I have Thoughts and Opinions about the whole New Siwaj thing, but chief among them is that a lot of international fans really don't seem to understand that poor fandom behavior can and does drive off sponsors, directors, and work offers in general.
People are focused on how New responds to criticism of his series, and that's a separate conversation we've been having for years. What I see people missing is that he laid out very clearly that the reason he would turn down work with ForceBook wasn't because he was criticized or because ForceBook themselves did anything, but because New doesn't want to work under threat of relentless hate comments from their fans. And sure, that's expected on social media and people can say he should just suck it up and deal with it, but I think he just explained a thought process that more fans should take to heart. A friend of mine close to some industry folks told me earlier this year that a BL couple (they didn't say who) was quietly rejected from a big potential project with valuable sponsors because the clients looked into social media trends and decided that their fandom had poor behavior that would reflect badly on their brand, so the clients requested a couple with a more "mature" and "balanced" fandom.
Like, I was in Jpop fandom for twelve years, and it was common knowledge that fan etiquette has a direct impact on your artists' careers and prospects. My fandom was known as the politest in J&A, and as a result, our duo was given a lot of opportunities and leeway. Also, little security at events because company staff outright told us they knew they could trust us to behave.
A lot of western international fans on Twitter treat that place like a hunting ground, and I don't think a lot of them understand that they're not gaining literally anything by doing it. In fact, they're hurting their artists' careers.
Like, you can totally @ New on Twitter and be sarcastic and sassy and rack up hundreds of likes and retweets from other fans by saying you hate his work and he's Not It and you hope your faves never work with him again, but you're also broadcasting to the wider industry that you could turn on anyone who works with your artists.
I've seen the, "But we've been criticizing him for years and he won't listen!" defense a few times, but I'm afraid there's nothing in this entire situation that justifies the sheer scale of immaturity I've been seeing from fans. You don't throw food at a chef if you don't like the meal. All fans can do is critique his work and then he can choose what and how much to listen to.
I have my own criticisms of his direction, but I saw significant improvement from "Between Us" to "Revamp" and I'm surprised people aren't giving him more praise for working in a totally unfamiliar genre and really nailing a lot of it. It's a smart series that really deserved two more episodes to flesh things out, but that's down to GMMTV reducing standard episode number from 12 to 10 because fans spending money on concert tickets and merch for their sixty billion couples makes them more than the series do.
Apparently, "Revamp" initially only had the budget for ten episodes with Studio Wabi Sabi, and then they expanded to twelve, but then had to reduce again when BounPrem joined GMMTV under this new 10-as-standard shift. They weren't the only ones affected, either. "The Ex-Morning" likely cut JamieEarn's entire subplot because it had two episodes shaved off from twelve to ten. "Revamp" could have given us a LOT more depth with ninety more minutes of screentime (considering each episode is about 45 minutes). Some of the critiques are aimed at the wrong target here.
Anyway, the main point I want to make is that criticism of anyone's public works is fine and expected and normal, but if fans take it to extremes and start mocking and bullying the professionals who work with their artists, then the artists are the ones who suffer the consequences with nothing achieved.
Truthfully, we need the fourth wall back. None of us should have this much closeness or access to the actors or the directors, because while some fans can be mature and balanced, the tendency for mob mentality is strong, and algorithms rigorously push negativity.
Fan behavior has been getting increasingly more toxic over the years from the usual death threats to the infamous OhmNanon truck paid to ominously circle the Grammy building, and I think the industry professionals behind the scenes are silently keeping track of which fandoms are too exasperating to put up with.
Fans need to put higher priority on general fandom etiquette, because we ultimately represent the artists we support and have major influence on their career health and longevity.
