#and i think it’s important to allow people to explore problematic characters | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

eenochian · 8 months

Text

the way this fandom treats characters is astounding. like y’all do realize that every single character is shitty, right? literally every last one. your blorbo is not an exception. no, “but my fave—” no exceptions. literally the only character that i can’t think of any issues with off the top of my head is farah.

#call of duty #cod #obviously some characters are worse than others #i think we can all hold hands and agree that makarov takes the ‘most evil character’ cake #and lots of people acknowledge graves’ actions #and i’ve even seen people bring up valeria’s actions #but the way y’all (general) just. pick and choose who to criticize #it’s important to acknowledge and discuss the flaws these characters have #and i think it’s important to allow people to explore problematic characters #but if you’re gonna do that— acknowledge EVERYONE’S flaws #price nikolai and gaz literally kidnapped a civilian woman and child. used them as ‘bargaining chips’. held a gun to a little boy’s head #soap & ghost may not have any highlights (that i can recall) but they’re SAS.#the military– especially the specops– are not known for being above board and clean #price’s catchphrase is literally ‘we get dirty world stays clean’#this cast is full of fuckin war criminals. they’re ALL shitty.#obviously some are worse than others (motioning to makarov valeria & graves)#but acting like the ‘good’ characters are unproblematic is harmful imo. there are real people that have been victimized by the military #–including the SAS. your blorbos are in an organization that devastates entire countries with war #i guess i’m sick of seeing people’s obvious favoritism in this fandom.#y’all (general) love to discuss shitty behavior and read-world equivalents until it involves your faves #and i’m not saying this to tell people to stop writing for everyone. i personally dislike the ‘don’t write for problematic charas’ mindset #but hold every single character to that standard for the love of god #and ‼️be mindful while writing/discussing potentially harmful stuff‼️#be sensitive to the groups that might be seeing this. remember that COD is a war game that romanticizes the military and war #with the sole intent of getting people to join #no one is perfect. they’re ALL shitty people. some are worse than others– but they ALL represent real-world issues #the ‘only enjoy unflawed characters’ mindset links back to purity culture and media literacy dying #seeing people expect an imperfect media to have a perfect fandom is draining #the community needs to be a safe space for everyone. but groups will inevitably clash and that’s why we have the block button and filtering #just like. don’t disrespect people. be mindful with your work. but also— BE LIBERAL with catering your fandom space!

18 notes · View notes

fabuloustrash05 · 3 days

Text

Some of My TMNT Hot Takes (PART 2) 🔥

Warning: More Opinions

Part 1 Here

I don’t like that in Mutant Mayhem Donnie is not a “science guy” but instead is more of an anime and pop culture geek. I’m not against him being an anime fan (I love anime too) but I wish we saw more of his science and being a tech genius side instead of him just liking stereotypical “nerdy stuff”. If that makes sense.

I don’t like the Punk Frogs (any version).

The 87 crossover episodes in the 2012 series (as much as I did enjoy them & are great episodes) should not have happened. They leave no real impact or development to 2012’s overarching story and just waste time. These episodes could’ve covered more important things that 202 was desperately lacking like like character exploration and character dynamic development. It was just nostalgic fanservice. The arc in S5 specifically would’ve work better as a movie instead of a 3-4 episode arc in the (most likely non canon) final season.

Shinigami being Mikey’s second love interests ruins her character a bit (for me personally). That was a pointless decision that did NOT need to happen. She would’ve been our first recurring female character to not be a love interest, but nope!

People are allowed to like/ship Donnie x April in ROTTMNT (this is coming from someone who’s not crazy about April being shipped with the Turtles).

I ship Yuichi with 2012 Leo more than Rise Leo (still ship Rise Leoichi, but I just think 2012 Leoichi is way more interesting, plus 2012 Leo deserves a good love interest).

The humans in Mutant Mayhem look ugly af (I know that was probably an intentional design choice but still. It looks bad.)

I hate Raph x Casey (any ver). I’ve stated in part one that I don’t like Raph (any version) being in a romantic relationship with human characters and yes, that meant him with Casey. Not only that but Raph and Casey being a couple ruins their whole dynamic and iconic friendship I love so much. I’m all for friends to lovers but they are a line that should not be crossed. Not every friendship needs to turn romantic.

2012 Karai’s hair looks bad.

Fans often over exaggerate Rise Donnie’s character and badly mischaracterize him in fanfics and fan comics to the point it makes him feel like he’s an entirely different character.

Shinigami should have been revealed to be a villain.

Rise Donnie was just as mean to his brother as fans claim 2012 Raph was to his. Yes, they both do love their families and I’m NOT saying either of them are abus!ce (they’re not), but fans praising Rise Donnie for doing similar things fans criticize/hate 2012 Raph for doing just makes them hypocrites.

Venus does NOT need to be in every iteration of TMNT. It gets kind of annoying when fans keep on saying that she should be in all the other iterations when in truth her presence would not make sense based on the already established canon story. The only (recent) version of TMNT where I think her being included would’ve fit the best and deserved to make her comeback in is ROTTMNT.

The side plot of 2012 Karai being mutated and later getting brainwashed by Shredder was a waste of time and the most boring arc in the series.

2012 April, Donnie and Casey being in a poly relationship does not fix anything with their problematic dynamic and massive flaws with one another. I'm not saying you can't ship all three of them together, you do you! Idc But in reality their relationship would be a train wreck, that's why I personally don't ship 2012 Capriltello.

Renet is probably one of the most powerful allies the Turtles have in the 2012 series.

Rise Donnie would NOT hate 2012 April. He’d go crazy over her psychic powers and want to study them to help her explore them more.

From what I've seen so far, Leo x Usagi seems like the only GOOD ship in the 2003 series (this hot take might change tho).

Raph had the best character arc and development in the 2012 series and changed the most out of the four brothers. Next would be Leo. With Mikey and Donnie have little development (or none at all sadly).

42 notes · View notes

thebibutterflyao3 · 10 months

Text

This should not be a hot take, but I’m sure it will be treated as one. It started as a comment thread and I decided to combine it as a post for clarity.

TLDR: The Slytherin Skittles’ and male characters’ popularity is not fetisisation. Fictional characters are objects, they cannot be objectified. Only real people can. Don’t objectify real people. Fandom is escapism, always has been. Tags on fics are vital. Smut is ethical porn.

I think the changes in the Marauders fandom are largely due to the continued divergence from canon. While fandom used to be centred around canon, people would use canon as a weapon to disparage fanfics or headcanons they didn’t like. This happened constantly when the concept of Wolfstar first began becoming popular in the 90s. By the late 2010s, Wolfstar was a cornerstone and generally accepted. This new wave is simply continuing to push those limits. Consider how popular dark fantasy and dark romance have become.

It fully tracks that fandom would follow suite. As for femme fandom “fetishising mlm,” I would remind you that fandom has always been largely escapism. As a femme person, it is much easier to explore traumatic and romantic experiences with characters they don’t identify with. It allows a level of distance for both author and reader.

While fetishisation of queer people does happen and is a problem, these characters are fictional. Objectifying fictional characters is a misnomer. They are already objects. They cannot be harmed in reality because they do not exist. Objectifying REAL people is fetishisation and IS harmful. Fandom has always been a space to explore dark fantasies and fetishes privately and safely without harm to anyone.

That is the reason the tag system exists. You can protect your peace while others protect theirs. Tagging fics is important to identify triggers that people may wish to avoid. It is necessary and responsible to tag content and fics appropriately. However, you as a reader are responsible for your own consumption of content. No one forced you to read a fanfic or watch Slytherin focused Tik Toks. You chose to engage with that content.

Glorifying death eaters and exploring their characters is another form of escapism and isn’t harmful to anyone. It’s when that glorification transfers to reality that it becomes problematic. When death eaters are equated to nazis and then nazis are glorified, that is destructive to real people. There is a distinct difference and that is a nuance often overlooked.

This is the reason that smut is an outlet for so many femme people. They are causing no harm in finding sexual gratification from fictional characters, whereas some forms of pornography does hurt real people. Smut is a safe, ethical outlet. Our personal morality does not give anyone the right to shame others for their reading preferences.

Again: I do not advocate objectifying real people! Understand the difference. Know the line you cross when you lose sight of what is real and what isn’t. Fantasies are not inherently harmful. It is only when they cross the line to reality that they can become harmful.

#the marauders #jegulus #starchaser #james potter #regulus black #wolfstar #incorrect marauders quotes #marauders #ao3 fanfic #remus lupin #slytherin skittles #fanfic #fanfiction #barty crouch jr

130 notes · View notes

orionsangel86 · 1 year

Text

Ive been thinking about this post again today after I saw some posts in The Sandman tag that seemed a bit like gatekeeping to me and using the comics as an excuse to make fun of Dreamling shippers.

I usually ignore stuff like that, but I think its worth reminding fans of a few important points.

1. Whilst I highly recommend reading the sandman comics, it is totally not necessary if you just wanna enjoy the show (and not spoil upcoming stories!) As Neil Gaiman has already previously said, Sandman is for EVERYONE regardless of which media you choose to engage with. No gatekeepers allowed!

2. The Sandman universe in the comics is rich and full of super interesting characters and only gets better the further on you read (Overture my beloved fave!) BUT fans of the show DO NOT have all this context and therefore will only want to explore what theyve seen in the show. Don't be dicks pointing out how show fans are somehow wrong for their show based headcanons.

3. If show fans wanna make up headcanons and fan theories that don't fit in with comic book canon that is totally within their right and it is no ones place to mock them for not following comic canon.

4. Learn to live with Dreamling. Yeah look I get it, its a tiny fragment of a story in a much wider multitude of beautiful stories. Yeah it can be frustrating how fandom has "main charactered" Hob Gadling. Just accept that fandom is gonna fandom. Dont like, dont read. Keep scrolling, rant on your own blog OUT OF THE MAIN TAGS if you must. Hell, make an anti dreamling tag if you must waste energy on negativity but please keep the negativity tagged and separate from positive fandom fun.

4. On the Dreamling note, its worth mentioning that Hob Gadling in comic canon is not a really nice person. He is selfish, he makes bad choices, he is rather rude and tends to be on the wrong side of history. He's not very likeable. He says inappropriate things sometimes. He's not what fandom has made him (because fanon Hob is a fandom projection and self insert character more than anything else at this point). That is not an excuse to piss on peoples Hob Gadling headcanons and smugly point out what an ass he is. Its certainly not an excuse to attack people as if liking him makes them morally inferior to you.

5. Honestly though if you're looking for perfect characters you're better off quitting Sandman altogether because literally all characters in the comic are flawed especially Dream. He's THE problematic fave. He's a bit of an asshole, even though we love him. Tbh even comic Dream and Hob are made for each other in that respect.

6. The show is not the comic. I feel like this should be obvious, but its very clear that the show is telling a kinder story than the comic. The characters are far more likeable already and a lot of the more eyebrow raising stuff (such as Desire raping Unity) has been removed. Therefore anyone using the comic character flaws to somehow justify why Dreamling shippers are morons and their faves are assholes is just a dick. Let show fans enjoy what the show has presented to them.

7. At the end of the day, let people have their fun. The Sandman is an ideal fandom sandbox in that the world is rich and full of potential and a beautiful source for creative inspiration. Fans wanna play in this sandbox and make up their own fun ideas and stories and that is a wonderful thing.

Don't piss in the fucking sandbox.

#the sandman #dream of the endless #dreamling #neil gaiman #sandman comics #morpheus #hob gadling #sandman netflix #fandom #fandom problems

182 notes · View notes

mormonbooks · 2 months

Text

The Bishop's Wife Review

4/5 Stars!

This book was nothing like how I expected it to be and everything I needed and wanted it to be. I expected the kind of novel you could recommend to your mom for a bit of light reading on a Sunday afternoon. The Bishop's Wife. She's a mormon woman who is doing her best to take care of her ward.

I was pleasantly surprised at the moderately progressive tone the book took within the first few chapters (asking questions about the sexism in the church, the fear of judgement 'imperfect' families face, etc) but I soon realized that it there was much more. This novel is a deep commentary on Mormonism, digging into the deep and unpleasant parts, and asking difficult questions that most members like to avoid. It does it all through the eyes of a faithful middle-aged woman, who knows what she believes and uses her faith to bring justice to her community, even when she has to struggle against the church institution and her own husband to do it.

In my opinion, it's a great work of mormon feminism, that allows our culture to shine through in all it's glory and with all it's flaws. I would highly recommend this book to anyone, genuinely. The mystery is engaging, the community is loveable, the plot twists are gut wrenching. Truly a work of art. I'm excited to read more of Harrison's work

Breakdown under the cut

1. Well written - 5 Stars

Yes. The prose is beautiful. The plot is engaging. The mystery is complex and the new information always threw me. It was gut wrenching at times. It was comforting at others.

2. Fun level - 5 stars

It's a slow-paced story, with many moments that skip weeks or months where not much happens. But I enjoy stories like that. It gave breaks between the page-turning mystery solving moments.

3. Complex faith - 5 Stars

This is probably my favorite part of this book. The villains and the heroes are all mormons, and they all approach their faith and their religion in different ways. Linda obviously has more progressive views, and is enraged by the misogyny of many of the men in this story. Those men are not shown to be anamolys per se but they're also not shown to be the norm. Many women in the story have opportunities to voice their questions and doubts but it never makes them any less mormon. People exist all over the scale of mormonism and it feels like the most honest portrayal of our culture that I've read so far.

4. Homophobia scale - 3.5 Stars

It's not a major plot point, but it's mentioned that Linda's son Samuel joined the GSA at his school and she is proud of him for that. She also suspects that her other son might be gay, and worries about how that will affect his relationship with his father. I imagine this will be explored further in the series. It's refreshing that Linda is pro-LGBT but it also seems to treat the church's heteronormative stance quite naively and I'd love to see Harrison really dig into that topic in the future.

5. Mormon weird - 4 stars

Realistic Fiction, but definitely uniquely mormon. The characters in this book could not be swapped out with "generic christians." some of the problematic and dangerous beliefs are uniquely mormon, but so are the beautiful and comforting ones. There is a lot of discussion of the plan of salvation, that I appreciated. I also liked Linda's realistic approach to faith, and her honest moments of doubting, or referring to things as "legends" and "myths." Things don't have to be doctrine to be important in our culture

6. Diversity of characters - 2 stars

I don't think race is ever touched on in the novel, and they all live in Utah and have typical european-american names, so it's easy to assume they are all white. And despite being essentially a work of mormon feminism, a very small percentage of the speaking cast are women.

7. Other problematic stuff - 4.5 stars

I deeply enjoyed the novel as a snapshot of a mormon town, however that does mean that, despite her progressiveness, Linda has a realistic understanding of gender, as a middle-aged mormon woman. She has some beliefs and attitudes toward men that I found frustrating, although understandable.

Conclusion:

I gave this book 5 stars on goodreads but that was before I did my breakdown. I wish it had been more diverse, but I think Harrison explores race in the church in future novels. We'll see.

I LOVE Linda Wallheim. I LOVE the way Harrison talks about Mormon communities and Mormon faith and Mormon culture. I love how much this book made me feel. This is decidedly GOOD mormon rep, with all the determined faith mixed with struggles against flawed systems and truly terrible people. like. I cannot express how much I hate the villains in this book.

I can't wait to see Linda's next adventure.

#mormon representation #mormon #book review #lds #religion #linda walllheim #the bishop's wife #a linda wallheim mystery #Mette Ivie Harrison

12 notes · View notes

queer-reader-07 · 7 months

Text

ok buckle up cuz we’re talking about ✨religious trauma✨ today (i’m allowed to sparkle emoji it this is entirely a self insert meta)

ok so aziraphale in the context of religious trauma. specifically, why i think his character is one of the most accurate and real portrayals of religious trauma in media. and i want to explore that because i’ve seen it talked about a little bit but my raised catholic turned queer trans self has some more thoughts.

a lot more under the cut

i’m sure we’ve all seen the “why would aziraphale leave crowley?” “why would he go to heaven?” “doesn’t he know heaven is bad?” posts. or some flavor of the same idea.

and they seem to be coming from the same crowd who also think that aziraphale going to heaven was “out of character”. which isn’t true if i’m being perfectly honest.

when we look at aziraphale through the lens of trauma, his actions begin to make a lot more sense. he is in an abusive and toxic relationship with heaven. and we all know (or at least we all should know) that leaving toxic/abusive environments isn’t an easy feat. and more often than not, abuse victims are very likely to end up in an abusive situation again.

aziraphale only knows heaven. while he and crowley have both seen that heaven doesn’t always do the best things (e.g. killing everyone in the flood, wanting to kill jobs kids, armageddon 1 AND 2), crowley has seen first hand that heaven is bad. crowley has fallen (or sauntered vaguely downwards), he’s been told that he isn’t worthy of heaven. that he isn’t enough. and he knows that what heaven does is so often wrong. he see that, because heaven already cast him out. why would he bother defending them?

but aziraphale only has heaven and has only ever had heaven. yeah he doesn’t agree with heaven or God on all fronts but heaven is still the right side,,, right? heaven is still his side.

aziraphale is comfortable with heaven. he’s used to it. and admitting to himself that heaven is toxic or problematic or bad would dismantle everything he’s ever told himself. it would mean admitting that he is a part of that toxic/etc institution. and possibly complacent in it.

(side bar: i would argue he isn’t complacent. we’ve seen him defy the will of God or heaven multiple times. see: giving up the flaming sword & lying about it, saving job’s kids and lying about it, stopping armageddon)

speaking from a personal perspective here: religious trauma is a beast to deal with. and a lot of people with religious trauma (myself included) go back to The Church over and over again despite being burned by it so many times.

for me it was knowing that The Church didn��t care about my reproductive rights. and knowing that they didn’t condone my queerness. and knowing that they think i’m somehow sinful for the music i listen to or the clothes i wear. and knowing that they believe my friends who are wonderful people and i love deeply are doomed to eternal damnation because they aren’t catholic.

aziraphale is the same way. for him it was being shown over and over again that heaven doesn’t care about him. doesn’t care about humanity. doesn’t care about what he thinks. doesn’t care (and in fact actively hates) the one being he loves more than anything. doesn’t care about anything but “triumphing over hell” (whatever that means).

but he kept going back. and i kept going back. i kept going to sunday mass for years after i figured out i was queer. i kept going long after i settled on my leftist politics that are far too radical for the catholic church. and aziraphale kept going back. despite having worked side by side with a demon for millennia. despite heaven wanting to kill his best friend/lover/most important person. despite wanting to destroy humanity (not just in armageddon, the flood did happen).

it takes a lot of work to even begin stepping away from toxic and abusive institutions. aziraphale gets better. season 1 is very “i am an angel you are a demon we cannot work together (but also we definitely are)” but by season 2 we have “our car” “my former people” “i thought we carved [this fragile peaceful existence] out for ourselves”. he’s beginning to realize that heaven does not have his back. he is on a side with crowley. they are in it together.

and yet. he still goes back to heaven. after all this time. all the failed attempts to get heaven to hear him out. why is he going back now? after a love confession from the demon he loves more than literally anything ever.

because he wants to enact change. he wants to finally see heaven rebuilt so that humanity is safe. so that the things he loves about the world are left unchanged. and most importantly, so crowley is safe. and he can only do that if he fixes heaven, right?

i know i’m not the only one who’s thought to myself “i’d be more religious if only i could fix The Church” or something adjacent. this idea that it’s an institution that can be fixed. when in fact, organized religion can’t be fixed. the structure it’s built upon is inherently flawed. personal faith is beautiful and i value my own, but organized religion will always bear systemic issues and oppressions.

aziraphale wants to be the change. he wants to fix it. that’s why he went back. he didn’t reject crowley. he didn’t leave crowley because he doesn’t love him back. he went back because he loves crowley. he went back because if he fixes it, crowley will finally be safe.

and i for one, want to see him succeed. i want him to be able to actually fix heaven. i want him fighting tooth and nail to make the world a safe place for the love of his life.

i want him to succeed in the change the rest of us never managed. i want him fulfilling what was mine and so many others dreams.

#thanks for reading all of this if you did #good omens is rly special to me as an ex-catholic queer person and this is one of the reasons why #despite how much i AM crowley #the religious trauma aspect of aziraphale hits really close to home #good omens meta #good omens thoughts #good omens #aziraphale #supreme archangel aziraphale

28 notes · View notes

pulchrasilva · 13 days

Note

What's an anti-anti? Or an anti for that matter

Oh my friend I am so sorry to introduce you to the shitpile that is antishipping discourse

Anti is short for "antishipper", which is someone who believes certain types of ships are immoral and nobody should ship them or engage with media about them. Exactly what types of ships that includes varies (because morality will always be vague at best and you can't meaningfully categorise anything into "always good" and "always bad"), but people usually take issue with incest, ships involving one or more minors, age gaps, etc.

I consider myself a proshipper/"anti-anti" purely because I think this kind of discourse is extremely inane and potentially harmful.

Antis tend to say "problematic" ships "normalise" harmful dynamics in real life, ignoring that exploring these ideas in fiction is a safe way of engaging with darker topics and sometimes people do so to process personal trauma. Personally I've found that reading fanfiction about dark topics made me wayy more emotionally prepared to handle discussion of them in real life.

And, as I said, it's nearly impossible to draw a solid line between what should be allowed and what shouldn't be allowed. Age of consent is an arbitrary number that's chosen because legally you need a strict number if you're going to enforce the law, but a person 1 year older and 1 year younger than the age of consent aren't actually that much different. Plus the law varies from country to country, but antis tend to choose the US age of 18 because the US dominates the internet. Age-gaps between two non-minor characters get even more blurry!! And let's not forget that a ship between two men is way more likely to be flagged as pedophilia than a ship between a man and a woman. Imo if you can't make a concrete rule about it there's no point in making a rule at all.

Plus it's fiction, and not even mainstream fiction, so it's hardly gonna cause any significant shift in real life culture. These ships get criticised to hell and back in fan spaces and people get properly harassed over it, but there are plenty of professional writers portraying these things in well known media and don't get much flack for it at all - because it's way easier to tear down a fan, your equal, than a creator. It seems to me that the problem isn't really "normalising" these behaviours, because if that was the case mainstream media would be a much bigger contributor than fandom

For some reason, toxic/abusive ships are less commonly criticised despite being objectively harmful to the characters involved, and incest is the one people hate the most despite it being (imo) the one least likely to cause actual harm to the characters. Also depictions of rape and sexual abuse are usually considered off limits but you rarely get the same criticism of, say, depictions of murder. The sexual aspect of the topic seems more important than the actual harm.

AND THEN there's the fact that antis generally only argue against the ships that make them personally feel uncomfortable. Different people have different boundaries for what they consider too far, and I lose my shit every time I see antis shipping something I know other antis claim is the devil. And often the whole thing gets coopted by someone who doesn't like people shipping characters A and B because they ship B and C. ("You can't ship these unrelated characters because they're sibling-coded which makes the ship basically incest" is something I've seen a truly bonkers amount of times)

So yeah. That's the whole mess. Like I said I dont really care about whether or not antis follow me? I'm proship purely because I don't think this is a conversation that needs to be had at all. Like who cares But, go wild, romanticise the hell out of the most repulsive things!! It's nobody else's business but yours. But if I see a mutual who followed me first reblogging "any proshippers who follow me should explode and die teehee ^-^" ONE MORE TIME I might actually explode

#take what i say with a pinch of salt because im obviously biased and youre free to come to your own conclusions but. yknow #also i feel wayyyy safer around people who openly ship filth (affectionate) than people who insist everything they ship is Pure and Correct #because 1) ideas of 'purity' are largely based in unexamined bigotry and you never know when that's gonna jump out at you #and 2) i think it's important to consider the dark aspects of ships bc to some extent youre considering dark things that exist in real life #antis dont want to do that they want to hide it all under the carpet and pretend it's not there #I'd much rather discuss fictional teenagers being groomed and isnt that fucked up? and call things 'groomercore'#because how are you supposed to spot groomer tactics if you dont do that?#ask #shipping discourse

3 notes · View notes

paperstorm · 1 year

Note

Hello! I love following your stories and your posts. You always have such an interesting take on things!

I have a question that maybe controversial (that's why I'm on anon), so feel free to ignore this if you don't feel upto it.

I'm a cis, straight woman of relative economic privilege in a very traditional, conservative country. Which is to say, all of my interactions with and information about the LGBTQ+ community are from the internet. This sometimes is an issue because I end up learning the wrong things, where I think I'm being an ally but I'm just thinking things that are problematic in different ways.

I write a bit of fanfiction for other fandoms and I really enjoy watching 9-1-1LS. I have story ideas for Tarlos, but I'm not sure about the ethics of someone like me writing about a queer couple. Is it okay for me to do that? Or is it more respectful to just read and listen and learn? In case it's fine to write it, never having actually witnessed a queer couple's relationship, how do I write realistically without perpetuating problematic tropes that I've seen in Hollywood/TV/other fics?

(This might get long, I’m sorry followers, one day I’ll learn to shut up but not today and not about this)

I want to start by saying that ‘own voices’ started out as a good thing. It started with the purpose of allowing marginalized communities the space to tell their own stories, rather than prioritizing a white man pretending he knows what racism feels like when he doesn’t. It had really good intentions, and it’s still important to amplify the voices of people who are speaking from direct experience.

But because social media spaces are literally never capable of nuance, it pretty quickly turned into ‘you aren’t allowed to write or talk about things that you don’t have direct experience with’ and this is where it became a really harmful mentality. It has led to things like celebrities being forcibly outed (off the top of my head – Lee Pace, Kit Connor, Casey McQuiston, and Jameela Jamil, but I’m positive there are others) because the internet mob said ‘you can’t portray/write about queer characters if you aren’t queer! Publicly perform your sexuality for us or ELSE!’. On a much smaller scale, it led to me not including characters of colour in my stories for years, because tumblr and twitter told me I wasn’t allowed to.

These are not positive things. I saw a post once, years ago, that said something like ‘yes it’s important for POC to get to see characters who look like them as the hero of the story, but it’s equally important for people to see characters who don’t look like them as the hero of the story, because that’s how you learn empathy for people who are different than you’ and that has really stuck with me. It was not good that a teenager was forced to come out before he was ready a few months ago because twitter told him he was queerbaiting by just existing and living his life. It was not good that I went years excluding characters of colour from my stories. It was not good that I never tried to get into the headspace of someone like Sam Wilson or Nile Freeman or Yusuf al-Kaysani or Carlos Reyes or Marjan Marwani. We develop intense empathy for people who have vastly different experiences than us when we care about their lives and their stories and their struggles.

I showed this ask to my best friend who is also queer and he made a lot of good points in a series of very passionate texts but among them are these:

I would rather someone be open and wanting to explore a new community, perhaps occasionally stumbling over the wrong thing, but learning rather then sitting on the sideline like some kid outside of a candy store window.

I’m not interested in allies who are silent. Who haven’t put themselves in my shoes. Who don’t adore the parts of our community the way I do. I don’t give a FUCK about people who are just going to sit there and say “it’s not my place to speak/participate.” I want my allies in the thick of it. I want them saying I stand with you, vocally and I’ll only sit when you sit.

Quit making people treat marginalized groups like exclusive clubs. Everyone is welcome in my gay house

I know my family loves me because they are my family and I am of them. I need to know the rest of the world is going to let me in, too. I need to know that some successful author who has absolutely no stake in the game ALSO sees value in a queer voice in their story. I need to know I have a place in the world BEYOND the people who are accepting of me because they are like me.

So. All of this is a very long-winded way of saying please please PLEASE write and love and care about queer characters even if you, yourself are not queer. If you’re worried about getting something wrong or unintentionally writing something that is offensive, ask a queer person if they would be a sensitivity reader for your story before you post it. And be willing to accept the criticism if a person comes to you after and says ‘hey this was offensive’ (while also understanding that one queer person or one POC does not speak for the entire community, and that the concept of offense gets incredibly complicated sometimes). But write it. It is a wonderful, necessary thing when people care about communities that they are not a part of. In the immortal words of Mr. Bernie Sanders, when then question “Are you willing to fight for someone you don’t know?” is asked, the world gets infinitely better when the answer is yes.

#anon asks

40 notes · View notes

rahleeyah · 2 years

Note

Something I’ve been noticing in reaction to this episode is a desire to almost…rewrite Olivia and Elliot as characters and as a pairing. Or soften them, or something? Specifically Elliot, of course. Comments about how he’s nothing like 1.0 Elliot, how he’s regressing, etc — when back in the day he probably would have done worse.

Listen, I want to see Elliot grow as much as anyone else…but his rage at injustice is a key component of his personality! It’s going to take time to reconstruct that! And a ticking time bomb episode with a personal loss isn’t when. But as you said, his backing down to Olivia is equally important. Isn’t that dichotomy why we find him compelling compared to, say, Hugh Dancy’s character who I don’t know the name of?

Shit I’m sorry for the long message, you just voiced my thoughts so well. I really don’t understand how you could care about EO as a pairing without acknowledging so much of their connection is in both being MESSY people.

Yes exactly thank you!!!!

They are both messy - they have both lied, and used violence to their own ends, and gone rogue, and made fucked up personal decisions - and I personally like that about them. I like that unpredictability, I like that riding the edge between "good" and "bad", I like the complexity, I like the mess. I think softening their rough edges - or pretending they don't have any - is as much as disservice to them as only seeing them as violent.

It matters that they are like this. It matters that there is such a rage in Olivia's belly that she's sometimes wondered if she inherited it from her father. It matters that Elliot beat a pedophile into a pulp in 1.0 for refusing to take down a picture of his daughter. It matters that they bring balance to one another, that they are both half feral but they also crucially restrain and guide one another. That they are the best version of themselves when they are together.

My tag for them is "toxic codependent assholes" bc they are and isn't that delicious??? Olivia can be mean and they can be dangerous together. Isn't that sexy?? Isn't that interesting???

There is a huge movement - always has been really - that seeks to tell us we should only support "good" people, that we must police our interests and be good virtuous little Catholics people who only engage with media that reflects the Right Values to which I say

You're not my mom.

We're allowed to like problematic things. It turns out everyone is problematic, actually, bc no human is perfect. That's ok. Fiction is a safe place to explore ideas and relationships that wouldn't be healthy in real life, and having an outlet for that can actually make us healthier in the long run!!!

There have been many many times since Elliot's return when I have been actually so impressed by how well they captured his character. By how much of 1.0 Elliot is still visible, despite the way he has changed - which he must change bc it's been a fucking decade. There have been so many times when they have captured his voice so well I have cheered, and so many times when I have screamed that's my girl bc Olivia too has felt more true to herself since his return.

They're angry. So what?? Anger is a valid emotion!! We're allowed to feel it!! Repressing it is bad actually. And using fictional characters an outlet to explore anger, to talk about anger, is good for us.

To hate Elliot's anger, and expect Olivia to be soft and kind all the time, is to ignore who they are and why they work.

#anonymous #e.o asks #s.vu

49 notes · View notes

unlikely-bloom · 1 year

Note

Honestly the constant discourse about Kyman, as someone who ships it, is kinda making me want to distance myself from what used to be my OTP. People speaking ill of Kyman shippers is working on me and starting to make me worry that I'm doing something wrong by shipping it. I shouldn't care about what ppl on the internet think and I usually don't but constantly being told that I'm "supporting" something thats "abusive" or problematic is getting to me. Like dammit, I didn't even know about the discourse when I got into Kyman; I got into it by watching the show itself and it was my first SP ship but honestly if I knew that people gave a shit about it in the SP fandom I probably wouldn't have bothered. It'll always have a place in my heart but I'm getting tired of this shit 😔 Im extra emotional rn so Im not being rational here and you dont have to publish this. I know fandom shouldn't have that affect on me I'll get over it after Style vs. Kyman fight 2192943290 blows over. Idk if you're comfortable with vents sorry if I crossed a boundary here.

Oh, anon. It never used to be like this.

Fandom discourse these days is insane. Unhinged, even. The idea that anyone is more morally correct than someone else for what they ship and enjoy in fiction is absolutely ludicrous. Especially within the context of shipping fucking South Park characters.

The hard truth is that every fandom is like this now. You don't have shipping wars just arguing over what makes more sense 'in canon', but moving on to an ever-changing line of what is and isn't 'morally acceptable.' As if that's ever something the majority of people would ever agree on. (Hint: it's not!)

But there is a certain irony to see people arguing this for South Park of all things, as if we aren't all equally degenerate for enjoying such a 'problematic' show in the first place. Like... seriously. Be so serious, people. It's South Park. Everything is exaggerated for comedic effect-- including character's personalities, their actions and their relationships to one another. It's never going to be a character driven show no matter how much this fandom sometimes wishes it was. We're going to have characters who don't give a fuck about each other, literally wishing death or plotting to kill each other in one episode and then they're just going to be chilling playing video games in the next episode like nothing happened. It's episodic. That's part of the appeal. It's why it's such a sandbox.

Even if you didn't ship Kyman, their dynamic is impossible to ignore, try as some might. They say they hate each other, yet they keep hanging out. Both parties are there of their own volition. They both enjoy each other's company, and no amount of write-up's anyone can post on tumblr dot com is going to change that canon fact. They're friends.

Also-- they are just plain fun to watch, fucking hilarious and a huge appeal of the show! If someone else who watches the show doesn't like them, that's their problem. Them not liking an aspect of the show isn't going to make that part of the show any less valid and/or canon. And guess what? You're supposed to like their dynamic. It's supposed to be entertaining and captivating. How you interpret it is up to you, but there is 100% nothing wrong with watching an episode of South Park and enjoying Eric and Kyle's dynamic-- that is what you're supposed to do. So don't feel bad about it. The show is made for people to enjoy, after all. Also, it's important to keep in mind that just because you can find a dynamic appealing doesn't mean you endorse everything about it. That's such a wild and new-age fandom take. Fiction is an escape-- a safe space to explore unrealistic relationships and unrealistic characters. You're allowed to like fucked up things in fiction. You're allowed to like stuff in fiction you'd find repulsive or abhorrent in real life.

I think I can speak for a good chunk of the fandom when I say, I'd fucking hate Eric Cartman in real life. Hell, I'd probably hate Kyle, too. I have a lot of favourite characters from different fandoms I'd probably hate in real life. They're fun because they're fictional and it's different from real life. If I wanted to read about stuff that happens in real life, I wouldn't be here.

In the end, anon, fandom is supposed to be fun. To me it's just fun to take these silly little egg construction paper kids, draw 'em as anime characters, and give 'em some angst. It's fun! There's so much to do with them! They're soooo dynamic!

But if you're not having fun-- if you're stressing-- there's nothing wrong with taking a step back for your own mental well-being. I'm not about to tell you your feelings are invalid, because I know how any internet discourse, no matter how trivial or silly it may seem, can still stress you out. If you're constantly being told you're morally corrupt or problematic, it can take a toll on you-- even if you know you're not. The truth is you're never going to agree with everyone on the internet, and people will weaponize something as trivial as a South Park ship to make them feel better about their ship while also making you feel worse about your ship.

Anyways, when it comes to stepping back, I think there's a few ways you could go about this;

You could disengage with the social part of the fandom-- focus on the show itself, maybe just hunker down with some fanfics.

If you'd like to remain active on social medias, I think it wouldn't hurt to start blocking liberally. Anyone who has anything along the lines of 'Kymans DNI' in their profile, just block right away. You don't want to see their opinion, anyways. You're never going to convince them otherwise.

If you have a few close friends, I recommend sticking close in a small private discord server where you can discuss your headcanons and gossip in private. It's much more liberating than trying to get involved in any of the insane discourse that plagues both here and Twitter.

Anyways, anon, do what's right for you. Kyman shippers will always be here to welcome you back! They can say what they want-- we have too much canon fodder for us to ever go away!!

#hope I can help you out a bit anon I know it can be overwhelming #wrentxt #sp

12 notes · View notes

arklayraven · 11 months

Note

I checked out the drama on twitter and the whole thing is blown out of proportion. That person only left one comment on the artist's post and then also apologized for any misunderstanding. I personally see the relationship between Asmodeus and Solomon as abusive after the screenshots you posted. It's not queerphobic to not want to see abusive relationships and I think this kind of representation does more harm than good.

God I really wish I could ignore this but can't...I hope I get my words out right here because lol feeling emotions high rn.

Blown out of proportion? The person literally is queerphobic clearly and transphobic at that too by the looks of things.

I'm keeping this person's identity hidden because I have some kindness still even in such situations...but how can you see this as not a issue? Take note as well, these are AFTER the apology they gave to the artist...

They say 'differing opinions' but what they are clearly showing is just pure queerphobia at best here.

Also, if you have a issue with someone's art. ship art or not. DON'T. COMMENT. ON. IT.

Keep it to yourself, or post your personal opinion on your separate post. Don't respond with negative comments over anyones art.

Also their apology is pointless to me at this point if this is how they responded afterwards.

As well about the whole damn Solomon and Asmo situation. Yes, their relationship isn't perfect. god I still don't support them as a ship personally myself much. Because of my clear reasons I stated many times before.

But I ain't gonna personally go after people over it and post shitty comments on their arts or fics involving them as a ship. Yes, you, and anyone, is allowed to dislike them as a pairing. But actions like, like this person has shown, when it comes to a damn ship, one that is very queer. Is just not excusable, even if you personally don't like the ship. Just blacklist, block, ignore and move on. Simple as that.

Also...God I've seen this talk many times over.

Not every display of queer relationships in fiction or media is gonna be perfect or has to be. Any relationship in such media can often come with their own issues and problems in story telling. But to say every display of queer pairing has to be just pure and good to be counted as 'good' rep. Really isn't okay? Like yes we'll like to see some queer relationships in media be shown in positive lights only. But some of us also like some dark, complicated and just fucked up shit too. Because that's the beauty of art and fiction. It can be either bright and sunny, or dark and stormy in story telling.

This of course, won't be for everyone, no duh, but its good to have different interpretations and options to explore and see. Freedom of creativity pretty much. Even if not everyone will be in agreement of some of those expressions of creativity.

Also its kinda harmful to want to see just queer relationships in media in just a pure light. I get what you're aiming for, but that's like saying characters like Deadpool, Loki, Harley Quinn, the whole damn cast of WWDITS, etc. Are all not valid queer rep in media because they are all complicated or show problematic stuff compared to the just happy bubbly queer rep pairings in other media.

All queer rep is valid rep. No matter if they have problematic stuff or not.

And even tho Asmo and Solomon relationship, if you see it as a pairing, isn't the perfect display of positive queer relationship rep in OM. It's still damn valid and important to a lot of people in the fandom and community.

For out of all the brothers, Asmo, is by far, the only on to truly show his queerness more openly than others. Yet because its not a perfect interpretation to some people when it comes with Solomon...Some want to see that now gone. And honestly...that's not okay. It's just censorship at that point and I'm against that shit.

Their relationship can be improved and fixed in time, I want to cling to hope it will in time. As og OM has apparently shown they did improve things between them in time...

So I hope in NB it turns out the same, even tho the writers clearly messed things up with writing from canon past information to present...

But no matter if its still a messy display for relationship. This is a rep that shouldn't be thrown away or seen as not valid, just because it doesn't fit some peoples personal likes and standards.

#;answered

4 notes · View notes

halliescomut · 9 months

Note

Look I understand why you thought what Alice said in what seems to be a very old screenshot is problematic and I feel like I'm not gonna change your mind anyway but here's to trying.

Alice is aroace. They also never expected to influence people as much as they do now, they were just creating things they can relate to and ended up gaining a lot of following and success naturally, so they just weren't careful with what they used to say and weren't expecting people to screenshot old stuff and spread them around and believe they were twisting their mustache back then planning on world domination and on making everyone sexless lmao. They were literally just some guy on good old Tumblr doing things and saying stuff lol just like you.

People are allowed to not be interested in sex just like people are allowed to be interested in sex, and what they said is not completely untrue. Yes there is bl that isn't fetishizing and eroticizing and yes it's getting better, but they didn't say all of them are, they said they tend to be. And it was true. Doesn't mean they think they're better for doing something that pleased them more than erotic bl, it doesn't mean they don't want erotic things to exist, it doesn't even mean they don't enjoy stuff that has sex in it (they have recommended plenty of content that is very sexual in the past), just that they weren't interested in it and didn't want to create stuff like that, that's all.

And even then, Nick and Charlie do have sex. This was in her novels and it'll be in Heartstopper, it's just not explicit, because that's not the point of the story. It's not a story to make people horny, it's a story about learning and growing up and being yourself. It's really nothing to do with purity. It just resonates with people who aren't overly sexual because we just barely have queer stories that aren't overly sexual.

Saying they're racist is also a really huge stretch given they're obviously giving space for black and asian characters in their story. It's not gonna be as well done as if it was created by an asian or black person but they're clearly not racist.

Again, I do under where you're coming from, if they DID think they were better and wanted all shows to be sexless I would even agree with you, it's just not what they meant at all.

I'm answering this because I appreciate you being open-minded towards me as well. The screenshot is from around 2017, which while that is quite a while ago, they were still around 22 at the time, which I think does show that they deserve some grace in having the opinion they did/possibly still do. It's not necessarily my issue that they felt this way at that time, my concern comes from them not really addressing the statement in any way since then. Now, at 28 years old, if they felt differently, why not clarify? Especially considering that this is a topic that gets brought up regularly. Whether she chooses to double down on this opinion or express how her thoughts have changed in the last six years, I do feel that they are certainly aware that this is a concern people have.

I am also Ace, for clarity. I understand that having pieces of media based around romantic relationships SO heavily focus on the physical/sexual aspect is not something people want all the time. I'm not arguing that it's a necessary thing in all media, just that it shouldn't be demeaned, as it is a part of romantic relationships for a lot of people. I'm incredibly happy to see representation that I relate to in Loveless, it's a beautiful story and I think Alice is a really good author. I also believe that it's incredibly important to have queer media that can be rated PG or PG-13 available so that kids have an opportunity to see queer stories. Having that type of media exist means that any kid can enjoy these stories and develop empathy for queer people, as well as potentially explore their own queerness at an age appropriate level.

I 100% agree that HS doesn't need explicit sex, I state that in my original post. It would be out of place for multiple reasons in the universe that Alice created. I would like to say though, that explicit scenes in media of any type are not always included with the purpose of making someone horny. Can they be? Sure. But they can also be included as a way of further exploring the personal connection between characters, to add detail to the growth of their relationship, depth to their characters. In visual media specifically, it's important to SHOW growth as opposed to just saying it's happening. Written work gives us a lot more insight into characters thoughts and feelings, but that's limited in visual media, and seeing how characters interact in intimate scenes is a way to show internal feelings.

As for the last point about racism, I do not think Alice is overtly racist. I appreciate the diversity of her characters, but the inclusion of diverse characters doesn't automatically indicate a lack of racist ideology. JKR is a prime example. Do I think they were being intentionally racist? No. But subconscious racism and biases will ALWAYS be present in white people. It's literally something you have to actively work against. And while they may not have seen their comments then as being potentially harmful or racist, that doesn't mean they are not. Your intentions do not dictate how your words are received or the level of harm they can have. Making blanket statements as a white person about an entire genre that is created and developed by non-white people stereotypes that media and is racist. While Alice at that time may never have imagined the reach her words would have, they still said them, and they have the ability now, with an even greater scope of influence, to express any potential changes in their thoughts regarding things like BL.

#Ask Hallie #Anonymous ask

2 notes · View notes

rabbitindisguise · 1 year

Text

I think the thing about John is that people hate him so much that they stumble into saying problematic things rather than hate him for problematic reasons

I think that's important to point out for myself as a fan in the tlt fandom, because I don't think people would be reading a book and hating him for anti colonialism if they were actually secretly pro colonialism. Rather I think what's happening is that people get worked up and get mad about everything he's doing the same way that I can get cranky when someone brings up hrt bans for minors even if they haven't said anything negative yet. It's not that they've done anything wrong towards me by hating John. I like John as a character and I find his relationship with his culture interesting and important to the horror of his actions. No one has to feel the same as me about that though.

Since I'm in favor of not policing what people ship, part of fostering that for me has been trying to avoid peer reviewing my own and other people's illogical gut reactions to antagonists in fiction. Reminding myself that even this is playing pretend, and sometimes things in the sandbox get heating, has helped me cool down even when something strikes me as outright bigoted. The impact of insulting people for their opinions and dragging them through the mud for being problematic is real, but John himself is not so he can't hurt me. And it's through thinking deeply in my relationship to canon through character studies (and dark fic, meta, etc) that I can discover parts of my feelings as unjust or misdirected

And by the same token I can allow myself hurt feelings when people trash aspects of John that are important to me and block them because of it. I don't think that's unreasonable at all. But the hurt feelings are about fiction, not about real world harm. I much rather people come to realize problems in their thinking, or even exercise problematic thinking, in the fictional realm than enact violence in real life. Trying to convince people that they're wrong in what's supposed to be a mutual safer space to explore and think imaginatively can just further entrench ideas out of defensiveness and as a consequence of being combative about it. I don't want to drive people out of fandom for not being progressive in a way that I understand or find approachable, or have nothing wrong with what they're saying but feel slighted anyways if they disagree with me, because it makes fandom a less diverse and welcoming space.

#personal #tlt #htn

3 notes · View notes

flimsy-roost · 1 year

Text

Run-on Review Anthology: Algernon Blackwood

Wake up besties, new fave early 20th century horror/weird fiction short story writer just dropped~

~Algernon Blackwood~

Fig. 1) This guy right here

As someone who was introduced to the genre via HP Lovecraft, here are several reasons why the work of our boy Algernon could be considered better than his contemporary and/or worth your time to read:

-Runs the literary gamut between truly horrifying and joyfully awe-inspiring. Scary not your thing? Al's got you covered!

-Writes in many different formats: short stories, longer novels, even plays! Entertainment for every occasion! (In this post I'll be focusing on short stories because that's my favorite format, but I'll be reading some of his novels in the future!)

-No commitment that I've seen to far to an internally consistent world (a la the Lovecraft Cinematic Universe), allowing him to explore many different themes, settings, and source material

-Absolutely gorgeous and immersive descriptions of place and vibe

-Actually usually describes things very well, instead of leaning on the cosmic horror trope of "oH nooOo it'S TOOo indescrIBAble"

-As far as I can tell so far, is not particularly racist or xenophobic for the time, especially when compared to HP "Hyper-pRacist" Lovecraft

(sidebar; I don't think it's correct to write off the works of long-dead authors due to things that are considered problematic today; however, it's hard to get around that some things are just plain uncomfortable to read with modern eyes. I think that providing context and disclaimers is important, but given that these people are too dead to profit from their work, I don't generally feel bad discussing, recommending, or purchasing their writing)

---

Run On Reviews of Algernon Blackwood Short Stories

The Touch of Pan (originally read in The Moons At Your Door, pdf version linked here): Really really love this one, first one I read by him in a multi-author anthology, it's a comfort read that I keep coming back to, definitely on the joyful/awe end of the spectrum, does refer to idiocy/lunacy but in a way that vibes with me personally neurodivergently and spins it as a neutral-positive thing misunderstood by society at large, lovely lovely lovely, 10/10

The Empty House (originally read in The Algernon Blackwood Collection, it's the first story in the linked pdf): Very solid and intimate ghost story, told through the emotional state of the characters as much as the actually environment and goings-on, spooky but not extremely scary, 7/10

The Damned (originally read in the ABC, pdf link): Excellent haunted house/something's real weird around here story, ever so gradually increases the tension and unsettling feel of the place in inventive modes of discovery, the ending peters out a bit for me but all in all a good read, 8.5/10

The Willows (og ABC, linked): Holy shit yeah this is what I'm fucking TALKING ABOUT this is atmospheric horror done so so right, moody and isolating and creepy and scary, this is the one with the gay subtext you may have heard about, there's a good reason this one is included in so many anthologies, if you can only read one read this one, 10/10

The Wendigo (og ABC, linked): Closest to a "classic" wilderness monster story I'm reviewing here, it's the longest read but well worth it, you can see where it's going pretty early on but it somehow still gets creepier and weirder and worse and oh god kill it, you'll either love it or hate it if you've binged creepypastas and greentext horror stories like I have, this one does have some problematic racial language (reference to an "N-word bar" in describing a black bar, referring to the native american character as "red" and in some "noble savage"-esque ways), as well as colonial-ish "ahaha we're men going on an adventure to unspoiled land pip pip cheerio," but if you can stomach that it's a truly unnerving story that will make you never want to camping ever again in your life, 9/10

Ancient Sorceries (originally read in the Ancient Sorceries anthology, pdf linked): I so badly wanted to like this one more, the setting is absolutely magical and the buildup is excellent, but it kind of runs out of steam for me with the reveal (which isn't super fair bc this story predates all the works that make the reveal a tired trope in my mind), still would recommend a gander, 10/10 up until part IV, 6/10 after, overall 8/10

The Listener (og AS, linked here): If there's one to skip in this whole list it'd be this one, another ghost story but not as good as others mentioned here, I think I may be missing historical context that would add weight to the horror (I wont spoil, but if you read it and know more about the subject of the reveal, please enlighten me), still a nice little mystery with some interesting characters and a creepy ghost, 5/10

The Sea Fit (og AS, linked here): Finishing out somewhat strong, extremely compact yet very dense, no wasted words, but paints extremely clear characters, setting, and events, somebody please make this a short film I will throw money at the kickstarter, spooky and unsettling but slightly more on the awe-inspiring end of the spectrum, 9/10

#all of these are public domain frankly I'd love to see films and animations of his work #take my money #algernon blackwood #blackwood #horror stories #short stories #book review #weird fiction #the touch of pan #the willows #run-on review #ror

2 notes · View notes

worldismyne · 2 years

Text

The fandom culture in the past was a time and we're still learning...

This is 100% my opinion based on my internet experience growing up.

A common take I see coming up is that late 00s early 10s fan culture was cringe and problematic. It's usually to do with things like Yaoi fan-girls and genderbend. (there's probably others that fall in this category, but these were the main ones that came to mind.) I just think there's something to be gained by asking why these online phenomena happened rather than writing it off as bad and don't look back.

This is a something I've been thinking about a lot lately as someone who grew up with the internet.

Which is that, at that time, a lot of us were kids/teens seeking representation. We were growing up in a time where trans/queer characters weren't readily on TV. We didn't have the language to describe the dysphoria or ostracization we felt; or a jumping off point to explore things like gender expression safely.

So we took to the wild west that was the internet, we came across fetishized examples of what we were searching for and latched onto it without critically analyzing why.

It led to people regurgitating foreign vocabulary we didn't fully comprehend and while others tried to co-opt it into what they found into actually were looking for. And yes, I mean regurgitate, whole and unanalyzed, fiercely defended without an alternative readily available.

Because the truth is sometimes Stacy, age 13; was looking for a role model on how to live as a queer man; and now is a married 20-something that really doesn't want to think about the years they latched onto uke/seme junk when really they were looking for gender expectations for cis/queer adult life.

That genderbend is very appealing to a young person that didn't realize they were gender fluid themselves; and liked the idea of their favorite characters living in both spaces simultaneously but was forced to share the same spaces with shippers that just wanted to 'no-homo' certain ships.

It was hard to look for stuff without getting bombarded by overly fetishized stuff made by straight creators for straight consumers. And adults were reinforcing that it was all part and parcel irl. (Legit wasn't allowed to say lesbian at the dinner table growing up, because the very idea of a queer relationship was assumed to be inherently sexual in nature by my parents' generation; we see this still argued about at Disney all the time)

Fandom was and, in some ways, still is one of the easiest 'safe' (as is safe from family) places to explore those topics of identity and idealized futures.

I think as my generation's gotten older, we've realized that we need to create safe places in fandom explore queerness. That it's important to divorce queer stories from fetish (though they aren't always mutually exclusive. I's the distinction that matters). And there's been more of a push for genuine queer rep on tv (especially kid's media)

I've found tumblr to be relatively kind compared to other platforms like tiktok, or amino; but some fandom tags are still a homogenous mix of nsfw, sfw, and fetish.

I 100% agree it's on creators to properly tag their stuff. To help people filter out things they don't want to see. Things like safe-search only work if human beings cooperate.

But I also sincerely urge people to not to mindlessly consume fandom content. It's a sure-fire way to accidently absorb notions/vocabulary you don't fully identify with or understand. Normalization is a passive action, not a conscious decision.

Those bad habits in art/writing/etc, they're hard to shake unless you look back and critically analyze why you like/hate the things you do. And it's still really easy to pick up flawed ideas wandering around anywhere on the internet. It's a constant process, and everyone goes through it regardless of age or orientation. Internet culture is always changing

Also, look back at what you make. The commonalities between your OCs and yourself. What about those ideas actually appeal to you? What ideas are you recycling out of habit because that's the way every other thing like it was made? It's the only way to make new spaces/tags/etc for what you want, versus settling for what's already there.

#myne talks #long post #none of this takes into account 2010's 'shock humor' that's it's own beast #long story short if you cringe and walk away you're doomed to keep making cringe-worthy stuff it's the cycle of cringe

2 notes · View notes

cadybear420 · 7 months

Text

@thecartoongoodies

MC

They're far from the worst MC we've had. I don't mind getting to play as a more messy and unpopular character, and some of their dorky moments are cute. But they're still a major downgrade from the OG MC.

OG MC had a lot more variety in what they could do or how they could respond to things. You got to basically build their character through the story (and being able to choose your "clique" has been a staple of HSS since the Prime game). Your MC was allowed to be proactive and have a spine, they actually took their conflicts seriously, you sometimes even had options in whether or not to be more forgiving. They weren't forced to be too perfect despite what people claim, nor were they forced to be an asshole. And when you could make them an asshole, there would be actual consequences.

Then we get switched over to a MC who is just so much more stiff than the first one. You get zero choice in what theatre crew role or what acting part you get. Book 1 constantly forces them to agonize over wanting to get their first kiss with Rory on stage. They're Caillou's parents levels of passive in a lot of conflicts and there are many characters like Clint, Natalie, and Amber who go through the story with complete impunity for their behaviors. You're pretty much incapable of making them do anything that could yield actual consequences.

That being said, they do get significantly better by Book 3. Still a bit stiff as a character, but most of the aforementioned problems do seem to go away. And the Aunt Wendy plot was pretty heartwarming.

Twin

They're an alright character. Not much that's memorable about them though, but I did find their arc with Amber in Book 1 pretty interesting.

Rory

They're decent enough but they don't really have much character growth in the trilogy and they're easily the weakest of the 3 LIs. It was also really obnoxious how Book 1 forced our MC to crush on them so much.

That being said, I do like their background of how they do theatre productions to fund their mom's cancer treatment. Having them also be the "for us to date, we have to be close friends first" type is also a nice touch.

Ajay

I'm probably one of the few HSS:CA-critical people that actually likes Ajay. Although he wasn't all that appealing to me in Book 1, he quickly grew on me in Book 2 when we got to explore his family issues- it makes him a lot more of a sympathetic character as opposed to the other characters who have acted dickish to MC (Clint, Natalie, Trevor). I'm proud to say that I had my MC romance him and I enjoyed it all the way.

I still maintain that him siding against MC in Book 1 was just straight up OOC, considering he literally warned MC about Danielle being problematic at the start of the book.

Skye

Skye is the one thing I think that both the CA enjoyers and the CA-critical people can agree on being perfectly written. Seriously, her character and her storyline is just solid all the way through and I have a hard time finding any actual legitimate criticism of it.

For the record I think Skye's and Ajay's storylines are easily the strongest points of HSS:CA. Shame that that's where like 90% of the effort for that trilogy went into tho lol

Erin

She's nice. But she doesn't really have a lot of personality outside from that, and you could probably remove her from the trilogy and lose nothing important. That being said, she's still leagues better than all the other supporting characters introduced, such as...

Clint and Natalie

They're nothing more than annoying useless Rory simps. I do like that they move on from Rory by the end, but it doesn't hold a lot of weight considering the story has given me no other reason to care about them.

Trevor

Wait, who's he again? Sorry I keep forgetting... oh right, that useless dickish techie guy. Yeah he's so useless as a character that I keep forgetting he even exists. And now the only thing that makes me remember him is how many times I've forgotten he exists.

Danielle

Danielle is such a half-baked antagonist. I do appreciate them trying to make her less outwards as an antagonist than that of OG HSS, and how they do have her go to therapy at some point. But I still have a ton of issues.

Danielle was kind of just a nothing character in most of Book 1, outside of them making it incredibly obvious that she had it out for MC. And then all of a sudden after she comes forward, they want us to hear her side of the story? And she can only go to therapy if we pay diamonds to hear her side?

And the way they deal with her afterwards is so weird. Rather than expelling her for purposefully getting OG MC's leg broken, she only gets kicked from the play but sticks around in the school because potatoes. But despite still being around, the writers have pretty much thrown her away as a character and the one cameo she does have has less value than a family guy cutaway gag. It feels very much like she only existed as someone for MC to compete over Rory with.

1 note · View note