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communistkenobi · 7 months

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in the discourse landscape of gay shipping I think a crucial element is the underdog effect. official approval of your ship from showrunners (ie ship going canon) compromises your marginal status as a fandom shipper on tumblr, and in the long run produces a sore winner subjectivity where you must constantly insist that your ship is still good and subversive. destiel is a good edge case as it went canon in the most homophobic way possible, thus maintaining something of an underdog status despite it being explicitly addressed in the text of supernatural, while still ultimately losing its fandom dominance as evidenced by it constantly losing in shipping polls. ofmd shippers in this respect occupy a conflict of class interests in which their gay canonicity confers a level of comfort and stability that gay shippers who have to work in the posting mines doing web weaves will never experience. therefore, we can consider ofmd shippers to be the petit bourgeoisie of the fandom ecosystem, caught between the big bourgeoisie (tv writers) and the proletariat (stuckys), predictably choosing to engage in downwards class conflict to maintain their narrowly privileged status

#fandom discussion

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1shadowhole · 10 months

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I'd like to join in on the "_ fell first, _ fell harder" debate because I have been seeing many posts which argue that Merlin fell first and Arthur fell harder and... Ah ah ah ah. No. No that is not what happened.

Arthur fell the moment this twink with an attitude came to him and called his ass out. No one aside from Morgana has ever dared SASS him in his life and it made him find out some things about himself. Whereas Merlin saw an asshole and said: "What a bitch" and tried to punch him. Arthur liked that. Merlin didn't like Arthur sending him to the dungeons.

In the first episodes, Merlin is keeping him safe because of destiny, while Arthur is willing to trust him (ep. 2) save his life after a magic confession (ep. 3), and give his life (ep.4).

Arthur fell first.

By the time season five arrives Merlin is lost. He hasn't just fallen for Arthur. He has dug himself a hole so deep he can't see the bottom just that he can fall that much harder. He is quite simply obsessed with keeping Arthur safe and happy. Not for his destiny (which he has by now completely forgotten) but for Arthur.

There is no one else in his mind but his King, so much so that in the first episode of the last season he would not think twice before leaving all his knight friends to die, if it meant bringing Arthur to Camelot safe and away for Morgana. He gives up his and thousands of people's life and freedom for Arthur. This guy is completely gone for Arthur and can't think about anyone else.

On the other hand, Arthur CAN and does think about others... Gwen, his knights, and his people, even if he values Merlin "above all others".

So Arthur fell first. But Merlin fell harder.

Dat's how I see it anyway, feel free to disagree 💪

#i speak #merlin #merthur #bbc merlin #merlin fanfiction #arthur #bbc merthur #merlin fandom #arthur pendragon #Arthur fell first Merlin fell harder #Fandom #fandom discussion #merthur headcanon #Damn I have a lot of things to say today huh #Own post

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buried-in-autumn-leaves · 5 months

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As a fanfic writer, I've always faced more judgement for headcanons that involve making characters disabled than ones that make them queer.

Both of these are matters of projection for me, yet one is always seen as just a touch too far for people to handle.

Disabled people exist. Queer disabled people exist. Chronically ill people exist. Diabled people are not required to ignore their existence when it comes to media. They deserve to be seen just as much as able-bodied queer people do.

If seeing disabled people in media makes you uncomfortable, I can only imagine how you might treat disabled people in real life.

#I felt like complaining today #disability #chronically ill #chronic illness #chronic pain #chronic fatigue #fandom discussion

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curiositysavesthecat · 4 days

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Tap here for a poll about whether or not writers mimic other writers’ writing styles and/or take inspiration from other writers’ works

*this poll was submitted to us and we simply posted it so people could vote and discuss their opinions on the matter. if you’d like for us to ask the internet a question for you, feel free to drop the poll of your choice in our inbox and we’ll post them anonymously (for more info, please check our pinned post)

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acefusti138 · 3 months

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if im being entirely real, i kinda hate how the mcu moon knight fandom ignores marc spector in lieu of steven grant. no one ever gives marc all the soft treatment that they give ‘precious cinnamon roll steven’ and it pisses me off. there’s so much jakesteven art that legit doesn’t even mention marc. he deserves so much better than this fandom only using him for his alters.

#ace speaks #marc spector #steven grant #jake lockley #moon knight #moon knight system #marvel mcu #jakesteven #marcsteven #marcjake #marcjakesteven #mcu moon knight #marcstevenjake #marvel moon knight #marvel #moon boys #fandom discussion

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yourleftpinkytoe-blog · 16 days

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I really want to address some shit that’s been on my mind recently. (This could be applicable to all fandoms but I’ll be taking specifically about the aftg fandom)

I really don’t like how some of you talk to people regarding shipping. Like I get not liking a ship. I myself can’t stand Andrew and Neil being shipped with Kevin. i always pictured Neil and Kevin having like a sibling dynamic and maybe Andrew thinking Kevin’s hot but nothing ever comes from it. Now I know I don’t enjoy content that contains this ship. So what do I do, I IGNORE IT. Rather than harass people for enjoying something I’m not a fan of (like some people) I just don’t interact. It’s not hard to scroll past something if you don’t like it.

I’ve seen so much shit discrediting and shit talking people who just don’t share your opinion. Like with ReneexJean, bro from the text we have it’s basically canon. Why are some people (cough cough jerjean shippers cough cough) just dismissing it so hard. Like just say you would rather read about two male characters WHO HAVEN’T TALKED EVEN ONCE ON PAGE then the border line canon straight ship. (Ik ik but tsc hasn’t been released yet im only talking about what we currently have canon wise)

No hate to jerjean I’m just using it to make a point. But I could also bring up the stuff with Thea and Kevin. They are canonically together. If you don’t like it FUCKING IGNORE IT. You don’t have to shit talk Thea because you don’t want her with Kevin. You don’t have to harass people who ship her and kevin. You can just scroll past it.

Idk why people feel the need to make everything about them but Holly shit I’m so tired of people not understanding the concept of not being an asshole over fictional people.

Don’t even get me started on how some of yall talk about Nora. Like bitch. SHES THE GOD DAMB AUTHOR. She could write anything about her characters and it doesn’t matter how much you bitch or moan that shits canon. Ignore it if you hate it that much but don’t harass her or talk down to her for literally giving us more information about the characters we love.

Some of yall are just so entitled and it makes me want to rip my hair out.

Anyway :b here’s some silly Kevin art I did in class<3

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foxyyaoguai · 10 months

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The antis have been all over my posts in the last few days, so I wanted to share my experiences and write a guide on how to deal with them.

First off: Our ships and character preferences are valid, no matter how hard some people try to demonize them. We are part of fandom and allowed to post about the things we enjoy, just like everyone else. Our fanfics, fanart, video edits, photo edits, etc. are all works of love and they deserve to exist and be explored by others.

✨ Strategies for dealing with antis ✨

Don’t engage. I have checked the bios of all the antis that left comments under my posts, and the majority of them are minors. You don’t want to talk to minors in fandom spaces!! And a conversation based on logic or reason won’t be possible either.

Delete their comments. Tumblr, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube allow you to delete comments, DO IT!! You created something with love and hateful comments have no place underneath it. Even if the comment just makes you uncomfortable and isn’t outright hateful, it is perfectly reasonable to delete it for your own sanity.

Block generously. Not only the people who target you specifically but also anyone who engages in character- or ship-bashing. People who do that for one ship will do it for other ships too and it’s extremely bad fandom etiquette. When you see a character or ship-bashing post, block everyone who liked it and then the poster.

Report people for harassment. The rules vary by site, but especially threats of violence should be reported. Also, if someone follows you to another social media site after you’ve blocked them, that is called block evading and you should report that too.

When you see other people getting hateful comments underneath their posts, leave a nice comment to offset some of the negativity. Your being supportive can make the difference between this person never posting again and them being motivated to keep going. People are always welcome to send me links to a post that is getting targeted by antis and I’ll like it and leave a nice comment. 🥰

Don’t let the bad comments outshine the positive ones! Every time my post gets enough traction for antis to find it, it also gets lots of lovely reactions. Many people have told me that my content and recommendations made them ship my OTP, and that is the single thing that makes me happier than anything else. Take a screenshot and look at these kinds of comments when you feel down. This is the real reason you should keep posting.

Most hate comments are exceptionally uncreative. It helps to laugh about it, preferably with a friend. ✨ Remember, you used your energy to create something and you should be proud of it!

When you see a creator you like, but they also display obnoxious behavior towards people who like other ships, characters, or dynamics, at the very least don’t give them a platform by sharing their posts.

Stay safe. Don’t post personal information online.

It’s completely valid to step away from social media for some time. Private your accounts, turn off notifications, do a canon reread, read some fanfics in peace. Whatever it takes to remind you why you love the things you love.

Bonus Tip: Watch videos of cute animals to destress. Bunnies nose-booping each other can (and will) cure anti-induced anxiety. :)

✨ Platforms sorted by least to most toxic and my advice for using them ✨

1. Discord

Discord is great because you can join servers specifically for your favorite characters and ships. If a server doesn’t already exist, consider setting one up! Pro tip: only invite people that have positively interacted with you in the past. A small server consisting of nice people is a lot more fun than a large server consisting of members that can’t get along or are only marginally interested in the topic.

Fandom Discord servers have clear guidelines on what you can post. As long as you follow the rules, people have no grounds for calling you out. In my experience, moderators are quick to respond to harassment.

When you join a server and you see they heavily restrict certain types of content, it is a red flag. Proceed with caution, even if you plan to only talk about “safe” characters and ships.

2. Tumblr

I have rarely gotten hateful comments on Tumblr, and the few times I did they were easy to delete.

A lot of the older fandom generations use Tumblr and they are more mature and accepting of all kinds of content.

3. Twitter

Twitter makes it easy to curate your own fandom experience. You can mute words you don’t like to see on your timeline, mute and block users, and most people have their ship preferences in their bio.

4. Instagram

My Instagram posts about Jadecest get a lot of positive interaction, even more than on Twitter. There are unpleasant comments once in a while, but they are easy to delete.

Blocking a user will delete all their comments from your posts.

5. YouTube

People who don’t like your ship will downvote your videos and downvotes lead to the algorithm not recommending your videos.

I have gotten a few negative comments, but they are easy to delete.

6. Reddit

When you post in a fandom subreddit, everyone will see the post, independent of their ship preferences.

There are a lot of minors on Reddit.

You can’t delete comments.

Most fandom subreddits are poorly moderated.

7. TikTok

I have gotten the most hate comments on TikTok. They can be filtered or deleted, but antis interacting with your video by leaving hate comments will lead to the algorithm recommending your content to even more antis. It can get very ugly.

If you post on TikTok consider turning off comments, stitches, and video replies. You can also mark your content as 18+, so it won’t get recommended to minors. (Again, antis tend to be underage.)

Platforms are more toxic the more they show your content to people outside your bubble. Discord, Tumblr, and Twitter keep your content relatively well contained to your circle of friends. Reddit, TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram heavily promote your content outside your bubble, which is good, because more people are going to see it, but also bad, because it reaches more antis.

~~~

Antis are loud and obnoxious, but it’s important to remember that they are a minority. Ship and let ship still exists, especially among the people who have been in fandom spaces for more than just a few years. Don’t be afraid to post your content and express your love for your favorite characters and ships! I, for one, would love to see your creations, and many other people would love to see them too.

What are your experiences and strategies for dealing with antis?

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boywifesammy · 5 months

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im sure everyone’s seen the argument by non-wincest shippers that canon weirdcest moments can be explained off as particularly close brothers. i’ve seen wincesties respond by straight up denying it, but honestly, i see where they’re coming from. they do TECHNICALLY have a point, yet still, it fundamentally doesnt sit well with me.

if you isolate all of these little incidents they could be perceived as purely brotherly. its got me thinking about what exactly makes wincest so appealing, and why i as a wincest shipper immediately have an exasperated reaction to people insisting that sam&dean are purely platonic.

i also see this argument frequently bundled with the stance that “weirdcest isn’t a justification for shipping wincest” (which is a whole other can of worms altogether— the puritan culture of ship culture rn), but you gotta take a step back and just ask yourself… why am i so intent on seeing these characters as platonic?

the prevailing argument ive seen is that siblings CAN be terribly close without being incestuous. this is totally fair. i’m not saying that if you are particularly close with your siblings in a sam & dean type manner that you are incestuous. obviously relationships between family is vastly complex & changes with the culture you grew up in.

the only problem here is that people try to go so far to explain sam&dean’s relationship as to not paint it as romantic. if they weren’t related, it’d be insane to think they weren’t romantic. they are consistently and repeatedly put in situations and exchange dialogue that’s used to convey romantic tone in western media. my point here being— the writers know that they are doing. and they are doing it INTENTIONALLY.

yes, certain cultures find extensive physical touch and kisses between siblings platonically acceptable. yes, you can be very close to your siblings without wanting to fuck them. but that is such a reach given what you are being presented with. you are missing the fundamental thematic point of supernatural: family horror!!

by so steadfastly arguing that sam&dean cannot be read as romantic you are purposefully ignoring the the text. you are glossing over the repeating themes of generational trauma and incest that are touched on time and time again, with john’s father abandoning him, mary’s parents being hunters, the struggle she went through to get out of the life but how family trauma & the past permeates itself into your being. you are ignoring the benders, the ghost pregnant with her fathers child, and the time azazel KISSED MARY in HER FATHERS BODY.

supernatural pushes incestuous themes SO HARD. it purposefully plays with & explores the double-sided blade that is family. it touches on a REALLY TABOO subject without being overwhelming or heavy handed. of course its going to attract people who enjoy these themes. OF COURSE we’re going to look at the two homoerotic brother leads and see something between them! it’s intentionally placed in the script! its a valid reading of the text!

this is why i get frustrated when people say that wincest shippers are twisting canon for the sake of shipping, because we’re not. when people say this they are taking a piece of media that is intriguing in how it handles a socially unacknowledged part of the human experience and forcing their viewing of it on others. they are saying that you aren’t allowed to enjoy those themes because it is inherently wrong or shameful to EXPLORE THE TOPIC. i dunno. that sounds pretty authoritarian to me.

it’s totally fine to be grossed out by incest or avoid wincest because it makes you uncomfortable. what ISNT okay is to say its an exaggerated reaction to canon, because it really isnt. in fact, its a pretty normal & sane conclusion to come to after seeing those two. the fact that they aren’t explicitly incestuous might even enhance this idea. it touches on the unspoken secretive nature of family trauma and the complicated, messy reality of crossing boundaries with blood without being cliche or overdramatic.

im going to incite occam’s razor here: yes, they could just be brothers. yes, you can explain it all away as particularly close siblings. yes, you can argue that it isnt explicitly canon. but really, why would you do all that when the show incessantly implies that they’re more? and more importantly, why are you so quick to say that a topic cannot be explored because it’s complicated? is that really the sentiment that we as a society want to hold regarding media?

#oc #supernatural #spn meta #dean winchester #sam winchester #wincest #samdean #fandom discussion #anti censorship #<- will not be using the word pr/shp because im not a fan of it #it does the idea injustice because it isnt just about shipping but media censorship & social literacy as a whole #but yeah. this has been floating in my brain and i needed to get it out #if any of you have thoughts pls reply or elaborate in tags!!#this is something thats very important to me and i wanted to put it out there

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actual-changeling · 3 months

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I have tried to find a way to word this that isn't accusatory because that is not my goal here, but after writing and rewriting this a dozen or more times I've given up. I'm just upset about it all but I don't intend this to be taking it out on you specifically. I am truly sending it in good faith!

It's been incredibly difficult to be an ace fan with ace headcanons lately because of constant "Let. Them. Fcuk!" shouts from all corners, as though A/C must have sex on screen for their relationship to count. There are many posts insisting all headcanons are valid followed immediately by more posts insisting they have to be sexual creatures because of this or that reason and any thought to the contrary is just wrong. My "favorites" are the ones arguing that because they love human things so much then of course they must want to have sex because all humans want to have sex!

Needless to say as a human who has never once in my life wanted to have sex I find that incredibly othering. It's not the only argument that's been verging hard into acephobic and exclusionary rhetoric lately either.

Ace people can and do have sex. Ace people can also be sex repulsed or just uninterested. Aziraphale and Crowley could easily be any of those things just as easily as they could be sexual beings. What we see in the show and the book are two beings who canonically have demonstrated nothing about their thoughts on sex and sexuality. There are things some take as hints at a sexual nature but those same things can be read as something entirely nonsexual. As Neil said, sometimes an oxrib is just an oxrib. Canonically and textually all that scene shows is the birth of Aziraphale's hedonistic (in the philosophical sense of the term) desires. And yet, as hedonistic as that scene is, it is still not inherently sexual. It's one possible valid reading of the subtext to be sure but also not the only possible valid reading. You can take that scene to mean Aziraphale's gonna screw Crowley's brains out the second they avert Apocalypse 2.0 or you can take it to mean he's gonna drag him on a whirlwind tour of the dessert trays of every good restaurant in town instead. Both are valid interpretations of what Aziraphale going to town on that rib could be representing and neither is more correct. Both readings fit under the hedonism umbrella but true hedonism does not and has never mandated sexual activity. Aziraphale is a fine example of an ethical hedonist and yet his canonical hedonism is not concrete proof that he must want to have sex, as I have seen argued. Hedonism can include sex but it can also be entirely focused on food and drink or art and music or philosophy. Yes, you can be asexual and a hedonist, they are not contradictions in terms.

As a final note I just want to add my own stance on it. I personally think they may be idly curious about sex, perhaps enough to indulge now and then, but it's not something either feels they need in their relationship to feel valid and loved. I also feel I must say that I don't agree with the faction that says they'd be too pure as non-humans to even consider sex as an option. I find that just as othering, in a different way, as saying they must want sex because all humans do.

And so finally I come to my question at the end of all the rambling. If every headcanon is valid as canon does not show their thoughts on sex one way or the other, then why is it fine to see them as sexual and insist it has to be in the show and yet worthy of mocking to see them as ace and to not want a sex scene?

Good faith recognized and accepted, so no worries on that front.

I'm glad you felt comfortable enough to send the message in the first place, it's one of the reasons I always have anon asks on. I don't mind playing middle man (gn) for fandom discussions.

Edit: I just realised I might not have made it clear enough, but I'm alloaro myself, so same hat and all.

If every headcanon is valid as canon does not show their thoughts on sex one way or the other, then why is it fine to see them as sexual and insist it has to be in the show and yet worthy of mocking to see them as ace and to not want a sex scene?

The short answer is that it is not fine to mock or attack people for their headcanons, and I really wish I could tell you that it's simply a matter of kindness or working through some aphobia, but it's so, SO much more complicated than that.

I will try my best to explain my interpretation of why the above happens, but if I lose anyone at any point, don't hesitate to ask questions! Hopefully my red string will hold though.

The problem you describe is not specific to this fandom, it will pop up in literally every single one at some point or other, and in some corners it turn into queerphobia on all sides just being thrown around.

With Good Omens in particular, the canon Neil gives us is incredibly pliable, everything and nothing can apply, and you are not restricted by gendered subtext or implications. It's great! It really is! BUT it also means that people start projecting heavily on a character, headcanoning their specific labels for them, etc. which by itself isn't a problem.

It becomes one when a headcanon that does not align with theirs suddenly feels like a personal attack—as if headcanoning that character as something you aren't is invalidating your identity through that character. I hope that makes sense, simple version is people project a lot, and it gets very messy very fast.

Queer sexuality has a long and complicated history, and I really recommend to everyone to read up on i at least a little. In the media, you usually get one of two depictions of it: predatory or pornographic. Both suck, both are bad representation, both further already existing stereotypes.

However, that means any depictions of queer people that are not one of the above tend to be non-sexual to a point where the intention behind certain choices is very clear. Queer sexuality is bad and dirty, it should be hidden away, and is only allowed to exist if it can be consumed by cishet people or used for their amusement.

So where does that leave us with Good Omens?

Many people are desperate for good representation, myself included, and with the way Neil is writing the show, everything is possible, and some things even likely. He said himself that one of the reasons for the kiss was the destruction of deniability of their relationship.

We need to have queer sexuality on our screens because otherwise it will always be seen as other, and queer relationships will be denied on the basis of a 'lack of intimacy'. It sucks, it is completely inaccurate, and unfair, but that is where we are.

If we take this information and tie it back to the projection issues I talked about in the beginning, I think it's possible to understand the point I'm trying to make.

Suddenly it is no longer the character's sexuality that is not shown but their own, and that opens Pandora's box for all kinds of difficult emotions.

Everything above also applies to aspec people, just that most of us are usually looking for a lack of something rather than a presence, which is not better or worse than wanting queer sexuality explicitly shown. People end up butting heads—and it gets incredibly personal way too quickly—because you have group A, who want to see a sex scene because of above reasons, and then you have group B, who would prefer for that not to happen.

While that's a perfectly fine headcanon to have (and it SHOULD be respect, every hc should be), some people from A will see a post about them never having sex and interpret it (mostly subconsciously, I presume) as an attempt to repress queer sexuality from being shown.

The 'solution' (easier said than done) to the problem is learning when to step back and how to recognize when one is getting too caught up in their character(s)—or simply how to not be an asshole and scroll past something. Tumblr has great blacklist and blocking features, use them, people.

Bottom line, harassing people for their headcanons or other fandom ideas is rude, inappropriate, and makes you an asshole that needs to log off and go on a fucking walk.

#alex answers asks #alex talks good omens #good omens #crowley #aziraphale #good omens season 2 #good omens fandom #go2 #aziracrow #crowley x aziraphale #ineffable husbands #ineffable wives #ineffable spouses #fandom discussion

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vivika-ka · 4 months

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I’m screeching into the abyss because of how anxious I am, but uh...I made a video about how different fandom and shipping are now compared to 10 years ago. It covers many points we see here on Tumblr.

And if you love One Piece, I use multiple One Piece ships for examples. There’s even a tiny Luffy and Lawlu analysis in there XD

Please check it out! <3

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moon932 · 4 months

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I genuinely think that Gumshoe x Miles is an underrated ship in Ace Attorney. Don’t get me wrong, I understand the appeal of Phoenix and Miles, hell I enjoy reading the fics and browsing the tags. But I think so many focus on just those two. Focus on how well they ought to know each other, and completely miss out on the other relationships within the games. Platonic or not.

(more of my thoughts under the cut)

In the games it’s said and shown multiple times that Gumshoe and Miles have a close relationship. If you ignore the generalization of Gumshoe in the later games, which is a tragedy because Gumshoe was a really interesting character in this first game. He had more dimension, and if he was done right he could’ve portrayed a really interesting viewpoint that isn’t looked at that often. One that touches on how the people within the police system view it. Not to mention how this topic will always be an important thing to discuss, for those who rely on said system and those who work within and alongside it.

But I digress this post isn’t about that.

What this post is about, is that there is a lot more depth to Gumshoe and Miles relationship than I think both the games and fandom give it credit for. There is a trust there that I honestly think run deeper than the one portrayed by Phoenix and Miles. The fact that they’ve worked closely together for years before the first game starts. The fact that in the Investigation games we get a glimpse of how their dynamic works from Miles pov, which yeah we get it in the third game but there’s something more to it in the Investigations games in my opinion. Also in the DLC of the first game, the fact that Gumshoe left Miles the brochure for that lunch place, will always make me smile. It’s the fact that it was such a natural thing, a simple “hey I know you aren’t doing well, here’s a thing I think you might like.”

Not to mention that Gumshoe was the only one who knew Miles was alive during That Year? No one seems to actually talk about that. Putting aside what I think the letter meant, the fact that not even Franziska, Miles’s sister knew if he was alive or not. But Gumshoe knew? Guys. Guys.

Again, I get the draw of Wrightworth. I do, I was also very attached to the ship when I first got into the franchise and fandom. But I do think that there is something to be said about the other relationships portrayed in game that aren’t overly stated.

If this post was shit I’m sorry, please forgive any errors I’ll work on fixing grammar another day. Maybe I’ll also talk about my opinion of langworth if anyone is interested in that.

#ace attorney #miles edgeworth #phoenix wright #dick gumshoe #wrightworth #gumworth #fandom discussion #i don’t mean any of this as neg btw #this is just my opinion on the whole subject of gumworth

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communistkenobi · 11 months

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I’ve been thinking a lot about fandom recently, both as someone who has engaged with it regularly for over a decade on various platforms and also as someone who has increasingly become disenchanted with those spaces. Not only because of pervasive issues of (especially anti-Black) racism, misogyny, transphobia/homophobia, and the like, but the particular way those things take shape within fandom.

At the most basic level I think fandom has a fundamental methodological problem with the way it approaches texts, be they shows, books, movies, etc. What I mean is that people almost invariably approach fandom at the level of character, often at the level of ship - your primary way of viewing a text is filtered through favourite characters and favourite relationships, as opposed to, say, favourite scenes, favourite themes, favourite conflicts.

This is reinforced through the architecture of dominant platforms that host fan content, particularly AO3 - there are separate categories for fandom, character and ship, and everything else is lumped together in “Additional Tags.” You cannot, for example, filter for fics on AO3 by the category of “critical perspective” or “thematic exploration”. There is no dedicated space for fan authors to declare their analytical perspective on the text they are writing about. If an author declares these things, they do so individually, they must go out of their way to do so, because there are no dedicated or universally agreed-upon tags to indicate those things, and if your fanfiction has a lot of tags, that announcement of criticality gets mushed together in a sea of other tags, sharing the same space with tags like “fluff and angst” or “porn without plot.” Perhaps one of the few tags closest to approaching this is the tag “Dead Dove: Do Not Eat,” which doesn’t indicate perspective or theme but rather that there is, broadly, some kind of “problematic content” contained therein - often of a sexual nature, frequently as a warning about “bad” ships.

Now this is not an inherent problem, as in, it is not inherently incorrect to approach a text and primarily derive pleasure from it by focusing on a given character or relationship. And I think a lot of mainstream media encourages (even requires) audiences to engage with their stories at these character- and ship-levels. The political economy of the production of art (one which is capitalistic, one that seeks to generate comfort, titillation, controversy, nostalgia, or shock for the purposes of drawing in viewership, one that increasingly pursues social media metrics of “engagement” and “impressions”, one that allows for the Netflix model of making two-season shows before cancelling them, as well as a whole host of other things) enforces a particular narrative orthodoxy, one that heavily focuses on the individual interiority of specific characters, one that is deeply concerned with the maintenance of white bourgeois middle class values of property ownership, the nuclear family, normative heterosexual sexuality and gender, settler-colonial ideas about community and environment, etc. If you do not care about the familial drama surrounding Shauna cheating on her husband in Yellowjackets, for example, because you think the institution of monogamous marriage and the nuclear family is stupid and violent and heternormative, then you will have a difficult time engaging with the show in general. We exist within a deeply normative (and frequently reactionary) media environment that encourages us to approach art in a particular way, one that privileges the individual over other narrative components (settings, themes, conflicts, ideas, political and moral perspectives, structure, tone, etc).

All of which culminates in priming fans to engage with art at these levels and these levels alone, even when that scope is deeply inappropriate. A standout example I recently encountered was browsing the fandom tags on tumblr for the movie Prey - a movie that recontextualises the original Predator film by setting it in colonial America to make the argument that the horrific violence of white colonists and imperial soldiers is identical to the violence we see the Predator do to human beings. It is a movie that makes the argument that, despite this alien monster running around killing people, the villains of the franchise are these occupying soldiers and settlers, an alien force who themselves have just as little regard for (indigenous) human life.

And when browsing the tags on tumblr, what I found was dozens upon dozens of horny posts about how hot the predator monster was. Certainly there were discussion of the film’s narrative, and these posts got a good amount of notes, but the tags were heavily dominated with a focus on the Predator itself. People were engaging with this film not as a solid action movie with interesting and compelling anti-colonial themes, but as a way to be horny about a creature that is, ironically, a stand-in for white settler indifference to (and perpetuation of) indigenous suffering. And if this is your takeaway from an extremely straightforward film with a very clear message, this is not merely a failure to comprehend the content of a text, this is something beyond it - a problem that I think is due in part to the methodological problem of approaching all texts as vessels for bourgeois interiority, individual but ultimately interchangeable expressions of sexuality, perhaps best-expressed by the term “roving slash fandom,” a phenomenon wherein fans will move from one fandom to the next in search of two (usually white, usually skinny) guys to draw and write porn of, uncaring of any of the surrounding context of the stories they are embedded in, and consequently dominating a large sector of fandom discussion.

This even gets expressed in the primary ideological battleground of fandom itself, the ridiculous partitioning of all fan conflict into “pro-“ and “anti-“ shipping compartments. Your stance on engagement with fandom itself historically was (and still is) always first filtered through one of these two labels, describing your fundamental perspective on all texts you engage with. And both of these two labels are only concerned with shipping, as if all disagreements about art can only be interpreted through the lens of what characters you think are acceptable to draw or write having sex. Nowhere in this binary is space to describe any other perspective you might take, what approaches you think are valuable when interacting with art, what themes or stories you think are worth exploring. It’s not just that the pro/anti divide is juvenile and overly-simplistic, it is a declaration that all fan conflict must be read through the lens of shipping and shipping only - the implication being that any objections raised, and criticisms offered, is ultimately just bitching about ships you don’t like.

Which, again, I think is a fundamental error of methodology. It leaves no space for people to discuss the political and moral content of a work, the themes of a piece of art, the thorny issues of representation not just as expressed through individual characters but entire worlds, narratives, settings, and themes. You are always hopelessly stuck in the quagmire of “shipping discourse,” and even rejecting that framework will inevitably get you labelled as either pro- or anti-ship anyway - and you will almost invariably be labelled an “anti” if you express any kind of distaste for the bigoted behaviour of fans or the content of the text itself, again reinforcing the idea that this is all just pointless whining online about icky ships you personally hate.

And this issue is best perhaps epitomised by reader insert fanfiction, circumventing any need for you to project onto a character by literally inserting yourself into fiction, primarily in order to write/read about a character you want to fuck. This then intersects in particularly disgusting ways with real world politics, such as reader insert fics about Pedro Pascal going with you to BLM protests. Even if this is (incredibly over-generously) interpreted as a very poor attempt at being “progressive,” it still demonstrates that many (white) fans are often incapable of thinking about anything outside of a character-centric perspective, quite literally centring themselves in the process, and consequently they think it’s totally appropriate to do things like that. The fact that this is also frequently a racist lens is not coincidental, because again, a chronic focus on (fictional) individuality prohibits any structural perspective from entering the discussion, which necessarily excludes a coherent or useful perspective on systemic issues, where people come to the conclusion that the topic of police brutality is little more than a fun stage to enact whatever romantic shenanigans you want to get up to with a hot guy.

I will stress, again, that it is not a moral sin to have a favourite character, nor is it bad to enjoy reading about two guys having sex in fanfiction. I enjoy and do those things, I engage with fandom often through a character-centric lens (see my url) - because it’s fun! But I think that this being the dominant mode of engagement inherently excludes and marginalises all other approaches, and creates a fandom space where the most valuable way to talk about media is to discuss which two characters you most enjoy imagining fucking each other

#media #effortpost #fandom discussion

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fangswbenefits · 10 months

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PSA

Please consider supporting the writers you send requests to. While it can be flattering, it can also be annoying, especially considering how readers are interacting less and less with fanfiction.

There are authors here with taglists who go through the ordeal of tagging multiple people that end up not showing their support… not even dropping a like. That’s really discouraging.

Writers on this hellsite provide amazing fanfics for free.

And no, no one is forcing us to write, but we keep fandoms alive. How often do you watch a movie, tv show, anime, etc and then rush to tumblr and/or ao3? I know I do.

So please… take care of your writers.

#miguel o’hara x reader #fandom discussion #fanfiction discourse #across the spiderverse #miguel ohara x reader #atsv fandom

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bebx · 1 year

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“why do people ship character A with character B when they barely had any screen time together” is such a silly excuse to shit on other people’s interests when no one forces you to ship character A with character B to begin with. so you could’ve just ignored the ship if it wasn’t your thing instead of being a bitch about it. because 1.) the universe doesn’t revolve around you, not everybody is going to have the same opinions/preferences as you 2.) who tf cares how much screen time character A and B have together? shipping is never about how much screen time characters canonically have together when said characters are fictional and are never real to begin with. they could have zero screen time together, they could be in two entirely different fandoms, and people are still allowed to ship them. because the main point of shipping is not the Drama or the Fighting With Antis but the fun of it. people are allowed to engage in things that bring them joy when in fandoms; they’re allowed to ship, make fan art, write fanfics, create headcanons, or anything they want because what a stranger does with their life in their free time is none of your business. not liking a ship is totally fine, that’s your business. you can always ignore, block, mute things you don’t like. but going out of your way to be a total jerk just because complete strangers have different opinions about fictional characters in movies or books or tv shows is just insane.

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curiositysavesthecat · 4 days

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Tap here for a poll about whether or not writers are okay with other writers mimicking their writing styles and/or taking inspiration from their works

this poll was submitted to us and we simply posted it so people could vote and discuss their opinions on the matter. if you’d like for us to ask the internet a question for you, feel free to drop the poll of your choice in our inbox and we’ll post them anonymously (for more info, please check our pinned post)

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iamstartraveller776 · 12 days

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Consider if you will, that you wake up to that glorious email from ao3, the one that says you've got a comment on your fic. Excited, you open it, only to find a rude message. What a way to start your day, right?

I'm not going to tell you what you should or shouldn't comment on a fic. I'm just saying before you leave an unkind review, remember: {1} Fandom isn't Amazon where you're leaving a review for something you paid for; fanworks are given for free. {2} There is a human being behind that story. If you wouldn't say it to a stanger's face, maybe consider whether you should be saying it in a fic comment. {3} Your personal preferences are not supreme or moral. If you didn't like, should you really have read? You're responsible for your own experiences in fandom. Have you considered that maybe you aren't the intended audience for that fic?

You don't actually have to be an asshole when you come across fanworks you don't care for. Just saying.

#ao3 #ao3 etiquette #fandom #fandom etiquette #fandom discourse #fandom discussion #fandom wank

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