Thread by @JosiahDeGraaf

One of my pet peeves lately has been the number of critics speaking dismissively of a work just because it engages in too much "fan service."

1/

You see the charge lobbed against #NoWayHome. "It's just a fan service film!" Similarly against the worldbuilding of #TheBookofBobaFett. And, of course, against the whole story of #Endgame as well. The movies have big fan-pleasing moments; therefore, there must be a problem. 2/

Fan service is certainly a legitimate issue that /does/ bog down certain stories (even some of the above).

The problem is that not all fan service is bad. It's good for stories to please the fans after all! And so we need to distinguish healthy fan service from bad uses. 3/

How do we tell the difference? Good fan service serves the overall story--the plots, character arcs, and central themes--in such a way that the story couldn't be told well without it.

Bad fan-service derails or distracts from the story for inconsequential moments. 4/

This is why the big reveal of #NoWayHome should not be dismissed for being fan service. The introduction of multiple Spidermen makes worldbuilding sense and is essential for Peter 1's character arc and healing following SPOILER's death. You can't tell the story well without it 5/

On the other hand, Osborne repeating the "I'm something of a scientist myself" line? That doesn't make much story sense and may be a forgivable mention, but is just there for fan service, not to serve the story, and may rightly be critiqued for doing so. 6/

In #BookOfBobaFett, the return of the casino characters, the Hutt relatives, the rancor, and even Cad Bane all make sense within the worldbuilding of Star Wars--and serve the story by making the setting feel like Tatooine without distracting from the main narrative. 7/

On the other hand, the whole 2-episode intrusion of the Mandalorian, as enjoyable as it may be, doesn't serve the story & character arc of Boba Fett and in fact massively distracts from it to the detriment of the show, making it bad fan service. 8/

Fan service by itself doesn't make a story less artistic or diminish its quality. Healthy fan service actually improves it because it's good for stories to be enjoyable--a truth that certain critics seem to forget. 9/

It's fair to criticize cases where fan service distracts from the story or simply doesn't make sense. But let's not put down stories just because they contain a lot of fan service without first determining if the fan service serves the plot & themes of the narrative or not. 10/10

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