Internet Movie News Sucks

                Today I would like to take part in a time honored tradition dating back nearly two decades: complaining about the internet on the internet. Now, lest you think I’ve strayed too far from my normal topics of discussion, let me explain exactly what facet of internet life that I hope to talk about: movie news – aka. Updates, casting, set photos, leaks, and the like regarding upcoming films (and television shows). Not only has this trend increased exponentially in both popularity and prevalence over the past decade, it has gotten infinitely more toxic and detrimental to the media in question. As such, I would like to take a brief moment to discuss not only why this is, but what we can hopefully do about it. To infinity – and beyond!

A (brief, unofficial) History

                Speaking strictly from personal experience, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that public interest in Hollywood (and non-Hollywood) productions is nothing new. Even putting aside the personal lives and scandals of those in the entertainment industry, people have always been fascinated with the media they consume and those that make it. They love learning both about the next big thing and the continuations of those things they already love. As a result, newspaper articles on the subject eventually gave way to dedicated magazines, which themselves gave way to television shows (Entertainment Tonight and the like). It is no surprise, then, that when the wonder that was the World Wide Web made its way into the public consciousness in the mid-to-late 90’s, one of the earliest uses of this technology was to discuss, argue, and share information with others on the movie industry.

                I remember very distinctly, as a young child, learning via my subscription to a Star Wars magazine that they were going to be making a new trilogy – a “Prequel Trilogy.” Not only was the existence of such a thing as a “prequel” news to me, so was the instruction that more information could be found online. It didn’t take long for my time on the official Star Wars website to lead to other, less official, fan sites. These sites, scattered across the web, posted theories, hearsay, and the occasional quote from those supposedly in the know. Speculation ran rampant as people wondered what the next generation of this beloved series might look like. Such things, especially in the mind of a child, caused my excitement for the release of The Phantom Menace to skyrocket. That said, when the film finally released, it was curious to see just how little of what I had read online had held any weight. Much of the speculation and images I had consumed had turned out to be just that – the conjecture of an eager fan base. Sure, it has gotten us hyped, but it had offered very little of substance.

                Fast-forward a few years and this practice of attempting to get “inside information” on upcoming movies (and even TV shows, a la LOST) had become a booming industry. People all clamored around webpages dedicated to their favorite franchises and gobbled up any potential information about what might soon await them. It was around that time that I began to notice a shift in the culture surrounding such sites: for one, the information revealed on them began getting more and more accurate. Whether this was due to an increase of “leakers” on sets or the advancement of more easily concealable cameras/recording devices I can’t say, but I can say that it didn’t take long for me to realize that these were things I wanted to start to avoid. What had begun as a way for fans of a franchise to speculate and anticipate their favorite things had started to become a spoiler-factory. Still, surely people wouldn’t stand for this. Surely these sites, fresh from ruining people’s experiences of these films with foreknowledge, would eventually shudder under the weight of public opinion – right?

Wrong.

Very, very wrong.

The Modern State

                Skipping a great many years into the future (in truth, over a decade), we now live in a world not only filled with, but dominated by, the internet. While in years-gone-by it might have been a fun distraction to be visited on desktops and laptops, it is now as much a part of daily life as electricity or running water – and accessible nearly everywhere and anytime via the smartphones and tablets that are always on our person. Whether in business or personal life, it is now nearly impossible to avoid an almost constant interaction with the Web. Because of this increased foot traffic (finger traffic? eye traffic?) websites have not only grown in size and resources, they have now have to meet the demands of a public hungry for entertainment and short on attention span. The 24-hour news cycle that came to define the cable news industry now applies just as stringently to websites (if not more so) and has led to a never-ending maw with an appetite for information.

                While individual sites dedicated to specific shows or franchises still exist, a great many more behemoths (covering whole sections of the entertainment industry) now dominate the landscape. They serve up a perpetual slew of Hollywood gossip large and small: who is directing what, when shooting begins, which draft of the script are they on, who is the lead, on-set rivalries, re-shoots, test screening reactions, pictures of props or locations, actors in costume, tweets made by individual stars on or off set, and so much more. The sheer scale of information available on nearly every movie in production is staggering. The public, hungry for the next bite to satiate the beast of their curiosity, laps up this knowledge and adjusts the expectations for the media accordingly.

                This is all besides the other head of the modern Hydra, social media. Between Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snap Chat, Tik Tok, and the multitude of other options (both upcoming and abandoned), information from these “entertainment news” sites is disseminated far and wide. Photos are shared with abandon and entire articles are summarized in one or two sentences. The ability of the average person to avoid unwanted knowledge about an upcoming movie or TV show, even if they actively stay away from the sites that discuss such things, is close to zero. Throw in algorithms that learn your likes and interests, and the ads and news they throw your way, and you are all but guaranteed to be given a glimpse of soon-to-be-released or in-development projects.

                Despite all of this, it might be easy to ask, “So, who cares?” 

Why You Should Care

                Making visual media, be it for the silver screen or the small, is a very difficult process. The sheer quantity of effort and time required is almost comically large. Between finalizing a script (itself a process with near-limitless potential for time consumption), completing the prep work, actually shooting the multitude of scenes/shots/angles, crafting and mixing the sound, color correction, special effects work, rendering, and finally being distributed, it is impressive that anything gets made at all – let alone on the scale it does today. All of this effort is done with the intention of entertaining and engaging a (hopefully) vast audience – of giving them an enjoyable and memorable experience that may be revisited again and again.

                Speaking of the audience, we have all (at one point or another) been a part of one. Maybe it was at the movie theater or sitting alone on our couch – the effect was the same. We allow ourselves to be transported into a new and unique world inhabited by characters and events that can be vastly different from our own. For a brief time, our own problems and lives can melt away as we become absorbed into the story unfolding before us. Transporting the audience in this way is one of the most powerful, and specialized, aspects of the filmmaking profession and one of the primary draws to a potential viewer. As such, the less information or foreknowledge that an audience can have going in, the greater the level of immersion that is possible.

                Much like I mentioned in my essay on movie trailers, maintaining as much mystery as possible is key in providing an optimal initial viewing experience. Thus, the sheer unavoidability of spoilers and behind-the-scenes information on the Web does an intrinsic harm to the overall viewing experience of the public. Even those that do not want such knowledge are nearly powerless to avoid it, save for completely abandoning their digital lives (all but an impossibility in the modern world). But the structural damage caused by the current state of internet movie news is far deeper than that: beyond just altering the viewing experience, this news can often lead to small (or vast) changes in the work itself or the public’s perception of it.

Solo: A Star Wars Example

A good example of a film whose behind-the-scenes drama not only became the public focus but no-doubt impacted its eventual success and popularity is that of Solo: A Star Wars Story. While originally written and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller as a more comedic-leaning tale (a fact itself known from the exact type of leaks we are talking about), they were replaced with Ron Howard little more than half way through production (by Disney, upset with the then-current direction of the film). As a result, a great deal of the movie was re-written and re-shot – all while the public followed along in near-real time. Putting aside the actual quality of the film, or the intelligence behind these decisions, the fact that this information was as transparent as it was only served to hurt the film. The public, before ever putting eyes on the finished film, was able to decide that it must be flawed from this type of heavy meddling. The problem was that the work was not allowed to stand on its own or speak for itself, but was rather pre-judged based on outside information.

Though, in regards to changes to film in response to pre-judged opinions, Solo got off easy. After all, the changes were not made as a result of public opinion. The same cannot be said of other films – many of whom have their details leaked months or even years before release and then bow to the public pressure resulting from incomplete information. Films (and all forms of visual media) are complex and interwoven tapestries that cannot accurately be judged piecemeal (particularly from unfinished or incomplete ideas). In the former case, much of the dialogue spoken by Archie Bunker, stripped of all context within the show and the episode, would have likely faced extreme backlash – never mind that the ultimate point of its use was for nearly opposing purposes. In the latter case, any sort of artistic creation within any medium is the result of a long process of trial and error – seeing what works, making adjustments, and trying again. This is particularly true in the case of visual media, where things change throughout the writing, filming, and editing processes. What may sound horrible in the rough concept stage may ultimately shine if given the chance to mature and improve over the course of production.

Example on a Page

                As almost all artists desire the public to see only the finished product, and not the warts and growing pains that go along with its creation, the modern landscape of being perpetually judged based on half-finished ideas and blurry photos can be overwhelming. “This sucks!,” “Change that!,” “Looks cheap.” – These types of refrains are common from the people who know nothing of the either the artistry required to get to that point of how much still remains to be done. Despite this fact, films and scripts are often changed to address the ‘demands’ of those privy to such bits of information. Look no further than the multitude of changes undergone by Snakes on a Plane (including the addition of the, admittedly wonderful, line of, “I have had it with these motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane!”) over its production. While I can’t say that the film is definitively better or worse that it would have been otherwise, the truth is that early public opinion based on set leaks shifted it from its original form.

Perhaps the more serious tone it was initially aiming for would have yielded better results than the more ‘camp’ tone it eventually settled on – probably not, but we’ll never know. What I do know is that artists working on crafting a fully realized final film, and all of the creative birthing and changes that go along with it, do not need to be constantly looking over their shoulder and adjusting their plan based on the fickle opinions of an ill-informed public. That said, given the penchant of studios to second-guess the creative decisions of their directors/writers/etc. at the drop of a hat, and their worries over offending or alienating the public, there is very little a filmmaker (even one unconcerned with such unfounded trivialities) can do.

An Exception Proves the Rule

Still, every rule must have an exception – those rare cases where the exact opposite of the expected occurs. In this case, we do have a recent example of the general response to unfinished work having a strong positive impact on the artistic direction of a film: Sonic the Hedgehog. While certainly not a leak by any means, reaction to the Sonic’s design in the first trailer was swift and brutal (deservedly so). As a direct result of this, the movie was delayed and the entire design was scrapped and replaced (at a great cost of time and money). The eventual second trailer, showing off the improved design, was met with resounding approval. Regardless of the actual quality of the script or finished film, or how much it makes at the box office, few would argue that the visual ascetic of the movie was not improved by the changes made – changes which would not have occurred without public response to incomplete work. That said, I would argue there is a great deal of difference between public response to intentionally released marketing materials (something felt to be acceptable for pubic consumption and criticism by the creative team) and a similar response to unfinished concepts, set leaks, or casting news.

Think, for instance, of the less-than-warm response that was given to Ben Affleck’s casting as Batman in Batman v. Superman. While, again, we can argue about the quality of the finished film, it was not this quality that was being criticized – it was merely a casting choice with no other information. While the studio ultimately held their ground (and audiences not only understood but liked Affleck’s performance in the film), one can easily imagine an alternate reality where the cold feet produced by such a response led to a quick re-casting of the role. An actor, a good one that brought his own spin to the role, would have never been given the chance due to the opinions of people who have no understanding of the entire picture as it was intended (much like the inaccurate guesses of the blind mice in the story Seven Blind Mice).

Hype Train or Crazy Train?

                It is worth noting that there are those that defend this never-ending deluge of behind-the-scenes information as the art of building ‘hype’ for a film. The argument goes that, as it takes a while for something to seep into the public’s mind (and remain there), all of this constant talking and critiquing only serves to do just that. To those people I would say this: Putting aside all of the potential creative damage that such early judgement can do (detailed above), there is absolutely such a thing a burnout. Unlike the excellent video game franchise of the same name (Seriously, when are we getting another one of those?), this type of burnout is bad.

If you’ve ever gotten sick of the ‘Song of the Summer’ after hearing it on the radio on repeat for months straight, you’ll know that human interest only stretches so far. Too much talk about a production, or god forbid its production woes, may be enough in and of itself to sink the general interest. People, especially today, have short attention spans and ‘blowing your load’ of hype too early could be irreversibly damning. After all, you want people excited to go see your film, not sick to death of talking about it.

Conclusion

                Ultimately, as much harm as I feel is being done by the current culture of internet movie news, there is very little that will change without public push-back. People need to realize that the initial viewing experience is special and that by delving too deeply in pre-release materials they may deprive themselves of that joy. They need to accept that criticisms of unfinished artistic works, no matter how deeply felt, rarely result in anything but negative results. Just as one would not critique a painter off of a handful of brush strokes, it makes little sense to label and dismiss a film or the creative decisions behind it when seen in a rough or unfinished state. Let the (multitude of) artists required to bring a film together do their job without the constant gaze of the public Big Brother upon them.

                This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t voice your opinions or objections to something that has been released – that is one of the primary points of art, after all –, it just means that you should have the restraint and respect (for both the artist and your own experience) to wait for it to be released before doing so. You should judge a film on its own merits, as a complete work of art – not bit by bit as it slowly leaks out like puss from a wound. The modern system of scooping, releasing, reading, discussing, and complaining about every piece of media before it is ready only manages to lessen the experience, both of the creator and of the viewer. Interacting with art, by watching it or reading it or listening to it, is a special experience than can only be harmed by incomplete prejudgment. Unfortunately, that is the only kind that can be gleaned from strip-searching a work-in-progress.

                The modern world doesn’t allow for a film such as the original Star Wars to be made in private and released as a fully-realized vision upon an unsuspecting public – today each and every character design or plot point would be revealed and detailed on a multitude of sites before release (Darth Vader, for example, would be old-hat by the time he boards Leia’s ship). The magic and power of that movie, and of that character’s introduction, would thus be diminished. It is for this reason (and all the others listed above) that I hope that we as a society out-grow this current phase in which we find ourselves – so that we might go back to viewing things in context, with fresh eyes, and with open hearts and minds. In that way, perhaps only so, can we be truly reminded of what a special experience it is to be surprised at the cinema.