As many writers/directors/actors are active on several forms of social media these days, it's never been easier to reach out to your favourite creator and let them know what you thought of their latest work. Sometimes they respond, sometimes they don't, but it's nice to have that connection, no matter how fleeting. However, not everyone uses this opportunity in a constructive way, and there have been multiple instances in which so-called "toxic fans" have unleashed their hatred directly at particular creators over social media. You're allowed not to like a movie, characters within a movie, or choices those characters have made; debating this sort of stuff is part of what makes the film community so much fun, but death threats, pointless name-calling, and vile comments shouldn't have any place in the exchange.
We've seen that the toxic side of fandom can obviously get quite ugly, but I'm inclined to believe that those folks are merely an overly loud minority. Almost all of the fans I've encountered, even those whose passions swing to the extreme one way or another, know the difference between fair criticism and outright attacks, but James Mangold (LOGAN) took to Twitter to say that he believes the overblown outrage could drive talented actors, writers, and directors away from potential franchise jobs.
Who knows whether aggressive fans really will drive creators away from taking on certain projects, but I'd imagine that it might cross your mind before you devote several years of your life to a single film if you know you're going to find yourself under constant attack. James Mangold isn't the only director to speak out against toxic fandom recently, as GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2 director James Gunn also took to Twitter to say that "people need to chill out" after reading that Ahmed Best had contemplated suicide following the Jar Jar Binks backlash. Gunn followed that up by saying, "People responding to this post saying, ‘Yeah, it wasn’t the actor’s fault! It was the writer’s!’ are missing the point. Critique it. Don’t like it. But spewing hate and bile at individuals just doing their best to tell a story, even if the story sucks, is lame. Don’t watch it! Star Wars’ (or any movie) may be important to you, but it doesn’t belong to you. If your self-esteem depends on how good you think the current ‘Star Wars’ is, or your childhood is ruined because you don’t like something in a movie, GO TO THERAPY."