This is when fans are just the worst. A lot of us have our favorite characters when it comes to various stories, and no one wants to see their favorite characters die off in a movie since there’s a good chance that in the movies they won’t come back, or they will come back and it will be ridiculous. But sending death threats to the guy that’s making it possible to see them in the first place is beyond stupid since it indicates that fans have little to no filter between their brains and their mouths, which is kind of typical, unfortunately. Director James Gunn has apparently been receiving death threats over the upcoming Suicide Squad movie and while it’s not entirely unexpected it’s noticeable enough that he’s felt the strain of it. But where some folks might take death threats and negative comments and let them ruin their day, Gunn has focused instead on the larger number of positive comments that have come his way, which is the better way to go really.
The funny thing about this is that the fans offering the death threats and bodily harm aren’t going to do anything. There might be a couple out there that would do something if they could figure out a way to get close to Gunn and really had that level of hate in them to someone else bodily harm. But one immutable fact on the internet is that anyone can talk tough, and anyone can say what they want. Those that are truly dangerous are those that get up and do something. Those types don’t always talk about what they’re going to do before they do it, and if they happen to talk then they’re usually ignored. Obviously not every death threat can be taken so lightly these days since people are just as nuts now as they’ve ever been, it’s simply become more noticeable since there are so many more people in this world than there were decades ago.
But throwing out a death threat over a movie character is all kinds of pathetic and while directors aren’t immune to it a lot of them know that it’s very likely that nothing will happen since someone is just getting bent out of shape that one of their favorite characters might get whacked in a movie. Seriously, people get emotional over fictional characters all the time and the amusing thing here is that the people that create them rarely do. Why is that? Maybe it’s because we, yes, we, authors, directors, etc., know that one day our creations are going to have to die off or just fade into the ether since there won’t be much, if any, use for them anymore.
This is something creators know, and something that tends to immunize us from the pain and emotion that comes when a character does have to die. A creator might show emotion from time to time over a character, but the fact is that we know the story has to go on in some way and that not every character is going to make it from point A to point B. We go where the story takes us and do what the story dictates, which is a funny way to say it since a lot of people tend to think that those that create the stories are always in control. Nope, not even close. some people definitely take control of their stories, but one immutable fact is that by letting the story go where it will and do what it wants, the result can be a lot more interesting since the free-flowing idea can be a lot more interesting than the controlled situation.
But fans that get so invested in their favorite characters that they’re willing to offer death threats should something happen to that character are sad cases really since their emotional well-being hinges on a character that doesn’t really exist, but is a creation that was brought to life for a definite purpose, and will eventually be taken out for a purpose as well. It’s fun to get into fictional characters and to enjoy them, and yeah, it’s a bit tough to lose them when it’s their time to die in the comics. But seriously, move on and grow up a little, fictional characters die on occasion and then are brought back if some fans cry too loudly. But the point here is that death threats are perhaps one of the worst ways to express a person’s feelings about a fictional character since the police are real, and the result of hurling death threats at a person and promising to visit a hate crime or violence on them is an issue. Thankfully Gunn doesn’t focus on this, but it’s still a problem that has to be resolved.
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