Scott Mendelson Is A Gray Jedi & The Hero We Deserve
As the king of film news clickbait, Scott Mendelson has infuriated and delighted the internet throughout the Disney Star Wars era. His Forbes contributor pieces have no shame. Mendelson will write about the demise of Star Wars one day, then talk about how failure at the box office can actually be success in today’s global box office THE VERY NEXT DAY. He moves goal posts, spins things clockwise then counterclockwise, all the while flashing that Sith-eating grin we’ve come to love. So, what could possess a man to do this?
Before we get into theorizing, let us clarify a few things. First, Scott is not an actual schizophrenic as far as we know. He’s also not your garden variety troll. And he doesn’t outright hate you or the speederbike you flew in on.
If Mendelson were a Star Wars character, he’d be the equivalent of a gray Jedi, made up of equal parts light side midichlorians and dark side midichlorians. Imagine Qui-Gon Jinn with a healthy dose of Obi-Wan Kenobi’s “From a certain point of view” schtick… that’s a close approximation of Scott.
Now let’s talk about why Scotty does what he does, and how, to steal from his lexicon, THAT’S A GOOD THING! In the end, we think you’ll agree: Mendelson brings balance to the Force of film news clickbait and box office punditry. The way we see it, his motivation can be broken down into the following:
- SPOILER: TO MAXIMIZE CLICKS. In today’s fractured media landscape, traditional news media is fighting tooth and nail for relevancy. They’re losing eyeballs to YouTubers, Twitch streamers, fan bloggers, Twitter and lord knows what else. So writers like Scotty need to sensationalize the mundane and write articles intended to trigger people. It’s why even the most storied outlets now have an army of “contributors” spitting hot takes on anything and everything. The more ludicrous a headline, the more likely someone will make a YouTube video about your “story” or retweet it to an army of easily triggered keyboard warriors. It’s a race to the bottom with no foreseeable end in sight. But hey, the man’s gotta eat.
- IT’S FUN. With over 100 blog posts every month, it’s clear Scott loves covering the film industry, but we have a sneaking suspicion he gets just as much enjoyment from trolling his readers. And as fakers, we don’t blame him. We’ve enjoyed our occasional run-ins with Scott tremendously as he’s very active on Twitter. He never fails to make us smile😍
- TO SHOW YOU THE TRUTH FROM A CERTAIN POINT OF VIEW. Think of Scotty as your own personal Obi-Wan Kenobi when it comes to the box office. He’ll say the most ludicrous things, then subvert your expectations by proving it out via verifiable data points. That’s also why we love Scott; his hot takes always come with receipts.
- TO REACH PEAK GRAY JEDI. It takes masterful skill to serve up the same old box office results in a provocative wrapper. And Mendelson does it consistently. His clickbait is on another level, which gets his stories talked about more often than similar blogs covering the box office, but with half the wit or trollish charm. And he’s only getting better!
In the end, Scott does the digging to bring us the most salient, talk-worthy angles on box office results and film analysis. He saves us time, and opens us up to a new way of looking at things — and in today’s increasingly tribalistic world, that can only be a good thing!
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—William “Willybobo” Bobo
