#and sure i won't deny a lot of very weird and sometimes downright gross stuff that got created out of them

[natasha-in-space]

Gonna rant a bit about fandoms, because I have some thoughts to share.

Kind of sad to see that fandoms are starting to be viewed as a generally bad thing even by the fans lately... It is such a strange change to see, especially if you've been participating in fandom culture since the beginnings of the internet. Nowadays, the moment something becomes fairly popular and beloved by many, you can see hundreds of people feeling genuinely frustrated or upset that 'now the fandom is going to ruin it like it always does'. I see this take mainly on Twitter, but it's prominent on Tumblr and other platforms as well. I've been a part of fandoms both big and small, and, sure, smaller fandoms are generally more cozy and easy to interact with, but what happened with curating your own experience? It's so sad to see bigger fandoms be addressed as this disgusting and gross thing (both old and new, which is even more upsetting to see), when there are thousands of wonderful creators putting so much love and time into their art, fanfics, fan-projects, and so much more. Fandom is a community, first and foremost. Sure, consuming content is a big part of it, but why are we treating fandoms like it's some big assembly line that needs to be perfectly cut out for our needs? It's more like a fun fair, and it's up to you to choose which vendors to come up to, and what do you want to interact with. And yes, you should interact with creators. By no means is that a necessity (I was a silent viewer for a long time myself), but it is still encouraged. I feel like fandom is becoming less about interacting with people and more about consuming content. And, subsequently, fanmade content is starting to get viewed as product, and treated as such. And that's sad to see.

#mia babbles #might delete later #of course there is nuance to this - i am just complaining lol #it's just sad because i feel like by being so negative about fandom as a whole - you are invalidating so many wonderful people #no fandom is a bad fandom (unless we're talking about harmful media but that's a whole other can of worms) #i've been a part of many fandoms that get brought up as 'disgusting' and 'the worst ones' #and sure i won't deny a lot of very weird and sometimes downright gross stuff that got created out of them #but what about thousands of beautiful art that artists put hours of their lives creating? #what about all the amazing stories that writers worked tirelessly on out of nothing but their love for something? #and that's not mentioning everyone else - because fandoms are not complete without folks interacting with fanworks #it's a community not a product #i feel like a grumpy grandma complaining about the youth not getting it but... sigh