I’ve been stewing all day. I’ve been on the brink of exasperation and annoyance and yeah, a little bit of anger. And it took this little picture here to make me happier.
But still. I’m frustrated. City of Bones hit theaters yesterday, officially, in most countries. Thousands and thousands of TMI fans have flocked to the theaters, and I know several fans who have seen it more than once, some three times already! I am so proud of this fandom, and I am so proud of Harald Zwart and his team, and our beloved actors for making a great movie.
Now, I didn’t expect that the critics would absolutely adore this movie. I didn’t think that people were going to be shouting “Oscars!” at the top of their lungs or handing out A+ ratings for it. I didn’t think people were going to be talking about what a masterpiece it was. I honestly didn’t. But myself, and so many of the fans I’ve talked to (and I’ve talked to quite a bit of you) absolutely loved it, and we are going to be the harshest critics. We are the ones who read the books and fell in love with the characters and hold them so dear to our heart. We are the ones going in with preconceived ideas of what this world and characters and story is about. We should be the ones that should be the hardest to please.
And yet this is not how it happened. I saw a picture on my friend Perla’s Facebook page today, and it really accurately displays what I think what down in the world of critics today.
And its really what happened. Look, I like Twilight well enough. I recognize that its a terribly written book series and that the movies were made pretty terribly too. I recognize that completely. But its a guilty pleasure for me. But one thing I can say is…its given the whole young adult literature group a bad name. Honestly, I spend so much of my time, both on this computer with my blog and Tumblr and Facebook and such and in real life defending young adult literature and its movies and I am SO tired of it. I am so ridiculously tired of it.
Now this picture says “every male critic”. I happen to think its just every male (I do recognize there are exceptions). The male population tends to have a very negative view of young adult literature, and I think that’s partly due to Twilight. I think Twilight turned off a lot of people because of how badly it does as a book and a movie, critic wise, and it causes a blanket assumption on the rest of young adult lit books. Which is absolutely and completely ridiculous.
I love young adult literature and I’m 25 years old. I’ve met people from all different ages who adore young adult literature, including people into their sixties and seventies. Young adult literatures reaches people because it is a time in your life that you will NEVER forget, because you never feel as strongly and as powerful and invincible as you do when you are a teenager. Who wouldn’t want to experience those feelings again, and in such wonderful worlds like The Hunger Games, The Mortal Instruments, and Divergent and such.
But these preconceived notions that people have about young adult books and their movie adaptations, and it effects the way they go into the movie. I read a lot of these reviews of the City of Bones, because I just had to, and what I noticed was…majority of these reviews? They weren’t even based on actual review and critique. These reviewers, these so-called critics already had an idea of what this movie was going to be before they even sat down in their seats and they judged it before they could even get past the previews. They already had it in their mind that it was “just another Twilight” and that sort of attitude is so heavy in the reviews, that is blatantly obvious that so many of these critics didn’t even try to give the movie a chance.
And its so hard to take these critics seriously either! So many claim to be legit critics, “top” critics, so knowledgable about movies and so-called experts in the realms of movies, but you have no idea how many reviews I read that couldn’t even get their facts straight! They had movie plot points wrong, they spelled Cassie’s name wrong, they compared it to books, TV shows and movies that literally made no sense and they completely messed up actors’ names! How am I supposed to take your review of this movie seriously when you can’t even do the work to review it properly?
Even worse, its not just these critics that are like this. Its friends, its family, its people I know, who are judging this movie so harshly already. I want to scream, you’ve never read the book, you’ve never seen the movie, and you know how important this is to me, and yet…yet, you’re sitting here, high and mighty, judging something before you can even give it a chance. And I’m afraid that these attitudes, combined with the negative connotation given to young adult books and the overflow of negative reviews is causing people to avoid going to the movies to see it.
Even though, as a gigantic fan (check the fearless rune tattoo), I thought it was brilliantly made.
So today, I’m angry. I’m angry and upset and frustrated and tired. I’m tired of defending this group of books again and again and again. If you don’t want to believe it, fine. These beautiful books that are capable of transporting you into wonderful worlds, creating best friends and loves, changing your lives and teaching you so much can stay with those who appreciate them. You can stick to your capital L “Literature” all you want.
So I’m asking my followers, my fellow TMI fans, to go out there and watch this movie. Watch it again and again and again. Buy up the merchandise and tell Harald and Cassie and Jessica and Martin and Lily and Jamie and Kevin and all of them how great it is. Buy the books and support it all. Show them that we are not sitting down. Tell them they can throw their F. Scott Fitzgerald and their James Joyce and their capital L Literature our way but we are NOT standing down. Young adult literature is here to stay! And we will keep loving it and keep showing that it is NOT all Twilight and it is worth giving the chance. We’ll show all those snobs out there that they can stick their nose up at our books and our movies as much as they want. We are a force to be reckoned with and we have shown that!
I have this message to all the critics, and to all the haters:
Not all movies are meant to be Oscar winners. Not all movies go out there with the purpose of telling a super dramatic story or changing the entire world. Sometimes they are simply meant to entertain. Sometimes it may not make sense to you, but the movie does change people, but a select group of people. Sometimes you need to watch a movie and not constantly compare it to others simply because they are of the same AGE GROUP BOOKS (not genre because young adult literature is made of a TON of genres) and to give things a chance.
Not all books are Twilight. Not all books are the same. We have been writing about demons and vampires and werewolves and teenagers and love and coming-of-age and self-identity and sickness and all sorts of things FOR CENTURIES. Stop assuming that all young adult books just copy others. Pick one up for once, and give it a shot, and maybe you’ll find yourself surprised, and pleasantly so.
I’ve been angry today, but I love this movie. I think the City of Bones movie is brilliant. And if you critics don’t want to be on that same page with me, well, I guess that’s your choice now, isn’t it?
But I’m a Shadowhunter. And I’m a Shadowhunter for life.
Update!
I’m starting a hashtag #TMIFansLoveTMIMovie to show the world that we don’t care what the critics say. We LOVE this movie and this fandom, and we are a force to be reckoned with :) Shadowhunters for life!
I made a hashtag on Twitter: #TMIFansLoveTMIMovie! Hashtag all weekend to show your support, tag your pictures on instagram and Twitter and Facebook and show your TMI Love!
In Italy it’s not the same. All the Critics are good, like <>, <>. Yes they also compare it with Twilight but they also said that it’s better than Twilight <3
All italian Shadowhunters fan are waiting for the movie (just one week and I can watch it *^* )
Kisses, Laura
Oh Laura. I wish it were the same here in the USA. The movie has gotten the most terrible of reviews, and people aren’t giving it a chance in the slightest. Its so disappointing and heartbreaking. I can barely handle it. But then the heartbreak became anger as I started to read these reviews. They aren’t even giving it a chance. Its horrible. So I vented a bit :)
We read the review, and all the fandom was “WTF????” “It’s impossible” and other stuff
Critics are the worst. In one of my classes today the tutor was saying that if you become a critic never say “I” because readers know it’s the author’s opinion and to say “I think” isn’t professional. I disagree completely – a review is an opinion. A professional critic is someone who is paid to give opinions, it doesn’t mean their opinion is any ‘better’ than anyone else’s. So many people take reviews from critics as the gospel truth when they should be formulating their own opinions. A good review should talk about the mise-en-scene and performances and direction etc (which is what their area of expertise should be) – not whether or not the movie is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ or whether people should see it, which no one is an expert in because that is opinion! And when critics diss a movie simply because that’s what they feel people are expecting and will make themselves feel good they deserve to be stripped of the title and told to get a real job – one that doesn’t consist of making money from saying bad things about other people’s art. GAH! As you can see, this is something that irritates me a lot. There’s this brilliant show here that sets two people – one a professional film critic and one a tv presenter – agaist each other to debate the merits of new movies and gives people two points of view. It’s great, I actually learn a lot from it. So I’m not saying that all critics are bad, but that the way many of our professional critics are working at the moment is really bad, on many levels.
RANT OVER!
Chloe, that rant was beautiful. It was all of what was in my head but couldn’t get translated into words on my keyboard because I’ve been SO frustrated all day haha. You have put in in such good ways. I’m not saying all critics are bad. But I think a majority of critics get off on being an “authority” on movies and they get off on saying harsh and mean things about people’s art, about things that people work so incredibly hard on because they have preconceived notions or opinions on it. And I think that’s ridiculous
Hehe thanks Sara, it was nice to see a post that I feel so strongly about on your blog, and hopefully it makes all your readers think twice when reading reviews :)
I hope so!
I like reviewers and critics who cope to the fact that their reviews are opinions — but because they’ve consumed a lot of movies and media, sometimes they can have better formed opinions than the average person. I also think it *is* important to think critically about your media and culture so you can tell better stories. But I think TMI does that — Cassandra Clare focuses her series on a competent woman and has a sweet LGBT relationship, too. I think there’s a lot of room in YA to tell stories about different characters without the stories being ISSUE STORIES about those characters. Like a character can struggle with weight, sexuality, identity, or race — and the story can still be about them kicking ass, being competent, or saving the god damned world. Ready Player One (great book) comes to mind — there are characters in the book who are diverse, but the plot isn’t about them being different — it’s about them loving video games and nerd culture.
I have been very angry over the reviews myself. They are extremely scathing and you can tell very clearly that they never wanted to give it a chance. They hear ‘YA’ now and they do jump to make unwarranted comparisons and it’s not fair on the cast, crew or the fans. I want to thank you so much for writing this because this is exactly what I was thinking with every review I read. I’m another fan who not only loved the books but the movie as well and it makes me sad to read these reviews and to know that some people won’t see it solely because of what the reviewers are saying (I even saw comments where they said that the review made the decision for them). I just hope that those who decide to make a decision on their own vastly outnumber those who allow the closed-minded reviewers to decide for them.
That makes me very sad, and also angry, to know that people are basing their decision to go see City of Bones based on these ridiculous reviews. I had hoped more people would give it a chance before automatically assuming that its another “Twilight”, something not worth their time. I am hoping this weekend, we can all go out there and watch the movie and show our support!
It’s very sad. I don’t even read reviews before seeing a movie because I want to form my own opinion. I get that people don’t want to waste money on something they might not like, but they could be missing out on something great and in the case of CoB, they really are. If I had the money, I would see it every day this weekend to do my part. I do hope to see it again either Saturday or Sunday though.
Same here! I have seen it twice. Once at the LA Premiere and once yesterday in IMAX. I am seeing it tomorrow and hope to see it on Sunday but there’s only so much money I can spend. I wish I had bucketloads of money to go see it again and again and show everyone how much I love and support it
I must confess, as an adult, a teacher of literature, Iused to have huge prejudices against YA fiction and fantasy books. The Mortal Instruments made the miracle, as I explain in this post http://flyhigh-by-learnonline.blogspot.it/2013/04/the-mortal-instruments-city-of-bones.html. Now I am a fan, a real one, who can’t wait to see the movie and write her own honest (but maybe bit biased) review. Anyway, I’m as furious as you at the critic review i’ve read so far. And this is what I posted on my tumbrl http://newsfrommycorneroftheblogosphere.tumblr.com/post/59056013844/tmi-city-of-bones-we-can-make-this-happen
Help me spread the word! Let’s make this happen. There’s an army of shadowhunters out there. We can fight those demons. Just have a little faith! :-)
Maria, thank you so much for sharing! I love to hear from other writers and bloggers and I love to hear that you’ve been voicing your opinion as well! I hope that you enjoy the movie, and I hope you come back to this blog soon. Its nice to hear teachers, the ones who give us the knowledge and who are the real experts (in my opinion) loving this book as much as me :)
This needs to be cross posted all over….start with Seeking Bazinga. I’m tired of it too. Stop judging EVERYTHING YA through Twilight-colored glasses please.
Will do :) Later haha. I’m 3/4 of the way through Origin, the new Jennifer Armentrout book and i can’t stop reading haha
This is simply amazing! Not every movie is meant to be an award winner! Seriously, best article I’ve ever read!!
Thank you! I am complimented beyond belief!
I am SO proud of you, Sara. SO proud. I’m inspired and fired up and every bit of encouraged because you. It’s people like you that make this fandom so amazing. I 100% agree with you. I’ve been saying this for AGES, critics have a case of what I call “lazy viewership”. They bitch and moan about films, but they never do proper research in learning about the COMPLETE story of a film, which is SO important if the film is a book to film adaptation. You NEED to know what you’re talking about & where the movie is coming from. And just because it’s another YA novel does NOT give them the right to automatically write it off! TMI is a BEAUTIFUL story and it pains me that it’s being treated like this. Twilight does not own everything YA. Everything is not out to be “the next Twilight”. Why the hell does that have to be the case?! Leave Twilight in the past! That’s where it is. Give TMI it’s fair shake, you know?
Great post. You did a wonderful PSA. And I want you on my team :)
Thank you! I am so glad that you (and it seems like a lot of people) are really understanding this. Its been so frustrating to be a TMI fan when dealing with all these critics and non-fans. Its very annoying.
wow really everyone should read this. this is one hell of an opinion and you are so right about everything. It’s good to know that there are supportive people about this, and ready to fight for their beliefs and all. The movie is awesome and exactly it doesn’t need to be an oscar movie to be great, and there were some changes in the movie and even so the movie ended up amazing. Everything you said is so true and those critics should read this so they could understand once and for all that not everything is the same and they should always give chances
Thank you, Rita! For coming by and for commenting. Its funny, when I wrote this last night, it was like 2 in the morning and I was just SO mad, and I wanted to vent so badly. But my vent turned into something that so many of you guys are reading, and agreeing with! I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one frustrated and to see that I’m not the only one out there supporting this movie!
I agree with every word of this post~ I am going to go see it again and again and again in theaters this weekend just to help with the opening weekend! :D Also, I can’t help but notice the Clockwork Princess poster in that one picture. WHERE CAN I GET THAT? I NEED THAT.
I am SO excited to hear that! I am SO excited that all of us are going out there and seeing it multiple times to show our support for it. It makes me smile.
As for the Clockwork Princess poster, Cassie gave it to me when I interviewed her, so I’m not sure if there’s a place to get them? I haven’t seen it at least and I’ve been asked several times haha
I loved this. Not only because I absolutely agree with it, but because it’s also very well written. Not that I don’t love the extreme all-caps tweets about how anybody who didn’t like the movie was a moron, because I do. And I may have been guilty of one or two. ;) But you make excellent points in your article. REAL, valid arguments. And if someone can’t listen to your well-thought out logic, they’re probably one of the many critics who blindly bashed CoB anyway.
My favorite part of all of this? “Tell them they can throw their F. Scott Fitzgerald and their James Joyce and their capital L Literature our way but we are NOT standing down.” So funny!
As an English major, I love the classics. I do. But I LOVE YA fiction. I also may have drawn the Angelic Power rune, an iratze rune, and dressed up for the midnight premiere. ;)
Thank you, thank you, thank you for this post!
Thank you so much for stopping by to read and thanks for liking it too! I wrote this at 2 am haha so…I’m surprised I was able to write as well as I did between all the anger and frustration that I had. Its funny, I totally like the classics too. I’m a huge reader, and I do like classics, but I have issues with people who are all hoity-toity and snobby and all that, and are like “I only read LITERATURE” and I’m like, and YA isn’t literature? Oh it frustrates me haha. But that line is pretty hilarious, now that I look back on it. I was SO mad last night and it all just came flooding out.
I’m also SO excited to see that you dressed up and drew runes on you! I love to see a fan doing that! Makes my day :)
Exactly. Exaaaactly! I just wrote a blog post on how frustrating it is when non-YA people tell us that our literature isn’t as good as theirs. I mean, come on! If you want, you can check it out :)
http://coffeeshopreader.wordpress.com/2013/08/23/on-the-topic-of-growing-up-in-literature/
I don’t agree that it’s every male tbh. Here are some male perspective reviews that are positive:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBktKZSNM0k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o921ushCRFg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4ayySttVqE
…at least I hope most guys are not gonna hate it as I’m taking my husband and teenage son to watch it tomorrow night :)
I think there’s definitely something going on with the regular movie critics though as they seem determined to hate it.. not sure what that’s about.
I do agree that its not EVERY male, and I did put in a little line where I said “there are exceptions” haha. I think its mostly that it feels that way, because so many of these negative reviews (and not even just negative, but some are just mean, and cutting and cruel) are from males.
I took my boyfriend tonight. He was not a fan. But…my boyfriend is VERY picky, very snobby when it comes to movies and music and such. He hated Hunger Games too haha so we just ignore him when it comes to YA.
I just think that people (read: critics) have a hard time accepting YA as a legitimate group of books and a legit source of entertainment in book or movie form. Its still fairly new, and I think people just don’t see it that way. Its the way teen movies were in the 80s. Those are amazing movies but at the time, a lot of adults didn’t get it because they didn’t think a teen movie could be a “legit” movie. Its frustrating but I hope as time goes on, people become more accepting of YA
I shared the link to your message on TMI source, I hope that’s ok and I sincerely want to congratulate you for writing this.
http://tmisource.com/2013/08/23/help-us-celebrate-the-mortal-instruments-city-of-bones-with-seeitagainsunday-and-mundiemomday/#respond
I don’t mind at all! Thank you so much for reading and enjoying it. I’ve been so humbled at how the response has been to my 2 am rant!
Ok great! And thank YOU! I was kinda…icy?…after…well, you know… But your message warmed me up and I’m excited and a proud fangirl again!
Thank you so much and continue spreading the TMI love! :)
Aw I am so glad to hear tht! It’s been awesome and so helpful to hear from everyone and to know they feel the same way. It’s making these criticisms a lot easier to deal with! I’ve been so angry with the critics and I ranted big time and I’ve been so excited at the response! I mean, my goal is to reach 100 views a day because I am such a baby blog and today I’ve almost reached 1000 and it’s been awesome. So thank you!
What you did here was also REALLY helpful, trust me! I’ve been down in the dumps… That’s all I’m telling you… And you’ve earned yourself a regular viewer girl *bookmarks you* :)
As for the critics enjoy sth I posted (sorry for grammar/syntax, English is not my mother tongue)
PARASITE :
– an organism that grows, feeds, and is sheltered on or in a different organism while contributing nothing to the survival of its host.
– a follower who hangs around a host (without benefit to the host) in hope of gain or advantage.
SYNONYMS : bloodsucker, leech, hanger-on, sponger, sycophant and added by me CRITIC! Coz that’s exactly what they are.
I really don’t get what the fuss about them is and I personally have zero respect for them.
CRITICS :
a bunch of “professional trolls” feeding off of the hard work of others while simultaneously benefitting by trashing, bashing, scathing, judging in the most derogatory fashion and generally just DOWNRIGHT HATING on it.
How the heck does that even qualifies as “profession” is beyond me.
So TMI fandom do yourselves a favor and don’t bother by them, instead go watch the movie as many times possible ASAP and let the box office show them.
*spreads sheer excitement and positivity*
I don’t really understand it either. At all. I don’t understand how someone can be called a “critic” as an authority, an expert, a profession, and the proceed to use cutting words on something, on a form of art that someone worked so hard on, that a TON of someones worked so hard on. Its very heartbreaking to me. Its like, who are you, Joe Smith from Some Newspaper/Website to me? Nobody, so your opinion just DOESN’T matter to me.
I am SO excited though, to have gained you as a follower :) I hope that you enjoy the rest of the blog as well! I am having a TMI giveaway right now haha, some HAPPY TMI stuff!
Big applause to you sister friend preach it girl
Thank you Miranda!
Oh and one more thing before I forget. I have to say that you are incredibly brave and courageous for putting out this message. I got to tell you I think YA books are one of the best things that has ever happened in our generation, so many of them teaches us how our society is and the people that surround they give much more profound powerful messages and feel more real than anything we see on our TV screens. Although I do want to point out that first and foremost i have been a twilight fan for years and i still am and also even though it may have presented alot of stereotypes to other films I still think that it has truly opened up a door for those other YA adaptations to come to life as well even the hunger games. An executive from Summit or Lionsgate said that they would not have made Hunger Games without the success of Twilight, so it earns some credit there at some point. And also I have written my own stories involving some of the characters in the other books joining forces together and spending some time with each other (HP, Twilight, THG and TMI) and they have all learned to accept one another despite their differances and how people view them. Sounds kind of crazy I know but i enjoy doing them and this weekend well at least on one of those days I am most likely god willingly going to bring my family to see COB whether they get it or not, but hey they have me. :)
Oh and by the way you should definately be a critic one day, I think through your powerful insightful words speaks the truth and it screams a real critic because its not just about making an opinion but also about studying and seeing a film for what it truly is instead of looking to point fingers and behave like a kid. You get what im saying?
I have nothing against Twilight, honestly. I think my opinions sometimes come out really strongly. I do like Twilight but in the grand scheme of things, they aren’t written well and the movies aren’t that good. And to the general public, they’re awful. And because that’s the general public’s view, it blankets onto the rest of the YA section of books. I think the world has Twilight-tinted glasses when it comes to YA and I think that’s ridiculously unfair, especially when there is SO much great YA out there. Even if TMI isn’t your thing, there is SO much more.
I am so humbled that you called me brave, and honestly, I feel so complimented. I am an opinionated person. My blog has always kind of been about my own opinions and my own experiences, more than a news site like TMI Source or Mundie Moms, Page to Premiere, etc (though I love ALL those sites), and its been difficult for me because I mostly get “annoying” or “overly opinionated”. Its not often that I hear that I’m brave or courageous or that I should be a critic. I LOVE critiquing books more than anything and I LOVE writing the most of all and its been a seriously amazing experience to have so many compliments thrown my way today. Thank you so much. I hope I gained a follower in you today :)
You know what? I think I love you and I want to make you my new best friend. You outlined everything I am feeling. I have been just as upset as you are. It hurt me deeply to read what people who have no knowledge of the story take a movie that they only half watched and completely destroy it. And I swear to God if one more of them calls me a god damned tween I will lose my shit. I am 22 years old. There are people who are well into their 40s who love TMI. For Godsake my gran is 70 and she loves it! Do they know how insulting it is? We haven’t been tweens for a very long time and there are a bunch of male fans! So before they want to go around insulting ‘tween girls’ (which is dumb, why does a 40 year old dude want to attack little girls?), they need to do research into the fandom and our values. we aren’t mindless little children and that there is an insult to children who aren’t mindless either. Rant Over!
Thanks for stopping by Kelly. I am already way stoked to be your new best friend :) I completely agree with you. I think its ridiculous the kind of opinions these so called critics have toward fans. They call us tweens to begin with and I’m 25. I’m not a tween. I’m a college educated WOMAN that loves these books. I know people of all ages, all educations, all professions that love these books and I don’t like the condescending way they treat us because their word is taken as law by the general public and the general public is not going to see this movie.
Haha aww that made me smile! Do you have twitter? I want to follow you! I agree with what you are saying hey.
I DO have Twitter. Twitter and Facebook are the best places to keep up with me, and the posts on here (besides following my email). My twitter is @anerdgirlsays and my FB is facebook.com/whatanerdgirlsays :)
Thank you SO MUCH for writting this. I was reading critic reviews yesterday and found the exact same thing. I even ranted about it on Twitter. I hate how we’re compared to Twilight, and even other series that I enjoy, like Harry Potter. I wish these critics would read your post and see how truly accurate you are.
Thank you! I wish critics could see this too. My thing is: if they saw the movie with an open mind, and still disliked it, that’s okay. But they need to go in with an open mind and not an immediate desire to compare it to all other YA movies already made.
Amazing! I’m definitely subscribing to your blog. I think this post accurately represented everyone’s thoughts. =)
Thank you Meg :) Glad to have you aboard!
While I see your point about Twilight being a downfall for YA
movies, I also think it’s important to note, that without their overwhelming success-good or bad- many of the other YA movies would have never been optioned for the big screen. Twilight is a guilty pleasure for me also, but I don’t think we should blame the poorly made movies or their overwhelming popularity for the mentality of critics who can’t see the difference between Twilight, The Hunger Games, and City of Bones. That’s just critics being short-sighted. What’s important is that we as fans show up to support the movies and the actors and Cassie, because WE are the people who will make sure these movies continue to get made and Twilight is a perfect example of that. IMHO
I agree. Its kind of a love-hate thing. Its like, I know without Twilight we wouldn’t be able to have Hunger Games or TMI or Divergent on the big screen. Twilight showed the film producers that YA is where to make the money. Unfortunately, while Twilight did SUPER well box office wise, it didn’t do well critic wise and because of that, the general population who don’t really know YA, they see the negative and not the positive. I hope the fans can hold their own and get it going and keep it going, but we really needed non-fans to come see the movie to keep it successful and sadly, that’s just NOT happening right now.
I agree with you 100% on getting more people to the box offices. I feel there are several other contributing factors for the lack of numbers thus far, as well. A) They released the movie on a Wednesday and a lot of kids just went back to school, leaving them and their parents broke after paying for back to school supplies/tuition, etc. B) Summer releases never do as well as November and December releases, but there are already huge movies slotted for those times that TMI wouldn’t want to compete with. C) Next weekend, Labor Day, might have been a better release date because it’s a holiday weekend. So… my hopes are, and I’m not giving up hope, that the numbers will pop up and by Monday morning we’ll see better results. I know I’ll be going to see it a few more times myself because I was left wanting MORE! NOW!
PREACH! I share your views, except I have more passion for TV than movies. The best show of the year for he was been Teen Wolf, and I always feel ‘unserious’ to say that, but I’ve seriously enjoyed the third season, even with some of it’s plot flaws. And yeah, Orange is the New Black was great in different ways, but really, it left me wanting to watch a show about Magic!Jail with the same actors because that cast also kicked butt. I don’t feel the need to make genre fiction and YA more serious. More diverse and telling different stories? Yes, but the pulpy action scenes and heart-tearing moments of character sadness? Please give them all to me right now. BUT yes, yes, I always feel like I’m getting judgey sideeyes when I’m in the YA section. There are somethings about the way the YA lit I tend to disagree with (sad white women in fluffy dresses on every cover), but there are also aspects of the current iterations of high fantasy and sci-fi that I disagree with, too. But these things — they’re facades, they’re not the stories themselves.
Love your blog! I too was fairly appalled at the negative reaction to our beloved Mortal Instruments; then I did a little research. I spent a bit of time on rottentomatoes and combed through the critic reviews. With very few exceptions, the reviewers that gave TMI positive reviews were book/scifi/comic/gamer geeks like us. Who gave fresh reviews? Twitch, EW, Eclipse, Jam!, Sci-Fi Movie Page, Crave adn SFX Magazine! There were a few other fresh ratings from newspapers and such but I just relayed the ones from geek sources. These are the reviews that matter to us. Share it with your friends! Nerds and Geeks alike agree- SHADOWHUNTERS ROCK!