Have come across this terminology a lot, and more often than not it’s used as a criticism of the specific media content. Why is there a negative view to fan service, and what are scenarios where fan service makes the overall product better?
Have come across this terminology a lot, and more often than not it’s used as a criticism of the specific media content. Why is there a negative view to fan service, and what are scenarios where fan service makes the overall product better?
Comments
historically it was anything ‘for the fans’ of the series. Any kind of call back to a prior episode kind of thing where a long time viewer would ‘get the joke’ while someone who just started wouldn’t.
why it is negative is because it is no longer that and now it is the ‘obligatory swimsuit episode’
>What is Fan Service
Naked characters for no good reason.
>Why is there a negative view to fan service
Because you’re catering to people that just want to see naked characters for no reason. It’s “lowest common denominator” pandering.
It genuinely is supposed to mean things done more to make the fans happy than for artistic or monetary reasons. Bringing back a favorite villain (Frieza on DBS is a good example there), including gameplay mechanics that fans have been asking for en masse (Catching in Legends Arceus), etc. But usually when someone online says “fanservice” they mean softcore porn or nudity. It kind of got co-opted by people who liked seeing boobs and panties in anime, and it stuck even with people who are complaining about that stuff.
Fan service in general is content in media that is included primarily for audience engagement rather than to advance any character or plot development.
In some media, this is scantly glad girls or other titillation. In other media like a sitcom it might be something like bringing a celebrity guest star or an old member of a previous series.
Fan service is generally criticized because it doesn’t play a role in the series itself , and tends to cater to a niche for appeal. You’re basically admitting that your media doesn’t have widespread appeal and cater to the fans of that era instead.
Game of Thrones was really bad about fan service later in the series. People liked Bella Ramsay’s singe-scene character, so they wrote her a bigger part on the strength of that one reaction. Everyone loved Oberyn, so they inflated the importance of the Sand Snakes next season. Cleganebowl has always been kind of a meme, so they wrote it into the fucking ending. That type of shit is fan service.
Deadpool and wolverine is a pretty good example
Fan service is including scenes or plot elements in a show solely for the purpose of pleasing fans (hardcore ones not casual) of the show or movie. It’s criticised because it can be done at the expense of the plot or overall quality of the writing and stick out as an obviously unecessary addition that offers nothing other than pleasing a few people.
They could be anything, like fight scenes that exist purely as visual candy for animators/film makers to flex their creative muscles, “Moneyshots” that pretty much just put a disproportionate amount of effort and resources into a particular scene to make it impressive or, again, as a way for the creatives to flex their muscles, callbacks/references/jokes that may be obscure and only picked up by a few people, including 4th wall breaks, and of course we can’t not mention the most commonly discussed form of it, and the most often criticised one, gratuitous/unnecessary nudity or sexualisation.
That last one is often what people refer to when they talk about fan service, even though it’s far from the only type of fan service. Japanese anime are very prone to this type of tactic because ultimately revenue for anime shows is largely dependent on superfans and “whales” rather than casual viewers, who buy the blu rays/merchandise and support the series in every way possible. A classic example of this are “beach episodes” where the cast of characters is shown taking a day off to go to the beach. This isn’t always out of place but there are some pretty egregious examples of it that are because it effectivelly grinds the overall plot to a halt to give people a “slice of life” episode in what may not always be a “slice of life” show, so it can feel out of place. And of course the reason why the beach is such a popular destination is because it gives the opoprtunity to show the characters scantily clad in swimwear.
But it can be done right. Some references or jokes may fit seamlessly with the overall writing and setting of a show, giving long time fans satisfaction for their support being “acknowledged”, or other types like fights, character matchups, or comedy relief episodes may seamlessly blend in with the rest of the series and even serve to humanise the characters more or at the very least give an opportunity to the creative teams behind these projects to try something different. Generally speaking fanservice is criticised because it’s usually bad fanservice that sticks out.