CoC in demand

[kattahj]

So, I started thinking about just how many CoCs are underrepresented in fandom, sometimes vastly so (*cough* Gus on Psych * cough*), and it became rather depressing - and then I started wondering about the ones that aren't underrepresented, and why that is.

At which point thelana made a very interesting post about that, among other things. Her example of

Comments

[thelana]

I'm not really an expert on many of these fandoms. My theory on race and popularity in fandom is that in a way it's a numbers game

[kattahj]

Yeah, that sounds reasonable - of course, working out the exact pointage of anything would be a headache. :-)

I think in a lot of cases, CoCs are given less gratifying roles to begin with, but there are also cases that baffle me a LOT because surely race couldn't be THAT big a hurdle?

[thelana]

I agree on all counts.

And yes, figuring out the exact numbers would be impossible because they are highly subjective and likely to be different for each person. I just bring them up to express in how I think race issues do exist in fandom. I think they might exist in the form of a certain malus when it comes to character popularity. The big question is how big is that malus.

And then there are issues that aren't race, but might be/are correlated with race (like: cocs being more likely to be written as physical or lower class; pocs being a minority hence it's less likely that cocs will get pivotal roles; or white people have certain issues writing cocs and since the writers who write the shows are white the cocs of have these flaws which are then again repeated and built on in the fandom etc) and that also have a negative influence.

[tiferet]

Do you think some of this is due to the fact that most fic is either slash or het, not gen, and there's a reluctance to write interracial pairings? Do you think CoC--especially black CoC--get written more when they can be paired together instead of with white people? Just wondering.

Relationships between black people and white people seem to be much more common in shows from the UK (Mickey/Rose, Ianto/Lisa, Martha/Doctor) than they are in shows from the US, where it used to be a huge taboo.

And I've always suspected racism to be behind the extreme hatred for the Dean/Cassie ship in SPN fandom. Always. She's the most hated female character in SPN and frankly she was only in one episode and while she did blow Dean off, so have other people. Bela (who is a huge bitch) gets less hate than Cassie.

[thelana]

Do you mean fic writers or show writers? I never got the impression that fic writers have any issues with writing interracial relationships. In fact, I would assume that other/other relationships would be harder to relate to by the average fan (if we assume that there is some sort of "It's slightly harder for me to relate to somebody who is/looks different" boundary or a "It's harder for me to write about somebody who is not like me" boundary

[tiferet]

I mean fic writers, mostly because of the Dean/Cassie thing (I actually liked them together, even though I generally prefer Wincest to everything in SPN) and I've been stared at because I have said I wish anyone other than me saw John/Missouri (John/Ellen is preferred, but he seems to have been much closer to Missouri, I think.) Of course Missouri's also fat, and Ellen isn't. I keep meaning to write John/Missouri because I so totally believe in it but I never have the time!

I really also am thinking of more white/black as being what people are reluctant to do--but I have to admit of the fandoms you just named, the only ones I am into personally are Firefly and Weeds. (Omg I wish more people watched Weeds. Are there any good Weeds comms? So far I have mostly found comms where people I've never heard of who sound like they came from OuterMySpace talk about the show, no fic.)

[thelana]

I can't speak for Supernatural because I don't really watch the show or deeply follow the fandom. (just like Weeds I really mostly know the fandom via the squee on my flist