#but it's kinda there? | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

not-a-21st-century-girl · 7 months

Text

There's something i think about a lot in the context of how gomens fandom tends to blindly follow everything neil says and view it as 100% canon, even though he himself said multiple times that's not how his words outside of the actual text should be treated.

It's the way modern fandoms, from what i see, are becoming too dependent on creators of their canon. Fandom culture, as a whole, is built on the death of author concept, on the idea that authors lose their power over their texts the moment they finish them. For years fandoms were something that creators of the canon used to look down on, or ignore, or disapprove — but no one cared, because the very idea of the fandom implies that you can do what you want and go against anything author says, or even against the things that are actually part of the canon, just because you don't like them.

But in the last idk how many years fandom culture grew bigger and more noticeable, and gradually stopped being perceived as something freaky or weird, and for canon creators, it simply became... more profitable? more logical? to interact with the fandom rather than ignore it. And ofc there's also the fact that fandom culture is and was largely queer culture, and it's becoming more and more normal to make mass media for queer people (which is a good thing!). So there we get more and more official social media accs being friendly with fans, PR-companies playing with hints on a popular ship, authors talking about their fandom and awnsering its questions, and canons themselves catering to fandom's needs, or whole canons being created with those needs in mind — "look, we have a new series with a queer couple that has a dynamic you people love! Come and write fanfics about them and we won't be mad at you like everyone was before!" And it works, of course it works, because we finally get what we want, we're finally being taken seriously! Things are finally being made for us!

And, obviously, it isn't inherently a bad thing. It's probably an inherently good thing even. But with that attitude becoming more and more common, the line between the "official" stuff and fandom becomes more and more blurred. And then... if the creators of our canon are friendly, surely we've got to be friendly too? If they're saying things we like, it would only be fair if we, too, would try to at least not say things they don't like? They've created that book/movie/series/etc that we all like after all, so the least we can do is be thankful and acknowledge what they have to say.

Which is all well, of course. But the way i see it, the moment fandom bends to meet the canon's authors' wishes, it loses its purpose. The decorum — the fanworks, the ships, the discourse — stays, but the very core if it is missing. It's not about bending the story any way you like it, no matter what author or anyone else thinks, anymore. And it frustrates me a lot.

#for the record: there are obvs a lot of the factors affecting everything #so ofc I'm not saying this whole thing with #fandom becoming louder > authors starting to make things for the fandom > fandom starting to try to not make authors mad #is that simple or that straight #but it's kinda there?#not really #good omens critical #but kinda related

35 notes · View notes

bookpdf · 3 months

Text

unfortunately i Do feel better when i clean my living space and eat enough fruits and veggies and go outside and generally remember i am a mammal :| real pity that knowing this does not make it easier to do those things

#i am my own zookeeper basically and that kinda sucks

61K notes · View notes

marciaillust · 2 months

Text