Movies, shows unfairly bashed in a culture war before being released

Entertainment media needs to be given a chance and actually watched before it can be rejected or boycotted.

In recent years, a very unfair trend developed among political commentators, the worst offenders most likely being those of the "alt right", whereby movies and television shows are condemned often before being aired, due to being supposedly politicised (ironically, such commentators are most responsible for bringing politics into the discussion of such entertainment).

Politicisation, which is very likely unwelcome for the production companies themselves, who want to sell to all audiences, begins with commentary from those of a liberal persuasion. They will usually, innocently and likely thinking themselves apolitical, praise some form of inclusion in terms of casting or story-writing. They then face some counter-commentary from conservative figures reacting by condemning Hollywood in turn for its apparent political radicalism.

The latest 007 movie went through this, at first with liberal commentaros suggesting the titular British spy would be replaced by a female or minority actor. This was met with outright condemnation from conservative commentators. The final product apparently had some nod to inclusion, but otherwise was just a normal Bond movie. It turned out this was a false alarm.

We see this with Amazon's upcoming The Lord of the Rings (not actually The Lord of the Rings but other prequel tales from the same author), expected apparently to feature a more racially diverse cast than previous iterations.

We know nothing of the specifics of how this new J. R. R. Tolkien-inspired show will be cast, or how, if at all, a diverse cast would possible undermine its ability to represent the author's vision. It may be that the diverse cast is well-intended and well-chosen and manages to still properly represent Tolkien's world. It may be that it has no effect at all on the entertainment value of the series.

When you haven't seen a thing, you are in no position to judge it. However, thanks to pre-emptive attack, many tend not to watch a new show or are intent on giving it a bad review without even watching.

Sometimes, preachy and political dialogue can definitely undermine a story set in a fantasy world. Casting decisions can also be poor. However, whether such issues are present and undermine entertainment value isn't known until you see something. Instead of politicising entertainment in protest against the politicisation of entertainment, just watch it and then explain the problems you find, giving at all all times specifics.

If entertainment is genuinely poor, the biggest losers will be those who produced it. They are invested in it, quite literally, more than any "fan".