Stupid Genre Articles (esp comics)

[Totenkindly]

I find myself frustrated by stupid articles online, since I happen to frequent a lot of fan/genre sites especially for comics and film. Comics cross-sectioned with comic book films (like the MCU film series) tend to be the worst... basically speculation posts that have barely any content worth reading.

Here is a typical example, although I have run across worse.

How Thor's Mother Knew He Was From The Future In Avengers: Endgame

None of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's marquee characters have gone through anywhere near as much trauma as Chris Hemsworth's Thor. Not only has he lost both of his parents and seen his brother die more than once, but his entire homeworld and half of its population were wiped out right in front...

wegotthiscovered.com

As revealed in Doctor Strange, sorcerers are able to look into the future as the Ancient One (Tilda Swinton) did. This is the reason why she knew that Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is destined to be the best Sorcerer Supreme as early as 2012, years before the neurosurgeon’s accident. This ability was in full display in Infinity War when Doctor Strange looked into what lies ahead with their impending fight against Thanos. Since Frigga was raised by witches as she told Thor, chances are that she knew that they have this specific ability, leading to the belief that that time traveling is also entirely possible. In addition, this could explain why Loki (Tom Hiddleston) was also aware of this as he mentioned in Thor: Ragnarok; he always had a closer relationship with his adoptive mother and it’s possible that he learned about the idea from Frigga.

This article is really pointless. If you are reading it, you have probably seen the film(s) in question and know the Sorcerer Supreme held the Time stone, so duh they can see the future. And there is no further content -- to note, "Since Frigga was raised by witches, chances are that..." Note how the article offers no actual content! It's supposed to be explaining how Frigga knew heavy Thor was a future self, and all it has to offer is "Frigga was a witch, so she could probably see the future in some way..." Like, duh. You don't need to read the article to just make the same stupid guess yourself, since witches since Macbeth have foretold the future. Is there any unique specific content being offered here? No.

The article then concludes with that infamous, "Do you disagree? If so, post below!"

These are just glorified pages to get more traffic for their site by getting readers to post in the Comments + to run random ads and justify charging more for advertising. And there are so many of them that way, including Screenrant or whatever else. I think only about 30% of the fan-genre articles I end up looking at actually have something worthwhile to say about the topic in question nowadays. It didn't quite used to be this way, but it's all become fluff pieces along the way.

 

[JocktheMotie]

Yeah, wegotthiscovered is a notorious fake news/fandom site that basically makes stuff up for the clicks but has somehow gamed the SEO/algorithm stuff so it shows up on FB/Reddit/GNews algos.

It obviously works. I'm sure they make a killing but it's yet another example of how we have this broken information diet that rewards this stuff.

 

[Totenkindly]

Yeah, wegotthiscovered is a notorious fake news/fandom site that basically makes stuff up for the clicks but has somehow gamed the SEO/algorithm stuff so it shows up on FB/Reddit/GNews algos.

It obviously works. I'm sure they make a killing but it's yet another example of how we have this broken information diet that rewards this stuff.

Yeah, I noticed them start popping up in my feed about eight months ago. Screen Rant had been a better one, but their quality has diminished, and now wegotthiscovered and some other sketchier sites have been popping up. Some are pure gossip sites. Typically the article is short, and there is nothing worth reading it -- purely speculation or saying things anyone might think. Pure clickbait.

There's a few movie sites I appreciate. Vulture typically has decent reviews that I enjoy reading, althoughI have to regularly kick over into incognito mode now since they limit access. Den of Geek and Slant seem okay. I like Indie Wire as well. These typically have meatier articles about film and often their compilation lists present writeups from multiple staff, rather than just being a shallow list generated by a single person. Even EW has done some decent recap work of TV shows.

Taste of Cinema is one site I actually found from a suggested Facebook prompt and I was pleasantly surprised. I really enjoy their lists. Like Indie Wire, they go off the beaten track and thoughtfully critique films.

Looper seems to be less good than it used to be, and Buzzfeed is the easily one of the worst... content is absolutely terrible.

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

my favorites are the "ending explained" articles that explain normal movie endings to people.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

I find myself frustrated by stupid articles online, since I happen to frequent a lot of fan/genre sites especially for comics and film. Comics cross-sectioned with comic book films (like the MCU film series) tend to be the worst... basically speculation posts that have barely any content worth reading.

Here is a typical example, although I have run across worse.

How Thor's Mother Knew He Was From The Future In Avengers: Endgame

None of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's marquee characters have gone through anywhere near as much trauma as Chris Hemsworth's Thor. Not only has he lost both of his parents and seen his brother die more than once, but his entire homeworld and half of its population were wiped out right in front...

wegotthiscovered.com

This article is really pointless. If you are reading it, you have probably seen the film(s) in question and know the Sorcerer Supreme held the Time stone, so duh they can see the future. And there is no further content -- to note, "Since Frigga was raised by witches, chances are that..." Note how the article offers no actual content! It's supposed to be explaining how Frigga knew heavy Thor was a future self, and all it has to offer is "Frigga was a witch, so she could probably see the future in some way..." Like, duh. You don't need to read the article to just make the same stupid guess yourself, since witches since Macbeth have foretold the future. Is there any unique specific content being offered here? No.

The article then concludes with that infamous, "Do you disagree? If so, post below!"

These are just glorified pages to get more traffic for their site by getting readers to post in the Comments + to run random ads and justify charging more for advertising. And there are so many of them that way, including Screenrant or whatever else. I think only about 30% of the fan-genre articles I end up looking at actually have something worthwhile to say about the topic in question nowadays. It didn't quite used to be this way, but it's all become fluff pieces along the way.

I get lots of Star Wars content like this. I'd say a decent chunk of them are a reference to some book or comic trying to retcon Rise of Skywalker in an attempt to make the movie work. I've realized it's just pointless clickbait. If I do want to read the comic or novel in question, it ends up spoiling it, anyway. But I've lost interest in any sequel trilogy era content (Mandalorian does not count, it's closer to the OT) given how unsatisfyingly it all ended, so I suppose it wouldn't matter anyway.

 

[Totenkindly]

I get lots of Star Wars content like this. I'd say a decent chunk of them are a reference to some book or comic trying to retcon Rise of Skywalker in an attempt to make the movie work. I've realized it's just pointless clickbait. If I do want to read the comic or novel in question, it ends up spoiling it, anyway. But I've lost interest in any sequel trilogy era content (Mandalorian does not count, it's closer to the OT) given how unsatisfyingly it all ended, so I suppose it wouldn't matter anyway.

yeah, I honestly never really want to hear about it again -- isn't it incredible that they managed to screw the pooch so bad that they completely dead-ended an entire movie trilogy? It should have been a springboard and instead it was just a huge smoking crater.

A lot of these articles really have no content -- the topic sentence / title is their entire point and then they spend four paragraphs rambling and repeating the same thing.