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phoenix64Huh. It seems I may have expressed an unpopular fannish opinion, but the truth is the more I think about it the more I'm not sure I'm right anyway.
Not everything in fandom is for everyone, to put it mildly. There's stuff out there that some people would find disturbing and upsetting but by and large the majority of (the sane people in) fandom will fight against the idea that it shouldn't exist. I'm absolutely one of those people. I used to have a mostly non-fannish personal LJ and one of the reasons I abandoned it for this one full-time was my frustration with the lack of support for fandom from the other people I associated with on that journal when LJ was giving fandom a hard time. Someone's creative expression might make my skin crawl, it might make my stomach turn, it might make me cry angrily, but I am highly unlikely to argue that it shouldn't exist.
But what about when it's the source material that's problematic? Does that deserve the same tolerance?
I guess I haven't really run into this issue before. The only instance I can think of that would have been widely known would have been Spike's attempted rape of Buffy and I wasn't hanging around the general fannish community at the time. Did that get used fannishly in a way that upset people? Because that's the issue that came up for me: the eroticizing of a situation where someone was being victimized. The victimization aspect wasn't being eroticized, it was just ignored.
Keeping in mind that I normally occupy a pretty small corner of fandom, mostly populated by people that are like me in age range and general background. I mention it because I think part of what prompted me to say something was that I knew much of the audience in this case was much younger. I suspect I may be a little maternally concerned (which is a strange place for me to be, I'm just saying). But am I guilty of not respecting people's ability to treat fantasy and reality differently? Or is it justified that I be concerned that people aren't recognizing what's wrong with the source material?
I don't know, I'm just curious what other people think. I'm not convinced that I'm always right and I'd certainly like the opportunity to form a more considered opinion, whether or not it's the same as the one I'm currently holding.
SO IF YOU READ THIS AND COMMENT ON IT I'D REALLY APPRECIATE IT.
*ahem* Thank you.
Not everything in fandom is for everyone, to put it mildly. There's stuff out there that some people would find disturbing and upsetting but by and large the majority of (the sane people in) fandom will fight against the idea that it shouldn't exist. I'm absolutely one of those people. I used to have a mostly non-fannish personal LJ and one of the reasons I abandoned it for this one full-time was my frustration with the lack of support for fandom from the other people I associated with on that journal when LJ was giving fandom a hard time. Someone's creative expression might make my skin crawl, it might make my stomach turn, it might make me cry angrily, but I am highly unlikely to argue that it shouldn't exist.
But what about when it's the source material that's problematic? Does that deserve the same tolerance?
I guess I haven't really run into this issue before. The only instance I can think of that would have been widely known would have been Spike's attempted rape of Buffy and I wasn't hanging around the general fannish community at the time. Did that get used fannishly in a way that upset people? Because that's the issue that came up for me: the eroticizing of a situation where someone was being victimized. The victimization aspect wasn't being eroticized, it was just ignored.
Keeping in mind that I normally occupy a pretty small corner of fandom, mostly populated by people that are like me in age range and general background. I mention it because I think part of what prompted me to say something was that I knew much of the audience in this case was much younger. I suspect I may be a little maternally concerned (which is a strange place for me to be, I'm just saying). But am I guilty of not respecting people's ability to treat fantasy and reality differently? Or is it justified that I be concerned that people aren't recognizing what's wrong with the source material?
I don't know, I'm just curious what other people think. I'm not convinced that I'm always right and I'd certainly like the opportunity to form a more considered opinion, whether or not it's the same as the one I'm currently holding.
SO IF YOU READ THIS AND COMMENT ON IT I'D REALLY APPRECIATE IT.
*ahem* Thank you.
no subject
Date: 2011-07-21 04:27 am (UTC)Not many fans have objected to this, but some have, and some have used it in their stories or meta. And I think that's awesome and enjoy it - even while I rationalise to myself that the show is eye candy and fantasy, like the action movies I watch, that aren't mean to reflect reality but to reflect what we sometimes secretly wish we could get away with.
The original H50 was a realistic cop show. The reboot is just pretty, flashy, explosions, and witty banter with just enough plot to hang the scenes together with string. So I don't mind that the canon is full of things i'd object to in a realistic show (violence, etc). But I can see why others do object and I appreciate their efforts to acknowledge it and deal with it in some way.
no subject
Date: 2011-07-21 06:38 am (UTC)Certainly the last thing I want to do is even remotely imply that I'm discouraging discussion of problematic source material, either directly or indirectly through meta or fanworks. My concern is when someone is taking problematic source material and ignoring the parts about it that are problematic and using it in a manner that is fluffy or eroticized or whatever.
There's an example I've seen being used frequently and I kind of felt the need to say, "No, seriously, that's icky, I really wish people would stop doing that." Then I wonder if they understand why it's problematic. Then I wonder if I'm not giving them enough credit. Then I think and think and think some more until I think myself into a mental Möbius strip and I remember that cliché about the definition of insanity and figure it's time for some new input.