Yes, that title is meant to get your attention. But before you ignore it, there is a point to this post. Let’s be clear, this isn’t some MRA/Lamer Gate anti-woman rant. If you know me at all, I hate everything with a -Gate ending, unless it’s Stargate. Which I don’t want more of either.

My last post was all about the commodification of fandom, and how we should react to it. Because like it or not, the arts are a business. This is how we’ve gotten franchises over the years. The most succesful are LotR and Star Wars,numbers wise, with Harry Potter a close third.

Now, franchises are fine. They employ people, they have moments of both brilliance(Star Trek II, Empire Strikes Back) and stupidity(Star Trek 5, Revenge of the Sith, the entire Hobbit trilogy). But most of it is bland, puree and non-noteworthy. They’re the singers in your dad’s favorite band after the first lead singer quit. They’re just there.

So while I look forward to Star Wars 9, I’d be happier if it was the end. If at the end of it they said, “Surprise! All those TV series and stand alone movies we’ve told you about? They’re gone!” I would go back and see it twice in 3-D at that point.

Look, I can hear the fanboys yelling about this. I get it. You want comfortable. But the best stuff in your franchises came from when other people worked in that framework. The only reason Empire didn’t suck was Lawrence Kasdan. The only reason Star Trek survived was Gene Rodenberry letting others take it in new directions. If you think we’d still be caring about Trek if not for those sequel movies and Next Gen, you’re delusional.

Even in the current franchises, it’s only by getting new and fresh ideas that they’ve thrived. Rogue One is the best Star Wars movie since Empire, mainly because it was an experiment. Spider-Man:Into the Spider Verse was the best superhero movie of the year(or tied with Black Panther) because it was an experiment. Which is what science fiction and genre fiction used to be about in the movies.

I don’t want a Lord of the Rings tv show. I want fantasy or science fiction movies that are a fully realized vision done well, with heart and excellent storytelling. I don’t want untold stories of Boba Fett, I want a new science fiction universe that was as joyous and deep as that original movie. I don’t need another dark Matrix ripoff, I want a movie that was that good of an action flick that made me think like that one did.

And we won’t get it from franchises. Hollywood will never understand that. As perilous as the movie business and arts are right now, fiscally, it likely never will. I don’t want my daughter to love Star Wars, I want her to have art that makes me feel the way I did when I first saw it.

What should you do about it? Support indie movies, tv and videos. If you’re not busy the next couple of days, go find stuff like Strowlers and Ink on Prime and Netflix. Go try Hulu for a week and watch Sorry to Bother You, the best science fiction movie of the year last year, period. And give your money to those. Go find people doing new and creative stuff, and if you like it, tell them. If you can spare cash, give them some. If you can’t, go tell other people about it.

I’m turning fifty this year. I’m praying by the time my daughter is this age, we won’t be on our sixth Harry Potter reboot, starring nothing but AI’s for actors. So go find some art, ok? Bye.