The most annoying thing with the semi-professional film criticism community and the hardcore film fan communities is their total lack of self-awareness. While they are pumping out endless articles or posts criticizing cry-baby Star Wars fanboys, or fuddy-duddy Academy members, or woman-hating Ghostbusters trolls as various forms of groupthink critical thought, they seem incapable of appreciating that they themselves are as susceptible to developing their own insular modes of thinking and rejecting anything that challenges that thinking - and maybe even more so, given that their entire profession revolves around intense communication with each other in print and in person.

I mean, the mechanism behind it is pretty easy to understand. Critics can come to enjoy a movie for whatever reasons they like, but for me hive minds start with how groups respond to conflicting ideas. Once they start dismissing them out of hand as an inherent problem with the person making them (as Wats loves to do), then those conflicting thoughts start to become less salient, and then the group is free to start embracing the process of developing homogeneity in thought by starting to align their REASONS for liking or supporting something, as opposed to simply sharing a common interest. So we get a situation now where Rian Johnson can throw in allusions to Kurosawa and many critics deem this to be “A Good Thing” with very few actually making any argument for why the simple act of referencing another film/filmmaker is worthy of praise. (I’m sure some have, but many do not, and could not. Much like asking your typical rank and file voter to explain why immigration is good or bad - some could articulate a position, but many just accept that it is good/bad and that is the extent of their consideration.)