transgression vs. social responsibility, redux
A simplified version of the previous discussion, because perhaps it needed it:
Fandom has historically been a place that teased the subversive and transgressive possibilities out of fiction, and thrived on trangression, corner cases, and dangerous and controversial characterisations or setups. There is nothing fandom likes, loves to dissect, and lusts after more than a twisted character/scenario. There is no scenario so warped that fandom will not jump on it and even fetishise it. Fandom is inherently set up to push tricky boundaries, to dwell in spaces that make others uncomfortable, to shock and to love the shocking. This seems to represent a need in us that is unfulfilled elsewhere.
Now, a wave of social responsibility is pervading fandom that's making a lot of positive changes for groups who suffer from society's power imbalances. This seems to represent a need in society. But it's also causing media that would previously have been taken at face value, which contains transgressive and dangerous elements, to be rigorously deconstructed and criticised according to social norms on how we should treat matters like, say, abuse and incest.
Thus you have two competing forces meeting in the middle: a fannishness which has always found a kind of release and openness in dwelling in these forbidden spaces (e.g. playing with the idea of incest and daring to voice enjoyment of doing so), and a sense of social responsibility which wants to advocate for victims of (e.g.) incest and keep communication about this subject on the analytical and sympathetic rather than self-indulgent level.
Both are important to different groups of people (maybe even, sometimes, the same groups of people).
How do we resolve this?
(And by self-indulgent, it's very important to note, I don't just mean "this gets me off", as if I were trying to pit "this gets me off" against "social responsibility". I'm arguing that one of the main reasons fandom exists is to be transgressive in this way, that fandom's embrace of transgression represents a deep need to explore forbidden themes and push boundaries that's about more than just raw excitement, and that people evidently have few other outlets for. This is what fandom historically celebrates and which is being challenged by new ways of looking at fandom - new ways which, I hasten to add, are also very beneficial to many vulnerable groups, but are also changing the nature of fandom in unrelated ways, raising issues that do need to be discussed.)
Fandom has historically been a place that teased the subversive and transgressive possibilities out of fiction, and thrived on trangression, corner cases, and dangerous and controversial characterisations or setups. There is nothing fandom likes, loves to dissect, and lusts after more than a twisted character/scenario. There is no scenario so warped that fandom will not jump on it and even fetishise it. Fandom is inherently set up to push tricky boundaries, to dwell in spaces that make others uncomfortable, to shock and to love the shocking. This seems to represent a need in us that is unfulfilled elsewhere.
Now, a wave of social responsibility is pervading fandom that's making a lot of positive changes for groups who suffer from society's power imbalances. This seems to represent a need in society. But it's also causing media that would previously have been taken at face value, which contains transgressive and dangerous elements, to be rigorously deconstructed and criticised according to social norms on how we should treat matters like, say, abuse and incest.
Thus you have two competing forces meeting in the middle: a fannishness which has always found a kind of release and openness in dwelling in these forbidden spaces (e.g. playing with the idea of incest and daring to voice enjoyment of doing so), and a sense of social responsibility which wants to advocate for victims of (e.g.) incest and keep communication about this subject on the analytical and sympathetic rather than self-indulgent level.
Both are important to different groups of people (maybe even, sometimes, the same groups of people).
How do we resolve this?
(And by self-indulgent, it's very important to note, I don't just mean "this gets me off", as if I were trying to pit "this gets me off" against "social responsibility". I'm arguing that one of the main reasons fandom exists is to be transgressive in this way, that fandom's embrace of transgression represents a deep need to explore forbidden themes and push boundaries that's about more than just raw excitement, and that people evidently have few other outlets for. This is what fandom historically celebrates and which is being challenged by new ways of looking at fandom - new ways which, I hasten to add, are also very beneficial to many vulnerable groups, but are also changing the nature of fandom in unrelated ways, raising issues that do need to be discussed.)