#really in my post tpm obi-wan era except to a lesser degree | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

gffa · 4 years

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Hi Lumi, I wanted to ask how it was like for you post-PT but pre-ST. As a PT fan (before the ST came along and loads of people now call it the worst trilogy of the bunch), it was just either OT or PT, and o' course everybody was all "OT is superior!" How was your experience in the early days? My first SW film was actually TPM! And I fell in love with the GFFA as shown in that movie, despite the clear missteps. It's kind of a dirty secret because people think I'm a lesser fan for liking TPM!

Hi! Oh, you’re sweet to ask this of me and you’re probably going to be disappointed with the answer because my Star Wars path has been kind of boring:--> I think I was vaguely aware of the OT, but I was so young it was hard to tell, beyond “I remember liking Princess Leia”--> The Phantom Menace was actually my first SW movie, too! I was HEAD OVER HEELS for that movie at the time, though, my memory of that era is really fuzzy because I was so young that all I remember is that I very strongly shipped Q/O and I think I read some of the JA books at the time?--> I drifted away from SW fandom probably about a year after TPM and I occasionally thought about checking out some Leia & Vader fic, but I never found any that appealed to me (I didn’t try very hard, mind) and so I kept wandering back off--> I wasn’t involved in SW fandom until The Force Awakens, when I came out a total sequels fan and that was my primary focus. Absurdly, the thing that got me to even go see TFA was that Darth Darth Binks theory on Reddit and I was desperate to know if it was true, it ate my brain for a couple of weeks.--> But then I got into ST fandom (I shipped Finn/Rey to a degree, but mostly I was a hardcore Kylux shipper back then) and wasn’t really involved in OT or PT era fandom, though, I was reasonably Jedi-critical. I did the whole “they were actually kind of a cult” and “they taught people to suppress their emotions” and “they had to end so a new, better source of the light could arise” bit. I was absolutely onboard that train. I even did the “everyone knows the prequels were objectively bad” thing, much to my chagrin.--> I wanted fix-it fic for the ST, because things were so sad! Luke and Leia and Han should be happy! I don’t find this new story satisfying, BRING ON THE FIX-IT FIC. Except you can’t really fix the OT 100% without fixing the PT. So, I started getting invested in time travel fics for the PT era, which led me to go, “hmm, maybe I should watch The Clone Wars” because everyone says it’s actually good.--> Three things happened over the span of about the first six episodes of TCW: - I realized, what, what? Obi-Wan is actually pretty kind and supportive towards Anakin??? But that’s not-- that’s not what I thought was going on with the prequels??? - OH SHIT OLD MARRIED COUPLE BANTER WITH OBI-WAN AND ANAKIN, NOOOOOOOO, I ANTI-SHIPPED THEM BEFORE, NOW THEY’RE AN OTP??? WHAT IS GOING ON HERE??? - Well, shit. I love this show. I love these characters. I’m going to go back and go over the prequels movies again. WAIT, THE PREQUEL MOVIES ARE MY FAVORITES NOW????--> That was me now. That was my life now. Die-hard Jedi stan, Obi-Wan Kenobi stan, Anakin stan, Obi-Wan&Anakin stan, prequels stan.Which is a long-winded way of saying: I never really had a chance to experience the post-PT/pre-TFA fandom in the way you probably did. My experiences with TPM fandom were very positive, people loved that movie and they were excited about the characters and sharing a crapload of fic, and I didn’t really experience much of the wider world beyond that fandom specifically.By the time I got into TCW fandom, it had been established enough that it had its fans and I could sink into that part of the fandom, as well as I wasn’t registering the “the PT is kind of actually really terrible” comments because I had internalized a lot of that and was only just beginning to shed it.I know it was tough for a lot of years and even today I still see a lot “yeah, but everyone knows the PT movies were really bad” like it’s objective fact, but I think the more SW explores more areas, the more people can just go, “Well, that part wasn’t for me, I’m going to stick to the part I like.” and it eases things up. I think it was probably hard for a lot of OT fans when the PT was in full swing, where all the new TV shows and comics and books were very PT-heavy, so there wasn’t really room to get away from it.Now, we each have more space to play in, if we don’t like that era over there. And I think that’s a thing that’s really, really valuable, that a lot of us need that kind of positive space to just have a good time in our fandom, instead of constantly being bombarded by people who actively dislike what we like. As well as we need to be able to get away from things we don’t like, lest we become the ones elbowing out others’ enjoyment of what they happen to like.My closest experience to yours is probably being a Jedi fan in this fandom, which, LOL, can be pretty difficult sometimes. I’ve mostly made my peace with it and found my groove for myself, but there were some really, really rough patches when I just wanted to be left the fuck alone or when I felt incredibly isolated. This isn’t me yelling at fandom, people have different opinions! But because of the way a handful of fans behaved and a lot of my fellow Jedi fans feeling pushed out of fandom/too scared to make posts, it was hard to navigate through my feelings on that.I imagine a lot of PT fans went through similar struggles with their feelings and how it felt like they were being elbowed out by people hating on this thing they loved, in such large numbers.But I’m glad that you seem to be in a better place. It sucks that we go through this, but fandom is fandom, they don’t owe us agreement with what we like, whether they’re perfectly nice about it or assholes about it, and we can make our own corners in fandom and find joy that way.Being in love with TPM is GREAT and anyone who says that you’re wrong for loving that movie is being a dick. It doesn’t have to be their favorite movie, hell, they can think it’s a terrible movie. But there’s room for more than one opinion and viewpoint, so JUST YELL LOUDER HOW MUCH YOU LOVE TPM AND THE GALAXY OF THE PREQUELS. It’ll make you feel better to pour out a bunch of love for this thing you like, too. ♥

#i should have a personal tag around here somewhere #Anonymous

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