Why is everyone overly critical, cynical experts on everything these days?

What do I mean by this? Let me elaborate.

I find that in this day and age, everyone and their mother has an opinion on just about everything. This wouldn't bother me if many people weren't either too ignorant to form an actual opinion, or too self absorbed to be objective. In other words, how can you have an opinion on something you know nothing about, and how can you have an opinion if you're too narrow-minded to see something from any other perspective.

Although this applies to a lot of different things, the cases that bother me the most personally have to do with entertainment. Entertainment is basically my life, I love good stories told in all sorts of formats from books to movies to comics and anything in between. I love to create things for my own personal entertainment, and to entertain others.

So, it really bothers me when people get a thorn up their ass about something they know nothing about before giving it a chance. Case in point: Avatar.

Judgement Day

The general public reception of this film has been overwhelmingly positive, and the movie has already broken records. But let's backtrack to the months before the movie's release.

Being a nerd in many senses of the word, I've been keeping track of the film and the buzz around it, and I remember months back when the first trailers aired, and all people could do was trash James Cameron, trash his designs, trash his story, before a single one of them had seen the film or really knew much of anything about it.

This is James Cameron we're talking about, and whether you like the man or not, he's directed some of the best Hollywood films there are, both from a box office standpoint and public opinion standpoint. Terminator, Terminator 2, Aliens, The Abyss, True Lies, Titanic, and now Avatar, are in my opinion solid films and good story telling.

But that's beside the point. The point is, why are people practically reviewing a film when all that's been released is a few promo photos, a very rough synopsis, and a teaser trailer? And it happens ALL the time.

So of course, I'm not talking just about Avatar when it comes to movies and people trashing them, it just happens to be the most recent case. Like I said, it happens all the time. People like to think they're experts on film and will judge and critique things without knowing jack about them.

I can't tell you how many people I've seen bashing movies on forums, who haven't seen a particular film and have no intention of seeing it, even when previous naysayers step out of the theatre admitting they were wrong. In addition to that, some people made up their minds months before a movie comes out, and won't actually "enjoy" it even if they do find themselves liking it if they end up watching it. If you don't think a film looks interesting and don't want to see it, leave it at that.

Difficulty in Being Entertained

My point here is that why are people so critical and cynical of entertainment these days? Whatever happened to being able to just sit back and enjoy something for what it is? Why does everything need to be critiqued down to the smallest, most insignificant detail?

I'm not saying that people aren't allowed to dislike things or have a different opinion from the general public or myself, but when did everyone become experts on film, games, or any one of the many other forms of entertainment out there?

When did it suddenly become cool to hate on everything? When did we become so ridiculously pessimistic and cynical about everything? Why can't we just like things for what they are anymore without complaining about what they aren't?

That's not to say we can't have opinions, but people are hardly reasonable or objective these days, which makes so many of them impossible to please. If you hate everything out there so much that you have to go out of your way to tear it apart and insult the creators, then either actively do something about it, or shut up.

Reality Check

Let's just take a step back and remember what entertainment is all about... being entertained! If something doesn't do it for you, that's fine, but you have to give it a chance before you can have a legitimate opinion worth listening to. And if you give it a chance, and still dislike it, at least try to be objective before you dissect it piece by piece. Not liking "stupid giant blue cat people" isn't a good enough reason.

I'm personally tired of it, and I'm sure many of you can agree with me. So why don't we all just jump down off of our high horses for a bit, and be happy and optimistic for a change. Let's take the bitterness out of entertainment and enjoy ourselves instead always counting on being disappointed. No one benefits from this attitude, especially not the entertainment industry.

So let's stop being so narrow-minded and one dimensional. You don't need to like what everyone else likes, but if you're going to dislike something, at least have a reasonable leg to stand on. And remember, it's a piece of entertainment. It's not like someone stepped through your front door and fornicated your mother in front of you, stop taking it personally and relax. Everyone will be a lot happier.

<sub>On a side note, I don't want anyone to take this personally. It's just my take on an increasingly troubling problem I'm seeing in the entertainment world. This isn't a loaded shotgun aimed at anyone in particular, it's more of a broad statement with some current examples.

So just in case anyone feels like disputing my stance, please make it a respectful discussion and not an argument. Remember, this is an editorial, i.e. my opinion with reasons behind it.</sub>