people demanding characters never do anything bad or "problematic" in a piece of media feels like its directly linked to how characters are made to be highly marketable more than ever now, and that marketability usually depends on how likable they are. you won't be selling a lot of products for a truly controversial/reprehensible character in most cases, and the large amount of characters that are made "pure" for consumption seems to have gone to peoples heads as they think any villains, characters with complicated morals/mistakes, and/or bigots simply existing in media is bad and apparently says something about the creator(s).
people like this seem more interested in uncomplicated, one note characters, so they can just "stan" or kin or whatever the fuck and it all feels linked to their own consumerism and their expectations that all media is a product to devour and not art, or catharsis, or anything else. these types of people really need to read a wide array of novels and be exposed to what storytelling means, because it is not meant to always be comfortable and sweet or relatable or make you want to buy a funko pop, and not every character is meant to be prime "stan" material. also, deeming ANY sort of portrayal of complicated or negative relationship dynamic in media as problematic and casting ethical questions on the creator(s) for including it regardless of the light they portray it in, as if everything needs to be "shippable". drives me nuts.
I never really engaged in any fandom, it just never appealed to me. But I used to feel pretty neutral about it. Like even if it's not for me I understood why someone would get a lot out of "being in fandom" and I was glad people had those outlets and communities. Now...?
In the last couple of years, I've only seen "fandom" be absolutely horrible to people within and without. Every thought-terminating accusation of this or that character being "problematic" without further analysis seems to come from someone in this or that "fandom". Every baseless speculation about a creator's moral fiber, every derision of complicated media, every all-or-nothing demand to ostracize someone based on their favorite character, every bad faith reading... (yes I know is not literally every time, but it's a disproportionate amount)
Like I'm sure there is a way to build fandom communities that aren't shitty but it's come to a point where if I see a "fandom" account my guard goes up
