Science Fiction Critics’ Problematic Arrogance

Science fiction pundits have a problem: those who were once excited nerds discussing their favorite TV shows, books, graphic novels, and movies have mutated into self-important, hyper-critical, genre-bashing bloggers – even on sites dedicated purely to scifi.  This is, quite obviously, poisoning the atmosphere, and needs to be quickly reversed before catastrophe.

The story is one familiar to those deeply entrenched in the Internet:  person discovers passion, person writes about passion, person finds audience, person gains advertisers, person becomes stodgy – not true for all start-small-get-popular writers, but it’s quite common.  For an unknown individual to become “Internet famous” and able to make a living from their work is not evil in and of itself, but when that money and fame begins to influence their opinions, which in turn influences others’ opinions, it becomes highly problematic.

A perfect example is Gawker’s io9, possibly the largest science fiction multiauthor blog in existence, who, not too long ago, had reasonable opinions on most topics.  At some point within the last year, however, the mood changed from a friendly discussion on the latest nerdly science fiction items to an attempt to resemble a so-called legitimate publication with “real critique” and “news”.  This regrettable decision has resulted in not only chasing the trendiest, and most traffic-friendly, items of the day, but a sadly snooty critical viewpoint.

By attempting to become “legitimate”, a problem existing far outside of io9, the very core of nerddom is thrown away:  undying love and devotion of an item is no longer considered worthy.  This is not to say that glowing reviews of movies or books are necessarily a good editorial decision, but rather that a fair analysis of a piece doesn’t need to involve nitpicking to the point of annoying specificity.  Yes, Avatar may have not been the most original movie of all time, but fiction, movies especially, are typically derivative works and James Cameron’s genius piece deserved far less critical panning than it received from the very audience he was depending upon.

If the Internet, blogging especially, is to become the next medium for journalism, then the temptation for a writer to use their ego as a blunt weapon needs to be avoided at all costs – especially within science fiction.  The best science fiction depends upon word-of-mouth and the devotion of fans in order to flourish, and can be ruined far too easily by a loudmouth’s vendetta in a highly publicly visible forum.  io9, /Film, FilmSchoolRejects:  this means you.

Kyle can be found on his blog, on Facebook, via email, or on Twitter.