'Dark Knight' fan boys rip the head off another critic

OK, let's get one thing out of the way right up front. I am not a "Dark Knight" detractor. Chris Nolan is a really gifted filmmaker and he's made a film that has the intensity of heavy-metal cinema--it works on a hundred different levels, whether you find it totally involving or an assault on the senses. My problem is with the film's Bat Fan Boys who've been deluging film critics who abusive e-mail simply because they didn't join the crowd (or maybe we should call it the mob) and embrace the movie.

The first critic to take the hit was New York magazine's David Edelstein, who, as we wrote last week, was pummeled by unhappy Bat boys after calling the film "noisy, jumbled and sadistic." Edelstein took offense, writing a spirited defense of his position, noting--tellingly--that 99% of his attackers hadn't even seen the movie yet. But now "Dark Knight" fans have a new punching bag--the Wall Street Journal's eminence grise, Joe Morgenstern. The veteran critic didn't like the film, but his reaction was hardly knee-jerk dismissal. His review treats the film as serious but muddled art, calling it "a social experiment on a global scale, an ambitious, lavish attempt to see if audiences will turn out for a comic book epic that goes beyond darkness into Stygian bleakness, grim paradox, endless betrayals and pervasive corruption."

The reaction? As Morgenstern told me last night, while he was waiting for a plane in Chicago: "I've gotten 250 or 300 e-mails, almost all with the vilest, most abusive language you could possibly imagine. I was stunned. These people aren't just discourteous. They're insane." So what's going here? Are critics wrong to expect their readers to show civilized manners? Or have fan boys turned into droogs, the nasty gang of brutes who run wild in Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange"? Is it time some people got a life?

   

I confess to being a bit baffled. On the one hand, I'm so used to reading the usual round of trash-talking on message boards that when I scrolled through the comments about Morgenstern's review on Rotten Tomatoes I was hardly fazed. I've read far worse, much of it directed at me. E-mail seems to be the perfect format for blowing off a head of steam. Readers questioned Morgenstern's manhood ("What an old queen!"), taunted him ("Prepare to be roasted!!!") and hooted at his bad taste (" 'Mamma Mia' over 'TDK'? Seriously? Wow, what a tool"). But when a guy whose e-mail handle is Super Nazi Moses blows you off, saying, "You are a moron ... Burn in Hell," you really have to consider the source. After all, what you would expect Super Nazi Moses to say?

But the soccer hooligan-style ferocity of the response really disturbed Morgenstern. "Suddenly we live in a new world full of trolls," he said. "I write for an educated readership and usually the responses to my reviews are courteous and collegial. But this was really ugly. It did feel like a mob. There's obviously a lot of anti-intellectualism at work, with some subtle undertones of anti-Semitism too. The roar of scorn was pretty unnerving. I've heard this language before--I've used it myself--but only when someone hit my car."

Morgenstern sensed that the response had the air of "Dark Knight" loyalists protecting their turf. "They're policing their comic book mythology from anyone who doesn't appreciate it sufficiently. Look, I know I'm critical. That's what I get paid for. But who likes to be brutalized--and brutalized over a comic-book movie?"

My suspicion is that a whole lot of fans feel just as protective of "Dark Knight" as critics feel of their favorite Oscar film. Both sides believe they are defending something under attack, even though "Dark Knight" has been such a pop culture blitzkrieg that it's hard to imagine it could possibly be threatened by a few nattering nabob-style critics. But rightly or wrongly, critics today are viewed as cultural snobs--it's hardly a coincidence that much of the Rotten Tomatoes comment traffic focused on Morgenstern being an elitist New Yorker, even though he's resided for years in Los Angeles.

So I ask you the question: What is crude and what is rude and what is nasty, by your standards? Is Morgenstern wrong to expect a more elevated discussion about his take on "Dark Knight"? At The Times, the paper's policy is to reject abusive comments or ones with vulgar language. But if you can make your case, PG-13 style, I'd love to hear where you draw the line when it comes to venting your spleen. 

Photo by Bob Carey / Los Angeles Times.

Comments

[Super Nazi Moses]

Burn in hell

[Big Shaker]

I've given up expecting much but hate and ugliness from the internet, which has become a far more vast wasteland than anyone ever dreamed TV could be. It has become the gang turf of angry, mean-spirited cowards who in real life are childish and powerless, but their online anonymity empowers them to throw off the shackles of civility and decency and to run wild, and not have to bear any real-life consequences for it. The wide-open nature of the internet frees them of any boundaries of behavior - crudity, vicious insults, even death threats are now the norm. It's giving these hooligans too much credit to say they're simply being "protective" of their movie.

[Larkin]

Its unfortunate "fan boys" have been sending such harsh comments to these critics. A well crafted and respectful criticisms would be more effective in my opinion. However in rare circumstances critics themselves unfairly review movies and insult the filmmakers who put so much passion and energy into a project. Its also interesting to note that some critics feel they are entitled to criticize a film anyway they want but believe its off limits for audiences to give criticism of their review as they see fit. Also isn't it a critics job is to inform the public about a film, but they often construct sentences with a vocabulary level beyond what the average person can understand. Its obvious most critics care more about sounding intelligent and sophisticated amongst their pears and less about informing the public about.

[Sonny]

stop being such a sissy and take it. So WHAT, you gotta field a few nasty emails once in a while. That's the behavior people exhibit on message boards and comment lists. Its called "the anger of anonymity" and it runs rampant on almost ANY message board where people can be questioned, challenged, and yes- destroyed. The Batman franchise is almost like the Oakland Raiders- the fans are die-hard. The movie debuted to an amazing amount of hype and so...what do you expect??? I think these critics ENJOY having an article written about them personally. This negative deluge happens, what- every 10 years? Its part of being a critic in a major newpaper- have you forgotten that? No more, hiding behind your words and being a quasi-invisile entity. Consider this karma for all the good movies that you've panned (including The Dark Knight)...and more importantly, get over yourself...people have REAL problems out here.

[Ro]

The majority of Movie Critics are completely out of touch with what the general public enjoys in a movie. While it’s true that Joe Morgenstern speaks to a different crowd in his reviews, he can hardly expect the fans of Dark Knight to appreciate his comments. Would Mr. Morgenstern be a fan of most Comic Book Movies? If he isn’t, then can he truly give a review that isn’t biased on his dislike of the genre? What the Dark Knight Fans lack in eloquence, they certainly make up for with enthusiasm. It would behoove most Film Critics to remember that the majority of movie goers are people who worked very hard for the $20.00 or more they are going to spend for that few hours in the movie theatre. It is time for the Movie Critics to take a step down from being elitists and to start judging a movie by its merits and not its genre.

[sdfadsaf]

The problem is not the fans. It's the critics. You expect to people to simply accept your opinion without question.

You are so detached from your readers which explains the surprise at how heated the debate gets.

The criticisms I have seen of Dark Knight indicate that snobs, sorry critics, like yourself, do not understand the Batman mythology. Some don't even know it's not related to the old Burton films, like Rex Reed.

Some thing Nolan's films should have humor like Spiderman. These are criticisms sure, but they aren't objective. They will be debated and the common rebuttal is that YOU, the "professional" critic, has no idea what Batman is all about, surely not what THIS interpretation of batman is all about.

Lets also keep in mind, that you people have the microphone. You're the ones whining in your websites about fanboys. We don't have a voice other than to email you and if you DO respond, you pick the worst of the bunch rather than the articulate meangingful ones.

So, you, the critic, controls the viewpoint and you skew it in your own favor to make us look like rabid fans.

[Danjer047]

I think it is horrible how people are attacking critics with death threats and "Get Fired"s. I really loved this film but I understand why people didn't. If the reviewer didn't like the movie, then people should come up with a rational reason to disagree. If something in the review does fit, then you should come out and talk about it. But, it's pretty sickening that people get on here and defend a movie with violence. You should use your brain and opinion to challenge reviews not your e-fists and tiny words.

[Vinnie Velvet]

Patrick Goldstein - thanks for the insightful read.
To me, critics have always been the lowest form on earth. These hacks who get paid for saying how good or how bad something is have got to be just as insane as the so-called "bat fan boys" you mentioned in your article.
David Lee Roth once said that "critics like Elvis Costello because they look like Elvis Costello."

'nuff said.

[sasha]

I've been on the net for almost fifteen years and I'll tell you that things were different in the early days; trolls were promptly exiled from any reasonable and interesting discussion. Somehow, between then and now there came this idea that anything goes online -- people say (I have said) things they would never dream of saying, nor have the courage to say, face to face. I don't tolerate it at my site and will promptly delete any abusive talk and try to ban the poster. If more blog owners took a hard line this stuff wouldn't happen as often. It isn't okay to attack the critic who didn't like your movie, folks. A high comment count isn't everything. Delete, delete, delete.

Having said all that, unfortunately, you have to develop a kind of thick skin to put yourself out there for unmoderated comments. Either that or be willing to go on the attack and slap the fanboy down. They will attack everything they know to attack -- usually, though, it's based on looks: bald, fat, ugly - because those are the things you can't say out loud usually, or haven't been able to since 1st grade. But I guess it can be racist and homophobic and sexist too. They do it because they can and because it largely goes unchecked.

It's a sorry state of affairs. Humanity has all but flown the coop. It's up to those who know better to keep their readership in line like you would a misbehaving toddler. Shutting them up and smacking them down is one of the perks of the job! :-)

[Armando]

When I was a kid I saw Batman by Tim burton about 3 or 4 times and loved it back then. Now almost 20 years later it is about time some people got it right. The Nolan brothers and David Goyer did a superb job and for the first time in maybe 20 yrs I and my better half have decided to see a motion picture twice. I think the last movie I saw twice was T2 Judgment Day...anyway my point is I guess with age you really do get wise. The First Time I saw TDK I was blown away. The second time hmmmmmm yes I began to see what some of the hateful critics have seen...like too many sub plots and all that munbo jumbo they wrote but nevertheless I still enjoyed it. I have read the Killing Joke, The Long Halloween, Arkham Asylum and other comic classics and this movie adaptationand also Batman Begins is the closest to those comics by far. Would I see it again for a third time? Maybe in blu ray or if someone will pay for me at the theatre. In My Opinion still the best movie I have seen this year and best superhero movie by far.