Blame throwing, browbeating and fan shaming, oh my!

Hey, everyone. Did you know that I’m a misogynist?

Yep, yep. I think, based on what I’ve seen from the trailers and TV stops, that the “Ghostbusters” remake looks awful and I have little interest in seeing this Dumpster fire. According to the studio backing the film — Sony — and the movie’s director and cast, there can only be one reason for my reluctance to see it: I hate women, and I’m angered that anyone would dare to alter a childhood favorite by replacing my male heroes with a bunch of women.

I miss living in a world where I could dislike something without having people charging me with having some huge character defect.

Yup. That’s why I don’t want to see this flick. Because I hate women.

What’s really lame is that this isn’t even the first time something like this has happened this year. Super-fans of “Batman v Superman” belched a lot of hot air about how that film was “too smart” for movie audiences. In spite of the fact that “BvS” was a poorly-paced, pedantic jumble of scenes that was far less intelligent than it thought itself to be, fans of the flick spewed a constant stream of “you just don’t get it.”

Studios now place all the blame on fans for hating on their movies.

Fox tried a similar tactic last year in the run-up to “Fantastic 4,” attempting to paint anyone who had anything negative to say about the movie as a racist who hated the idea of Michael B. Jordan playing Johnny Storm, a traditionally white character.

Man, I miss living in a world where I could dislike something without having people charging me with having some huge character defect.

It’s becoming commonplace for movie studios to browbeat fans who don’t react favorably to their products. Instead of owning up to their mistakes, like “Yeah, maybe the guy who directed ‘Watchmen’ isn’t the right guy to set the tone for the entire D.C. Comics cinematic universe” or “Maybe a PG-13 Robocop remake wasn’t a good idea,” studios now place all the blame on fans for hating on their movies.

I get why they do it. Blockbuster films are obscenely expensive to make and if one fails, it can cost entire populations of people their jobs. And being the kind of greedy fraidy cats who are so scared of risks that they’d rather green-light a “Big Trouble in Little China” remake starring the Rock than give money to filmmakers with more original ideas, studio executives will do anything to avoid taking the fall for a flop. That includes lambasting fans.

It might keep them employed, but my dad taught me that adults own up to their failings. Besides, if some of these morons lost their jobs, maybe we’d get better movies.

It’s one thing when studio folks engage in fan-shaming to save their jobs. It’s another thing when when fans browbeat other fans. I’m reminded of when the “Lord of the Rings” films were first being released. There was a whole population of folks surrounding those movies who claimed that “Lord of the Rings” was the greatest series of films ever made. This in spite of the fact that 75 percent of the scenes in those movies were dedicated to people walking or sitting around in torch-lit rooms nattering on about … whatever.

I ran across ”Rings” fans who were super snobby, who seemed to believe that their movies were the be-all end-all because they were based on some books. Too bad the “Twilight” movies weren’t around back then. I would’ve had the perfect retort. Anyway, I got so sick of snobby “Rings” fans that I was unable to really enjoy those movies for years. Now, I can watch them without being affected by any of the attached negativity. But there’s still WAY too much walking in those movies.

The point I want to make is this: Nobody should be made to feel ashamed or stupid because they don’t like something, regardless of whether someone else wants them to or not. If I don’t like “Batman v Superman” it’s not because I’m too dumb to get it. After seeing the movie twice, I feel I can say pretty confidently that there’s nothing to get. If I think the “Ghostbusters” remake looks lame, it’s because the trailers and TV spots have failed to get me excited, not because I hate women.

To wrap up, studios need to man up and take ownership for their own screw-ups and nerds should learn that their opinions aren’t more correct than anybody else’s opinions. We all need to learn to express our opinions with less hostility. I’m as guilty of browbeating my fellow nerds over their opinions as anyone. Let’s work together to make this world a place where snobs have no power and where studios are accountable to the fans for their transgressions, and not the other way around.