It honestly baffles me that there are people who enjoy being pandered to. That kind of thing only makes me feel as if my intelligence has been insulted.
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What's wrong with "fan service"?
- Thread starter FernandoRocker
- Start date
Endgame is one of the best examples of fanservice, because while it is calling out to fans with references and payoffs often, it's all in service of the story. Cap in the elevator with the Hydra agents is a great example -- a specific (and inverse) callback to Winter Soldier that's both a "hey remember this" moment to fans AND a story beat that deliberately plays off that familiarity in order to advance the scene.
Your mistake is in assuming that fan service is all good or all bad. In the case of Endgame it felt completely earned, I could understand someone thinking the Vader scene felt forced and pandering.
It's nice when storytellers don't just rely on nostalgia crutches and actually try to tell a new story or at least deliver a payoff that feels earned over time.
It's nice when storytellers don't just rely on nostalgia crutches and actually try to tell a new story or at least deliver a payoff that feels earned over time.
The scene at the end of Rogue One is not fan service.
It's obviously tieing in Rogue One to A New Hope. We're getting a glimpse of the beginning of the chase.
How is that fan service? Needs more definition.
It's obviously tieing in Rogue One to A New Hope. We're getting a glimpse of the beginning of the chase.
How is that fan service? Needs more definition.
In small doses it's fine, but in Anime, they go way overboard with it. Sometimes even including minors which is why i don't watch much Anime.
anime style fan service is ridiculously cringe
female characters introduced with their breasts jiggling all over the screen
revealing clothing for no reason (i dont know if this is better or worse than flimsy "in-universe" reasons that nerds can use to justify it)
and their ages. make them 21! make them 18! just make them ADULTS at least!
ill never forget reading the Fairy Tail wiki just to see what was happening and this shot was there as if its totally normal
im a straight male and i cant stand this shit
female characters introduced with their breasts jiggling all over the screen
revealing clothing for no reason (i dont know if this is better or worse than flimsy "in-universe" reasons that nerds can use to justify it)
and their ages. make them 21! make them 18! just make them ADULTS at least!
ill never forget reading the Fairy Tail wiki just to see what was happening and this shot was there as if its totally normal
im a straight male and i cant stand this shit
Fan service, as in primarily focused on appealing to fans rather than a more personal or technically minded artistic goal, is not inherently bad, but predictive or worse outcomes. The Vader hallway is kind of silly but still works on some level, but most everything in TFA that was fan service was doggy doo doo and easily made the movie worse, like distracting moments of Finn finding the little training ball or R2D2 waking up at the end.
There's nothing wrong with it but you can't go too overboard with it or your thing isn't going to hold up down the road. It only really works once.
Fan service, when it's in the way of actual creative goals, is unbearable.
In the case of the Vader hallway scene, it's merely annoying because - when telling the tragic story of all the people who sacrificed their lives on the ground - they decided to cut away to this weird scene of Vader killing multiple rebels which nullified whatever creative weight they just created for the main characters.
There are varying degrees of fan service and I don't think there's a hard and fast rule on what's good and bad, it's just when it feels like its goals get in the way of actual story telling goals that it feels painful.
Things like Chewbacca getting his medal at the end of TROS for some random reason or that weird bra scene of Alice Eve in Star Trek Into Darkness are just unnecessary and feel grossly pandering.
In the case of the Vader hallway scene, it's merely annoying because - when telling the tragic story of all the people who sacrificed their lives on the ground - they decided to cut away to this weird scene of Vader killing multiple rebels which nullified whatever creative weight they just created for the main characters.
There are varying degrees of fan service and I don't think there's a hard and fast rule on what's good and bad, it's just when it feels like its goals get in the way of actual story telling goals that it feels painful.
Things like Chewbacca getting his medal at the end of TROS for some random reason or that weird bra scene of Alice Eve in Star Trek Into Darkness are just unnecessary and feel grossly pandering.
I don't think fan service is inherently bad, but I generally don't like it and Rogue One is a really strong example where I don't.
The Vader scene is especially dumb in my book since I find that it actually makes the beginning of ANH seem really weird. Leia's entire attitude and some of Vader's dialogue don't work at all. No plans were beamed to the ship, they were literally handed off as he murdered them all. The ship was not on a covert mission, it was running from a huge fucking battle, which makes Leia's cover story seem real dumb especially as she's lying right to the face of the guy who watched the fucking ship fly away. But we had Vader in the movie, and you can't have Darth Vader show up with swinging the lightsaber around. Star Wars is especially bad with fan service in my book, and it's a problem that goes back to Episode 1.
It feels like pandering a lot of the time. Tell me a good story, show me things that are exciting and new and remind me why I love a franchise to begin and you'll have given me a lot more as a fan.
The Vader scene is especially dumb in my book since I find that it actually makes the beginning of ANH seem really weird. Leia's entire attitude and some of Vader's dialogue don't work at all. No plans were beamed to the ship, they were literally handed off as he murdered them all. The ship was not on a covert mission, it was running from a huge fucking battle, which makes Leia's cover story seem real dumb especially as she's lying right to the face of the guy who watched the fucking ship fly away. But we had Vader in the movie, and you can't have Darth Vader show up with swinging the lightsaber around. Star Wars is especially bad with fan service in my book, and it's a problem that goes back to Episode 1.
It feels like pandering a lot of the time. Tell me a good story, show me things that are exciting and new and remind me why I love a franchise to begin and you'll have given me a lot more as a fan.
I liked that it hinted at them being deeper in the Rebellion than first shown but I see your point. I actually think the only "hey, you remember that?!" moment that took me out of RO was the little cameo from Ponda Baba and Cornelius Evazan.
Other Star Wars are MUCH more guilty of this but that's an argument that's been had here many, many times.
Poll needs a middle option in the rare times fanservice works because it's an important part of the story and not tacked on bullshit. lol
I dont have an issue with it.
Takes me back to why i fell in love with the series in the first place.
Takes me back to why i fell in love with the series in the first place.
Does it serve the story and not shit on the characters? Great. Fan service that does that is what people dislike.
I don't think that Vadar scene is a good example of fan service. Neither is Avengers: Endgame.
On the other hand, anime fanservice is peak cringe and will turn me off of shows entirely.
On the other hand, anime fanservice is peak cringe and will turn me off of shows entirely.
Not sure what was wrong with the Vader scene in Rogue One honestly. Let's not pretend SW is very sophisticated or smart, some dumb & cool fun like Vader being a badass is not out of the ordinary and it was.. well, cool to watch. If you'd like to be bitter because it "doesn't fit the rest of the movie" well be my guest.
Same with the MCU movies. The fan-service in Endgame was great and I'm sure every fan was ecstatic in the Cap & Mjolnir + portal scene.
Anime fan service though...(the sexual one) yeah that's pretty crap in general.
Same with the MCU movies. The fan-service in Endgame was great and I'm sure every fan was ecstatic in the Cap & Mjolnir + portal scene.
Anime fan service though...(the sexual one) yeah that's pretty crap in general.
There are essentially two definitions of "fan service" at play here.
Depends, it can be rewarding or it can be exploitative.
Rewarding: Beloved minor character gets a day in the spotlight.
Exploitative: Beloved minor character gets promoted to regular and makes no sense being put into new contexts that come with being a regular.
I would honestly put Rogue One in that category for the Vader scene. It was short, sweet and made sense in the context of the story (to tie into his appearance at the beginning of a New Hope).
Good fan service is icing on the cake; bad fan service tries to replace the cake with icing.
Rewarding: Beloved minor character gets a day in the spotlight.
Exploitative: Beloved minor character gets promoted to regular and makes no sense being put into new contexts that come with being a regular.
I would honestly put Rogue One in that category for the Vader scene. It was short, sweet and made sense in the context of the story (to tie into his appearance at the beginning of a New Hope).
Good fan service is icing on the cake; bad fan service tries to replace the cake with icing.
I think it depends on how it's used. Fan service can be good/fun or bad/insulting depending on the type and reasons used
The anime Godanner, for instance. Thankfully this dreck seems to have largely been forgotten. It was a super robot series. It had "good" fanservice in the form of overly detailed mecha transformations and combination sequences, but with rife with "bad" fanservice as well, which generally took the form of objectifying EVERY. SINGLE. FEMALE. CHARACTER. Pretty much every scene that had a female character in it included fan service objectifying them. Breast jiggles, overly tight outfits, shots focusing on their butts or breasts, you get the idea. One scene that stood out was a character getting on a bike, but because of rampant fanservice, the director decided to have her skirt flip up and fall in ridiculously slow motion that didn't match the speed the rest of the scene was moving in. Like, the hang time her skirt had was defying gravity. That's bad fanservice.
The anime Godanner, for instance. Thankfully this dreck seems to have largely been forgotten. It was a super robot series. It had "good" fanservice in the form of overly detailed mecha transformations and combination sequences, but with rife with "bad" fanservice as well, which generally took the form of objectifying EVERY. SINGLE. FEMALE. CHARACTER. Pretty much every scene that had a female character in it included fan service objectifying them. Breast jiggles, overly tight outfits, shots focusing on their butts or breasts, you get the idea. One scene that stood out was a character getting on a bike, but because of rampant fanservice, the director decided to have her skirt flip up and fall in ridiculously slow motion that didn't match the speed the rest of the scene was moving in. Like, the hang time her skirt had was defying gravity. That's bad fanservice.
Depends on what kind of fanservice. If the story constantly stops so the camera can focus on it (most lewd anime fanservice, half the callbacks in new Star Wars trilogy), then it becomes fucking obnoxious. If it's part of the plot (most of Endgame) or part of the background (cameo characters walking by), then it's fine.