bending_sickle (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bending_sickle) wrote2009-11-15 11:34 pm
bending_sickle) wrote2009-11-15 11:34 pm
Entry tags:
WTF AM I READING*
Life: Today was full of random necessary odd-jobs and writing. I also had a dream in which I confronted an ex-friend and gave her a piece of my mind. It was strangely unlike my usual dreams, in that I was mostly coherent and audible and not, as in the dreams where I confront my father over some trifle, full of frustration and sadness. Instead, it was pretty realistic (for a dream) and highly satisfying. Booyah, dream-person!
Fandomlife, Topic 1: I've fallen for Misha Collins, damn the man! Sure, I've been following his twitter (by which I mean, forgetting it exists then catchin gup every other month) and therefore knew he was pretty cool, and I think he's easy on the eyes, but now I'm all a-gush. It started whilst watching Misha Collins and Richard Speight CreationCon 2009, which was the first time I'd seen Misha live and in action, and the adorableness just rolled right off the screen. (This rolling was helped by Richard, who was likewise awesome and adorable.) (ETA: Oh my fucking god, and how hot does he look in the vest and tie? Smokin', that's how much. Unf.)
Then I watched this Comic Con interview and the gushing grew as he described the potential side-effects of that many people, and by the time he illustrated Castiel's problems with personal space, I was smitten. So now I have a YouTube Quicklist all set up with Misha interviews and I'm all, "Jon Stew-who?" Ah, bloomin' crushes.
Fandomlife, Topic 2: I read![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
fandomsecrets. I usually skim most secrets because they're mostly anime and that just goes *whoosh* over my head, or they're about fandoms I know only vaguely. I tend to stop at the "this book is great" or "I ship this" ones, because they're always interesting or cracky.
I've also taken to reading the Supernatural ones, and I really shouldn't because they just piss me off royally. Not the ones written by fans, but rather the ones written by people who think the fans are crazy. Fuck all y'all, I say.
I'm sick and tired of people saying that the SPN fandom is crazy or scary or in some way majorly psychotic. This is true for every fandom out there if you look hard enough (and alright, sometimes you needn't look too hard). But I hate it that the whole SPN fandom in particular gets painted with the wide brush of "lol u guys they craaazy". Fuck that shit. I'm in the SPN fandom and I haven't seen any crazy fans.
And that's not 'cause I'm picky about who's LJ I lurk around, either. Maybe things are different in forums - because gods know that's a different beast altogether - but every LJ post I've seen relating to SPN has been within the usual realm of rant and squee. SPN fans, in fact, have shocked me for a completely different reason: Oh my gods, the thinky-thinks! The amount, depth and quality of fandom analysis, meta, theorizing, research, whatever, simply blows my everloving mind.
And then there's the fanfic. Most of these "They crazy!" finger pointers point their digits at the Wincest. What the hell did you people expect? The show has - or rather had, up until this season - only two main characters. Regardless of sexual preference or, yes, blood relation, they will be put together sexually in a number of fanfics. Are they pretty together? Yes. But may I also point out at the buckets of love and angst and issues these two boys carry? And how fanfic will explore every corner of their psyche? And how one main attraction of fanfic is to enforce Rule 34 and explore relationships the series won't, or not as deeply, or in that angle?
I mean, seriously, you guys are surprised there's Wincest? For fuck's sake. And if that's not your cup of tea, there's a whole pot of other pairings, or no pairings at all. These boys have been set up against lots of men and women and monsters and believe me, there's fic about it. And it's not hiding under a rock whilst the Wincestshippers blare out their fics on a megaphone.
So no, the SPN fandom isn't any crazier than your generic fandom, isn't wincest only and doesn't bash people around if they don't agree. (The only point I can't comment on is whether or not the fangirls hated various female characters like Jo and Bella enough to actually get them off the air. I find it hard, though, because the permanent cast is really just down to two and also, the show's written and filmed way before the fans can get their hackles raised.
But goddamnit, people!
The things that brought this rant to a head was a secret saying "I am never joining SPN fandom. The positive reviews for this scared me."
First off, DO NOT click on the image link until you put the terms "graphic" "baby" "porn" and "extended legible text" together. Once the math is done, if you still insist on clicking, remember, what has been read cannot be unread. Read the comments if you want to see how bad it burns.
Now, let's deal with the first half of this. Judging a whole entire fandom - and avoiding it like the plague - based on one single fic? Fail. Like, so much fail you're gonna need a bigger mouth to swallow all that fail. It's incredibly stupid to judge such a vast and disparate community of fans on a single sample. A single obviously exceptionally deviant, in fandom or real life, sample.
Secondly, let's deal with the fic in questions. Now, putting aside the oh gods why aspect of it, the fic is a pure porn-without-plot with out-of-character up the wazoo and a unnecessary alternative-universe detail in the gender of the baby. I read once that bad fanfic was, amongst other things, the kind where if you change the characters names (changing, for example, John Winchester to Phil Philston) this doesn't change the story at all. If you can't tell that it's John Winchester standing there, doing those things, saying those things, then it's shit (or more correctly, excruciatingly out-of-character). If a fic depicts the character doing things he would never do, thinking things he would never do, in a situation he would never be in, then it's not that character. It's just the writer wanting some face to front the actions in their heads. And while yes, there's plently of ridiculously OOC that are actually quite alright, the one in the secret isn't.
I might be singing a different tune if I read more than the excerpt, if there was a reason for the PWP, if (one can only hope) the whole fic was a critique meant to make you want to pluck your eyes out. Now, I've a read a brilliant Dean/John (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
teand's Familiar Admonishments) where the whole point of the fic was to make you squirm uncomfortably at the pairing. (Go, read, it's amazing.)
But with the secret's fic? I just...gah. It's obviously just written for the situation - the porn - and the choice of fandom is irrelevant. Working penis? That's all we need, the fic seems to say.
And I'm trying to see the other side of it, that it's simply a porn fic for a kink. Kinks are kinks are kinks, and not everyone has the same one, and my kink may make you run away screaming in terror just as well as yours might make me gag.
And I get that reading something doesn't mean you want to do it, even if it is a kink. Like, yes, I like reading Wincest and Crazy Space Incest fiction and the likes but that doesn't mean I'm down with it in real life or want to feel up my brother. Likewise, if I read noncon that doesn't mean I want to be in that situation. I get that fiction kink does not equal real life kink. I'm also okay with or don't give a rat's ass about other kinks in that if I don't share your kink I'm not going to lynch you. I get that it's fiction, that it's not real in the strictest sense, but rather just a fantasy in someone's head.
But holy gods, that secret's kink? In the words of Dean Winchester, I've found my line. In my gut, I just can't find it okay for someone to write that kind of stuff and fap to it (it's PWP, of course they're fapping, even if only mentally). I just can't be okay with someone thinking that. It is not okay! Except for where I just said it was, because kinks are kinks are kinks and all that jazz. But my gut won't listen. My gut won't toe that line.
So in conclusion, judging a whole fandom on one sample fic is stupid, especially when it's obviously not even using the fandom by being OOC PWP, and especially when it depicts fucking baby rape, which you'd have to be insane to think that a whole fandom could condone. I can only say that I'm reassured by comments on the secret assuring that the secret is a troll and that the fic in question is also a troll, and may not even exist outside the secret. I'm still horrified that someone wrote that, even in jest, even if only to fuck with people. Sick bastard.
Nano: Thanks toseschat, I snuck in a long-overdue physical description of Chip. Ah, self-loathing, is there nothing you can't solve? Because, seriously, Chip's rather fucked up in the head. Well, that's the apocalypse for you. But at least he's not exceedingly paranoid and antisocial anymore, which is good. Next up, Icarus the fallen angel makes an appearance! And this time he's walkin' and talkin'!
ETA: So Chip used to look like Shadow, then like the generic pale lanky dude, then like S2 Sam Winchester, and now like Dean Winchester with Sam's hair. Oy.
25089 / 50000 words. 50% done!
Links of the Day:
Supernatural:
mishaland's flocked ARTS AND CRAFTS: COLORING TIME!
missyjack's embedded Misha Collins and Richard Speight CreationCon 2009 - Richard crashes Misha's panel to discuss the whole underwear incident.
kjcharmed's Fanvid Everything
commodoresexual's Fanfic The Five Year Plan, Part 1/5
YouTube's Salute to Supernatural (Los Angeles, Mar '09)
Random:
blizzardcake's embedded Tim Minchin's "Storm" rhyme, with text - Brilliant!
cleolinda's Review of 2012 - CAPSLOCKY UNAMUSEMENT
Webcomic Bear Nuts by Alison Acton
foresthouse's Copyright and Fair Use: UR DOIN' IT WRONG (And How To Do It Right)
Wikia: Queer as Folk (USA Version)
* Anon., onfandomsecrets
Fandomlife, Topic 1: I've fallen for Misha Collins, damn the man! Sure, I've been following his twitter (by which I mean, forgetting it exists then catchin gup every other month) and therefore knew he was pretty cool, and I think he's easy on the eyes, but now I'm all a-gush. It started whilst watching Misha Collins and Richard Speight CreationCon 2009, which was the first time I'd seen Misha live and in action, and the adorableness just rolled right off the screen. (This rolling was helped by Richard, who was likewise awesome and adorable.) (ETA: Oh my fucking god, and how hot does he look in the vest and tie? Smokin', that's how much. Unf.)
Then I watched this Comic Con interview and the gushing grew as he described the potential side-effects of that many people, and by the time he illustrated Castiel's problems with personal space, I was smitten. So now I have a YouTube Quicklist all set up with Misha interviews and I'm all, "Jon Stew-who?" Ah, bloomin' crushes.
Fandomlife, Topic 2: I read
fandomsecrets. I usually skim most secrets because they're mostly anime and that just goes *whoosh* over my head, or they're about fandoms I know only vaguely. I tend to stop at the "this book is great" or "I ship this" ones, because they're always interesting or cracky. I've also taken to reading the Supernatural ones, and I really shouldn't because they just piss me off royally. Not the ones written by fans, but rather the ones written by people who think the fans are crazy. Fuck all y'all, I say.
I'm sick and tired of people saying that the SPN fandom is crazy or scary or in some way majorly psychotic. This is true for every fandom out there if you look hard enough (and alright, sometimes you needn't look too hard). But I hate it that the whole SPN fandom in particular gets painted with the wide brush of "lol u guys they craaazy". Fuck that shit. I'm in the SPN fandom and I haven't seen any crazy fans.
And that's not 'cause I'm picky about who's LJ I lurk around, either. Maybe things are different in forums - because gods know that's a different beast altogether - but every LJ post I've seen relating to SPN has been within the usual realm of rant and squee. SPN fans, in fact, have shocked me for a completely different reason: Oh my gods, the thinky-thinks! The amount, depth and quality of fandom analysis, meta, theorizing, research, whatever, simply blows my everloving mind.
And then there's the fanfic. Most of these "They crazy!" finger pointers point their digits at the Wincest. What the hell did you people expect? The show has - or rather had, up until this season - only two main characters. Regardless of sexual preference or, yes, blood relation, they will be put together sexually in a number of fanfics. Are they pretty together? Yes. But may I also point out at the buckets of love and angst and issues these two boys carry? And how fanfic will explore every corner of their psyche? And how one main attraction of fanfic is to enforce Rule 34 and explore relationships the series won't, or not as deeply, or in that angle?
I mean, seriously, you guys are surprised there's Wincest? For fuck's sake. And if that's not your cup of tea, there's a whole pot of other pairings, or no pairings at all. These boys have been set up against lots of men and women and monsters and believe me, there's fic about it. And it's not hiding under a rock whilst the Wincestshippers blare out their fics on a megaphone.
So no, the SPN fandom isn't any crazier than your generic fandom, isn't wincest only and doesn't bash people around if they don't agree. (The only point I can't comment on is whether or not the fangirls hated various female characters like Jo and Bella enough to actually get them off the air. I find it hard, though, because the permanent cast is really just down to two and also, the show's written and filmed way before the fans can get their hackles raised.
But goddamnit, people!
The things that brought this rant to a head was a secret saying "I am never joining SPN fandom. The positive reviews for this scared me."
First off, DO NOT click on the image link until you put the terms "graphic" "baby" "porn" and "extended legible text" together. Once the math is done, if you still insist on clicking, remember, what has been read cannot be unread. Read the comments if you want to see how bad it burns.
Now, let's deal with the first half of this. Judging a whole entire fandom - and avoiding it like the plague - based on one single fic? Fail. Like, so much fail you're gonna need a bigger mouth to swallow all that fail. It's incredibly stupid to judge such a vast and disparate community of fans on a single sample. A single obviously exceptionally deviant, in fandom or real life, sample.
Secondly, let's deal with the fic in questions. Now, putting aside the oh gods why aspect of it, the fic is a pure porn-without-plot with out-of-character up the wazoo and a unnecessary alternative-universe detail in the gender of the baby. I read once that bad fanfic was, amongst other things, the kind where if you change the characters names (changing, for example, John Winchester to Phil Philston) this doesn't change the story at all. If you can't tell that it's John Winchester standing there, doing those things, saying those things, then it's shit (or more correctly, excruciatingly out-of-character). If a fic depicts the character doing things he would never do, thinking things he would never do, in a situation he would never be in, then it's not that character. It's just the writer wanting some face to front the actions in their heads. And while yes, there's plently of ridiculously OOC that are actually quite alright, the one in the secret isn't.
I might be singing a different tune if I read more than the excerpt, if there was a reason for the PWP, if (one can only hope) the whole fic was a critique meant to make you want to pluck your eyes out. Now, I've a read a brilliant Dean/John (
teand's Familiar Admonishments) where the whole point of the fic was to make you squirm uncomfortably at the pairing. (Go, read, it's amazing.) But with the secret's fic? I just...gah. It's obviously just written for the situation - the porn - and the choice of fandom is irrelevant. Working penis? That's all we need, the fic seems to say.
And I'm trying to see the other side of it, that it's simply a porn fic for a kink. Kinks are kinks are kinks, and not everyone has the same one, and my kink may make you run away screaming in terror just as well as yours might make me gag.
And I get that reading something doesn't mean you want to do it, even if it is a kink. Like, yes, I like reading Wincest and Crazy Space Incest fiction and the likes but that doesn't mean I'm down with it in real life or want to feel up my brother. Likewise, if I read noncon that doesn't mean I want to be in that situation. I get that fiction kink does not equal real life kink. I'm also okay with or don't give a rat's ass about other kinks in that if I don't share your kink I'm not going to lynch you. I get that it's fiction, that it's not real in the strictest sense, but rather just a fantasy in someone's head.
But holy gods, that secret's kink? In the words of Dean Winchester, I've found my line. In my gut, I just can't find it okay for someone to write that kind of stuff and fap to it (it's PWP, of course they're fapping, even if only mentally). I just can't be okay with someone thinking that. It is not okay! Except for where I just said it was, because kinks are kinks are kinks and all that jazz. But my gut won't listen. My gut won't toe that line.
So in conclusion, judging a whole fandom on one sample fic is stupid, especially when it's obviously not even using the fandom by being OOC PWP, and especially when it depicts fucking baby rape, which you'd have to be insane to think that a whole fandom could condone. I can only say that I'm reassured by comments on the secret assuring that the secret is a troll and that the fic in question is also a troll, and may not even exist outside the secret. I'm still horrified that someone wrote that, even in jest, even if only to fuck with people. Sick bastard.
Nano: Thanks to
seschat, I snuck in a long-overdue physical description of Chip. Ah, self-loathing, is there nothing you can't solve? Because, seriously, Chip's rather fucked up in the head. Well, that's the apocalypse for you. But at least he's not exceedingly paranoid and antisocial anymore, which is good. Next up, Icarus the fallen angel makes an appearance! And this time he's walkin' and talkin'! ETA: So Chip used to look like Shadow, then like the generic pale lanky dude, then like S2 Sam Winchester, and now like Dean Winchester with Sam's hair. Oy.
Once he had himself under control again, he finished scrubbing and rinsing himself off with mind-numbing attention to detail. He seemed to be losing it a lot these days, he noted. Maybe it was a result of being off the road, sleeping in a place that still felt like a home, or maybe it was just talking to people again that did it. He’d lost that thick blanket of anaesthesia he would wrap himself in as he cruised down the highway and now everything just bruised him harder.
Chip patted himself dry with the old towel he’d adopted back in Minnesota, pulled on a clean shirt and then gripped the sink tightly as he squared up in front of the mirror and made himself look up. A tall, lanky man – thin but newly muscled in the arms and shoulders – looked back at him. His bright green eyes were set against a pale face invaded by thick stubble and sparse freckles. His dark brown hair hung limply across his forehead, overgrown hairstyle giving him the bangs he used to wear as a college student. He had a fresh scar along his temple that ran back under his hair and a peeling scab under his jaw.
He looked so different. His sins didn’t show, it was true, but it was easy to see that the bright accountant who was too modest to ask for a raise after two years of working at Bartlett & Sons, who played ultimate Frisbee with the guys on weekends, who sucked at playing the guitar but tried anyway, who pined after Steven for weeks after he left him to take the perfect job back home in Vancouver – that man was gone.
Chip wasn’t sure he liked the man who took his place.
Links of the Day:
Supernatural:
mishaland's flocked ARTS AND CRAFTS: COLORING TIME!missyjack's embedded Misha Collins and Richard Speight CreationCon 2009 - Richard crashes Misha's panel to discuss the whole underwear incident.kjcharmed's Fanvid Everythingcommodoresexual's Fanfic The Five Year Plan, Part 1/5YouTube's Salute to Supernatural (Los Angeles, Mar '09)
Random:
blizzardcake's embedded Tim Minchin's "Storm" rhyme, with text - Brilliant!cleolinda's Review of 2012 - CAPSLOCKY UNAMUSEMENTWebcomic Bear Nuts by Alison Acton
foresthouse's Copyright and Fair Use: UR DOIN' IT WRONG (And How To Do It Right)Wikia: Queer as Folk (USA Version)
* Anon., on
fandomsecrets
no subject
(Anonymous) 2009-11-15 11:36 pm (UTC)(link)Nano is killing me. I'm like maybe at the 8000 word mark. MAYBE. I don't even KNOW because my Mac text program doesn't have a word count feature (OMGWTF). Add me as a writing buddy on the site- I need MOTIVATION.
I will catch up on your life very soon- I MISS YOU.
xxx
Kit-Kat
no subject
And the ranty rant was awesome! I had this mental image of you flailing your arms and being all out of breath at the end lol
no subject
I was totally flailing about whilst writing the rant. It just got me freakin' riled up and in desperate need of brain bleach.
no subject
So no, we're not crazy. It's just there are just some hateful suckers around. Big surprise.
*breathes it out* Believe me, you're not the only one who can rant herself into exhaustion about stuff like that.
On another notion, your Nano? Brill. And Chip looking like Dean with Sam's hair? *grins* *smishes you*
AND I LOVE HOW CHIP IS A WRECK. *rubs hands in glee* :D
no subject
AND I LOVE HOW CHIP IS A WRECK. *rubs hands in glee* :D - *giggles unendingly until the nice men in white coats take her away* I like writing Chip's utter failure at getting his head on straight. I'm not even sure I'm going to fix him, that's how cruel I am :D
You're awesome, by the way ♥
no subject
Right, Sam? Uh... Sam?
Uh, what? Ah. Dang. Sorry. He's unavailable right now, he's saying. He's, uh. Busy burning to death, or something.
*shrugs* Ah, fine, let's leave 'im to it. Kids these days.
*continues shaking your hand in an utterly sane manner*
You're kinda awesome yourself. ♥
no subject
Maybe when this is all over Sam and Chip can have a little cracky sit-down and complain about their respective authors. And then we torture them some more, muahahaha!
*whistles innocently*
no subject
*licks her palm and smooths Sam's scorched hair to the side* There's a dear.