The year is 2017. News breaks that director Zack Snyder has stepped down from finishing the Justice League movie set to come out that fall. Warner Bros. announces that Avengers director Joss Wheadon will take over to finish reshoots and post-production. The final cut of the film shown in theaters wasn’t anything to write home about, and is largely considered a box office bomb, but it became cause for DC fans and Snyder fans alike to rally behind a supposed cause. What followed is, and continues to be, one of the most absurd expressions of “fandom” ever.

After the movie came out the infamous Release the Snyder Cut campaign was born. Rooted in the belief that there is a supposed cut of the movie, which was Snyder’s true vision for Justice League, being suppressed by Warner Bros. Studios. This wasn’t one single petition, but rather a series of them, and a whole host of different tactics. YouTube videos, fan rallies at small conventions, and most recently a GoFundMe was set up to fly a banner over San Diego Comic-Con in July (which Warner Bros. isn't even attending), all over a version of a film that no one can really prove exists, and because a group of people didn’t like the movie they saw.

Petitions are some of the most dangerous yet meaningless forms of protest targeted towards the entertainment industry. In the last three years, there has been a flurry of viral petitions concerning film & television and causing a lot of impassioned discussions. But how seriously should we take these fan protest petitions?

Star Wars: The Last Jedi suffered a similar fate to Justice League. After its release, the movie prompted harsh backlash from Star Wars “fans.” Some had genuine criticisms of the movie, but others were just not happy that the movie they saw in their heads didn’t become a reality. A petition was created: a plea of mercy to the Walt Disney Company to remove The Last Jedi from the Star Wars canon.

The petition also requests Disney remake Episode 8 “properly”. No big deal, just pretend this $1.3 billion dollar movie that played all over the world and was praised by critics doesn’t exist - easy. Then Disney needs to figure out exactly what all the supposed “fans” want from this movie, get a few hundreds of millions of dollars from the Disney bank, bring back all the cast and crew, use up another year of their lives, and do it all over again. Even though the creator of that petition has stated that it is a lost cause (and that people should be focusing their attention on more serious matters), close to 117,000 people still signed it.

Most recently, this same type of outcry occurred with the final season of Game of Thrones. Whether you loved the final season, hated it, or really don’t care, everything about this petition is dangerous and utterly pathetic. While The Last Jedi petition at least outlined frustrations the person saw wrong with the subjective piece of art, the Game of Thrones petition - with over 1.6 million signatures - just states that showrunners, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, are, “incompetent writers” and should, “subvert my expectations”. What does that mean? That can be your opinion and it’s one hundred percent valid to you; however, by creating a petition and demanding HBO remake the final season, it seems more like a statement of selfishness and entitlement more than anything constructive.

There is another kind of petition going around, fans trying to stop productions they anticipate will disappoint them before they’ve even begun. People want to fire Benioff and Weiss from their recently announced Star Wars film trilogy. The same with Rian Johnson, and DC fans are petitioning against Robert Pattinson playing Batman. At this stage, there is no logical reason for Disney or Warner Bros. to fire these people. Benioff and Weiss created the biggest television series in history, Rian Johnson is a proven director whose last Star Wars movie received a lot of money as well as critical acclaim, and Robert Pattinson is far from being the "Twilight dude" anymore. All these individuals have done something to justify their hiring.

The odd thing about this new uprising against studios and fans demanding change is that there are a lot better ways to go about it. Petitions will never get anything done in the entertainment field, specifically when it comes to changing the art in question. As much as it sucks to hear, the studios don’t care if you thought the characters were treated badly. Ultimately, they do not care about who your perfect ideal casting would be, and they do not care if you thought the writing for something was bad. The Last Jedi made $1.3 billion. The finale of Game of Thrones was watched by 19.3 million people. Robert Pattinson’s Batman will do well at the box office.

Studios listen to dollar signs. That is the absolute best way to make them change. When you sign a petition demanding change and then go support the people you are upset with by purchasing a ticket, as many of these fans do, you encourage studios to ignore these petitions. It’s a certainty that at least one person who signed The Last Jedi petition will go see The Rise of Skywalker in December. That’s the first step, don’t support the people you are upset at.

The second step is to watch more. People always say, “this movie changed my life that's why I care so much”. Well, go find that next movie instead of dwelling on something you don’t like. Why waste energy being upset and attacking a director on twitter every day when you can find your next Star Wars? Thousands of movies and TV shows come out every year and one of them is bound to have a similar impact on your life. Or better yet, make your own Star Wars or Game of Thrones. Create your own stories that you know you will be fully happy with. Show those incompetent writers how to write a good finale. It shouldn’t matter if it’s watched by millions, as long as you are content with the outcome. That’s the struggle that independent filmmakers go through all the time.

At the end of the day, these petitions don’t mean anything and won’t have much impact, but it is still disheartening to see how much attention they get. Real people all over the world are dealing with situations far more important and serious than a fictional character not being treated the way you wanted. Far more disappointing things are bound to happen in your life than the ending of your favorite show not going the way you wanted. We as fans also need to learn to accept our feelings towards certain things and understand that the thing which made us a fan in the first place will never go away.