Here’s the thing that bugs me about Tumblr fandoms.
People latch onto certain headcanons. These headcanons become popular. Suddenly the fandom starts insisting that said headcanon is actual canom. They become so militant about it that they punish anyone who disagrees with them.
Now, I absolutely love headcanons. By all means, you should rewrite canon. Reinterpret canon. Make the canon more inclusive and more diverse. Question the messages put forth by the canon. You have the freedom to change and critique the canon as you see fit.
But please remember that other people are allowed to have their own interpretations as well. Give everyone the liberty to develop headcanons that appeal to them. And for the love of God, don’t attack people that see things differently than you.
*parts a bead curtain as i enter the room, carrying a glass of lemonade*
hey….
nothing you ever read, watch, or participate in will be ideologically pure and without its problems. your quest to consume the most unproblematic material will be, in the end, fruitless. your enjoyment of anything will be sapped away, leaving you a husk starved for media.
it is okay to enjoy things that have problems to them, so long as you do it critically and with an open mind, and take care to consider others.
*leaves the way i came*
This is possibly the healthiest post I’ve seen on this site
tumblr: that thing you like is Problematic and you should feel bad for liking it
me, an adult capable of critical thinking and criticizing things while still wholeheartedly enjoying them: please get out of my living room
So I’m going to assume you mean the kind of stuff me and friends draw that will most likely never be held in the same regard as Millais because it’s niche outsider art made by amateur women and teens? Even though the art we make is more relevant as a commentary on our culture than anything a dead white guy painted?
I think we’re intelligent enough that we can decide what’s worth looking at if we want to. If dead white guys want to keep up, they should learn how to text.
This tumblr will go back to posting photos of gothy eye candy and cute animals very soon, because *I* need things that make me feel better, and I’m sure the rest of you do too.
With that said: what can we do now?
Stand with those at risk. Suport PoC, GLBTQ folks, women, folks with disabilities, anyone who is “other” and is going to be a target.
VOTE IN THE 2018 MIDTERMS. 33 Senate houses will be up, and all 235 seats in the House. We need to flip those.
Donate, if you can. Time, money, energy. Planned Parenthood, local food banks, local shelters for at-risk folks.
i am immensely proud of anyone who types out stories they want to see for characters that are not their creation, or their property, but that inspire them to delve into a difficult medium with which they likely have little experience or comfort. i have to be proud of that because fanfic is ultimately a thankless line of work. and it is work. it’s work for people who’re good at writing, trained in it. so imagine how difficult it is for beginners, the impaired, those with even a modicum of self-doubt? in that way, they are no different from any other author.
writing, literature, is an art form with an ugly legacy of snobbery. academics and laymen alike still argue about what sorts of writing should and should not be considered ‘canonical.’ add to that odious environment the level of disdain, apathy, or ignorance most non-fannish people have toward fan works and you have a near-permanent, repugnant shroud of You’re Not Real encompassing the whole endeavor. a shroud under which, miraculously, fan works are still produced with vigor and regularity, and largely without access to agents or editors who’re paid to polish. just as miraculously, these writers often receive, from their friends and peers and strangers, the sort of praise one associates with bestselling authors.
it’s miraculous because fanfic writers have been obliged to believe, from the moment they set finger to keyboard, that what they are doing is a sideshow. at best, they are hobbyists with some talent but no real standing. at worst, they are self-indulgent amateurs, muddying the waters of a true craft. like many authors of original work, fanfic writers will never have a millisecond of calculable fame for their efforts. they may step out of their borrowed sandbox and create original work, or they may not, but there is no scenario in which they emerge feeling like an accepted member of a celebrated tradition. even in the rare instance of pop culture turning its eye on some speck of scintillating fan work, it’s still mocked. it’s still a sideshow, just with a brighter spotlight.
so, yeah, i am proud of anyone who can absorb the reality of all the above…and still write.
for all my brave creatives out there – tappity-tap-tap!
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.
I-want-my-IWTV 