Jay Oliva, a storyboard artist who has worked with filmmaker Zack Snyder, criticizes the Snyder Cut, also known as Zack Snyder’s Justice League. After the initial version of the film was received with unfavorable reactions from fans and reviewers, Oliva was one of several to show support for the Snyder Cut. The ensuing push to re-release the film, however, was overshadowed by the poisonous techniques used by some fans to get the project made, including harassment and cyberbullying.
The story of the titular superhero teams as they band together to stop interdimensional warlord Steppenwolf is retold in Zack Snyder’s Justice League. The Snyder Cut was more than twice as long as the original version and earned moderately improved reviews from critics who praised the sights and performances but condemned the four-hour run time. These different Justice League cuts have also made it difficult to determine what is canon in the DCEU.
In a series of tweets, Oliva discusses how any discussion of the Snyder Cut and any subsequent work by Snyder should be addressed with a much better conversation. Instead of spreading criticism, he suggests that fans show their support through positive means to demonstrate that they care about the things that the studio is paying millions of dollars to make. He goes on to explain that he is still glad the Snyder Cut was released, but that future conversation on the matter needs to improve. See the following tweets from him:
The movie was released and Zack was exonerated. Who cares what happens after? If there’s one thing to learn was that the news will sway back and forth to whatever was newsworthy. Besides we shouldn’t take it personally the one who should was Zack and he can defend himself.
— Jay Oliva (@jayoliva1) September 13, 2022
How Toxicity Is Harming the Reputation of Release The Snyder Cut
Despite the fact that the great majority of fans have not engaged in the negative behavior, the fact that Zack Snyder’s Justice League was released at all shows the trolls that their activities succeed, which will only inspire them to engage in toxic behavior more. Oliva’s remarks seem sincere, but encouraging trolls to be more positive when they’ve been proved that negative conduct works isn’t going to solve the problem. Olivia is correct, though, when he advises the bulk of the fandom to engage in constructive conduct in order to get what they want and overcome the toxicity.
Since Kelly Marie Tran’s role in The Rise of Skywalker was curtailed in response to a slew of racist insults from Star Wars fans, there’s been a worrisome pattern of companies caving in to the darkest aspects of fandom. There is no quick way to fix those who thrive on anonymity and hostility, but a good place to start is to not show them that their behavior is rewarded. Despite the fact that Zack Snyder’s Justice League was everything that most fans wanted movie to be, its existence sets a hazardous precedent for how fandoms interact with content.
Source: Jay Oliva/Twitter