The Dark Side of Fandoms

Written by Shae Rufe

​Have fans taken things too far? The word itself is short for fanatic, which definitely applies to some. Fans have been the whole reason that many of the things we love exist. As our favorite fictional uncle would say, ‘with great power comes great responsibility.’ The power does rest in our hands but that isn’t always a good thing. Fans have asked and demanded and gotten their way, yet somehow it isn’t always good enough. 

Let’s talk Star Wars. With the disaster everyone claimed the prequels were, many fans were left angered. So angered that they took that fury out on the actors themselves. The film itself has such promise with budding stars like Natalie Portman, Ewan McGregor, and Veteran actor Liam Neeson. Jake Lloyd was slated to become the next kid star to storm the big screen; only things didn’t quite turn out that way. Jake was bullied by fans so harshly for his portrayal of young Anakin Skywalker that he quit acting for good. The hate didn’t stop there, however, as Ahmed Best was harassed so bad for playing Jar Jar Binks, he actually attempted suicide. The fan rage didn’t quit after that either. When it was announced that John Boyega would be a lead, fans called for a boycott simply because of the color of his skin. While Daisy Ridley was met with just as much anger for being a woman. Earlier this year, Kelly Marie Tran, who played Rose Tico, was cyber bullied for her character’s love interest in The Last Jedi, and her weight, to the point where she deleted her Instagram.

She’s not alone as Josh McDermott, who plays Eugene on The Walking Dead, also deleted his Instagram. Fans were so upset with his character’s actions on the show that they started to attack the actor personally. Fellow actor Seth Gillian, Father Gabriel, also received death threats for his character’s actions on the show. And the saddest chapter when it comes to the cast being treated poorly involves Laurie Holden who played Andrea. She started receiving death threats and coming to set so shaken that it took her fellow actors to calm her. While all these actors have openly explained that they are not their characters, each has had their own heartbreaking moments due to fans. When it comes to Rick and Morty Co-creator Justin Roiland had his personal life attacked by fans when there hadn’t been a quick enough renewal for season 4 of the popular show. On a Podcast, Roiland stated that one fan had gone as far to tweet ‘this is why your wife left you’ when he made a post regarding the show’s hiatus while negotiations were under way with the network in question. A far cry from death threats, yet still such an over the line comment from someone who supposedly loves something. Rick and Morty fans also were upset when McDonald’s stores ran out of their limited re-release of their Szechuan sauce. 

When it was announced the new Doctor would be actress Jodie Whittaker, fans started a petition to have her replaced with a male actor. Granted, that didn’t happen and Jodie will be returning as the Doctor for at least another season. However, this isn’t the first instance of fans trying to dictate how a show goes. When it comes to Supernatural, writers have admitted that main characters Sam and Dean always have their love interests either die or leave because fans do not like to see them with female counterparts for long. The strong sway of fans does not just stop at live action shows. The latest reincarnation of the ‘80’s show Voltron has brought its own fair share of angered fans. Many were furious by the end of season 7 when two of the main characters, that fans thought should end up together, did not. The show did offer its own openly gay main character with a seemingly non-binary character as well, depending on how fans chose to view that. Yet, boycotts of the show were still called for due to unhappy fans about the outcome of certain relationships.

These are just a drop in the bucket of fan interactions. Actors and voice actors have shared their own personal horror stories. One voice actress was very candid when she spoke of how a fan had physically tackled her to the ground. The power of fans is strong. Without us, some of what we love wouldn’t exist. Without that which we love, however, we wouldn’t exist. Where is the line of too far? Obviously, fans shouldn’t be threatening or taking their hate out on actors for doing their jobs. Do fans really have the right to sway the creative work of a person? How do writers and actors combat these crazed fans? This is not to say that all fans are bad, by any means, many are quite the opposite of those who have tackled actors and sent death threats. The majority seem to be quite laid back. Perhaps it’s time for the majority to stand up to the minority of the group and let them know, these behaviors are unacceptable, and we will not stand for it. After all, the whole point of any of this is that it’s something we love. Whether we like the creator’s decisions or not it is never okay to act out, send death threats, and make an actor feel unsafe to the point where they delete their social media. It’s a strange phenomenon to see those who have been bullied for their interests become the bullies of others.

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