Maps and Mirrors

In my previous post I included language that indicated I wasn't interested in opposing opinions. This was a mistake that I deeply regret.

I don't learn anything if I don't listen to ideas that are different from mine. I never want to be the kind of person who doesn't.

Huh. 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.

It finally snowed yesterday! Looks like it's going to stick, too.

I've done something potentially foolish and registered for Pacificon 2010/bitchinparty. I don't do this - I like staying behind the digital curtain. Eep.

Of course, just because I've paid for the registration doesn't mean I have to show up ...

I have a confession to make. Remember how I said that even though I hadn't replaced my TV yet I was able to keep up with shows online? Yeaaaah, that's turned out to be a big case of Not Happening. I haven't watched a single show online since before the beginning of the year. And no, still no new TV. So there's been no Life, no House, no Chuck, no Pushing Daisies, no Sarah Connor Chronicles. Now I have to add no BSG and no Burn Notice to that.

If I'm not a TV Slut, who am I?

Fandom means never having to explain why you think Duncan Macleod and Methos ought to get married and have fifteen adopted Immortal babies, and being able to find someone who wants to listen to your reasons anyway. Fandom means skipping the explanation of who Captains Jack Sparrow and Jack Harkness are and cutting directly to the extremely kinky multiverse 'fic where they hijack the TARDIS and go shag every attractive person in SF history. Squee means giggling at the thought of either of those, or better, at the thought of your own favorite couple stowing away on-board to watch the fun, and then writing it up to share with your best fandom friend.

Yes, please. From Celebrating Squee by Merlin Missy.

So through _medley_ I found fan_eunice, and in a post by fan_eunice was a comment by celli that referred to the TV show Cupid which made me go, "OMG someone else has heard of that show!" and in checking out celli's profile I see she belongs to cupid_talk which didn't exist when I first created this LJ, and in cupid_talk I find a post from January with a link to a poll by Sony Home Video asking which TV show should be the next one they release on DVD and Cupid is not only on there but it's winning, though Bette Midler's eponymous show from a few years back is close enough to make me uncomfortable.

Oh, and the poll is still active, and as it's still linked from their main 'TV on DVD' page I'm guessing that they're still paying attention, so go vote!