Some Thoughts on criticism in fandom and creators bc this shit drives me absolutely nuts and I got a lot to say I guess
Fans are allowed to criticize creators! It does not matter if they never went to art school or dont have a million dollar disney series! their opinions still matter!
Criticism isnt hate, a fan criticizing a creator doesnt make them a fake fan or a traitor, it doesnt mean they hate the work! fans criticize creators because they love their work and want to see them improve! loving something doesnt mean blind worship.
Criticism isn’t entitlement, Criticism isnt setting impossible standards, just because no one is perfect doesnt mean that no one should try. Just because fans of a show want to see it improve doesnt make them “entitled”.
Criticism =/= Hate, constructive criticism isn’t blind hatred. Criticism isnt always kind either, just because its negative doesnt mean its not criticism. Learn the difference,
The existence of trolls, misguided teens, and nasty haters doesnt make other criticism automatically invalid. There are plenty of older more “mature” folks who have criticism that should be heard, and just because younger fans don’t always know how to get their thoughts across properly doesnt automatically mean their thoughts and ideas are wrong or should be brushed off. Trolls and Haters? they’ll always exist and their existence doesnt mean other people aren’t worth listening to.
Hobbiests and children aren’t always going to be receptive of criticism and thats okay. But if you expect that your work is going to reach a wide audience, if you consider yourself a professional, if you are making a profit from your creations, you need to be receptive of criticism, If you want to reach that level someday then please be understanding and try to be more open to criticism as well.
That doesn’t mean you have to take literally every single thing everyone says to heart and it doesn’t mean you have to allow yourself to be harrassed, but be more receptive to criticism, strive to improve yourself.
and if youre a fan please don’t coddle creators or get angry at critics, you as a fan should want your faves to improve themselves.
ALSO someone criticizing something doesnt mean theyre trying to convince you to stop liking it. Like if seeing criticism makes you feel as if you shouldnt like it anymore that’s your own problem
I’m perfectly capable of enjoying the idea of “person A, a hero, ‘saves’ person b, a villain, with the power of love” in a fictional context, and all the different ways it can play out, while also recognizing that it’s a bad idea to try to save someone from themselves if they’re dangerous in real life. I’m an adult and I understand the difference. My enjoyment if hero/villain ships in fiction does not inform my real life relationship choices. On the contrary, they allow a safe outlet me to explore and live out these ideas without suffering negative consequences in my real life.
This continued insistence by self-described feminists that I actually don’t know the difference, and am potentially endangering myself by consuming fiction featuring that trope, is not helpful. It’s not progressive or radical. It’s not liberating or empowering. It’s not “smashing the patriarchy.”
On the contrary, it’s nothing but a rehash of old misogynistic stand-bys: that women can’t be trusted to understand their own thoughts and emotions, that they have to be told what they feel and think and why, that women are blinded by innate naivety and compassion, or by sexual desire, that women need a guiding hand to protect them from their own bad judgment.
The fact that it’s women applying this to other women this time around. does not magically make it okay, does not make it less condescending, less patronizing, less violating. Women have been enforcing misogynistic social norms for other women for ages; this is nothing new. It’s no different than when my female Sunday school teachers told me that my body is inherently a temptation to sin, and I must take counter-measures to prevent others from falling from grace by covering it at the expense of my own comfort. It’s no different than when they told me that women who aren’t virgins are equivalent to chewed up gum or licked cupcakes. Sexism doesn’t stop being sexism because it’s enforced laterally.
It’s funny that these people keep implying that women who enjoy this fictional trope have a savior complex. From where I’m sitting, we aren’t the ones trying to save people who don’t need or want to be saved.
Honestly I think we need a name for this kind of condescending “it’s for their own good” themarysue-style fauxminism and I’m formally submitting “helicopter feminism” as that name.
People wouldn’t say “oh plz protect my poor baby Ben, he’s suffering”, treat him like a 13 year old child even though he is 30, or ship him with Rey after he kidnapped her, tortured her, force pushed her into a tree, killed her father figure, almost killed her close friend, manipulated her, said that she was “nothing, except to him”, tried to convince her to abandon her friends, ordered her to be blown out of the sky, and then threatened to destroy her…because they touched hands…nope.
And if Finn had looked like this.
People would probably think he’s the new Luke Skywalker, shit, even I would. There would be no question that he is the male lead of the trilogy, he wouldn’t be shrunken or removed in posters, removed from trailers entirely, he would have more merchandise, the Finn Skywalker and Force Sensitive Finn theories would be through the roof, Finnrey would be the most popular ship, probably even canon by the end of the first movie.
Fair. Even just glancing at the periphery of the SW fandom it seems like a hellscape.
I was complaining about it to my Mom (we were having a general discussion about social media and internet subcultures) and she pointed out that it made sense that a franchise that is so focused on the idea of good and evil would attract people who want to fight with each other about morality.
I know this is a tangent, but I don’t think that helped the Once fandom, either.
I think the OUAT fandom had a slightly different problem in that it was a fandom full of villain fans who wanted to squabble about how their pet villain was less of a villain than the one they didn’t like.
2. Steve/Bucky, Matt/Foggy, Sam/Frodo (I do ship Gimli and Legolas though), I go back and forth sometimes about Bonnalise
3. Steven Universe. I’ve heard the show is great but I’ve never wanted to wade into it and so I just haven’t. Voltron. Most CW shows (though Black Lightning is an exception).
Oh lots! R*ylo, C$, and Skyew*rd are the three that pop into my head when I get asked this question. I honestly don’t get 0Q either. Flaur*el would be another one. Any Star Trek ships that involve Gul Dukat I also don’t get but they’re not that popular on tumblr thankfully.
Fair. Even just glancing at the periphery of the SW fandom it seems like a hellscape.
I was complaining about it to my Mom (we were having a general discussion about social media and internet subcultures) and she pointed out that it made sense that a franchise that is so focused on the idea of good and evil would attract people who want to fight with each other about morality.
The Star Wars fandom was fun for a few months after The Force Awakens came out but now I can’t stand it. I reblog #finnreyfridays posts and FinnRey meta sometimes but other then that I don’t consider myself an active member anymore.
I’m never sure whether people who want to ship characters with a same sex character feeling the need to illegitimize existing opposite sex canon relationships they have had is more annoying or the pearl clutching you can’t ship this person with same sex characters because their canon relationships haven’t been response is more annoying.
They both are very annoying and I’ve dealt with both. I’ve also dealt with people, in the latter case, accusing everyone who shipped the same-sex pairing of being fetishizers and only in the fandom for shipping instead of genuine fans.
Sigh. I know this has been going on since before I was born, let alone joined, fandom but I am still tired of it… and I’m a straight woman who primarily (not exclusively) writes het.
Glad to see you speaking out about it as a straight person. Having allies is nice.
I’m never sure whether people who want to ship characters with a same sex character feeling the need to illegitimize existing opposite sex canon relationships they have had is more annoying or the pearl clutching you can’t ship this person with same sex characters because their canon relationships haven’t been response is more annoying.
They both are very annoying and I’ve dealt with both. I’ve also dealt with people, in the latter case, accusing everyone who shipped the same-gender pairing of being fetishizers and only in the fandom for shipping instead of genuine fans.
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