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#just anti current fandom discourse
brsb4hls · 6 months
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Right nobody will care, but it's important to me.
In order to get decent representation in media there needs to be a serious discourse.
This also refers to openly adressing and criticizing queerbaiting.
If you claim 'queerbaiting' every time two men get along with each other, you're effectivly killing the discourse.
It will have the 'cry wolf' effect and will not be taken seriously anymore.
There's obviously no point in sharing interviews that contradict the 'baiting', since nobody cares. I tried.
It's also useless to argue perception, you can't argue perception.
So lets try logic as a last resort:
From what I've seen Lokius hardly exists outside of tumblr. Some may ship it on twitter (daily lokius has like 4000 followers and there might he overlap with the tumblr croud), there's the occasional facebook comment, idk about TikTok.
On tumblr, how big is the fandom? The most popular posts I've seen have like 5000 notes.
So lets be generous and estimate 8000 people in total. (Edit: been informed it's 11000, still not a blip)
That's not even a blip in ratings.
It absolutely does not matter in any capacity.
Now why would the Loki show go through the trouble of creating subtle queer subtext for a handful of people who wont make them money?
Can't be positive reception, because the press focusses on the clever time travel stuff, easter eggs, cinematography, effects, what have you. There's enough positivity.
There is absolutely no reason.
And if you argue that queer shows are getting more popular: yes, thankfully they are, but if you look at the tv stats from just today, ofmd is ranked 67 in popularity, Loki is ranked 9.
Even if those stats weren't reliable, the bitter truth is that Loki does not need the Lokius shipping subset of queer fans (subset because there are enough queer Loki fans who watch anyways).
So tl;dr: By all means, celebrate your ship, that's what it's for. But get off the queerbaiting train please. That's so not what's happening here and it messes up discourse.
(Otoh I gotta admit if 8000 people complain about being baited next friday, it probs also wont matter. But it is so exhausting, you have no idea)
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buncoreclown · 28 days
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I just saw someone say "people talk about media literacy as a shield for criticism for their favorite media." And I'd like to beg to differ. You can not like something and find something wrong in all sense of the word but when I talk about media literacy being dead its because people will enjoy the same shit and hate on others for consuming it "wrong." People will enjoy Sangwoo and have "proship dni" in their bios and I'm just like "oh so you like the serial killer, rapist, abuser in a god honouring way." I'm talking about those who watch Hannibal and will say that hannigram isn't problematic because it's not pedophilia or incest and I just stare into space because how when and where did those only mean problematic. I'm talking about those who will watch media and LITERALLY HARASS the voice actor of a terrible character or cosplayers who cosplay them (this happened recently) and think they're in the right because they play/dressed up as someone bad.
*Taps the sign*
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Anyways let people enjoy what they want and you can hate it and spread why you do but don't fucking harass people who enjoy it. It's as simple as fucking that. I miss when that was just fandom common sense. I also wish people would stop saying niche media is normalizing things like pedophilia and incest when GRRM writes it in most of his BEST SELLING books and you've never seen a rise in either so please hop off. You can not like it and it can make you uncomfortable but that doesn't mean it's a problem. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.
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catgirl-catboy · 1 year
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STOP!!!
This is a post of tag filtration. If you see this post, I dare you to go in your settings and filter 3 tags. Nothing bad will happen if you don't do it, but I still think you should!
Here are some ideas for tags to filter: - Vent - The tag for the fandom you aren't in, but see everywhere. - Whatever the current discourse topic is. - Anti [your OTP] - A TW/CW for something you don't like. Done? Pat yourself on the back if you did it! You've saved yourself from having to see an annoying post down the line. If you didn't, no worries! Some days you just aren't in the mood.
Reblog to inflict the post of tag filtration on your mutuals!
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olderthannetfic · 8 months
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My "too old to care, too dignified to harass", line seems to have resonated with people, and it got me thinking about what "proship" even is and why I don't really identify with it despite agreeig with it.
Ultimately, "proship" describes both a philosophical stance and an online community. I share a large part of the philosophy, but I'm not a member of the community, and my "pro-ship" philosophy extends far beyond simply fanfic and fandom spaces.
In the end, I'm anti-censorship and pro-archive. The support other people shipping ships that squick me out, and this comes from the same place as my belief that things like AO3, the Internet Archive, public libraries, and university special collections should be well funded and should archive and make available a wide variety of materials that I don't like.
I've yet to see the online proship community really go to bat for a university archiving historically important but socially problematic texts, or talking in depth about the Internet Archive and copyright law, they're too busy combating a specific type of online troll.
And that's fine, they don't need to be focused on any one specific thing, and I'm sure many individual members of the proship community share my overall philosophy and do indeed support archives and libraries and freedom of speech the way I do, but it's not what the online movement and community is about.
Very simply, I call myself a metalhead and a gamer because I am a member of those communities. Someone else might share my taste in music or play the same video games as me and not describe themselves as a metalhead or gamer, because the label describes the community, not just the musical taste or hobbies the community is built around. "Proship" is the same, it's the name of a community built around a shared philosophy.
--
The thing about the community, such as it is, is that it's really a thing for the current 20-somethings. If you're old as dirt or just feel that tired and you remember Livejournal or even tumblr in 2012, fandom is about letting your freak flag fly. We were assholes to each other, but we did it by calling each other stupid, not immoral.
The current state of proship discourse is "You're wrong: this art is not 'degenerate'. Let me explain..."
The oldschool attitude is: "Fuck off, Nazi!"
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ladykailitha · 4 months
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Look, considering I've only gotten involved in Stranger Things after season four and therefore haven't been around the fans during other new season filming starts, but my brothers/sisters/nb in fandom what the honest fuck is going on right now?
I have been a part of other fandoms when new seasons started filming and the worst I'd seen was BBC Sherlock. And you lot are behaving worst then they did.
And Jesus fuck, that's a fucking low ass bar.
(Again I am ship and let ship, kinktomato, and headcanon free for all)
But this is just what I've seen in my small deliberately secluded corner of the internet so forgive me if I get some things wrong.
Ronance fans have turned on Steddie fans.
Steddie fans are trying to eat each other over who tops and who bottoms between two horny, barely out of their teens, men.
Eddie is confirmed dead.
Dustin is trying to become Eddie.
People want Will dead because Noah Schnapps said some stupid shit regarding genocide.
And Argyle isn't coming back.
I'm going to give you my feelings on these so buckle up lets go:
1- Steddie and Ronance fans have turned on each other. And I know this because I doom scroll through steddie tag. That Ronance fans think Steddie fans are delusional and that they're going down after season five airs and there will be more Ronance fans because they're perfect for each other.
Where to even begin on this? First, never tell a shipper that their ship is never going to be canon because they don't care. Just ask all the Destiel, johnlock, and merarthur fans. Steddie fans are just going to ignore all but the most salient parts of season 5 if Eddie doesn't come back and write AUs for the rest of their lives. You know, like they have since the last scene on the Piggyback faded to black?
Secondly, I don't think I've seen much Ronance without Steddie. Granted I only read Steddie, but it seems that the two ships are tied pretty heavily together. The fruity four comes to mind. So maybe it's that they're getting tired of being a side ship next to a massive one like Steddie. Who knows. But apparently they're bitter.
And I say that because they keep tagging their anti-Steddie posts as Steddie to make sure we see it. Honestly, I just block them and go about my day. But seriously, I've never understood people's need to be shitty like posting hate on the tag for that thing. If you don't like it, fine. Block and move on.
Thirdly. Lastly. Maybe. I don't like Ronance. I saw the charms when I first joined the fandom and it was cute. Until the more I read and I realized that most of the time they don't bring up that Jonathan is even a person let alone Nancy's current boyfriend. That most of the time Steve is written wildly out of character about not caring that they're a couple and that he just wants them to be happy. Like, one Jonathan is severely under used in the fics I've read. Like Will doesn't have an older brother anymore. It's all Steve or Eddie. Which considering how you like your flavor of queer for Eddie or Steve (gay/pan/bisexual) Will talking to them about being gay makes sense, but Jonathan showed us in the last season that he is going to protect Will no matter what. Then blip! in fanfics, he's gone.
And then the whole Steve being okay with Robin not only dating an ex-girlfriend of his, but the ex. The one he thought he was going to marry. The one he dreamed a whole fucking future on. That was still hurt by two fucking years later. You either think very lowly of Steve or you just don't care. Because if you think Robin and Steve are the same person/share the same braincell/ride or die for life, there is no way even if Nancy threw herself at Robin would she even consider it. (I can write a whole ass post just on this by the way, don't get me started.)
2- This is the most recent bullshittery due to a current event about Sub Eddie. This is the worst discourse in any fandom and the worst offenders on either side tend say the most homophobic shit imaginable.
And it's pointless. Whether you think Steve is a top or bottom, whether you think he's dom or a sub. Same with Eddie. Everyone has their own flavor they prefer and they won't always match up with yours.
Personally I write them whatever feels natural for the story. But here's the major crux of the matter. I don't believe a little nerd in Bumfuck, Indiana has any idea what flagging is. I'm sorry. Left pocket, right pocket. Doesn't matter. The likely of him even knowing what BDSM is is pretty slim. I grew up in a small town. There will be some people that know, but that's because they know adults in the scene.
Don't like, don't read. Seriously, guys. Let people enjoy what they want to.
My personal feelings on the matter is that Steve is a bottom/sub because he deserves to be taken care of and Eddie would absolutely want to be that person for Steve, in and out of the bedroom. Again, you do you, beau.
3- The tombstone. Sigh. It was hard to see that. Not just because it confirms he's dead, but because it's been defaced. Most likely like fans have said, "BURN IN HELL" the poor bastard.
Having a tombstone doesn't necessarily preclude Eddie's return. There are several ways he can still comeback Kas! theory not withstanding. But the wank here is people jumping on Steddie shippers and Eddie fans in general pointing and screaming "see!"
Like we didn't have campaigns for Barb and Bob and (Billy). If someone's favorite character has died, don't be dicks when they want them to be resurrected a la Jim Hopper. Because that right there is the main reason people will still hold out hope until the final scene fades to black, okay?
I guess this one is just be nicer to each other, okay?
4- *sob* like holy fuck. Dustin you sweetheart. The long hair, the torn Hellfire t-shirt, the rings. The horns and sticking out his tongue. That poor boy needs several hugs STAT! And of course, people can't leave well enough alone on Facebook, I couldn't tell you how many of the comments were "steddie fans are going to make this all about them, aren't they?" Even though there wasn't a single comment by a Steddie making it about Steve/Eddie. But so many eye rolls. The other half were death threats against Noah Schnapp.
Which brings me to...
5- Noah Schnapp said some really shitty things about Zionism and the attack on Gaza. There is no escaping that. He said them. He double downed on them. And while yes it sucks he said those things, let's not forget he's still young and stupid. He's barely 18/19 years old. I remember being that age and saying stupid fucked up shit, and hoo boy does this make me grateful I was well into adulthood when the internet became a thing (24ish).
There are a lot of reasons to be upset by his comments and I get that. But death threats and calls for his dismissal/boycotts just seems excessive to me.
One, because the story began with a kidnapped little boy and a runaway little girl. If you get rid of one of them especially this close to the end it would fuck up the story. Now if there was more than one season left, sure. But this is literally the end. And for all we know, Will's character may already be doomed by the narrative. So calling for it now isn't go to do anything. Especially since they already had all the scripts written and would have finished filming if it hadn't been for the strikes.
Two, one person on the cast said something stupid and hurtful and you want to boycott the entire show for it? Like, what did David Harbor, Joe Keery, Maya Hawke, Millie Bobby Brown and all the others do to deserve you boycotting their show? If the last season tanks it could seriously hurt their careers, but hey Noah Schnapp said something bad, so fuck them?
I'm going to stop there, because this is another one I can go on and on about, but yeah. Don't hurt other people in your rush to vilify an 18 year old.
6- Eduardo Franco recently said that he didn't get a call so he didn't think he would be back. He was sure that ship had sailed.
Fans are upset, naturally. Argyle was a sweetheart and deserves better than to be cut from the story like that.
But thanks to the incident with David Harbor and Jim Hopper supposedly being dead, a lot of fans are saying he's only saying that because it's a "secret" he's coming back. Which would make sense for Eddie or any of the other character died. Martin Brenner, for example, but not Argyle. There would be no need for subterfuge. Plus, he would already be out in Georgia if he was coming back.
It's sad that he was done dirty this way, but if they split up the filming like they've done before there is still a chance he might get to come back, but as far as the current filming is concerned, yeah Argyle isn't coming back.
***
Just... be kind to each other. Remember that the other people on the end of the URL is an actual person with feelings. That people can like what they like so if they aren't hurting you, don't hurt them, okay?
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bonearenaofmyskull · 2 months
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The OP has turned off reblogs at the time I'm posting this, so it seemed wise to move this discussion about the authenticity of Hannibal's love for Will over here. I want to give it its due, and the open invitation to discuss was out, so here is some context and my response.
The original ask went:
Hi! I've wanted to write about this for a long time, and your blog seems like a safe space. Let me give you a heads up—I am not against shipping at all. I am aware of the antis in your ask box, but I promise I am not affiliated with them. This is just a friendly direction. So, if you are truly open to discussion, I want you to view Hannibal as a selfish, manipulative, and extremely violent person. Notice how he is power-hungry and wanted to keep Will in his chokehold, never viewing them as equals. Hannibal created this delusional image of Will in his mind and inserted himself into Will's delusional world. Look at his actions again in season 3. Can you point out one scene where you can write, "Oh yes, Hannibal loves Will"? The problem with the antis is that they are questioning Will's feelings for Hannibal when they should question Hannibal's feelings for Will. Hannibal only liked Will when Will behaved like Hannibal—notice that in season 2. Does it change your view on them now?
OP didn't have anything to say to this, and my response was critical of anon's choice to bring this to OP's inbox, but the relevant part of what I said to the current discussion included the following:
...the basic rule [of writing discourse] is--if you're the one to posit the claim, then it is your job to support it.... You can't possibly do the leg work needed here to give your side its due. This is such a hefty claim that you've posed--that Hannibal's worst personality defects negate any authenticity/sincerity in his emotional response to Will--that the support it needs is probably running in the 6k words range. Or more.
To which @melancholymournia responded:
Let's start a discussion then --
I believe Anon has a valid perspective. They were seeking opinions and I believe it's within their right to do so. Anon's main argument is that Crimson should view Hannibal as an antagonist, as he embodies a sinister role in the narrative. Hannibal's love for Will is portrayed as selfish, driven by desperation for understanding. Anon points out Hannibal's creation of a false image of Will in his mind, particularly evident in Season 1's exploitative and abusive behavior. Anon contends that Hannibal only appreciates Will when he mirrors Hannibal's actions,evident in s2 and Will's attachment stems from trauma and a sense of justice. Will attempted to kill Hannibal numerous times and even succeeded, but Hannibal's plot armor consistently saved him. Despite this, according to Bryan, it's "Will Graham's story," implying that Hannibal's eventual demise was always a possibility. Hannibal maintained manipulation over Will even in Season 3, from start to finish. People's justification of the Dolce scene and romanticizing the gallery scene surprises me, considering both instances involved plans for mutual harm. Despite Will expressing fatigue with the chase, questions about why he fell for Hannibal linger. After discussions, it became clear to me that his attachment wasn't love but a trauma response to his abuser. In Season 3, even when Will urged Hannibal to leave, Hannibal surrendered, manipulating the situation rather than acting out of genuine love. Hannibal caged himself to ensnare Will, who later moved on with a family, but the fandom struggled to accept it, mirroring Will's Stockholm syndrome-like attachment to Hannibal. Hannibal continued harming Will, sending the Dragon to kill Will's family to manipulate him into a meeting. Ultimately, Will chose death to escape both Hannibal and himself, feeling a resemblance to Hannibal in his mind. Throughout the seasons, Hannibal's actions show a lack of genuine love, portraying him as a greedy figure taking relentlessly from Will and ultimately causing his destruction.
I think this is a teachable moment about meta and what it needs to be successful. So this is my response--partially aimed at the content of what you've said here, and partially aimed at talking about meta itself and what it needs and how to do it justice.
I think when we're thinking about writing meta that is successful, we need to be thinking about what it is we're trying to achieve. Personally, I ascribe to the belief that "the aim of argument, or of discussion, should be progress, not victory." This doesn't mean I or anyone else won't fall victim to being petty once in a while--we're all human here, I think--but that if we're doing our jobs the best we could be doing them, then we should be focused on getting to a shared deeper understanding of the text, rather than on trying to "win." Above that, I think our fandom has lost a sense of this in its discourse in the past couple months.
In pursuit of that, I don't think how you opened, with defense of anon, was wise. This argument, if it needs to be made, needs to be made for the perusal of the fandom, not specifically for one person. Crimson neither needed nor wanted to be a target. "They were seeking opinions" and having a "main argument is that Crimson should view Hannibal as [anything]" are essentially exclusive statements. Anon was not trying to get Crimson's opinion: they were trying to sway it. You stepping in to defend anon when more people than just myself have recognized the troll-y or even malicious aspects of the ask puts your argument in a bad light, which honestly doesn't serve you well. If your primary purpose is to make the argument (and actually sway opinions yourself) rather than to defend anon (create teams/advance fandom drama/"win"), then it would be better delivered if you maintained an air of neutrality by at minimum, avoiding commentary on anon themself.
That could be done by starting your own post and tagging the interested parties and just focusing on the topic at hand and ignoring anon. Or this could be done in your response by saying something along the lines of just "This is an interesting idea that I haven't seen discussed enough. I think..." and then proceed to say what you think. That then shifts the conversation to the claims being made rather than the people who make them, and how they made them. (Note my primary objection to the original ask is exactly about anon's behavior and choices rather than to the points themselves.)
So setting the issue of anon's choices aside, we next need to look at who the audience is (the broader fandom) and how they can be swayed. Because isn't that the goal, here, ultimately? It sounds like what you and your friends want is to shift general fandom attitude away from the merry-murder-husbands interpretation and into something more cognizant of the fucked up nature of the show.
And this is not in and of itself a bad goal overall, depending on how far you take it. But whether you succeed in this goal or just end up driving people out of the fandom because of the drama or because they become disillusioned with the ship itself is a very fine line to walk, and I'm not sure the people who have been walking it lately realize just how delicately they need to step (not necessarily you specifically--I don't remember seeing your name around before this tbh). It's not progress unless people come around to your way of thinking without becoming fed up and hurt and leaving.
(Obligatory reminder to my own follower base here: I don't condone people going around to anyone's inbox or comments specifically to harass them, regardless of what their opinions are. I am fully of the opinion that we can all play in the same sandbox together without throwing sand in each other's eyes, even if we think the other sand castles are ugly.)
One troubling fact of the whole-fandom-as-audience as it exists currently is that people have differing notions about what the fandom believes on the whole. To sum up, there seems to be three camps: "merry-murder-husbands," "Hannigram-BAD," and "Wtf happened to my peaceful fandom."
If you haven't deduced it already, I belong to the third group.
Merry-murder-husbands and Hannigram-BAD both seem to largely think that everyone who doesn't belong to their own group belongs to the opposing group. But I don't think that's a useful place to write meta from. Tonally, it's going to be off-putting from the very start to anyone who isn't in your own camp, even if their camp is just "Wtf." Getting your point across is also going to be extra difficult if people are from the opposing group--they're going to feel attacked or at the very least, condescended to.
For starters, your (and anon's) talking points aren't going to be focused on what matters to the Wtf crowd. Where this comes up in this particular discussion is with these points here:
Hannibal as a selfish, manipulative, and extremely violent person.
He is power-hungry and wanted to keep Will in his chokehold.
Hannibal as an antagonist, as he embodies a sinister role in the narrative.
Hannibal's love for Will is portrayed as selfish, driven by desperation for understanding.
Hannibal maintained manipulation over Will even in Season 3, from start to finish.
People's justification of the Dolce scene and romanticizing the gallery scene surprises me, considering both instances involved plans for mutual harm.
Hannibal continued harming Will, sending the Dragon to kill Will's family to manipulate him into a meeting.
Hannibal caged himself to ensnare Will.
To the Wtf crowd, this is sort of like arguing that water is wet. Is Hannibal, the biggest pile of dicks that ever existed, actually a big pile of dicks? Well, iunno...you tell me? Nobody from this crowd is arguing that Hannibal isn't a big pile of dicks. So this is basically spinning your wheels.
As to the merry-murder-husbands crowd, this is all justified because deep down, Will is just as big a pile of dicks as Hannibal, and Hannibal being a big pile of dicks to Will just uncovers Will's true dick pile qualities so they can go off and live as merry-piles-o'-dicks together. Now, personally, I think this particular response is full of circular logic and just plain wrong, but the point here is that you're never going to win against it by writing points that play into it. This crowd will move the goalposts on this discussion to a discussion about Will's character, and then you'll be dealing with that instead of the points you want to be making about Hannibal.
This also sets aside that some of these points could be argued against on their own specific merits. Does Hannibal really want to keep Will in his chokehold, or does the real excitement for Hannibal come when Will turns the tables on him? That's a whole meta post by itself, frankly, and more than we can discuss here feasibly. But it does highlight another problem with these points: some of them are interpretations and conclusions in and of themselves, not actual points of evidence.
There's an additional problem in the overall argument with multiple points being about Will rather than Hannibal:
Ultimately, Will chose death to escape both Hannibal and himself, feeling a resemblance to Hannibal in his mind.
Despite Will expressing fatigue with the chase, questions about why he fell for Hannibal linger. After discussions, it became clear to me that his attachment wasn't love but a trauma response to his abuser.
Will's attachment stems from trauma and a sense of justice. Will attempted to kill Hannibal numerous times and even succeeded, but Hannibal's plot armor consistently saved him.
Will…later moved on with a family, but the fandom struggled to accept it, mirroring Will's Stockholm syndrome-like attachment to Hannibal.
Despite this, according to Bryan, it's "Will Graham's story," implying that Hannibal's eventual demise was always a possibility.
The original anon defined this problem as "The problem with the antis is that they are questioning Will's feelings for Hannibal when they should question Hannibal's feelings for Will," but these all shift the discussion back onto Will, into places that serve your opposition rather than serving you. So even if you "won" this part of the argument--which is easier said than done--you still wouldn't have proven your point about Hannibal, you will have just made observations about Will.
Again, this is all beside the point for the Wtf crowd, and playing into the hands of the merry-murder-husbanders.
So what do we have left? These are the rest of the statements:
Hannibal surrendered, manipulating the situation rather than acting out of genuine love.
Hannibal's actions show a lack of genuine love, portraying him as a greedy figure taking relentlessly from Will and ultimately causing his destruction.
and
Hannibal created this delusional image of Will in his mind and inserted himself into Will's delusional world.
Hannibal only liked Will when Will behaved like Hannibal—notice that in season 2.
Anon points out Hannibal's creation of a false image of Will in his mind, particularly evident in Season 1's exploitative and abusive behavior. Anon contends that Hannibal only appreciates Will when he mirrors Hannibal's actions,evident in s2.
I've grouped them like this because they are each united by theme: one, that, as I put it in my original reblog, Hannibal's worst personality defects (his selfishness, manipulation, and sadism) negate any authenticity/sincerity in his emotional response to Will; and two, that Hannibal's image of Will in his mind is incorrect enough that it means that he's fallen in love with his idea of Will, rather than with the man himself.
I think we can all see that the second of these--although perhaps the more accurate one--is going to be plagued by the moving goalposts I mentioned above. In order to prove it, you've got to prove that Will isn't the person Hannibal perceives him to be. That might be doable with the Wtf crowd (probably why I see it as a more accurate concept, since I'm in this crowd), but it's going to be MONUMENTAL to try to get the merry-murder-husbands to see it this way. If you're willing to fight those off, well, you might make some headway with people who are more open-minded.
But it's going to be complicated by the fact that you're going to have to also prove the first claim in order to make the second stick, because the problems with the first one will set up problems with the second. And that first claim is going to be real difficult to prove.
Here's why: the basic presumption of the first claim--Hannibal's worst personality defects (his selfishness, manipulation, and sadism) negate any authenticity/sincerity in his emotional response to Will--is that it defines love in the kind of platitudes people use when they're teaching their children not to allow others to mistreat them. It's syllogistic.
A. Hannibal is greedy and manipulative and destructive with Will.
B. Love is not greedy, not manipulative, and not destructive.
C. Therefore Hannibal's feelings for Will are not love.
But we all know the problem with a syllogism: if either of the premises are false, the conclusion is also false.
In real life, premise in B. may or may not be a useful way to look at love, but that's beside the point here. The question is, Is the premise in B. the way the show Hannibal presents and defines love?
Fortunately for us, the show has given us two explicit statements on love and what it is and what it means, one in "Shiizakana" and one in "Secondo."
In "Secondo," the conversation is between Hannibal and Bedelia:
B: What your sister made you feel was beyond your conscious ability to control or predict. H: Or negotiate. B: I would suggest what Will Graham makes you feel is not dissimilar. A force of mind and circumstance. H: Love. He pays you a visit or he doesn't.
This view of love is that it is outside of the control of the one who experiences it. In order to support that Hannibal does experience this kind of love when it comes to Will Graham, then all you have to prove is that he had super strong feelings toward Will that caused him to be out of control, to badly predict his own behavior, and that he did stupid shit rather than negotiate his choices well. I think...well, these are all fairly easy to prove. Hannibal set his whole neatly curated world on fire for Will, all the while thinking he was in control when he was totally out of control. This would be the "Did you think you could change me, the way I changed you?" problem. Up until the moment that Will points out that he already did change Hannibal, Hannibal really thinks he's negotiating this force of mind and circumstance just fine. Meanwhile, he makes himself sad by getting Will incarcerated and mad at him, he plays his get-out-of-jail-free card with Miriam Lass, and then this loses him his very favorite murder identity of the Chesapeake Ripper, and eventually his home, practice, ability to live under his own identity and ultimately his freedom. The fact that he tries to control something that is very much out of his control is evidence for, not evidence against, defining his actions as motivated by love. At least by this definition.
The other definition presented in "Shiizakana" is probably the more damning one:
H (in Will's mind): No one can be fully aware of another human being unless we love them. By that love we see potential in our beloved. Through that love, we allow our beloved to see their potential. Expressing that love, our beloved's potential comes true.
If we stop after the first statement ("No one can be fully aware of another human being unless we love them") then it might seem like we have something workable with regards to the idea that Hannibal is in love with an idea of Will rather than the man himself. By this reasoning, because he's focused on his image of Will--his imago--then his love is less than fully aware of who Will really is. So maybe it's not really love.
But unfortunately that isn't the end of the statement. Seeing that person's potential (Hannibal's idea of Will) is part of being fully aware of them, by this definition. Will then coming to see that same potential in himself--the cause of him throwing them both off the cliff instead of just Hannibal--happens through Hannibal's love for him. And if Will does go full dark murder husband (the jury's still out on this, obviously, and will probably be out forever), then that would be because Hannibal expressed his love, in all those selfish and destructive and manipulative ways. Even if Will doesn't go full dark, where he has expressed his darkness--with Chiyoh and her prisoner, with touching Frederick Chilton's shoulder, with attempting to kill Hannibal himself, with his deceptions and manipulations and obvious enjoyment of terrorizing Freddie Lounds, etc, etc, whatever--is still that potential coming true.
This is going to be a really difficult point to argue past, especially because the show is largely concerned with transformation as an expression of love, all the way back to Garrett Jacob Hobbs and most of the murders of the first season. It may not be the way one should view love in the real world, but it's the way love is defined in the murderworld of Hannibal.
And that even leaves aside numerous other points, including but not limited to:
violence as an expression of love and/or sex
Bedelia--who herself disagrees with Hannibal's assessment of Will's character--nonetheless defining Hannibal's feelings as "in love"
the imago as an image of a loved one carried by the unconscious during a person's entire life, which is still defined as love even though it idealizes that person
the fact that Will planted Hannibal's imago himself
So if this is something that you really want to pursue, all this is what you're up against. It's a tall order, and that's probably why no one has really broached the issue much in the past except as a sort of moral judgment against shippers.
The limits of what I've laid out here include the interpretation of the cliffening being Will's rejection of going full dark. That's got some room to move, but it's problematic because if he fully rejected the concept of that being his potential, then he doesn't actually need to throw himself off the cliff, and additionally, it's undermined by the Bedelia leg-eating scene which suggests Will's involvement. Ultimately, it's also fully speculative--you only have those two scenes to work with, and everything else that falls under the general umbrella of speculations about S4 and beyond are just that--speculations. Not evidence.
There's probably an argument somewhere that the show draws a distinction between wholesome love (like Jack and Bella) and Hannibal's kind of love, but I don't know if that distinction is strong enough that Hannibal's love is not love at all, in the show's terms. Especially because Jack and Bella's love is partially defined through how her coping with death changes them both. But you still have the problem of it being about different types of love, not one thing being called love and another thing not. Overall, this would be hard to find all the pieces of and would require a lot of studying the stories about love that are outside of Hannibal and Will, and this would be challenging even to me, but it might be worth a look if someone wants to do that massive amount of homework.
I guess that's kind of where all this ultimately leads me, and back to the original point I made about why this kind of discussion doesn't belong in any one person's inbox. These are big questions: they can't be fully argued in a couple paragraphs. At least not well. The fandom is sorely missing meta writers at the moment who are willing to take the trouble to do the full amount of homework and effort that is required to really say something insightful. Mostly it just seems like people want to toss off a couple paragraphs and "win."
That's always been a problem with meta in fandom. It isn't a problem we're newly inventing. Everyone has opinions, regardless of the amount of thought they've put into them--but for the Hannibal fandom specifically there used to be more people who were willing to really dedicate themselves to getting to the bottom of things, to making progress understanding the show be the purpose of discussion and analysis, rather than achieving victory over a perceived group of people who are understanding the show "wrong." Right now there's...maybe one?
To be clear, I don't count myself as in that group of one person who is willing to work that hard. At least not for the most part. There's nothing wrong with opting out of that effort.
But there is something wrong with pursuing that "win," if it comes at the expense of people's peace of mind, the fandom family's unity, and deeper understanding of the show.
So if you want to have these discussions, please have them, but have them at the level that they deserve to be had. If there has to be a call to action at the end of the post, I suppose I'm asking people to do the homework--to watch the show ten more times, start to finish, to have the episodes ready to go at a moment's notice during a discussion, research existentialism and Christianity and Revelations and the original books and films and what Bryan Fuller and the cast have said and what the other meta writers said over the past eleven years.
But at the very least, let's stop letting our annoyance with each other dictate our understandings of the show itself. Yes, some interpretations and some people can be super annoying (believe me, I've been there!), but that has no place in generating bias over what the show itself has to say.
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just hours after the allegations came to light, someone complained that this was turned into pro/anti discourse, claiming it has nothing to do with it
Except it absolutely has everything to do with it! Predators often use current fandom cultures dangerous beliefs about "safe adults" to virtue signal and hide behind in an attempt to get more victims. And we have seen how often they SUCCEED on that
This.
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mywitchcultblr · 1 year
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🚨 A harasser calling the Police on a trans artist over Warhammer 40k BDSM porn art and genshin impact 🚨
The harasser seems to be on Tumblr as well so be careful. Situation is very new and currently still ongoing and people is talking about this
TW and CW for the contents below:
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Okay so someone on Twitter is harassing, stalking and doxxing, making false bigotry accusations and calling the cops on an artist over Warhammer 40k art and stuff about genshin impact that person seems to be very upset that the artist is drawing bdsm porn gore Warhammer 40k and they don't like art about Childe x Xiao?...
And they don't like art about Childe getting fucked by the tentacle monster or tortured or shipped with "the wrong person and not their fave"
This is the harasser Twitter account and Tumblr sock puppet account btw. I have no idea if the harasser might have a main Tumblr blog but could be hence why I'm posting this here because the harasser can be anywhere on Tumblr especially on Genshin
Edit: *sighing roll my eyes. Of course it's the people like this always. I had to update the tag now to include pro vs antis stuff... lord...*
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As you can see the harasser is making these unhinged accusations about the artist and calling them racist slave owner Nazi (yeah probably the harasser is one of those people who believes that if you like Warhammer 40k then you are a Nazi)
I haven't seen any evidence of the artist doxxing a poc so far while the harasser literally calling the cops on other people over shipping and fan art
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MissingOldRose has been harassing the artist for MONTHS both on Tumblr and Twitter, made concerning and threatening comments about the artist pets and also countless false accusations.
Also you noticed that the harasser is HARASSING THE ARTIST SIMPLY BECAUSE THEY ACTUALLY FELL SQUICK?! WHY DID YOU SWAT/CALLING COPS ON SOMEONE JUST BECAUSE YOU FELL SQUICKENED OVER FREAKING GENSHIN IMPACT AND WARHAMMER 40K FAN ART?!
Also accused an SA survivor (the artist) as a rapist over personal vent and fan art. I can't do it anymore with modern fandom. Especially with the fact that cops was called to arrest a TRANS PERSON over fan art. LGBTQA+ people are often the target of police brutality and unfair treatment both from the legal system and that's happening in the western world that supposed to be progressive countries.
In my country LGBT people have no protection
Another important detail
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Yeah fyi for some people who wanting to call the cops or swatting other people over ship/art/ stupid ass shipping discourse, as quoted:
"Anyone has free artistic expression and they (the cops) don't find anything wrong at all with my art"
If you possessing and distributing CSEM yeah you can go to jail. BUT YOU ACTUALLY CAN'T REPORT SOMEONE OVER THE ART OF CHILDE GETTING HIS ASS RAMMED BY TENTACLES OR 40k ART.
Thats a false report and you won't go to jail over Genshin Impact shipping and art.
The situation today still ongoing
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Remember the harasser is on Tumblr, last time i check the soc account is still exists and they MIGHT have main blog on Tumblr as well especially on Tumblr Genshin (but who knows just careful)
If you know MissingOldRose on Tumblr and Twitter or you know if they have main Tumblr account please be careful. @abusiveartistsfuckoff account as listed above is used for harassing and stalking on people Tumblr. Even if this situation doesn't impact you directly. What if that person (especially if you are on Genshin Impact fandom) doesn't like your ship or you art then threaten to do the same to you?
Also have some compassion for the artist please
Sorry for tagging this with genshin, doesn't mean to polluted the fandom but it's just an awareness since the harasser is on Tumblr and also a part of the Genshin community. It's really sucks because the game itself is really fun but by god some people in the Genshin fandom often went too far...
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gingerylangylang1979 · 9 months
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This shit is not new
This is in response to the multiple posts right now about the recent articles that have come out and just general angst about this ship in the media.
This really isn't new. It's not unique to The Bear. It's not unique to Carmy x Sydney. It's not unique to slow burns.
I do think Mulder x Scully is the best example. Why? They are the ship that modernized shipping. The terms shipping, noromo, etc. come from that ship. They pioneered the modern "why can't men and women just be friends", "platonic soulmate", "it would cheapen the show", "the show isn't about romance" arguments.
Syd x Carmy are like Mulder x Scully 2.0 (with a slightly different flavor that I will get to). The X-Files was a huge sleeper hit with a cult following. From the first episode there was speculation about romance and people raging against it. The question was brought up in every interview and denied by the show runner. The intensity kept developing until finally they went canon. And then, only then, did the show runner change tune. Shippers felt they were being persecuted for even mentioning the ship. It was super intense.
I watched the show as a teen. I low key did ship them but wasn't involved in fandom so I wasn't aware of the shenanigans. But I know all of this from first hand accounts.
And here's receipts from media:
So, I know a big element is missing in this comparison. The race element is at play here. I'm not denying that. But I will say, I started with this example just to show it isn't just interracial couples that get this backlash. I could also mention Ted x Rebecca, but I don't think I need to go into them because they are current. Mulder x Scully started this and history is important.
I do think there is a special flavor of dislike for this ship because of race. I've spoken on it. The unwarranted hate for Sydney can't be ignored. The same has happened with Richonne, Ichabbie, etc. No denial here. But if you look at the overall history of shipping what we are seeing specific to media denial, media scrutiny, antis, denial of the ship until the very end, gaslighting, etc. is slow burn and shipping war 101.
There is no agenda from cast and crew to stick it to us. Their agenda is to maintain the element of surprise and tell the story they want to tell. There is no agenda from the media to do anything but get a story that gets clicks. There is no special denial of a romance unique to this one.
This is just how a slow burn plays out.
There are no slow burns that went canon and the show runner said, oh yeah, this is the plan before the end. If there is tell me, and I'll gladly correct. But, that just isn't reality. They will say the same thing every season until it happens, no matter what happens on screen in the meantime. And there is always some lame statement made about why they "suddenly" decided to make it a thing or a lame admission that it was planned. So basically, they lie. The lies may seem cruel but it's not personal. It's not some secret agenda to deny your fave romance and happiness. It's just showbiz.
All of this can feel personal in relation to the extent a fan is personally invested. And I think that's up to each person to decide if their investment is creating too high an expectation and too much drama for regarding fictional characters on a tv show. That's not on media. It's not on the actor, creators, journalists, etc. to determine and protect a fan's level of investment or engagement. Nobody has to read the articles. Nobody has to devote their time to fandom. It's a choice. And part of that, may be understanding that all of the media around a ship isn't going to cater to what you want or see and making decisions on what you see is the healthiest, most enjoyable way to engage or not.
Because feelings have been hurt, arguments have raged, lies have been told in fandom and media and it's not new, it's not personal. It just is what it is.
Mulder x Scully walked so Carmy x Sydney can run.
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gendervapor14 · 6 months
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you there! do you like One Piece? do you like Rare-Pairs?
c'mere... come a little closer...
✨ i made a discord server!! ✨
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Rare-Pear ~ a One Piece Rare-Pair Server!
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after holding several different conversations across a variety of platforms, i decided maybe it was time to try and make my own server! rare-pairs hold a special place in my heart. they don't often get as much love as some of the more popular ships and tropes, which can leave the creators feeling awfully lonely.
SO! i sought to remedy that! 🥰 together, we can find other niche creations and creators and give them all the hype they deserve! there are channels for bouncing ideas around, sharing fics and art, and plenty of space for general discussion/analyses. we also have an ao3 collection to flaunt all the fruits of our labor! 🍐💕
i will post the detailed rules below the cut, but here's the tl:dr for anyone who's just doing a quick scroll:
writers, artists, and casual consumers are all welcome!
focus on pairings with <100 stories on ao3 using otp:true
must be 20+ to join
no anti/proship discourse
roles to opt in/out of nsfw or dark content
rules and link to join beneath the cut! if/when the link expires, feel free to shoot me a DM or reply and i'll gladly refresh the link 🥰
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RULES
this server was created to offer a place for those who enjoy rare pairs in the One Piece fandom. for the sake of this server, a rare pair is defined as a pairing who has less than 100 works on ao3 using "otp:true". (romantic or platonic!) but don’t panic! if your OTP (or one of them) has more than 100 works, that’s okay! you are still welcome here! just be sure to encourage those who are creating for and/or celebrating smaller pairings.
you must be 20+ years old to join this server.
respect is vital. any form of hate speech or bigotry will not be tolerated. if a ship, story, or trope is not your cup of tea, don’t drink it! disagreements are inevitable, but the nature of this server is to support one another, so please be respectful if ideas collide. different interpretations should be encouraged!
no anti/proship discourse.
no underage content.
no AI-generated content.
dark/sensitive works and discussions are to be posted in the “bruised fruits” category so people can easily mute these channels. this includes subjects that may involve non-con, dub-con, incest, gore, suicide, self-harm, eating disorders, and animal abuse. if you encounter an additional subject you’d like to be filtered into this channel, do not hesitate to reach out to a mod.
other nsfw works and discussions should be posted in the “spicy fruits” category so people can easily mute these channels. this includes subjects that may involve nudity or sex. if you encounter an additional subject you’d like to be filtered into this channel, do not hesitate to reach out to a mod.
fanart shared in dark/nsfw channels should still be covered with a spoiler tag and explicitly labeled to ensure maximum comfort for all individuals.
be mindful of the content you consume. do not harass any individuals or creations under any circumstances. a mod will step in if there is a violation of the rules.
this server is focused on rare pairs in the One Piece fandom, but other fandom discourse is welcome, and belongs in the appropriate “#other fruits” channel. feel free to make a thread for your fandom as well, if you find others who share an interest in it!
feel free to create your own threads! whether it be a thread for your pairing, or a thread for your current wip. just be sure to create your thread in the appropriate category/channel.
try to keep conversations relevant per channel. each category has their own channels for general discussion/analyses. off-topic conversations are encouraged in the “#general chat” channel in the “picnic table” category.
you are encouraged to post fanfiction/fanart, but be sure to do so in the correct fanfiction/fanart channels. when posting fic recs or others’ artwork, be sure to include the link to credit the original artist.
any additional questions or concerns can be brought to the “#questions/suggestions” channel under the “welcome!” category, or discussed via DM with a mod :)
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hope to see you there! 🍐♥
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twstjam · 11 months
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[Book 7 Spoilers]
Do you guys think there's discourse going on rn in twst's in-universe version of twitter? And just social media in general
I mean come on there's no WAY the crisis going on at Sage's Island right now isn't on the news
How much do you guys think the public knows about what's going on? Do they know that Malleus is the one behind this? Do they know the state of the island's residents? Do they know the barrier is GROWING and that the apocalypse will be upon them if Malleus isn't stopped?
You're a normal, everyday citizen of twisted wonderland. One day you go on the in-universe equivalent of tumblr and see one of THESE posts on your dashboard:
> hey guys did you hear about the thorn barrier surrounding sage island rn >> the WHAT >>> On 9:18 pm last night (xx/xx/xxxx) Sage's Island was encased in thorn vines, an impenetrable magical barrier, and a thick fog. The current state of the residents are unknown but are reported by S.T.Y.X. to be safe. >>>>
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(idk much how to imitate posts and stuff also I forgor some twst lore about styx (like if they're public knowledge or not) but I did my best)
Can you imagine some Vil antis stirring up shit by tweeting something like "vil shitheit goes to school at nrc. a magical disaster is going on at sage island and everyone might die CRAB RAVE"
quote retweet: "y'all remember that neige is on that island too right"
Also the fans of both Neige and Vil and freaking out about this and tweeting about sending prayers for them to be saved and this moment of crisis unites both fandoms as they all wait with bated breath for news about their faves.
Meanwhile there's also people complaining about people only giving a shit about Neige and Vil and not the hundreds of other people on that island and their families. It's just a big shitshow on twst!twitter afshsgshs
also you cannot tell me there AREN'T Leona stans jokingly being like
> everyone shut up about vil and neige are we all forgetting that Prince Leona is on that island too >> o7 his royal hotness has served us well >>> oh my god if he dies it's going to be the end of the world like actually >>>> oh well i never liked sports anyways o7
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twopoppies · 1 year
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I’m a newer Larrie and pretty naive about the One Direction days because I didn’t listen to that type of music during the time they were a band. I started liking them individually and somehow found myself in this fandom. I guess my question is why do fans compare them constantly? They all came from the same band, they all seem to support each other at least privately if not publicly and appear to be pretty grateful to have had that same experience. I’ve seen some some solo Harry fans really attack Liam and Louis negatively with even comments on their looks. They constantly compare them to Harry and how they’re somehow losers because they don’t currently have the kind of commercial success as Harry. I’ve seen other solo fans also go after Harry for all kinds of reasons too, which is just so sad to see. Was it like this in the band too? Or has this all heightened because they all went solo? They all have different sounds, so why compare them? Am I missing something maybe?
Hi darling. Welcome to the hellhole fandom. So, no. When they were in the band it was actually unusual for anyone to ever voice a dislike for any one of them. People had their favorites, but publicly everyone supported everyone.
1DHQ started the fracture with the constant pushing of Harry vs the band. They really wanted to position Harry as being separate from (and better than) the other guys. Then Zayn left. There were people who were disappointed/angry with him or who no longer cared about his career, so we started having OT5 vs OT4 discourse. Then babygate started and we had the next fracture where people began to think maybe Larry broke up or Louis cheated on Harry. This was when people became houies (people who thought HL has dated, but now has broken up). Then that was followed by the hiatus and Harry/his team pushing the separation of Harry up a notch.
There were still many OT4 supporters until HS1 dropped and then there was a whole faction of people who flipped out over Harry’s lyrics and image not meeting their expectations and I think that was when houies really divided into harries and louies. There were still larries and antis. But now there were also louies who were only interested in Louis and “rad louies” (radical louies) who hated Harry and thought he was the reason Louis’ career was being “sabotaged”. And there were also harries — some of whom hated Louis because they thought he cheated on Harry and some also bought into the idea that Harry was just better than everyone else.
The fractured nature of our fandom really went into overdrive with the popularity of Fine Line and quarantine. Thousands and thousands of people entered the fandom and many had zero interest in 1D. Harry’s het image was in overdrive with Watermelon Sugar and the idea that Camille broke his heart (thus, being inspiration for the album). Holivia, DWD, As It Was, Harry’s House and Harry’s growing fame really made things worse in that department.
It seems as though a lot of Harry’s newest fans see any link back to 1D or his former bandmates as being a step backwards or as the other guys trying to “use” Harry as a way to promote themselves. And until recently, Harry spoke very little about the band and had very little public interaction with them, so unless you paid very close attention, it was easy to think he didn’t care much for or about them. I think many fans do this weird thing of needing their fave to be “the best” — as if that somehow reflects on them, as well. Like, the way many Harries went overboard making sure Lloyd won best tour photographer only because they didn’t want Louis’ photographer to win. It’s ridiculous.
Some of the hatred towards Harry is rooted in jealousy because people feel he had an unfair advantage over the others, thus having a success the others could have had just as well. Some of the hate is people feeling as though he has the power to do whatever he wants in terms of his image and stunts, so he must be fake and only cares about fame and money. Some of it is people buying into the idea that Harry ended the band because he wanted to be a star and he’s actively trying to ruin Louis’ career. There are a million different reasons people send hate his way.
As for comparing the five of them, as you say, they all have different sounds and none of them compete with each other. But I do think Sony very much wants Harry to be the Justin Timberlake and be the only one who reaches that huge level of success. And the media doesn’t help because many of the articles are written in a way that praises Harry and puts the others down (for no reason at all), so fans feel defensive and lash out. I tend to think Liam, Niall, Louis, and Harry all care about each other very much and are supportive of each other. And I really doubt they like the articles that do that nor would they support the nasty way some of the fans behave.
Sorry this was so long. And at the same time, this barely touched the surface, but I hope it helped a little.
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hsvh-hp · 6 days
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Hi! Thanks for all the responses -- I hadn't realized how many chapters I'd gotten through since your last round until I saw the emails lmao
I was wondering, in regards to this:
And omg, I totally feel you on being a trans person in the HP fandom. It's very weird how my tumblr dash is set up. I have mutuals still from old fandoms who are queer, and I feel so ostracized from them at times when they toe the line of 'anybody in the HP fandom supports JKR, you're a bad person if you're still engaging with it'. I'll spare you the essay on why I disagree with that, but oddly the safest place I feel on the internet as a trans person is in the HP fandom. Which is weird at face value, I suppose, given what JKR is doing, but we really are separate from her. I've yet to see substantial evidence that fandom, which is infamous for generating zero revenue, is floating trans peoples' demise. It's just a thought crime, I guess.
if you would, perhaps, not spare me the essay? lol
I feel the same sort of ostracization which is especially frustrating when I am in such "thought crimes are fake!" circles, and I'm interested in your perspective, if you want to give it!
Sure, I’ll offer my perspective on it! This is probably best broken down into bullet points:
1. JKR was already a billionaire before she came out as a TERF.
There is nothing in the world that will change this status. Even if every single person currently engaging with her various IPs immediately dropped them, JKR would still have a billion plus dollars to drop on anti-trans movements and whatever. A billion dollars is immensely difficult to picture. The easiest way is to think like this: if you make $50,000 a year, the equivalent of her dropping $75,000 the other day is you spending $3.75. How often do you spend 0.0075% of your income and give it any thought? JKR’s wealth is not directly tied to ‘levels of fandom engagement’.
Which leads to…
2. Boycotts don’t work.
Sorry. They don’t. Not against someone this politically powerful. If they did, the flood of people out of the HP fandom in 2020 would have had a measurable effect. What did have a measurable effect? People not going to watch the Fantastic Beast movies (because they were hot trash lmao). Not giving JKR any more money works in the sense that it cripples her future projects, but it has zero effect on what’s already in her purse.
Also, think of boycotts this way: wasn’t it hilarious watching conservatives try to boycott the Barbie movie, Nike, Bud Light, and whatever else they’ve systematically locked on to? But so then why do progressives/the left/whoever think it’s going to work the other way? Like with Hogwarts Legacy? Just don’t interact with the media, dude. And if you do, pirate it.
3. Fandom is not mainstream. I have never seen any data to substantiate that participating in a fandom directly correlates to dollars for the IP. Copyright literally prevents that from happening. To bring up to popular saying, “there is no ethical consumption under capitalism”, fandom exists outside of capitalism—for me, at least, as a fan fiction writer. This is a hobby to me. I have never seen a red cent for any of the hours of work I’ve put into my fics.
And I can probably guarantee that no one has stumbled upon Harry Potter through me, lol. They didn’t read one of my fics and go, ‘you know, I should check out what source material this is coming from’. Harry Potter is so well-known that there’s no way they came in blind.
Also, the TERF discourse is very much an online thing. I work retail irl and I’ve had conversations with customers who’ll say “you know, I really don’t get all this hubbub against trans people” but are too boomer to be anything more than tangentially aware that Harry Potter is a Thing. Like, ‘oh yeah, my kids read those books when they were coming out, but I never bothered’. One of my employees bought a set of the HP books because they were on a wicked deal at Costco, and when we were discussing it I told her that while I still enjoyed HP, I wasn’t comfortable giving JKR more money because she’s extremely transphobic and donates a lot of money to anti-trans causes. My employee was horrified and said that had she known that, she wouldn’t have bought the books. Lots of people just don’t know!
Which takes me to…
4. This type of online activism isn’t effective.
I’m talking specifically about being anti-Harry Potter or anti-JKR. Falling into those two categories does not automatically make you pro-trans. This was pretty blatantly obvious back when the books were being burned for promoting witchcraft. As far as fighting for trans peoples’ rights, screaming until you’re blue in the face about how anybody who engages with Harry Potter is a traitor and JKR BAD is wasting time better spent doing something productive - something that could actually benefit trans people rather than…I don’t know…virtue signalling that their blog or twitter account is a safe space?
5. I personally do not feel welcomed or vouched for by these people.
Listen, I’m going to break myself down into all my stupid little categories. I’m trans. Autistic. Intersex. Aromantic. Asexual. Basically, all the things that people love to try and cast out of the queer community, whether that means they’re trying to split LGBTQIA+ at the T or Q.
The anti-Harry Potter stuff, as far as attacking the fandom, feels like the latest strain of purity politics to me. As I’ve laid out above, abandoning HP will not right the wrongs of JKR in any measurable or tangible way. Boycotts don’t work. Fandom does not feed JKR’s coffers, and destroying the fandom will not cripple her. There are trans people inside the HP fandom, and what of us? Are we traitors? Are we not ‘really’ trans, because obviously we don’t care about the current political climate? Are we just confused and need to be enlightened as to what harm we’re doing? Where have I heard this rhetoric before?
One small thing, tangentially related:
6. I don’t care what JKR says about how engaging with Harry Potter tells her about who her ‘supporters’ are.
Seriously? She’s a lying dirtbag, and I’m just supposed to take her word on this? This is the one thing she just so happens to be right about?
When she started spouting TERF shit, I was really saddened by the writers who, upon leaving the fandom, also deleted their works in protest. Seeing as the majority of the HP fandom is queer, I’m sure that JKR was very pleased with the amount of queer media erasure that occurred. Why did we do that for her?
7. I believe JKR actually seethes and malds over the prospect of her fandom being queer and producing queer content.
As a writer, there’s a special kind of pain that comes from someone not quite interpreting your work the way you would have wanted them to. What do you think JKR’s first reaction was when she first learned about the Harry/Draco ship? The Draco/Hermione ship? If she didn’t live in a stone castle, I bet she would’ve punched a hole in the wall.
So, yeah. Transing and gaying all of her characters is a pretty nice way to get to her in a way that she can’t legally or financially retaliate. Every time she screams ‘WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE?!’ at the queer people in her fandom, a trans person’s crops are watered.
8. The HP setting is very welcoming to trans people.
Potions exist that can change your body. Enough said.
That the Harry Potter books never really says anything specifically about trans people (NOTE: obviously JKR’s prejudices even back then showed through, but this isn’t about that) leaves the question on the table. Obviously trans people exist in the Harry Potter setting, because they exist everywhere. So, how did they never get any page time?
Well, who says they didn’t? In a setting where potions exist to change your body, trans people are just…people. I don’t even think that they would have a marginalized identity because gender dysphoria would be something very easily treated. Think of it like someone who takes medication for blood pressure. They need the medication, it’s life-saving, and while there isn’t a magical pill to ‘cure’ high blood pressure, it can be managed. The magical world revels in being strange. Why would being trans, while being considered strange here in the ‘Muggle’ world, be anything other than normal there? Why can’t it be?
And then there are Metamorphmagi. People who can literally change themselves at will! If that isn’t a trans person’s dream, I don’t know what is. I would personally love the option of being the biggest, hairiest dude with a dick so big an erection would make me black out, and then ultra femme and delicate the next.
Last on this point, Harry never notes anyone specifically trans in the text (NOTE: touching on things like the physical descriptions of Rita Skeeter and Marge Dursley, JKR tends to do the ugly=bad person thing. Although she describes Rita and Marge as mannish in appearance, they aren’t trans characters. They’re women that JKR wants to frame as bad people. Like I said above, this is JKR’s prejudice showing through). If Harry never notes anyone as specifically trans, that probably means that it’s impossible to tell at face value. The same as blood pressure medication, to return to that analogy. How do you know someone is on them? They tell you. You see the pill bottle and happen to know what that medication is for. They complain about side effects. They complain about the symptoms that led them going to the doctor in the first place.
9. Queer HP fandom content can potentially be how a Harry Potter fan realizes that they’re queer (or that queer people are just regular folks).
Hey, the first one happened to me!
If someone comes into the Harry Potter fandom unaware of JKR’s politics - maybe they were gifted the books for their birthday or happened to catch the movies on TV - it’s good actually that this person doesn’t fall right into an echo chamber of JKR’s politics. I’ll be happily here to correct her record in a way that isn’t shaming or policing them.
Anyway, I think that’s everything lol. To summarize:
- The HP Fandom is a neutral setting. Engaging with it doesn’t help JKR, and not engaging with it doesn’t help trans people. Just don’t spend money on official HP merch.
- If you want to be a pro-trans activist or trans political ally, please just ignore JKR and put all your focus on the real world.
- There are trans people in the HP fandom who are left feeling awkward and uncomfortable due to virtue signalling.
- Generating queer HP content is good, actually.
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olderthannetfic · 4 months
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https://olderthannetfic.tumblr.com/post/739381076510785536/so-it-seems-our-flag-means-death-has-not-been#notes
I liked OFMD and I'm sad it's not getting renewed, but I agree that the fandom was especially toxic, even by the standards of currently popular slash-heavy fandoms. I wanted to read fic after s1 ended the way it did, and I read a little bit, but along with it having all the tropes that I can't stand in a lot of what is currently big with the MSF crowd (and that I'd been happy to have a reprieve from in my current main M/M fandom), the toxicity of the online fandom discourse made me quickly realize it was one that I was going to discuss among my current-friends-from-other-fandoms who also watched it, and my sister who watches it, and pretty much ignore the rest of the Internet. It was such a perfect storm of everything awful, from people who are overly invested in it to an unhealthy degree (I think I realized I wasn't gonna be active in the larger fandom around a month or so before the s2 renewal announcement, when I saw earnest PSA tweets telling people to "stop threatening suicide in HBO's replies if they don't renew OFMD"), to bombarding and parasocial obsessions with the creators and actors, to all the classic "anti" and purity police crap that plagues anything that gets popular on here.
The fandom it reminds me the most of, honestly, is Yuri on Ice fandom at its peak in early-mid 2017. Again, a show I love, but a fandom I absolutely do not miss. In some ways they are kind of similar shows: ones with canon M/M romances where they were not billed as that, and they were hinted from early on but people didn't trust it due to years of dealing with queerbaiting, where that sort of thing slowly crept up on people and then became the defining feature of how it was discussed everywhere. I wonder if there's a particular level of insanity that that type of thing breeds in its fans - or maybe, more broadly, "canon M/M with a large female fanbase." Like, you don't see this kind of thing in canon M/M stuff that's mostly watched by queer men rather than women, but there are shades of the insanity I also remember from Glee fandom (I was more active on the F/F side of things there, which had its own unhinged drama, but the Klaine vs. anti-Klaine stuff was so explosive that it was hard not to notice it if you were anywhere in that fandom, like a mushroom cloud in the distance). But YOI and OFMD do seem very... singular in the particular kind of obsession that they generate.
And I really wish people would shape the fuck up, because if they're going to act like this over and over again, that's just going to de-incentivize showrunners to make shows like this for that audience.
Driving Con O'Neill off Twitter was one of the worst parts of it, too. There was something so refreshingly earnest about how much he embraced the fandom, even the weirdest parts - saying with regard to NSFW fanart that "art is art" and retweeting stuff like his character in a crop-top that said "babygirl." It was so nice to see an actor who didn't usually have that kind of following embrace it wholeheartedly rather than steering clear. ....And then people had to be awful and creepy and obsessive and he left Twitter. I bet he's going to be a lot more skeptical of dealing with fans in the future!
--
It's not just the canon m/m aspect: it's the wholesomeness.
Yes, yes, they're all evil pirates, I agree, but watching S1 did give me the feeling of something that was supposed to be very progressive and light-hearted in particular ways. I don't think that's bad, but it does tend to attract some very over-sensitive fans with some very rigid expectations.
It's sadly par for the course that one of the random side character actors is the fun one and people are jackasses and desperately want the leads they ship to be the fandomy ones and/or just start creeping on any actor they can get a reaction from.
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poindexters-labratory · 5 months
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I have yet to update my artist pinned
My name is Poindexter (or Emerson if you wanna get personal with it). I'm a queer and transmasc artist living in America (yee-haw), who has a familial fondness for the American flats/mountainous/desert west. I'm disabled, having Tourette's, autism, OCD, and possibly NPD (although more research has to be done, but it's quite likely) and potentially even more.
I'm a fandom-based artist, mainly centered around FNAF and furries. I'm the proud owner of a FNAF AU (FNAF: Hurricane), which I'm working on a comic series for currently, and a creepypasta AU story called The Abyss that I'm not working much on (and I make fursuits as well, although not professionally).
Read before interacting: I don't tolerate harassment, racism, transphobia, homophobia, or ablism. I will not interact with proshippers, antis, terfs, or truscum. I don't engage in cringe culture, politics, or discourse.
I always appreciate reblogs and asks. I'm always friendly, just please be respectful. Be mindful that I'm eighteen (18) and potentially NSFW content may be discussed.
Interests:
FNAF
Music
Furries
The Legend of Zelda (but not Breath of the Wild or its sequel)
Creepypastas of the early 2010s
Social science and liberal arts
Animals (rabbits and cats for the most part)
If you enjoy my art and comics, and would like to support me, I have a Ko-Fi page to tip me in!
FNAF: Hurricane - Wild Cat link (in progress :3)
peek my art if you wish
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circular-bircular · 9 months
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Us: Hey, we want to change the current usage of Tulpa, as a term, due to its racist origins.
Them: These people are trying to stop Tulpamancy entirely!
Us: Nope! Actually a lot of the people saying this either have created alters, support created alters, or are married to people with created alters.
Them: This is just sysmeds trying to break apart the community:
Us: Er, nope. Actually the majority of voices right now are pro-endo or unaligned. Mostly pro-endo.
Them: Well, it’s sysmed rhetoric.
Us: … How? If being a sysmed means believing systemhood is inherently medical, then wouldn’t we be arguing not to have thoughtforms at all? That’s not what anyone is saying here.
Them: Well, the document going around spreads anti-endo rhetoric!
Us: N. No. It spreads POC voices. That was the point. Why does it matter is… like, one or two voices were anti-endo? Also the majority on that list also were not anti-endo. What are you even saying here, being anti-endo as a label somehow makes your POC voice no longer matter? That’s even more racist!
Them: Sysmeds are just trying to make it so we can’t use resources with the word tulpa.
Us: Again, majority aren’t sysmeds, and even then… Ah yes. The sysmeds who use resources that refer to DID as MPD or Hysteria or even Split Brain Syndrome clearly mean you can never ever use a resource ever again with an outdated term. Bitch, you literally will be able to still use those resources, and everyone has been saying that, you’re just too racist to listen!
Them: We can’t say anything without being called racist anymore 😞
Us: That’s because everything you’re saying is racist!
Them: Well, what about all these various fandoms that refer to Tulpamancy?! Why haven’t you said anything about them? You obviously only care about breaking up the endogenic community.
Us: Wait, what? I’m not part of any of those fandoms. I’ve never even heard of that being a thing. But… yeah? That’s horrible?? I can only work on my own community though, and this discourse is close enough to my community because it personally affects me. It’s something close enough to me that I might be able to change it. Wait, if it’s so bad and racist that even you’re mentioning it, if you know so much about this issue, why haven’t you spoken out about it yet?
Them: Nobody white should be talking about how it’s appropriation. We should be listening to actual Tibetan Buddhists. And by that we mean people who live in Tibet who are ethnically Tibet and raised Tibetan Buddhist.
Us: … The people, in Tibet, who have limited to no access to the internet due to the political climate, who face actual persecution for speaking up? Those Tibetan Buddhists?
Them: In conclusion, Tulpamancy isn’t racist, and what we’re asking for isn’t racist. You should read more sweaty and maybe you would understand. 😌 Here’s a link to a Reddit AMA that agrees with my point, one of the only sources I have that says it’s not appropriation. Learn smth.
……..
I’m so fucking tired.
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