Misaimed Fandom/Film: Difference between revisions

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* ''[[The Dark Knight Saga|The Dark Knight]]'''s version of [[The Joker]] is an '''especially''' disturbing case of [[Misaimed Fandom]], since we're talking about a [[Complete Monster]] who does his evil deeds [[For the Evulz]]. And even though he makes a plot-critical miscalculation of human nature at the climax of the film, Joker fanvids [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQT6YCF6lhk like this one] say things like ''"everything The Joker says is true."'' They wrote him extremely well, and he was acted very well by an actor who died between filming and release. He lives in a [[Crapsack World]] where his [[Nietzsche Wannabe]] philosophies ''do'' seem true at first and still have truth in them, but it's heavily implied that he crafts these philosophies to get under people's skin or persuade them, not because he actually believes what he says.

** There's a similar (albeit more understandable) [[Misaimed Fandom]] towards Ra's al Ghul in the previous [[Batman]] film, ''Batman Begins''. Consider, for example, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqHp9vLCYzM this video]; some users in the comments section were saying they prefer Ra's al Ghul's philosophy to Batman's and that Ra's al Ghul had the right idea, whereas Batman was just foolishly defending a city with no hope. There is a difference between agreeing with a [[Nietzsche Wannabe]] [[Complete Monster]] and agreeing with a [[Knight Templar]] [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]], but the issue is the same: people agreeing with the villain more than the director probably intended.

** Misaimed fandom often results from the viewer's failure to grasp certain subtleties, but this could be the opposite; because the Plastics are caricatures, their real life equivalents may not see themselves reflected in them.

** On the flipside, awareness of the Regina George archetype may be contributing to its downfall.

* If ''[[Scarface]]'' isn't the epitome of a film doomed for misaimed fandom, nothing is. Brian De Palma intended for this movie to be a dark, unrelenting look at the downfall of a gangster who quickly climbed to the top of the drug trade world, only to become addicted to coke and alienate those around him. Instead, rappers sample Tony Montana's quotes, admire him for being all gangster, and have a bunch of their fans and misled teens suddenly become fans or the film without seeing what the point of the film was at all. Brian De Palma isn't happy about this ''at all''.

** A frakkin' VIDEO GAME of the movie was made too. Which was a ''sequel'' to the movie, dictated that Tony Montana somehow SURVIVED the ending of the film, and has him go about his business with no negative consequences. Takes misaimed fandom up to eleven.

** Also, most of the Marines are cheering for those movies because they think they're ''funny'', not because they feel inspired by. War movies, especially the specific ones named here, largely come across to real servicemembers as parodies.

* Similarly, many current or former military (or people who are staunch military supporters) are also fans of ''[[Full Metal Jacket]]''.

** - Ermy was brought in initially as an adviser, when he showed the crew how a drill was done, he reportedly scared Kubrick so much that Kubrick decided to just use him in the movie instead of getting an actor. Just rewind a little there- he scared Stanley "Complete Lunatic" Kubrick. Wow.

* There are fans of the film version of ''[[Battle Royale]]'' who seem to wish that they could enter The Program, with their classmates. This isn't helped by the in-film character who signed up "for fun" and seems to be having the psychotic time of his life.

** The misaimed fandom for Sarah Connor seems to have forgotten the scene in which she goes to Miles Dyson's house to murder him. Rewatch that scene, and marvel (or rather, shudder) at [[He Who Fights Monsters|how good a Terminator she would make]].

* ''[[Leaving Las Vegas]]'' was criticized for glamorizing alcoholism. Apparently, these people missed the bit where the protagonist decides he's going to drink himself to death ''and does.'' Then again, that summary can translate easily to "alcohol is worth dying for".

** ''[[Casino]]'' is also [[The Movie of the Book|The Movie]] of another nonfiction book by the same author, Nicholas Pileggi. Ace Rothstein was based on an actual guy, though the name was changed and Ace is comparatively less of a thuggish bastard, if only by virtue of certain incidents not making it into the film.

* ''[[Taxi Driver]]'' has Robert DeNiro trying to kill a politician. [[wikipedia:John Hinckley Jr|Some guy]] watched the movie many times, got obsessed with [[Jodie Foster]] and, after many attempts to contact her, decided to impress her by shooting [[Ronald Reagan]]...

* As [[Clive Barker]], creator of the ''[[Hellraiser]]'' series, put it, "You've got Pinhead, who hasn't done a single decent thing in eight movies, and still gets mail from women who want to have his children."

** Given the sadomasochistic themes of the ''Hellraiser'' films, its debatable how much of this is really misaimed.

* The 1970 film ''Joe'' starred Peter Boyle as a working-class reactionary who fantasizes about murdering hippies (and does so in the film's climax). Boyle was horrified to find audiences cheering the character at screenings, and reportedly turned down the role of Popeye Dole in ''[[The French Connection]]'' at least partly out of fear of inspiring a similar reaction.

* Many viewers applauded ''[[Hard Candy]]'' as a [[Take That]] toward pedophiles. While Jeff is obviously beyond redemption for what he's done, many viewers don't take into account the fact that Hayley's methods are obviously supposed to demonstrate that she too is an incredibly sick individual. [[Word of God]] is that {{spoiler|Hayley is a fledgling serial killer, who preys on ephebophiles like Jeff because they can be considered [[Acceptable Target|acceptable targets]]. Both Hayley and Jeff are intended to be equally repugnant.}}

* ''[[August Rush]]'' managed to accomplish the inverse of this - it missed its intended demographic. It was supposed to play particularly well to musicians and music lovers, but those were the people most likely to spot the film's numerous problems.

* ''[[A Clockwork Orange (film)|A Clockwork Orange]]'' - see [[Misaimed Fandom/Literature|entry under Literature.]]

* Many tween-age girls completely missed the point of ''[[Clueless]]'' -- a vapid and shallow girl realizes how meaningless that sort of life is -- and instead attempted to ape the fashion and attitude of the characters from the beginning of the film.

** Cher starts out a very funny [[Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist]] who's got [[Lovable Alpha Bitch|loads of friends]], unlimited time and money to [[Unlimited Wardrobe|buy new clothes]], and gets to call most of the shots in her social circle, making her one hell of an [[Escapist Character]]. After the plot gets going, [[First Law of Tragicomedies]] kicks in and the story is forced to become more serious. [[It Was His Sled|Just like in]] [[Emma|the book it was based on]], the protagonist starts submitting to the advice of her heavy-handed, older male friend, {{spoiler|even hooking up with him}}. [[Coming of Age Story|She matures, but also undergoes]] [[Chickification]], [[Coming of Age Story|becoming]] [[Unfortunate Implications|less proactive and outspoken]].

* "Das Millionenspiel" is a German movie from 1970 about a (fake) game show, which is about a group of people hunting and trying to kill the competitor, who will win one million Deutschmarks if he survives for 7 days. The film was pretty intense for its time and some people even thought it was a real game show. But that's not the point. Besides people who were complaining in indignation, there were also people who attended for becoming competitor, or even one of the hunters.

* Characters like [[Nightmare On Elm Street|Freddy Krueger]], [[Halloween (film)|Michael Myers]] and [[Friday the 13th (film)|Jason Voorhees]] (all brutal serial killers) have huge fanbases, with many a teenage girl proclaiming their undying love for one or the other.

** Speaking of Gaston, there's a number of fans who think that he's a fantastic guy who Belle was a bitch for not marrying. This is skating over the fact that he attempted murder, bribed the asylum owner to commit Maurice, and heavily implied that if/when he got Belle to marry him, he'd be forcing her to be the kind of woman he approved of.

* Supposedly, the graphic rape in ''[[I Spit on Your Grave]]'' was supposed to be [[Fan Disservice|shocking and horrifying]]. When [[Roger Ebert]] reviewed it, he listened to what his fellow audience members said regarding it, and "if they seriously believed the things they were saying, they were vicarious sex criminals."

* After the [[James Bond (film)|James Bond]] movie ''[[Licence to Kill]]'' was released, [[Robert Davi]], who played drug lord [[Big Bad|Franz]] [[Complete Monster|Sanchez]], was taken to meet with an actual drug lord in South America. Apparently, he loved his portrayal of Sanchez.

* [[The Silence of the Lambs|Dr. Hannibal Lecter]] attracts a lot of fandom despite being a European aristocrat by birth with strong intellectual leanings who still displays snobbish elitism and who has little tolerance for poor taste. Oh, and did we mention he's also a maladjusted serial killer who eats his victims?

* The villain of [[Thor]], Loki. He is very clearly beloved by the fandom, particularly the female audience due to his very sympathetic portrayal. However, there are some fans that think that he was plainly evil and not sympathetic at all. This creates uncertainty as to whether the writers intended for Loki to be as popular and sympathetic as he became.

* ''[[Scream (film)|Scream]]'', a horror parody, actually helped the genre live past the 80s.

** More specifically, it was intended to be a parody and final-nail-in-the-coffin for the Slasher subgenre. The film wound up having the opposite effect, and actually breathed new life into the then-dying genre.