Jay Oliva, a storyboard artist who's collaborated with filmmaker Zack Snyder, criticizes the toxicity related to the Snyder Cut, aka Zack Snyder's Justice League. Oliva was one of many to show support for the Snyder Cut after the original version of the movie was met with negative reactions from fans and critics. The subsequent campaign to get the movie re-released was somewhat overshadowed, however, by the toxic tactics used by some fans to get the project made, including harassment and cyberbullying.
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Zack Snyder's Justice League retells the story of the titular superhero teams as they join up to stop interdimensional conqueror Steppenwolf. The Snyder Cut was over twice as long as the original version and received moderately improved reviews from critics who complimented the visuals and performances, but its four-hour run time was criticized. These alternate cuts of Justice League have also made it tricky to gauge what's canon in the DCEU.
In a string of tweets, Oliva talks about how any discourse related to the Snyder Cut and any subsequent work of Snyder's needs to be approached with a much healthier discourse. He talks about instead of spreading negativity, fans should show their support through positive means to show they care about the products the studio is paying millions of dollars to produce. He goes on to say that he was still happy the Snyder Cut got released, but discourse for the subject needs to improve in the future. See his tweets below:
How Toxicity Is Hurting Release The Snyder Cut's Reputation
Even though the vast majority of fans haven't engaged in the negative behavior, the fact that Zack Snyder's Justice League was released at all shows the trolls that their actions work, and that's only going to encourage them to engage with toxic behavior further. Oliva's words come from a genuine place, but trying to encourage trolls to be more positive when they're shown that negative behavior works isn't going to fix the issue. Olivia's right, though, when he encourages the majority of the fanbase to engage in positive behavior if they want to get what they want and overrule the toxicity.
Ever since Kelly Marie Tran's role was reduced in The Rise of Skywalker following a plethora of racist attacks from Star Wars fans, there's been a disturbing pattern of studios giving in to the ugliest sides of fandoms. There's no easy answer for how to fix people who only thrive in anonymity and negativity, but a good start is to not show them that behavior gets rewarded. Even though Zack Snyder's Justice League was what most fans wanted it to be, its existence sets a dangerous pattern for how fandoms engage with content.