Something’s been nagging me about most fandom meta for a
while, and I’ve only recently put my finger on it:
The vast majority of what
crosses my dash is coming from a position of bad faith.
By bad faith, I mean meta presuming that most people are 1)
doing fandom wrong and 2) need to be instructed on how to do it right. Meta
writers are addressing common fanons, stereotypes, trends, and other aspects of
fandom that they dislike, and which they think need to be stopped or
reexamined. And you know what? I’ll admit that there’s sometimes a kernel of
truth in what people are presenting; however, I think the means are very
flawed. Wagging fingers at people doesn’t work very well, because you’re
guilting them for how they choose to spend their free time, in a hobby that
they love.
Here’s what happens when I see a piece of meta chiding
fandom:
People who already agree with the stance agreeing with the
meta
People who disagree, posting rebuttals
People reblogging with guilty tags about how they feel bad
for enjoying [bad thing]
Is this really productive? Is it encouraging less [bad
thing], more [good thing]? Not really.
Now that I’ve put myself in the position of doing the exact fingerwagging
I’ve criticized, what do I think is the solution to this problem? Because yes,
there are some things in fandom which are pretty bad, and which I wish reduced.
Produce the work you want to see in fandom. If you don’t
produce content, then comment, kudos, reblog, rec, or otherwise send good wishes
to things that meet your standards for [good thing], instead of yelling at
people for [bad thing]. Be supportive, rather than negative. Ignore shit that
you hate, because it doesn’t deserve your attention anyway. What’s a greater
condemnation of a work than silence? Being nastily critical will often put fans
on the defensive and create more support
of things that are legitimately problematic/bad/just plain silly. No one wants
to produce fanwork to an empty room. And all that attention that you’re now
giving to [good thing], rather than [bad thing]? Is going to produce more and
more [good thing].
Plus, you can always make friends through privately griping
about [bad thing], so you can still get your hate on, you diamond.
Tumblr is so exhausting. Not everyone or everything is bad. Everyone and everything eventually fucks up and says/does something they shouldn’t but not everyone and everything should be written off because of those things. It’s so, so fucking tiring to read people having to constantly justify their enjoyment of someone or something. Liking someone or something does not mean you condone everything about it or them.
Cutting out someone or something that is important to you or has a positive impact on you just because someone on Tumblr says they’re problematic or digs up old receipts is so upsetting and unnecessary. You do you. Enjoy what you enjoy, recognize the problems it inevitably has, but don’t feel pressure to give someone or something up if you don’t want to and if they make you happy. It’s fine. You’re allowed.
Some ppl definitely ARE excited for the new book! There was alot of excitement and cautious optimism for Prince Lestat.
I feel like I have a good perspective on this bc I have been in this fandom for 20+ years even tho book!IWTV came out before I was born, too. I’d have to ask a more veteran fandom person what it was like when they got the sequel(s) to IWTV! I got into the fandom right before the movie came out in ‘94, when we only had the first 4 books, so I looked forward to every new book with some level of excitement and that’s hard to shake even now *u*
New titles and storylines have often sounded more than a bit iffy and there has often been resistance to each new VC book. Alot of ppl didn’t think they would like TOBT or MtD, and some read those and still refuse to accept either as canon.
[X] Ppl have their own ideas of the characters in their minds. As AR continues delve into their perspectives on previous events and give them new stories in each new book, some ppl choose to “get off the bus” along the way, bc they don’t necessarily trust her vision and they don’t want to see their fave character(s) in characterization they feel is off, or forced into plots that make no sense, etc. And we can’t blame AR for this but the trainwreck that was movie!QOTD, so much was off that it was offensive, and yet, surprisingly, some ppl find that movie nostalgic! ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Some ppl actually trust the fanfic writers and/or fanartists more than the author at this point, bc many of our awesome fanfic writers and fanartists learned the voices and attitudes of the characters and try to keep them in the style that drew us to them in the first place ❤
Omg what a thing to say to me thank u so much! *flails* YOU ARE SO WELCOME AS ALWAYS. You’re still on anon, so you’re not risking anything, but feel free to step into the light. What have you got to lose?
[Xdigging up an oldie from the archive, mon dieu using Impact was still in fashion! But the sentiment is still true.]
It’s especially flattering that you say I answer things in a hilariously Lestat-like way bc his positive attributes were an inspiration to me when, as a small fanged little trash kitten, I needed that so much. I feel more like myself when I’m interacting w/ ppl with some of his brand of optimism and charisma, which was not so much that I absorbed his, it was more that I recognized it was always there inside me, latent and sleeping, and needed to be reignited ;D
Plus, we all had to hide our love for this fandom in the dark ages before the internet really brought us together, and then some of us also suffered the war on fanfic. Unlike many other current fandoms, ours was crushed and couldn’t blossom until more recent years. I’m so grateful that we have these spaces now and that fandom is recognized as a more legitimate thing these days, we have more than shadowed spaces now! It’s very Lestat in TVL, drawing the Children of Darkness out into the modern world to enjoy the things that are out here to be enjoyed.
“Just remember: life – without me- would be even more unbearable” will always be one of my fave quotes bc there were times when it was very true, and currently, VC is still a positive presence for me, and it’s heartwarming to know it’s that way for others, like you, too! *hugs*
That is what I want as my legacy, just remember that I was crazy and I made you happy, and/or inspired you in at least some small way, bc that’s what VC has done for me.
Cut for sappiness…
^AU where I am Mrs. Lincoln and the rest of the fandom here is Mr. Lincoln ❤ bc that is what I want as my legacy, just remember that I was crazy and I made you happy.
I feel kind of married to this fandom and I treat it that way, like a significant other. We’re our own individual ppl but I like to think we compliment eachother; we all have our own talents to contribute, even if being an audience member for the fanworks is all some of us do.
Sometimes we fight, and there are times we disagree with canon, but we get through things regardless bc there’s a shared loyalty there and that’s a beautiful and precious thing. It’s fragile, too, and needs our commitment to survive.
Yes, my fave is problematic. Your fave is also problematic. I am problematic. You are problematic. We are not all 100% politically correct perfect individuals. Someone saying something ignorant and that person being “the scum of the earth” are not the same. Please learn to recognize the goddamn difference.
That post by @euclase that I reblogged has enraged me. I keep seeing time and time again, on Tumblr specifically, posts about how women are ‘too old’ for fandom.
I appreciate that the average age of Tumblr users is lower than other social media platforms but let me tell you fandom is not something you grow out of. I’ve been part of some form of fandom since I was a teenager. I am now coming up on 40. The only real difference is that I can’t stay up until 4am reading fic anymore because I need sleep. The passion I have for fandom is still there, I still write fic. You don’t suddenly stop caring about the things you love when you hit a certain age point.
If you think someone in their 30s or 40s is too old for fandom
I should introduce you to some of the amazing women in their 60s that I met through the Man From UNCLE fandom. Hell, some of my friends that I met through the Buffy the Vampire Slayer fandom back in the 90s are now in their 50s and 60s.
TL;DR You are never too old for fandom and if you think that’s true I pity you when you reach whatever arbitrary age you think is the cutoff point.
Gosh, you don’t even have to worry about what bills I pay. All you see is my hobby. Isn’t that nice of me?
You know what. No. I have more to say.
This pisses me off. The implication that 45 is too old for a woman to have fun is fucking bullshit.
JJ fucking Abrams is 50, and he’s a fanboy. He’s making AUs, and he’s doing the exact same thing as any fangirl is doing only with a much bigger budget. There are plenty of dudes just like him, too. Comic book artists, writers, directors—all men, all older than me, (I’m 35 by the way, not 45) who are no different. The only difference is that their work is called work and not “being a fangirl.” Their work is respected. Even though fangirl is exactly what they are.
So fuck your jealousy, fuck your misogyny, and most of all fuck you for presuming to know a goddamn thing about my life and what kind of hard work I’ve had to do—not just to draw this well (read: better than you) but to allow myself to be happy about it when the whole entire world has decided I’m not allowed to be. Fuck you for every girl you ever made feel foolish or pathetic for not sacrificing every bit of herself to you.
THIS
You can’t hear it, but I’m clapping for you right now. This. All of this. It’s absolutely perfect. Go you. Fuck them.
Plus, dude, the Renaissance Era is full-on people being forbidden to draw/sculpt/write anything else than Greek and Roman Mythology(/fairy tales) Fanart (or Christian stuff). At the end of it there were debate over debate about “The Ancient and the Modern” as in : the Ancient had come up with the only possible creative stuff, now poor ol’ us cannot do anything better and don’t you dare be original. Tell any French person that Jean de la Fontaine was pathetic because he wrote fanpoems of Aesop and they’ll laugh in your face. The man managed to full on criticize the King who created Absolute Monarchy through poems that are still learned by every person in the country nowadays. Or say that about
Michelangelo or Botticelli. Most of these artists had fun and many loved Greek Mythology. The idea that everything “has” to be original stems more from a reaction to that time period than to an objective Reality.
Yes but EVERYONE YOU MENTIONED IS A MAN.
Michelangelo, Fontaine, Botticelli. Da Vinci, whoever else. Painters, sculptors, writers.
Whenever people use the argument “Renaissance art is just fanart of the Bible or Greek myth” or whatever else, they’re forgetting that all of that stuff was made by men. The reason it’s legitimate and the reason we hang it in museums and remember it isn’t because it’s fanart of the Bible—it’s because men did it.
The second men don’t do it, it stops being legitimate. Of course Renaissance art is fanart. OF COURSE IT IS.
I know fangirls who could out-scholar a room full of Shakespeare professors. I know fangirls who are the greatest writers, the greatest artists, the greatest talents you’ve ever seen. The most passionate, brilliant ladies speaking more passionately and giving more of their time to the things they love than any man. But because they’re fangirls—the operative word being girls—everyone is waiting around for them to grow up and stop this foolishness.
And what a huge loss. What a huge fucking loss.
The absolute best part is that, even if you caved into their stupid demands, they’d still complain, “Why aren’t you doing fan art any more? no one wants to see your original characters!” and other bullshit.
There’s no appeasing these fucking fools who sit and try to dictate how you should live your life, because it’s not that they are upset you are doing something, they are upset you are a WOMAN doing something.
You are 100% right, the reason that when I was in grade school classes talked about art and poems and stuff of people from long ago is because they were made by men and they are considered valid. The reason that women throughout time have sat down and used a pseudonym on their work is so that people would think they were men, so that their work would be taken seriously.
It’s all a stupid world, a world built by old white men who are afraid of people doing what they want, doing what they like, having fun, because they don’t understand it, because they are sexist or homophobic or whatever, they are afraid; They have power as long as you bend to their will and don’t do what you want, don’t enjoy your life, so screw them, scare them, do what you want and have fun doing it!
me, banging your pots and pans together at 3am: the assumption that liking problematic characters means you share their views is toxic. people should not have to constantly defend their views simply because they enjoy a character of questionable nature.
you, attempting to wrestle them from me: indeed, but there comes a responsibility with enjoying problematic characters and it is on those who consume that media to recognize and constantly acknowledge the faults of it rather than sweep them under the rug with a general “i know it’s problematic don’t worry”.
me: it seems both our sides of the argument are valid and hold merit.
you: will you please get out of my house now
your neighbor, shouting through the wall: however when the person enjoying the problematic material is constantly harassed and called out for that content and has to face regular demands to justify their appreciation of that media, then the other party needs to step back and ask what they even want from this confrontation they keep perpetuating. they need to ask themselves if they will be satisfied with any given answer and if not, they need to disengage and deal with their own issues instead of forcing other people to answer for them.
I-want-my-IWTV 