Geek Girl in Hollywood: A plea for sanity over ‘Batman v Superman’

Blockbuster movie season got off to an early start last week when “Batman v Superman” was released in theaters. No, this is not a review. Honestly, it doesn’t really matter what I thought of it. There have been endless pieces online, both for and against, and you’ve probably read them all. What this is about is the anger at differing opinions.

Critics weren’t kind to the film, citing giant plot holes, odd character development (or lack of it), bad casting and the breaking of rules set in the story. (Superman can hear Lois, but not his mom?) Yet the general public went to see the film in droves, and the ones who liked it talked about getting to see their favorite superheroes duke it out on the big screen and how cool that was. Everyone seemed to agree that Wonder Woman was pretty awesome.

I posted a quick review consisting of two sentences on my personal Facebook page. People lost it. I was “jumping on the bandwagon,” “biased” (how, exactly?) and a jerk for daring to agree with most critics. The hate I got all over the Internet was pretty vicious, and largely from people who hadn’t seen the film yet.

Now, I’m totally cool with disagreement, but this was attacking my opinion as if I and other critics have no right to feel differently than they do. We must be paid by the other side. Someone sent us gifts to change our opinion. How dare we like the lady in the film? (No, really. I got that a number of times. Gal Gadot was great. Very few people seem to disagree with that.)

This happened all over the Internet and from both sides. It’s a problem all over the Internet, really. You believe something different so you’re a terrible person and you clearly aren’t in your right mind. You want to talk about politics in this way, sure. How people vote will affect the next four years of all our lives in major ways. But guys, this is a movie about superheroes. Rant and rail all you want about why it was good or why it was bad. Just don’t attack someone else for disagreeing.

Really, what does that accomplish? I know we as geeks are often in disagreement about what we love. Marvel vs. DC, “Star Wars” vs. “Star Trek,” Captain America vs. Iron Man. That stuff is opinion. Do you really hate the people who love the other side? Of course not. You’re just making the Internet a more hateful place. Your opinion is valid, and so is mine. No reason to attack people for not liking a superhero film.

So here’s my plea: Stop being a jerk on the Internet. I know, I know. I’m not going to stop web hate with one article. But maybe one of you will read this and think before you post? Maybe? Sigh.

Follow Jenna Busch on Twitter @jennabusch and visit her site, Legion of Leia