There's so much...bitterness surrounding these movies now, particularly with DC. People have spent so much time and energy focusing on negatives and thrown their all into this 'war' that now it's hard to really appreciate shyt. It's not just fun anymore. Now it's about everyone playing armchair movie producer about how these movies "should" be.
I've watched some reaction videos to the Aquaman trailer and I've noticed two things. 1. Despite all the passionate Internet debates, most people have no idea how movies are made, how to discuss them beyond referencing other things, or what makes any of these movies work be they from Marvel Studios, Fox, Sony, or WB. Part of the reason i think it's gotten so bad is you have all these voices participating in conversations and debates they don't really have the depth of knowledge to be in. However, that's not gonna stop them from having an opinion because this is the Internet where people have opinions on everything.
Second thing is how they all say the same things whether they liked or disliked it (most I've seen like it, btw). You could almost construct a flowchart of what people say based on whether they liked it or not. People who like it will talk about how cool everything looked and how Jason Momoa makes Aquaman "cool." Those who dislike it will say some mixture of the words "bad effects," "cringe," and "CGI/video game" before launching into the customary "DC sucks" diatribe. No one is saying anything new or interesting. It's criticism without insight or nuance, and most attempts at those things usually result in people talking out of their ass (I watched one where someone said DC based their current films on the New 52, which isn't true at all for any of them except Aquaman).
I point the second one out because I think the biggest thing keeping this "war" going is what I can best describe as the "meme-ification" of opinions. When it comes to these superhero movie discussions, no one is really thinking outside the box or trying to understand anything about the films themselves. It's all about how the movies fit into this "war" and further their opinion of either company. Every Marvel movie is meant to reaffirm their dominance, every DC movie their incompetence. To do that, opinions about the films themselves are formed quickly and without much thought. You just kinda say what everyone else is saying. People are fighting each other with buzzwords and shouting at companies with opinions they got from some rando doing videos in his bedroom.
People say they want to like both and yadda yadda, but I think that's just to keep the fanboys off their back. One thing I can say for The Film Room here is that it does feel like a place where people are generally trying to enjoy themselves and if they don't, they disengage with whatever it is. I think that's why, as someone who just started posting here but has been on other forums, the Marvel vs DC stuff bothers some. It's so different from the ethos of this place and how many of you prefer to discuss film and television. Sadly, it's the norm elsewhere.
