Broadway's Gatekeepers

[Sondheimite]

I've been noticing how anyone who says anything that varies slightly from the mobs opinions on The Bands Visit is treated. 

Gatekeeper fandom is one of my least favorite things about internet culture.  It's certainly why I refuse to watch one episode of Rick and Morty... the fans scare me off to the point where I don't want to be associated with any part of the show.

Someone is allowed to think that TBV didn't deserve to completely sweep the awards without that person being a troll or without warranting an attack on that person.  Sure, challenge their opinion if you disagree.  But completely invalidating a person because they didn't say "the right answer" in the communities eyes is gatekeeper fandom at it's worst.

And this is obviously about more than The Bands Visit.  This is an entire culture.  "Have the rIgHt answer or you're not a real fan."  

When I started to put together theatre projects, I purposely tried to hire people outside the "community."  And what I found, over and over again, were people who talked about their passion for theatre but who never participated in it for their fear of joining an intimidating and pretentious community.  Gatekeeper fandom does nothing but scare people off from the art itself.  Theatre that just panders to the theatre community does nothing to broaden the landscape of theatre, it only narrows the already narrow scope.  Broadway is already one of the most inaccessible things in the world:  you have physically be in New York City and you have to pay a large price for a ticket (if you go through official means to get a ticket).  Don't make theatre even MORE inaccessible by guarding the gates of it.  

[haterobics]

Sondheimite said: "I've been noticing how anyone who says anything that varies slightly from the mobs opinions on The Bands Visit is treated."

If you post something on Tony night saying something that is winning doesn't deserve to win... aren't you sort of baiting that response, though? There have been plenty of threads wherein people have just said they didn't like it, and didn't get attacked over it.

[Theatregeek811]

I agree wholeheartedly! I was appalled at how much fighting was going on in the chat boards last night. The theatre community already comes across as being elitist, so the last thing we need is to scare off more  just because they have a different opinion.