#about consuming things other than content. so i wasn't very exposed to the community at large. so representation in media mattered!!> | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

stevebabey · 3 months

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I'm the first anon, thank you so much for understanding. I have those feelings for months now and I'm going crazy lmao.

I wish I could get into character x character stuff, but unfortunately, my stupid brain loves to consume stuff through self insert, so x reader is my preferred outlet for everything :/ I just feel like I don't belong anywhere in this fandom rn in terms of content creation. I'm not into most x reader stuff and I like to explore more character things, but I also don't really belong in there because I'm not a shipper.

It's just so frustrating to see, and the other anon was right. The tiktokification of media and fandoms in general is insane to watch. Like I saw a tiktok that complained that the Poppy War by Rf Kuang was boring because it had no spice. M'am, this is a book about war? 😭 Or, like everything is described in tropes (that's a problem for books, not fanfic per se) for fast consumption, the plot doesn't matter if certain scenarios are not ticked off. Not to mention AI and things like characterAI where people just get quickly what they want without using really their imagination (plus them not caring that this is stealing from real people).

And yeah, the whole minor part. It's insane to tell 12 year olds, that virgins write the best stuff. I'm reading and writing fics since I was 14, and I'm "lucky" I wasn't really exposed to those things until I was 16. English isn't my first language, so fanfics were a bit limited, I guess (plus having a very nieche interest that didn't reach international fame and fandom). Also, I mostly consumed stuff from friends I know irl and we had a few spicy scenes because we were curious, but we never got exposed to hardcore smut. I'm not saying there should be no smut at all, everyone is free to express themselves. It's a problem if the fandom is only that because it creates a space not everyone has access to or gets messed up. Fandom is community and everyone should feel welcome. If I was a minor and all writer blogs tell me to fuck off because they only write mature things, idk if I would even wanna stay. Which is also another problem because fandoms die out so quickly as it is.

Anyway, I don't know where I'm going with this exactly because you already said everything and I agree with you. <33

omg you say you don't know where you're going with this but brought up so many good POINTS

you're not crazy and you're definitely not the only one feeling that way!! i understand completely and it's infuriating that the topic of it is almost tongue in cheek in this fandom and lots of people feel they would be better off biting their tongue than expressing that frustration ://

character x character is something that takes a hot minute to get into i've found, i've honestly only just gotten into it within the last year or so (because i also struggle with like ocs and the like) but i am a long lover of the self insert i can't even lie <3

but there's like a difference between the way you describe this!! i think you're very much like me and it's like a genuine love for a character that drives your desire for writing self-insert- its like i love this dude so much and i want them to be happy and i want to be that source of happiness, i want to be that first kiss or gentle touch they need :D

andddd that's my problem with so much of the smut-leaning fics. where's the soul!?! where's the driving heart of the story? the best fics are the most self indulgent because you can see the best parts of someone in them !!!!

i'm really sorry that you feel like you don't have a place in this fandom but you do definitely belong here honey- fandom is supposed to be a community and there's no prerequisite to existing here at all and the fact there feels like there are certain amounts you have to succeed in to be a writer is so just bleh

tiktok is a goddam brainrotting place lmao and every day im not on it is a great one! the trope shit is SO true, like the idea that if you can check a few boxes (one of those things being smut) its the thing that makes a piece good instead of how it's written and the passion for the story like ugh and don't even get me started on ai 😭 that is a shitshow in itself and anyone who uses that to write fics or complete other peoples fics are absolute garbage people

the minor thing is yeah completely fucked and you raise SUCH a good point about how it limits the spaces that they can occupy which is so fucking stupid cos how many of us started in fandom at young ages??? everyone should feel welcome! and god the thought of someone trying to so hard to avoid nsfw content but just to have it shoved down their throat in every other post and also having so many writers telling them to fuck off ur so right, i wouldn't wanna stay either!

and it's just so so so sad because there are a thousand people who i WISH would write their ideas, write their fics, whether its bad or good first time around because THAT is the point of fandom. love for the source! new ideas! people's new takes on old tropes over and over :D

ah you opened the floodgate in me.... you didn't ask for advice but truly, write the most self indulgent stuff ever and it can't lead you wrong. i hope the culture of fandom changes and every time you ignore the urge to write for what u think people will like and just write what you want, we all get a little bit closer to that change :")

#endless opinions.... gah sorry!#im so rambly today #i hope u feel better about ur place in the fandom bub and i mean that genuinely and wholeheartedly #u belong here #mwah mwah mwah #lots of love <3 #ruby talks #asks #anon

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imapigkid · 3 years

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Sorry, I think I sounded more confrontational then I meant to. I literally mean why does it matter if you're already engaging in content that's widely considered to be made by people who are problematic in various ways? I don't understand why fiction is being held to a standard that real people aren't held to and I wanted to understand your reasoning. Its not like you owe me an answer or anything just because I'm confused, but the question wasn't meant to be an attack

i really appreciate the clarification :). sorry it took me a while to reply i've had irl stuff going on. and ooh boy this was a deep ask, so buckle up lol.

i guess there's several things to discuss here, so i might start with how mcyt content can be problematic. i'm not going to deny the actions of both ccs and fans, that would be a discredit to people actually effected, as well as an understatement any of said actions. however, i think it's equally important not to whitewash, or otherwise strip away the diverse identities, of the creators and the fandom.

i suppose you're likely talking about the dsmp here, and yes many of the largest personalities there are white, cis, straight men. but it's problematic in another sense to let that be the overall perception of the other queer, or genderqueer, or neurodivergent, or POCs on the server. so while that is by no means a justification for any racism or homophobia from this community, i think it's an aspect we can't easily overwrite.

also, just as important is to mention the fandom itself. i have never experienced or even seen a fandom as neurodiverse, young, and queer as this one at the moment. yes, people should be responsible for their actions and should be somewhat expected to be critical of most content, but that doesn't mean when you consume media you are a "bad person," especially when you're part of the marginalised community that has been hurt before in that media. to clarify with an example- as a trans person there is very little content i can find that has content about me or is not outright transphobic. but when i've found a space where most of my mutuals are trans as well, and can all assign a character as trans too, as broad as that can be, i think that's still more important than the outside perception of a fandom in general. and even beyond a character standpoint, the very interactive nature of myct means that these creators are going to be more exposed to us in return, and be given the ability to grow intellectually as well.

i get that for a lot of white men especially, this is the bare minimum that is often over celebrated, but equally, there's also this weird moral high ground people get off on saying "google is free" when someone has reached out to try and learn something. but that's a larger cultural issue than just in mcyt. but for the sake of understanding, can we all agree that it is a Good Thing when people want to rethink what they've been taught by society.

something else specific to the "media i'm engaging in" is the massive, massive broad scope of who and what 'myct' involves. as i pointed out before, i'm more of a viewer of hermitcraft, mcc, speedrunning than dsmp. (also not trying to make more divides between mcyt fandoms etc just an observation!) so there is often very little crossover between parts of fandom people can be right to be wary of and that of everything else. like, what comes to mind, when people say "myct DNI' on their pinned post or something, that covers so much more than DSMP, it also includes anyone looking at how to use a repeater or something for their redstone build. it's just a bit odd, and once again, i think ties into this idea of moral superiority people can get by not being part of "irredeemable media" even if they don't know what that entails. (not directed at you anon, just generally)

ok, so finally, this was the bit that was most interesting to me. "I don't understand why fiction is being held to a standard that real people aren't held to and I wanted to understand your reasoning." (for context, anon asked this after i made a post on concerns i had for antisemitism in inside job on netflix) i genuinely think this is a cool point to make that involves more discussion than you'd think on ideas of marxism and means of production haha. so, firstly, a distinction of real people vs fiction is always really important in this fandom. it's true that there is a harder distinction between c! and cc! mostly because of the way in which this fandom evolved but there does need to be an understanding on actions of a character and actions of a content creator- for example, well known youtuber Dream has not abused other youtuber Tommy Innit into suicide. (for this portion i will mostly be talking about dsmp creators as they are the streamers i'm most familiar with.)

so with that in mind, let's talk about these standards.

(disclaimer: this is personal opinion developed from being involved in the fandoms of both marvel and mcyt from which i'll be making comparisons)

right off the bat, i don't think the real people- ccs- in mcyt are actually held to lower standards than fiction- such as hit TV shows on Netflix (inside job which was mentioned earlier.) the unfortunate prominence of twitter in this fandom means the smallest slip up by very young people in front of a live audience of thousands means "name /neg" can be trending in minutes, and soon people beyond the fandom circle have heard about it and formed opinions based off screenshots. i'm not trying to justify any actions, merely providing an explanation of how these 'standards' are often impossible to always meet, and cc's are punished pretty regularly by them anyway.

comparatively, creators with deals with netflix have massive teams controlling press, and carefully curating speeches that mean a lot can get by with little push back. and even if it does get pointed out, this is a massive corporation that can afford to keep a sinking ship (think about dave -the-terf- chappelle and the failure of supposedly market lead capitalism. by this i mean, free market economics say that if the audience doesn't like a product, it will not be produced. dave chappelle has instead been repeatedly defended by netflix at the cost of the jobs of several employees who spoke out. and i am furious.)

this isn't really comparable to minecraft streamers who in the past made an offensive joke, was called out on it, and so deleted all their content they felt might also be problematic. again, not a defence, merely an observation.

finally, we must also talk about the methods of earning. other people have mentioned this in a far better way than me but i still need to point out how as long as streamers are paying their mods, they aren’t exploiting anyone. they’re getting paid however much people want to pay in return for a performance. most significantly, you don’t have to pay to watch them, even. it’s entirely voluntary. this isn’t even mentioning the insane amounts of money given to charity by these creators, and the community. people say actions over words? show them the mcc pride 21 results, or the >£300,000 technoblade raised for sarcoma cancer research. like that is a lot of money for important causes. give them some credit.

they aren’t the rich we need to eat.

anyway, that was a loooong post, hope that explained a lot of my feelings anon. fingers crossed this was written in a legible way, there’s not a lot i can do to break up the massive amounts of text lol. also please bare in mind, i am young, with different opinions and though i have tried to remain impartial in my explanation, that is obviously impossible. either way, fuck dave chappelle and fuck netflix.

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