Movie fans in general can get way too obsessive at times. While this is usually obvious in different entertaining internet arguments about Chewbacca slippers, sometimes fandom can have a real and dangerous impact on communities that have actually helped our beloved films become a reality. Here are three examples:
3. Bronx residents have continuously suffered with randoms re-enacting the Joker stairs scene over and over… and over again.
Even if you haven’t brought yourself to see the movie yet, there are parodies all over the internet about this scene. Joaquin Phoenix puts on his nicest clown outfit and dances around a flight of stairs to a song that was made by a convicted sex offender.
Fans of this movie have taken over the Bronx just to visit that staircase and pose for pictures, and the locals are definitely not pleased. A resident commented that he “feels disrespected,” while others share their struggles with getting to work or school because they prefer not to be in the background of an Instagram post. We’re not talking about one or two people coming for a useless photo, but hoarders of people complete with bulky tripods and photo assistants.
Thankfully, the initial craze has died down, but Instagram’s hashtag of “jokerstairs” is filled with ridiculous “influencer” photos hogging these public stairs for an idiotic photo-op.
2. Burkittsville, Maryland kept getting trashed by Blair Witch fans.
As with most small and unknown towns, film students would visit and shoot low-budget films that would eventually make the local paper. More often than not, the film would remain unknown leaving people to get on with their lives. In the case of Burkittsville though, the small movie that was filmed here was The Blair Witch Project.
For those of you who didn’t know, the “idiots that got lost in the woods” in 1999 nearly made $250 million from a $60,000 budget. Much of the movie’s success was because of the awesome viral marketing campaign that made fans believe it was an actual footage of an investigation about a real witch.
The mystery around the movie sent thousands of fans to Burkittsville, where they wanted to prove to themselves if this was actually real. The ruckus started out small, such as repeated thefts of the “Welcome to Burkittsville” signs. It just went downhill from there. Residents started suffering from property damage, to have fans illegally peer inside their homes. The mayor even woke up one night to a stranger stating in the middle of her living room, with the impression that her home was part of a Blair Witch tour. Things went from bad to worse when people started stealing dirt from the cemetery to sell online, accompanied by photos to prove the dirt was genuine. They also held candlelight vigils and defaced headstones in the cemetery. Years after the film’s release, the residents were still being disturbed. Not to mention that the movie was actually recorded a county over!
1. The small city of Dubrovnik has been taken over by Game of Thrones fanatics
GOT obsessed fans have made the Croatian city of Dubrovnik – which is popularly known as King’s Landing – one of the most visited destinations as of late. It has everything a fan would want to see such as the Red Keep to the Palace Gardens and the unforgettable Jesuits’ Staircase where Cersei did that unforgettable walk of shame.
But with a population of only about 40,000 people living in the whole city, and less than 2,000 in the historic city center of Old Town, these tourists flocking the area are becoming too much to bear. Locals complain that the noise and crowds are actually making people move out of the old town. Imagine living in the middle of adult Disneyland? Yes, they don’t enjoy hearing the fans scream “Shame! Shame!” every time they leave their homes to get to work.
With the record-breaking number of tourists that visit the city every year, you’d actually think the local economy would be booming right now, right? That’s not the case. These visitors arrive on cruise ships, take a quick tour around the center and get back onboard the ship to have their free buffet dinners and cocktails just in time for sunset. They don’t spend anything on food, much less hotel accommodations.
Because of this huge problem, the city has actually put a cap on the number of tourists that are allowed to enter Old Town by limiting the number of cruise ships that dock per day.
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