Hardcore fanbases creep me out. Whether it’s the Browncoats or Star Wars nerds or the socially stunted emotional infants who get upset about changes to the designs of Transformers, I have time and again decried these easy targets and ridiculed their possibly birth defect-related levels of obsessive love for marginally interesting entertainment properties. But none of these groups have yet come close to the shocking level of delusion on display at the Daniel Craig is Not Bond website.
This past weekend, Casino Royale hit 312 million dollars in worldwide grosses, setting it up to be the best earning Bond film of all time. The movie has also earned an impressive 94% fresh at Rotten Tomatoes. The buzz is strong, and the film has stayed in the top two at the domestic box office since release, indicating very positive word of mouth. The inescapable conclusion seems to be that Casino Royale is the best Bond in years.
Unless you run Daniel Craig is Not Bond. In that case, you believe that coming in second to Happy Feet is a sign that the film is tanking. Actual dollar amounts, and their comparison to previous Bond films, have no place in your special mathematics. Also, you don’t care what the overwhelming majority of critics and regular folks (Rotten Tomatoes users are 93% fresh) may think – you have the opinions of random message board people to fall back on, people like ‘marsipan’ and ‘IndiaGlitz.’
It’s sort of bizarre reading through the site, which still calls Daniel Craig “the actor
credited with single handedly ruining the Broccoli family business,” and seeing how desperately out of touch with reality whoever is running the place must be. At least the “Boycott Casino Royale” petition has been deactivated, but they have been updating the site at least through the end of last week.
What’s sort of frightening about these people is the level of bile they have. While the Browncoats were sort of weird with their completely misplaced optimism about the chances of a Serenity sequel, and while Star Wars nerds seem unable to admit the truth about the prequel films to themselves, at least they were coming to their insanity from a place of love. They really like their franchises, and they want to imagine that they’re successful. These Daniel Craig is Not Bond people are more like the increasingly rabid “Transfans” who bitch and moan about every design element that leaks to the web – it’s all about not wanting any change and then wishing nothing but hate on those who make the change.
The Transfans haven’t hit the final test, though, which is the release of the Transformers movie. While they may not like it (it’s hard to imagine that they will allow themselves to like it, but you can bet they’ll see it, and those tickets are all the producers care about), hopefully they will be able to admit it if the film does well. There’s a level of disconnection from reality that comes with being a hardcore fan – the Daniel Craig is Not Bond people have taken it to a psychotic degree.