How To Deal With Your Favorite Stories Dying

Many fans today feel betrayed and lost. Your favorite story or franchise, corrupted and broken.

Most are in denial and others don’t know what to do with themselves. As a fan of many dying franchises, I want to help those still struggling with the situation.

Here are 4 ways to deal with the decline of entertainment. But first, you must realize that your franchise is dead or dying.

I know it’s sad but you need to get over this stage of your grief. Currently, you’re in denial and it’s time to vent your anger.

Boycotting and Speaking Out (Anger)

The first thing most people do is speak out on social media. Whether it be YouTube videos or petitions, this is the only way to safely let out anger.

This is fine to do because it brings people out of the denial stage. It keeps the opposition strong and is the only way to turn things around.

But this can become a problem for you and the community. Being consistently angry can be self-destructive. It can harm the community by becoming just another voice in the void.

It can turn people away from moving past denial. Why listen to an angry person always complaining? Worst of all, the companies can see your constant bad attention as good. Any attention is good attention.

There needs to be a balance.

I’ve always skipped this stage because I felt the desire to let out destructively. So I suppress it and move on to bargaining.

Support Past Media (Bargaining)

After the anger, we try to support past works instead. Good games, comics, etc still exist in the past.

Companies destroying current entertainment doesn't mean they destroyed everything in the past. So play/read the stories that still exist and leave the present behind you.

But you need to conquer the bargaining stage too. You might start seeing present stories that aren’t terrible as worthy of your support.

The Batman, Spider-Man No Way Home, and The Mandalorian come to mind.

They’re good media but it supports the same poison regardless. Supporting good media doesn’t stop the companies from using that money to fund the bad.

If you want to stay in the bargaining stage, that’s fine. But use that love and respect for past stories that aren’t corrupted. They won’t change (hopefully) and will always be there for you.

If you can’t help yourself then sail the seven seas. Better that than the alternative.

As for me, I’m stuck here for some franchises like the MCU. But most of the time, I land in depression.

Quit and Ignore it all (Depression)

Seeing a story you love get dragged through the streets, bloodied and broken, can leave you in despair.

Everything that came before feels forever tainted. In the back of your mind, it pricks at you.

Terminator 2 is not the end. Dark Fate is just down the road.

The happy ending of Return of the Jedi is not the ending you thought. It all falls apart into the pit called Last Jedi.

What other response makes sense after a betrayal like that? We cut ourselves from the franchise altogether. A bitter farewell.

This can be a good thing, you starve those companies of your attention and money. But this can still be harmful to yourself.

You need to survive this stage. We need to accept that the world will continue to move on and probably get worse.

For me, this is where I am for most stories. I’m exhausted from all betrayal and bad choices.

Might sound extreme, but these stories were all I had for a long time. So seeing this happen makes me look at kitchen knives with renewed interest.

But I’m still here, working towards acceptance. There’s still something we can do despite everything.

Support Other Media and Make Your Own (Acceptance)

Few get this fair but it’s the final destination of every broken fan. You must come out of the depression stage and do something meaningful.

The stories we know and love may die but there are more out there. We need to support creators that still love storytelling and don’t hate us.

Eventually, we have to take the final step and create our own. Those stories will die and more must take their place. You can be a part of that new age of stories.

If you’re a writer, use writing resources and build a new story.

If you’re an artist, take us to another world with your imagination.

Combine these talents and more to create something that outlasts the current age.

That’s what it means to reach this stage. Accept that they’re gone and move on to better things.

I’m slowly getting to this point. I’m not financially stable enough to support other media or make my own. But eventually, I will be able to support creators that respect storytelling.

Conclusion (Preservation)

Those are the steps I came up with based on the 5 stages of grief. That’s all we’re going through at the moment. Grief at the loss of something precious.

Even when you reach the last stage you can still support past works, speak out and boycott. Just make sure that’s not all your doing. A combination of everything positive is the key.

There is one last thing you can do at every stage, preserve the past. Games, old movies, comics, and more.

Preserve them physically or digitally, so they aren’t forgotten. So companies don’t steal these experiences from future generations.

With that, I’ve said my piece. Good luck to all the future creators out there.