Friday, July 20, 2012


Must not criticize Batman?

Pity poor Marshall Fine of the movie blog Hollywood & Fine (whatever that is).

As the first person to pan The Dark Knight Rises on Rotten Tomatoes, he found himself on the bottom of a pile-up of anonymous vitriol and even death threats (closing on 900 as I write this, 200 in the first 10 minutes after the review was posted).

Some were as simple as "R.I.P. Marshall Fine" or "It was nice knowing you." Some were passive-aggressive ("I give you permission to die") For comparing the widely-praised finale of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy to Transformers, other more explicit ones were apparently deleted by Rotten Tomatoes. Still others threatened to destroy his website (ultimately it was shut down by traffic).

As lynch mobs go, they weren't exactly single-directional. Some attacked other posters, bringing up a mental image of a brawl within a riot.

Bear in mind, virtually none of the posters had seen The Dark Knight Rises.

As humourous as a flame war can be, there's an undertone to this mania for unanimity of opinion that's a little disconcerting -- especially when it comes from people drunk on the courage of anonymity.

Source



19 comments:

Bird of Paradise said...

The 1960s TV series was realy camp thats why it was so fun

Anonymous said...

It's just a f*cking movie!

How about putting all this energy into more important things like pushing for domestic and offshore drilling and working to prevent Muslim extremists from infiltrating our government.

You want to see a movie? Try watching something like "Machine Gun Preacher" and then see how straight your really are.

Anonymous said...

Hollywood apparently represents American "high culture" - the world laughs at American "barbarism".
Both its military power and economic control has been revealed as the "Emperor's clothes" and all the world is seeing it for what it really is - just like all the fading empires before it throughout history! Learn from history!

stinky said...

drunk on the courage of anonymity

Nice turn of phrase, JJR, very nice.

There is, on the Web, a legit and compelling need for anonymity - this story itself underscores as much, for something as innocuous as panning a movie - but there is also the abuse of anonymity, that trolls undertake, which deserves to be scorned.

One day in the future, people will wonder why we let the narcissism get so far out of hand in the first place. How shall we answer?

Dean said...

How did we get from a Batman movie to Michelle Bachman? Or, for that matter, to military power and economic control?

Oh wait! Got it. Insults and death threats should be reserved for those who disagree with our politics. Anon 2:09 and 3:03 are just giving everyone something really important to threaten about.

As for critics who don't like various movies: Their opinions are valuable. If critics like a movie and praise it we know it's one that can be ignored.

If critics pan the movie its most likely something one can enjoy.

Nothing to get one's panties in a twist about.

Anonymous said...

It is really weird that people should get so worked up over a movie. I haven’t seen it yet. The previews didn’t motivate me enough to want to see it in the theater. So I might wait for the DVD. However, I think that if there is slander or threats involved the authorities can subpoena and find the anonymous posters. I think you have to jump through some extra hoops to make one truly anonymous. The abuse on that site is one reason some sites require registries. On a side note, 209, Democrat Hank Johnson? Remember the guy that was worried Guam would tip over if we stationed extra Marines there? Shall we take a stroll through the moronic things that Joe Biden has said, not to mention the Left’s messiah, saint Obama and his retarded gaffes and moronic statements.

Anonymous said...

"How did we get from a Batman movie to Michelle Bachman?"

Dean, Anon 157 started it who said: "How about putting all this energy into more important things like pushing for domestic and offshore drilling and working to prevent Muslim extremists from infiltrating our government."

And we all know that Michelle Bachman recently spouted off about that.

See, Dean, it is quite simple if you bothered to read all the posts. Do you need anything else explained to you?

Anonymous said...

It's just a movie. Period. Yet the left threatens murder over an opinion. LOL how predictable.

Anonymous said...

What a bunch of losers.

I know they would never carry out their threats because their mommies won’t let them out of the basement after dark!

Anonymous said...

Ironic that the horrible random shooting of those who were gunned down while watching the Batman movie was just while it was depicting random shooting. Reality imitating so-called art? Or maybe at last learning the lesson that constant virtual violence can lead to actual violence.

Anonymous said...

Bullets don't have a life of their own - people fire them on purpose!

Anonymous said...

And the only way to do that is through a gun.

Anonymous said...

Ban bullets; keep your damn guns.

Anonymous said...

It is my 2nd Amendment right to own a gun, so please stop with the anti-gun crap. You think it's bad now, just you wait until Sharia Law takes hold in the United States. THAT is a time you should fear.

Anonymous said...

It is my 2nd Amendment right to own a gun, so please stop with the anti-gun crap. You think it's bad now, just you wait until Sharia Law takes hold in the United States. THAT is a time you should fear.

Anonymous said...

Rotten Tomatoes caused this massacre by letting a critic stir up violent threats on their site. Let us ban theaters and critic blog sites.

The National Rifle Association tweeted said...

"Good morning, shooters. Happy Friday! Weekend plans?"

Anonymous said...

Yup, I plan on brushing up my target practice. I'll put a few hundred rounds down range, aiming for the head. I carry everywhere state law allows, that includes private businesses that have a "No Weapons" sign. In this state all they can do is ask you to leave. It's just banned by state law in Banks, Hospitals, and Government offices.

Anonymous said...

Obviously the ready availability of guns and ammo in the US will result in yet more such incidents, as if there haven't been enough already! The Constitutional right to bear arms was for the revolutionary and frontier days - evidently they ain't over yet, and civilization has yet to come to the US of A!