply into fictional works that they can't step back from it and realize they can be more than the things they like or that they can still enjoy something while recognizing its flaws. Mike over at Red Letter Media drew a parallel between nerd culture and political rallies and I think that's spot on in terms of how many people are just willing to invest so much of their identity blindly to a cause without really taking a step back and engaging critically with the work/person and realizing that there are some flaws that need to be dealt with.
Each year I feel like we just galvanize those divides more and more and get to a point where talking to the person on the other side of the fence becomes more and more of a clash of two people who have fully invested their identities into this one thing to the point of blind fervor and it's rather terrifying. I feel the same apprehensions talking about politics as I do about nerd culture and it's a really weird feeling to think both of those things can have people fly off the handle for simply suggesting that their position may have some flaws.
All that to say, I'm grateful that we have a community where we don't have that kind of culture but outside of here and a couple of strong relationships, I feel like the discourse about culture and politics is taking a nosedive and I observe similar trend in both areas.