squee and the harshing thereof
Every once in awhile, my life picks up a theme. Currently, that theme seems to be justifying the things I enjoy to people who maybe ought to get it in a general sense: other geeks, other fans, even friends.
Before I took off, I'd read kalpurna's post mentioning yet another person hating on one of her bands, after having been told she enjoyed them. The incident was distressingly familiar. Then came calathea's I'm not cool, and I never have been post, which unlike the ranting below is reasoned, well put, and coming from a position of self-confidence. But not everyone here reads her journal. (And unfortunately, I am not always that secure in my interests, though I do aspire to it.)
There's even an article in the latest Geek Magazine called "Justify Your iPod" that begins, Ask someone about the contents of his or her iPod, and you're sure to be treated to a dissertation on the latest cred-building indie bands that you're too cool to know about. It goes on to talk about the "dirty secrets" of iPods - the terribly uncool music that is secretly beloved. This led into another conversation about the various things not mentioned in the presence of some friends, because they take their cultural consumption Very Seriously Indeed and it's just too wearying to always, always, have to defend one's position if your position is too popular.
For whatever reason, I find it hard to say, "Look, I won't be talked down to because I like something you don't." When faced with actual curiosity about my interests, I can readily answer. Why do you slash? Allow me to explain, as best I can figure. Oh, is that band any good? Hey, I think so. Wait, isn't Psych the show where the clues glow? Well, yes, but let me tell you about the characters.
The derision, though. The I can't believe you like THATs. That's gotten real fucking old, real fast. It's hard to answer when it comes from someone I didn't expect, and it's been cropping up all over. So let me just put it this out there, and maybe the next time I'm not cool enough or geeky enough, I'll be able to say something.
I like tv. I especially love sci fi and cop shows. These are often not the best made shows on the air. I don't much care. I like the stories and the characters (even if sometimes I'm liking the stories and the characters as they should have been, more than what was filmed). I feel pretty comfortable saying that Battlestar Galactica (the newer) is a 'better' show than Stargate: Atlantis, for values of 'better' measuring continuity, political commentary, and production value. I think Battlestar Galactica is pretty damn brilliant. I also love SGA, and if you check my shelves, you'll find the SGA boxsets now outnumber BSG three to one. Not because I can't make the same distinction between a 'good' show and a 'bad' one that a critic makes, but because SGA makes me happy and that makes it better for me.
I like pop music. I also like folk, and alternative, and electronica, and some indie, but mostly I like music I can dance to and that quickly leads back to pop. I lack the vocabulary to talk about music in depth, which means that anyone at all inclined to be superior about music will always 'win' a conversation with me, because all I have to support my opinion is this: I like it. It's got a beat, and I can dance to it. It's got lyrics I connect with. I just like it. Which means I will in short order simply shut up and let myself be bulldozed. Funny thing, though - that sort of conversation has never once changed my opinion about whether a song or performer is good or not.
I like media fans. I like what media fans do. I like vids and comms and chats and icons and, god, fanfiction. And I don't find it derivative, thanks so much. I find it amazingly creative. I understand not being a fan; I don't understand the need to deride fannishness.
Okay, some of my cultural consumption is deep. Thinky. I read texts and tracts on mass culture because I enjoy taking my engagement with pop culture to an academic level. I can hold forth on pop culture and its unexpected depths, layered meanings, links to literary traditions, and social value. But sometimes? I JUST LIKE IT. I don't want to have to resort to meta conversation on the ways Supernatural's arcing plot turns on an unresolved Oedipal drama or how the ghost of Fraser's father may represent his Superego while Dief is his Id in order for someone to allow that the show may have value in spite of itself (and not just because bringing up Freud is missing the point). The truth is that sometimes? Supernatural has High Production Value, and due South is On Crack. And sometimes that is EXACTLY what I like about them.
And here's where I'm afraid I'm going to come across as hypocritical, because there are shows and songs and fandoms that I do filter through a critical distance and sometimes I'd like to talk about a cultural product in a less than celebratory way. I am not fully committed to everything I dabble with. I'm even conflicted about some of the fandoms I had formerly considered myself a part of, because I have changed. My tastes have changed since I lurked my way through my original fandoms, and my acceptance of certain norms prevalent in some fandoms has changed. I assume in my absence the active parts of those fandoms have also changed, but what I see today as an outsider are the websites/archives, which give a more static picture - and not always one I'm comfortable with. Apparently, though, saying that I'm not so sure about a show or fandom, in a personal journal, might be construed the same as the same sort of attacking of others' fandoms that I'm complaining about.
I don't think saying "I'm uncomfortable with my engagement with this thing" in a personal journal is really the same as the attacks on some fandoms to their members by the fans of others. But maybe it's different only in terms of degree, and maybe I'd be touchier if I were in one of the more beleaguered fandoms. I suspect a great number of fans are simply getting fed up with the hierarchy of geekiness at the same time and lashing out at the next person to say anything. But there has to be some middle ground between saying nothing and getting walked over, and lashing out in advance of the offense.
Before I took off, I'd read kalpurna's post mentioning yet another person hating on one of her bands, after having been told she enjoyed them. The incident was distressingly familiar. Then came calathea's I'm not cool, and I never have been post, which unlike the ranting below is reasoned, well put, and coming from a position of self-confidence. But not everyone here reads her journal. (And unfortunately, I am not always that secure in my interests, though I do aspire to it.)
There's even an article in the latest Geek Magazine called "Justify Your iPod" that begins, Ask someone about the contents of his or her iPod, and you're sure to be treated to a dissertation on the latest cred-building indie bands that you're too cool to know about. It goes on to talk about the "dirty secrets" of iPods - the terribly uncool music that is secretly beloved. This led into another conversation about the various things not mentioned in the presence of some friends, because they take their cultural consumption Very Seriously Indeed and it's just too wearying to always, always, have to defend one's position if your position is too popular.
For whatever reason, I find it hard to say, "Look, I won't be talked down to because I like something you don't." When faced with actual curiosity about my interests, I can readily answer. Why do you slash? Allow me to explain, as best I can figure. Oh, is that band any good? Hey, I think so. Wait, isn't Psych the show where the clues glow? Well, yes, but let me tell you about the characters.
The derision, though. The I can't believe you like THATs. That's gotten real fucking old, real fast. It's hard to answer when it comes from someone I didn't expect, and it's been cropping up all over. So let me just put it this out there, and maybe the next time I'm not cool enough or geeky enough, I'll be able to say something.
I like tv. I especially love sci fi and cop shows. These are often not the best made shows on the air. I don't much care. I like the stories and the characters (even if sometimes I'm liking the stories and the characters as they should have been, more than what was filmed). I feel pretty comfortable saying that Battlestar Galactica (the newer) is a 'better' show than Stargate: Atlantis, for values of 'better' measuring continuity, political commentary, and production value. I think Battlestar Galactica is pretty damn brilliant. I also love SGA, and if you check my shelves, you'll find the SGA boxsets now outnumber BSG three to one. Not because I can't make the same distinction between a 'good' show and a 'bad' one that a critic makes, but because SGA makes me happy and that makes it better for me.
I like pop music. I also like folk, and alternative, and electronica, and some indie, but mostly I like music I can dance to and that quickly leads back to pop. I lack the vocabulary to talk about music in depth, which means that anyone at all inclined to be superior about music will always 'win' a conversation with me, because all I have to support my opinion is this: I like it. It's got a beat, and I can dance to it. It's got lyrics I connect with. I just like it. Which means I will in short order simply shut up and let myself be bulldozed. Funny thing, though - that sort of conversation has never once changed my opinion about whether a song or performer is good or not.
I like media fans. I like what media fans do. I like vids and comms and chats and icons and, god, fanfiction. And I don't find it derivative, thanks so much. I find it amazingly creative. I understand not being a fan; I don't understand the need to deride fannishness.
Okay, some of my cultural consumption is deep. Thinky. I read texts and tracts on mass culture because I enjoy taking my engagement with pop culture to an academic level. I can hold forth on pop culture and its unexpected depths, layered meanings, links to literary traditions, and social value. But sometimes? I JUST LIKE IT. I don't want to have to resort to meta conversation on the ways Supernatural's arcing plot turns on an unresolved Oedipal drama or how the ghost of Fraser's father may represent his Superego while Dief is his Id in order for someone to allow that the show may have value in spite of itself (and not just because bringing up Freud is missing the point). The truth is that sometimes? Supernatural has High Production Value, and due South is On Crack. And sometimes that is EXACTLY what I like about them.
And here's where I'm afraid I'm going to come across as hypocritical, because there are shows and songs and fandoms that I do filter through a critical distance and sometimes I'd like to talk about a cultural product in a less than celebratory way. I am not fully committed to everything I dabble with. I'm even conflicted about some of the fandoms I had formerly considered myself a part of, because I have changed. My tastes have changed since I lurked my way through my original fandoms, and my acceptance of certain norms prevalent in some fandoms has changed. I assume in my absence the active parts of those fandoms have also changed, but what I see today as an outsider are the websites/archives, which give a more static picture - and not always one I'm comfortable with. Apparently, though, saying that I'm not so sure about a show or fandom, in a personal journal, might be construed the same as the same sort of attacking of others' fandoms that I'm complaining about.
I don't think saying "I'm uncomfortable with my engagement with this thing" in a personal journal is really the same as the attacks on some fandoms to their members by the fans of others. But maybe it's different only in terms of degree, and maybe I'd be touchier if I were in one of the more beleaguered fandoms. I suspect a great number of fans are simply getting fed up with the hierarchy of geekiness at the same time and lashing out at the next person to say anything. But there has to be some middle ground between saying nothing and getting walked over, and lashing out in advance of the offense.