By Author George R. R. Martin, who saw his “A Song of Ice and Fire” book series turned into HBO’s mega-successful “Game of Thrones” franchise, suggests debating works of art like books, films and television isn’t as fun as it used to be.
In a recent posting on his Not a Blog blog, Martin targets social media for fuelling fandom ‘toxicity’ as for some people it’s not good enough to simply like or love something.
Rather, it’s the attempts by some fans to stifle any dissenting opinion about a film, show or book and celebrate failures more than successes which has, in part, fuelled a breakdown of “rational discourse”.
Speaking about how fictional stories of books, movies, and TV used to be an escape, he says:
“I take solace where I can. In books. In films and television shows… though even there, toxicity is growing. It used to be fun talking about our favorite books and films, and having spirited debates with fans who saw things different.
But somehow in this age of social media, it is no longer enough to say ‘I did not like book X or film Y, and here’s why.’ Now social media is ruled by anti-fans who would rather talk about the stuff they hate than the stuff they love, and delight in dancing on the graves of anyone whose film has flopped.”
Martin is certainly familiar with the complaints of fandom, the author has been on the receiving end of such complaints as it has been thirteen years since he last published a mainline entry in his book series. The sixth book “The Winds of Winter”, has been in the works for years now.
The post “Thrones” Creator Laments Toxic Discourse appeared first on Dark Horizons.
