OK so reverse order timeline of events like this that I'm aware of

  • Laura Bailey being harassed for something a character she voiced in The Last of Us Part 2 did
  • Anna Gunn being harassed because people misguidedly and misogynistically didn't like Skyler White (taking this back to 2008)
  • Ahmed Best and the kid who played young Anakin being harassed by Star Wars fans after the Phantom Menace came out, taking us back to 1999. You could argue that these two weren't about the character's actions but rather the quality of the performances/product so its a bit difference but its still the same overall problem.
  • I just happened to get curious about what TV Tropes had to say about All in the Family because my roomate was watching it. By weird coincidence, because I had commented about the first three when this news was posted in a discord server already, I learned it goes back to the 70s because an actor who appears in one episode and does something incredibly evil got hate mail over it. So yeah, this shit has been going on forever

But like. WHAT the fuck is going on with that. What is going on in brains that can't separate actor from character? Is it just needing an outlet.

I think there's some discussion to be had about this shit getting worse because of increased atomization, COVID, social media giving people easy access to celebrities, and a more media obsessed population in general. But it apparently goes all the way back to All in the Family so what is going on?

And I don't think that its a minor problem either! Ahmed Best and the small child that played Anakin have shared some pretty harrowing stuff. And like, this was a reality show but I've discussed before how upset the story of Hana Kimura is to me as a fan (if you look her up, suicide cw).

My best guess is that people with very little emotional intelligence have emotions over the media they consume and need to let it out on someone as an outlet? Combined with just, poor education leading to poor media literacy?

But yeah this has always confused me lmao. I truly wish to understand the confusing actions of humans.

      • Hux@lemmy.ml
        ·
        6 days ago

        I guess I’m not really make any aspersions about the perceived quality of the show. It’s just with the way GoT ended.

        After being so amazing at first, then ending abruptly and terribly—the idea of watching a spin-off series feels a little bit like going on a date with a wild and amazing woman, only to wake up in tub full of ice with two missing kidneys. Then, after an arduous, miraculous recovery asking if she has a sister.

        • bbnh69420 [she/her, they/them]
          ·
          5 days ago

          House of the dragon is good. Maybe it’s my distance from the original hype around GoT and the fact that I’ve read fire and blood, but the show is good

        • ssj2marx@lemmy.ml
          ·
          5 days ago

          the idea of watching a spin-off series

          For me, it feels more like a redemption arc. Nothing can undo how bad GoT's ending was, but maybe another story in the same universe that's shorter and has a planned, satisfying ending from the very beginning can create the closure that the original series failed to deliver.

        • Darth_Reagan [they/them, comrade/them]
          ·
          5 days ago

          Its a rare instance of an adaption being better than the source material. In large part because GRRM is looped in, and the source material was in-universe history.

        • AlicePraxis [any]
          ·
          5 days ago

          The GoT showrunners are not involved in HotD so the quality of that show is irrelevant.

          that being said HotD is kinda mid IMO

    • ssj2marx@lemmy.ml
      ·
      5 days ago

      I dig it. The best part of GoT is the scheming and the war and the fucked up families, and HoD cute out all of the other stuff and focuses on just those aspects of the universe.