I rarely write more than one blog post in the space of a few days but I feel like this NEEDED to be done. Most of you already know that last night was the series finale of Breaking Bad. While I never watched the show myself, I'm not living under a rock and know exactly the effect it's having on the general TV watching populous. I also know enough about entertainment to have a good idea of the premise and can laugh when Aaron Paul takes several guest spots on SNL to mock himself and his hit show. What I can't understand however is the vitriol I woke up to this morning on Damon Lindelof's Twitter feed.
Things like - Screw you @DamonLindelof for not giving us such a perfect ending for Lost like Vince Gilligan did for Breaking Bad.
Or - @DamonLIndelof LOST and Breaking Bad are very similar shows. Do you feel embarrassed by the way they showed you up all over town?
Check out @DamonLindelof's account. There are easily hundreds of messages just like those (some even more insulting). Now, the fact that Lindelof chose to retweet a good portion of them says a lot about the man himself and his ability to have perspective (not to mention an obvious self deprecating sense of humor). Mostly anonymous people hiding behind a computer are apt to say horrible things that they would never have the balls to say directly to a person's face. They're mostly cyber-bullies; empowered by anonymity and fueled by obvious misery. My opinion counts! I will make another human being feel bad about themselves because I clearly feel so rotten about my own petty existence! We all know it's just sour grapes, jealousy packaged under the guise of constructive criticism. You saw a good show that you really liked, and instead of doing something positive with that feeling, you went out of your way to wound someone else. That's just jealousy people. Plain and simple. As rabid fans of entertainment, people think they have a right to their opinion no matter how venomous and unhelpful it may be, and to a certain extent they're right. Fans make or break things in a lot of cases, and we live in a time where there is no point in creating if no one is watching or talking about it. But here's the thing -- Damon Lindelof has been a professional, paid writer in Hollywood for the past decade (at least). Not only did his show Lost change the face of modern television, people are still catching up on it and referencing the series today even though it's been off the air since 2010. He's also had a hand in World War Z, Star Trek Into Darkness, Cowboys and Aliens and Prometheus. Whether you like these creations or not, Damon Lindelof is living the dream. The resume currently reads - worked with Ridley Scott, Jon Favreau, Harrison Ford, JJ Abrams, Leonard Nemoy, Brad Pitt.... And that's just what I can remember off the top of my head. He's written comic books, worked on a cartoon series and has basically been succeeding at something he obviously loves for most of his adult life. He's 40 years old. WINNING!
I don't care if you didn't agree with the finale of Lost, or disliked the last Indiana Jones movie, wanted to kill Jar Jar Binks on sight, think Michael Bay is a hack, or believed the Matrix shouldn't have been a trilogy. What these people choose to create with their hearts and souls deserves respect. Famous or not, it's one hundred percent personal. So why don't you at least try to have an open ended conversation about how you feel instead of just posting a mean spirited, below the belt rant in an effort to demoralize someone else? What million dollar movie has your name in thirty foot letters scrolling during the credits @douchenozzle42? What network calls you when they need a re-write @livesinhermothersbasement? What have you contributed to the world that's so great @deathtoaffleck? Are you out there living your perfect bliss? Why don't you think about that a little bit more before you go and try to crush someone else's creative spirit?