Anna Daniels
We may be living under extraordinary circumstances, but Warner’s decision to acquiesce on the Snyder Cut could set a dangerous precedent. A certain contingent of fans, having realized a great victory over one of the biggest studios in Hollywood (or so they might see it), are now going to feel entitled to satisfaction whenever they want to see a mediocre film remade. Snyder’s vision was genuinely compromised by tragedy, yes, but good cinema is not made in committee with the viewing public. If viewers want to participate in the creative process, they should watch Black Mirror: Bandersnatch. We should all fear a reality where studios feel the need to develop, cut, release, and revise films at the explicit direction of fans.
Think we’re just catastrophizing here? It’s already happening. Just today, fresh off their perceived victory, some DCEU fans redoubled formal efforts to extract an “Ayer Cut” of 2016’s Suicide Squad. This is why the State Department doesn’t negotiate with terrorists. Warner may seem like the easiest mark right now, but they certainly won’t be the only one to feel the pain from this decision. If the industry normalizes this behavior, then fans are going to start to feel entitled to participate in the production process via mob input. That doesn’t seem like a healthy paradigm — either creatively or commercially. We’re not trying to be all “won’t someone please think of the executives” here, but we can’t ignore the worrisome potential of movies getting made with too much concern for pleasing everyone, at the expense of a coherent product.
Maybe the Snyder Cut will be everything fans ever dreamed it would be. Maybe things will return to normal after the shutdown is lifted. Maybe this is just an aberration, and we should be grateful for the injection of work and content into these uncertain times. Maybe.
Then again, maybe not.
Written by: Looper
