True.
I‘m certain Rian Johnson is. You couldn’t make a film like The Last Jedi without being one. But why go there? Why ponder who is or isn’t a ‘true fan’. Focus on how you feel about their work. You can’t be wrong about that.
Yes, this. The "true fan" thing seems to be an import from sportsdom, where one has fan cred depending upon how faithful they are to the team, whether or not they constantly complain about their team or are "homers" and agree with everything, no matter what.
I see a similar quality in the RPG world. There are people who complain no matter what WotC does, but also those who always find a way to cheer on WotC.
That’s fair. But show me a long-running franchise (movies, comics, gaming, whatever) where the lore doesn’t change significantly over the course of decades (and Tolkien doesn’t count!).
And not only franchises, but individual artists. Most of us here are old enough to remember the Achtung Baby kerfuffle, when U2--at the height of their popularity and just a few years after what many considered their magnum opus (Joshua Tree)--up and changed their sound drastically. We had the same dynamic play out: Many long-time fans were upset with the new "fake U2," while others applauded the rarity of an established band changing things up (I was indifferent, as I was always lukewarm on U2, but admired the fact they weren't willing to rest on their laurels and regurgitate the same old thing for cash).
We probably all have our own breaking point in terms of reaching "fanrage," though, no matter how blase. I love Tolkien--not so much that I can speak Quenya, but enough that I'd be irked if the Amazon series is Game of Thrones with pastel colors, or overly hip to modern sensibilities and mores. Such an adaptation would likely end up missing the spirit of Tolkien and the world that was his life's work. There is something almost aggressive or colonial about inverting an artistic vision like that.
Meaning, there's a difference between putting a new spin on a classic story that still honors that story, like
Oh Brother Where Art Thou? did with the Odyssey or simply an updated version like Battlestar Galactica--and remaking something in a way that looses the essence and depth of the original story, like the remake of
Jacob's Ladder. The former approach is more of an homage, while the latter is more exploitive.
When it comes to D&D, there's a lot more room to play with than a film or book, due to the dynamic nature of the game. But I think it is still possible to depart
too far from the "essence" of the game, which I think has to do with adventure and imagination. If D&D became a game centered on family pathos or overly reliant upon technology, thereby bankrupting the imaginative element, then I think it would be heading in the "wrong" direction and by "D&D" in name only.
Meaning, no matter how dynamic and malleable a property, there are still intrinsic, even essential qualities that, if excised, end up taking the soul with it.
