Soooo.... James "AVGN" Rolfe is in the news this week..

[Raika]

I don't really want to watch the video if Rolfe (of whose shtick I'm actually quite fond) is just spewing sexist rhetoric. Could someone let me know if he goes all Return of Kings about the movie or if his reasons for refusing to watch the movie are more legitimate?

 

[Ogoid]

AVGN is still around? I thought he quit doing his AVGN thing a couple years ago. Nice to see he is still around.

James has recently posted a video [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3iEn5rzMnw&list=PLbQ-gSLYQEc6IWgKJNOMUONgtNXdwVcDC&index=136] that seems to indicate he's semi-retiring the Nerd (or at least making AVGN videos more of a sporadic thing).

I won't lie, I almost teared up at some points.

I don't really want to watch the video if Rolfe (of whose shtick I'm actually quite fond) is just spewing sexist rhetoric. Could someone let me know if he goes all Return of Kings about the movie or if his reasons for refusing to watch the movie are more legitimate?

Let me just say I think it's safe for you to watch it.

I mean, if you know James, you must know his opinions usually deserve at least some credit.

 

[Fappy]

I don't really want to watch the video if Rolfe (of whose shtick I'm actually quite fond) is just spewing sexist rhetoric. Could someone let me know if he goes all Return of Kings about the movie or if his reasons for refusing to watch the movie are more legitimate?

Nah, the video is fine. He brings up the fact that it's an all female cast once during the six minute video and only does so out of necessity. His criticism has nothing to do with the fact that all the main characters are women. It's just him lamenting the fate of the franchise as a fanboy who grew up with it, basically.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Wait, I don't go see movies all the time. How is this not just news worthy, but also controversial?!

Xmen Apocalypse looks terrible, so I won't go see it. Fan4tastic looked terrible, didn't see it. Prince o' Kayne looks terrible, won't be seeing it either.

How is this novel?!

 

[Something Amyss]

Wait, I don't go see movies all the time. How is this not just news worthy, but also controversial?!

Xmen Apocalypse looks terrible, so I won't go see it. Fan4tastic looked terrible, didn't see it. Prince o' Kayne looks terrible, won't be seeing it either.

How is this novel?!

That seems to be the big question.

 

[Dreiko_v1legacy]

So we're getting to the point where we're getting salty overy people getting salty over someone getting salty.

When will this wheel of sodium end.

Justified, appropriate salt is good. A life without salt would be bland. His video was justifyingly salty, the reaction wasn't, hence it is wrong, hence calling it out is also good. The good salt fights the bad.

Honestly, when you have an entire Internets worth of nerds willing to sit through and review 4 (4!) Abortions of transformers movies, going on two awful tmnt movies, and every other God awful reboot and remake

But "suddenly" this is the straw that breaks the camels back? Yeah, people have the right to call shenanigans on that.

Besides, this is Ghostbusters. A franchise with one decent cult classic, one awful sequel, and a cartoon series ranging from passable to awful.

A sacred cow this is not.

Harold ramis is dead. Dan Aykroyd is so morbidly unfunny I wish he died instead. Bill Murray is probably nude hiking around the himalayas on opium. And no one cares about Erie Hudson, not even the rest of the cast. Good luck getting them back together solely because of your childhood.

Bill Murry is actually making a cameo in the new movie as a different character than the one from the old movies. Also, didn't they bring em back together for that ps3 game a few years ago.

In any case, clearly this was a franchise more mainstream and beloved than ones which only had cartoons made about them during their primes, hence the reaction is that much bigger. Not that hard to explain.

 

[RaikuFA]

Wait, I don't go see movies all the time. How is this not just news worthy, but also controversial?!

Xmen Apocalypse looks terrible, so I won't go see it. Fan4tastic looked terrible, didn't see it. Prince o' Kayne looks terrible, won't be seeing it either.

How is this novel?!

Here's the thing...

It shouldn't. As I said before quoting Jay Sherman "If the movie stinks, just don't go".

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

SNIP

Nerd culture these days...its as if anything that even slightly geeky has to be fully endorsed and purchased ad nauseum.

Personally I blame Hot Topic. Spend 20 years selling The Flash sweat bands, Tinker Bell in fetish outfits, Dragons, and Ocarina of Time t-shirts, you eventually get this. The Nerd saying he doesn't want to see a movie, and people flip their shit.

 

[Orga777]

Interestingly enough, James didn't even bring up not liking the movie because of the cast at all. Just that the trailer was awful with lame jokes and even lamer effects (which is true). He even said that it could be better than the trailer made it out to be. Oh well. People on the internet will be people on the internet... :/

 

[Sleepy Sol]

Wait, I don't go see movies all the time. How is this not just news worthy, but also controversial?!

It kinda wasn't until Patton Oswalt made a comment about it. Just seems like James made an announcement video to clarify that he wasn't going to review this movie. I assume he still has some semblance of an audience and I'm reasonably sure if he didn't make the announcement via a video on Cinemassacre (which is where his audience goes for his content, not all of them will keep track of some social media page he's created) he'd still have some people bothering him about it. So I think it's the easiest way to communicate to your audience clearly and finally that you're not going to be looking at something.

He's not making grandiose statements about not wanting to see it either, and it's a pretty short video. So...manufactured controversy, sure, but wouldn't say it's anywhere near James's fault.

 

[Redd the Sock]

The saddest part is that if he were Jennifer instead of James and talking about Ninja Turtles and got the same hostile responses, the people calling him misogynist would be decrying twitter for allowing harassment.

Seriously, Social Justice Wackjobs, if you want legitimacy and inclusion, acting like a bitter nerd upset a game got a 7/10 review isn't the way to go about it.

 

[shrekfan246]

Ah, I see, we have another round of people getting really really mad about something someone said on Twitter.

EDIT: Just once, I'd like one of these "LOOK AT ALL THIS OUTRAGE!!!!!!" threads to have some actual outrage that isn't just caused by all of the people who are outraged by the thing originally posted as evidence of outrage.

1st off, the guy is James Rolfe aka The Angry Video Game Nerd. He pretty much pioneered the whole "review shitty games and point out their faults in humorous ways on Youtube" spiel so he has some pull on the net.*insert "the more you know" gif here*

Who?

Okay, I'm being a bit facetious because I have at least heard the name before, but "having some pull on the net" is really... well, it's a statement that comes with a pretty big asterisk. You know how many Youtubers I've literally never heard of that have actual millions of followers? Quite a few. I could probably drop more than a few names right now that a bunch of other people in this thread wouldn't know, including names of people who used to work at this very website. Hell, the only reason I'd ever even heard of PewDiePie was because a lot of people around here got very mad about him and wouldn't stop talking about him.

 

[SquidVicious]

So if I go see Bad Moms (which incidentally actually looks funny and its red band trailer made me laugh), instead of the new Ghostbusters, while wearing my "Illana Is My Spirit Animal" t-shirt, am I exempt from any accusations of sexism and or misogyny?

 

[Neverhoodian]

Yeah, I'm going to have to agree with the folks saying this isn't really news-worthy. If a handful of lunatics going apeshit on Twitter counted as "news" it would be impossible for journalists to write articles fast enough to keep up.

So we're getting to the point where we're getting salty overy people getting salty over someone getting salty.

When will this wheel of sodium end.

...

...Harold ramis is dead. Dan Aykroyd is so morbidly unfunny I wish he died instead...

Tell me I'm not the only one who sees the irony in these statements.

Mr. Rolfe isn't even angry. He's just calmly explaining why he won't watch or review the movie. No raised voice, no name calling, no expletive-laden tirade (and certainly not wishing death on anyone). As an aside, can online terms like "U MAD?" and "OMG SO SALTY!!!" please go the way of the dodo?

Who?

Okay, I'm being a bit facetious because I have at least heard the name before, but "having some pull on the net" is really... well, it's a statement that comes with a pretty big asterisk. You know how many Youtubers I've literally never heard of that have actual millions of followers? Quite a few. I could probably drop more than a few names right now that a bunch of other people in this thread wouldn't know, including names of people who used to work at this very website. Hell, the only reason I'd ever even heard of PewDiePie was because a lot of people around here got very mad about him and wouldn't stop talking about him.

Well see, that's the thing. The world of modern entertainment is so vast and varied that it's entirely possible to completely miss things that certain circles regard as common household names. Like Patton Oswalt, for example; I had never even heard of him until now because I don't follow modern stand-up comedy.

As for the Nerd, he may not have the sub counts of PewDiePie or Markiplier, but that's partly because his "heyday" was in the pre-Youtube era of viral online videos, when it was far more difficult to track the metrics of such things.

 

[Callate]

I see his point, but he's kind of indulging in something a lot of "mainstream" critics could not: simply not going to the movie.

Critics are our sacrificial lambs. They go to the bad movies- or the movies they think are going to be bad- so that we, the consumers, don't have to. That's part of their job.

Now as an Internet critic, you have a certain ability to just fall back on the more informal nature of your "status" as critic and go, "Nah, I don't wanna." But failing to live up to that standard is all the more telling when it's you, rather than your editorial board, that decides what needs to be reviewed that week.

All that aside, I agree that the opinions he puts forward are quite moderate and he shouldn't be pilloried for them. But, again, Twitter. (And I don't think Patton Oswalt should be getting the recent wound of his daughter's mother's death torn open for daring to disagree, either. People suck.)

 

[My name is JACK]

I blame Bill Murray

 

[Naldan]

This isn't news?

http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/291025/ghostbusters-james-rolfe-cinemassacre/
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/05/the-sexist-outcry-against-the-ghostbusters-remake-gets-louder/483270/
http://www.salon.com/2016/05/18/angry_video_game_nerds_calm_down_about_ghostbusters_its_still_a_comedy_about_ghosts_and_those_who_bust_them/ (surprisignly neutral!)
http://www.dailydot.com/lol/ghostbusters-reboot-movie-critic-refuses-to-review/
https://fansided.com/2016/05/17/angry-video-game-nerd-refuses-review-new-ghostbusters-movie/

Or does it have to be FOX NEWS to be news?

 

[Zontar]

I blame Bill Murray

Why? Bill Murray didn't want this reboot, and the only reason he's cameoing in it at all is because of threats by Sony of legal action. I don't understand how that works but that's how it went down according to the Sony email hack.

 

[Hero of Lime]

So he chooses to not pay for media he thinks looks bad, despite having the name of a series he loves. Isn't that something people complain fans don't do enough of?

Either way, this is such a load of garbage. Maybe the outcry against James Rolfe isn't enough to make it a real controversy, but clearly people are trying to make it an issue that does not actually exist. Mainly he's being sexist, or overly judgemental about the film. I'm pretty sure he would have made the same video if the reboot still had a male cast, as long as it looked bad to him.

Part of me is surprised there is some sort of backlash, but since this film could have "implications" due to the casting, I guess I should have seen this coming when he said he does not want to see it. Since I see primarily support for him, this will die off quickly. Which is fine by me, since he has NOTHING to apologize for.

I would rather not read through the now three pages of this thread. I just know it will be filled with people complaining that others are complaining about the outrage others feel about the video.