Meta Links 2013/10/24 - 2013/10/30
Notices
If you have meta to sumbit or rec, please comment to this post or to the screened Submissions Post. If you'd like to give us blanket permission to link your meta please comment to the Blanket Permissions Post. If you have feedback or questions, check out our FAQ, Contact the Mods, or PM/email. If you'd like to volunteer to link-find or mod, please comment to the Volunteers Post.
General Fandom
Sci-fi fans blast world's biggest fantasy convention for lack of diversity: Aja Romano - Daily Dot (blog) - "But despite these backlashes and halting movements forward, the speculative fiction community still suffers from under-representation of women and minorities. Which is why Twitter is none too happy that the World Fantasy Convention apparently hasn’t gotten the memo."
topic:fandom, topic:conventions
GeekGirlCon 2013: Deconstructing the Mary Sue Myth Panel Recap: Fangirl - Fangirlblog.com (blog) - "Early in my days as a fanfiction writer, I heard the term Mary Sue being thrown around as an accusation against female characters in both the official Expanded Universe and in fanfic."
topic:marysues, topic:fanfic, topic:writing
Epic Fantasy is No Place for Wimps: Gail Z. Martin - Fangirlblog.com (blog) - "I’m always amazed when I run into someone who tells me that strong women characters - especially women who could fight - didn’t exist in the “real” Middle Ages. Usually this happens when the person’s entire knowledge of how things used to be has been shaped by bad TV movies and costume dramas."
topic:worldbuilding
Finding What We Need: Native American Heroines and the Creation of Historical Myths: Priya Chhaya - Fangirlblog.com (blog) - "Each of their stories involve the moment of contact with colonizers, and how that changed the course of their lives. But each became a folk heroine in their own right where their actions became representational for Native interaction during the early years of this country."
topic:representation
Specific Fandoms
12 Years A Slave
Why ’12 Years A Slave’ Is Different From ‘The Help’ And ‘Django Unchained’-And Why It Matters: Alyssa Rosenberg- ThinkProgress (blog) - "12 Years A Slave is concerned with Solomon’s character arc, rather than the moral development of a white woman like Skeeter Phelan (Emma Stone), the misfit socialite who becomes a reporter and goes to work for a publisher in The Help, or Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz), the bounty hunter-turned-hater-of-slavery in Django Unchained. "
fandom:12yearsaslave, topic:slavery
A Song of Ice and Fire
CHAPTER-BY-CHAPTER ANALYSIS: ARYA IV: racefortheironthrone (tumblr) - "Arya IV contains one of my favorite set-pieces in all of A Game of Thrones - Syrio’s duel with the Lannister guardsmen and Ser Meryn Trant"
fandom:asoiaf
Arya and “Not like other girls”: secretlyatargaryen (tumblr) - "I’ve seen people say that Arya is a boring or anti-feminist character because she’s a tomboy, but I have to disagree. "
fandom:asoiaf
Untitled: (tumblr) - "I think there’s a slight misunderstanding here about what most readers mean when they discuss Queen Sansa? "
fandom:asoiaf
American Horror Story: Coven
American Horror Story: Coven -- Slavery As Torture Porn?: Zeba Blay (blog) - "This is a show that is often as problematic as it is delightfully bizarre, and navigating the thin line between being critical of its faults and being entertained by its eccentricities is perhaps the most difficult part about being a fan."
fandom:americanhorrorstory, topic:race
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Fulgurite : sb-fag-ends, foxy(LJ) - "One of the most commonly seen tropes in Spuffy fanfiction is the concept of how Buffy's previous relationship with Angel essentially ruined her ability to have a relationship with Spike.
"
fandom:btvs
Fifty Shades of Grey
The ‘Fifty Shades Of Grey’ Debate And Why Being Objectified Is Different Than Being Admired: (blog) - "These things are true! But they also show very little understanding of how objectification works, why it might function differently from the collective gasp when Clark Gable tanked the undershirt industry with a single creative decision, and why being objectified might be roundly unpleasant. "
fandom:fiftyshadesofgrey, topic:objectification
Homeland
In Defense of ‘Homeland’s Pedophile Dr. Graham And Portraying Unpleasant Characters: Alyssa Rosenberg- ThinkProgress (blog) - "Apparently, the character, and my enthusiasm for the performance, rubbed some people the wrong way. I didn’t find Dr. Graham particularly effeminate or stereotypically gay-he’s a little bit performative, maybe, but he’s the sort of guy who orders around Caracas criminals and performs crude surgery and dispenses heroin to non-compliant patients."
fandom:homeland, topic:characterdevelopment
Justified
Justified and Suspension of Disbelief in Television : The G - Nerds of a Feather (blog) - "Lots of things can intervene to ruin the illusion, thus keeping the viewer in this world--the use of obviously fake sets (see, for example, "New York" in Castle), the casting of overly attractive (and thus not terribly believable) actors as ordinary people, the prevalence of poor acting, hokey dialogue, wink-at-the-audience moments, and so forth."
topic:television, topic:writing, fandom:justified
Marvel Comics Cinematic Universe
In ‘Captain America The Winter Soldier,’ Steve Rogers Is Depressed By Movie Mass Destruction: Alyssa Rosenberg- ThinkProgress (blog) - "This summer, quite a few critics-and I’d imagine some audiences-found themselves burned out by the massive, city-level destruction that seems to have become the norm in action movies, but that doesn’t come accompanied with corresponding emotional reactions or appropriate societal responses."
fandom:mccu
Sleepy Hollow
10 reasons to love 'Sleepy Hollow,' even if you don't watch the show: (blog) - "Orlando Jones, who plays Detective Irving on the show, is a one-man PR vehicle all by himself. Not only does he seem to innately understand fan culture, but he’s wholeheartedly embraced it, and probably spends more time interacting with fans on Tumblr and Twitter than the show’s actual PR staff."
fandom:sleepyhollow
Sons of Anarchy
How ‘Sons of Anarchy’ Became An Unexpected Advocate For Trans Equality: Alyssa Rosenberg- ThinkProgress (blog) - "Sons of Anarchy has always been a show deeply concerned with the declining value of white masculinity, and the terror of being white, and male, and downwardly mobile. But this season, it’s done something fascinating, aligning those downwardly mobile white men with a transgender woman, Venus Van Dam (Walton Goggins)."
fandom:sonsofanarchy, topic:representation, topic:queer
Supernatural
parallels between 9.01 and 2.01 expanded: amonitrate (tumblr) - "There are significant differences! But there are enough similarities I think this is an intentional call back to 2.01"
fandom:supernatural
Meta on Reapers: fannishliss (LJ) - "Reapers: What we know about them and why they are not necessarily being "Retconned""
fandom:supernatural
Tolkien
Meta frustration post: mildred_of_midgard (DW) - "Denethor is causing me no end of frustration. There are several conflicting impulses at work in my brain right now."
fandom:jrrtolkien, topic:meta, topic:characterstudy
Welcome to Night Vale
META: WHAT IT IS I TALK ABOUT, WHEN I TALK ABOUT LOVING WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE: alreadystardust (DW) - "I've noticed a tendency in myself to gloss over some of the too-close-to-home elements of Night Vale's horror, to maintain this idea in my head of a surreal, kind of silly-scary place that's still generally kinder than our own. "
fandom:welcometonightvale
If you have meta to sumbit or rec, please comment to this post or to the screened Submissions Post. If you'd like to give us blanket permission to link your meta please comment to the Blanket Permissions Post. If you have feedback or questions, check out our FAQ, Contact the Mods, or PM/email. If you'd like to volunteer to link-find or mod, please comment to the Volunteers Post.
General Fandom
Sci-fi fans blast world's biggest fantasy convention for lack of diversity: Aja Romano - Daily Dot (blog) - "But despite these backlashes and halting movements forward, the speculative fiction community still suffers from under-representation of women and minorities. Which is why Twitter is none too happy that the World Fantasy Convention apparently hasn’t gotten the memo."
topic:fandom, topic:conventions
GeekGirlCon 2013: Deconstructing the Mary Sue Myth Panel Recap: Fangirl - Fangirlblog.com (blog) - "Early in my days as a fanfiction writer, I heard the term Mary Sue being thrown around as an accusation against female characters in both the official Expanded Universe and in fanfic."
topic:marysues, topic:fanfic, topic:writing
Epic Fantasy is No Place for Wimps: Gail Z. Martin - Fangirlblog.com (blog) - "I’m always amazed when I run into someone who tells me that strong women characters - especially women who could fight - didn’t exist in the “real” Middle Ages. Usually this happens when the person’s entire knowledge of how things used to be has been shaped by bad TV movies and costume dramas."
topic:worldbuilding
Finding What We Need: Native American Heroines and the Creation of Historical Myths: Priya Chhaya - Fangirlblog.com (blog) - "Each of their stories involve the moment of contact with colonizers, and how that changed the course of their lives. But each became a folk heroine in their own right where their actions became representational for Native interaction during the early years of this country."
topic:representation
Specific Fandoms
12 Years A Slave
Why ’12 Years A Slave’ Is Different From ‘The Help’ And ‘Django Unchained’-And Why It Matters: Alyssa Rosenberg- ThinkProgress (blog) - "12 Years A Slave is concerned with Solomon’s character arc, rather than the moral development of a white woman like Skeeter Phelan (Emma Stone), the misfit socialite who becomes a reporter and goes to work for a publisher in The Help, or Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz), the bounty hunter-turned-hater-of-slavery in Django Unchained. "
fandom:12yearsaslave, topic:slavery
A Song of Ice and Fire
CHAPTER-BY-CHAPTER ANALYSIS: ARYA IV: racefortheironthrone (tumblr) - "Arya IV contains one of my favorite set-pieces in all of A Game of Thrones - Syrio’s duel with the Lannister guardsmen and Ser Meryn Trant"
fandom:asoiaf
Arya and “Not like other girls”: secretlyatargaryen (tumblr) - "I’ve seen people say that Arya is a boring or anti-feminist character because she’s a tomboy, but I have to disagree. "
fandom:asoiaf
Untitled: (tumblr) - "I think there’s a slight misunderstanding here about what most readers mean when they discuss Queen Sansa? "
fandom:asoiaf
American Horror Story: Coven
American Horror Story: Coven -- Slavery As Torture Porn?: Zeba Blay (blog) - "This is a show that is often as problematic as it is delightfully bizarre, and navigating the thin line between being critical of its faults and being entertained by its eccentricities is perhaps the most difficult part about being a fan."
fandom:americanhorrorstory, topic:race
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Fulgurite : sb-fag-ends, foxy(LJ) - "One of the most commonly seen tropes in Spuffy fanfiction is the concept of how Buffy's previous relationship with Angel essentially ruined her ability to have a relationship with Spike.
"
fandom:btvs
Fifty Shades of Grey
The ‘Fifty Shades Of Grey’ Debate And Why Being Objectified Is Different Than Being Admired: (blog) - "These things are true! But they also show very little understanding of how objectification works, why it might function differently from the collective gasp when Clark Gable tanked the undershirt industry with a single creative decision, and why being objectified might be roundly unpleasant. "
fandom:fiftyshadesofgrey, topic:objectification
Homeland
In Defense of ‘Homeland’s Pedophile Dr. Graham And Portraying Unpleasant Characters: Alyssa Rosenberg- ThinkProgress (blog) - "Apparently, the character, and my enthusiasm for the performance, rubbed some people the wrong way. I didn’t find Dr. Graham particularly effeminate or stereotypically gay-he’s a little bit performative, maybe, but he’s the sort of guy who orders around Caracas criminals and performs crude surgery and dispenses heroin to non-compliant patients."
fandom:homeland, topic:characterdevelopment
Justified
Justified and Suspension of Disbelief in Television : The G - Nerds of a Feather (blog) - "Lots of things can intervene to ruin the illusion, thus keeping the viewer in this world--the use of obviously fake sets (see, for example, "New York" in Castle), the casting of overly attractive (and thus not terribly believable) actors as ordinary people, the prevalence of poor acting, hokey dialogue, wink-at-the-audience moments, and so forth."
topic:television, topic:writing, fandom:justified
Marvel Comics Cinematic Universe
In ‘Captain America The Winter Soldier,’ Steve Rogers Is Depressed By Movie Mass Destruction: Alyssa Rosenberg- ThinkProgress (blog) - "This summer, quite a few critics-and I’d imagine some audiences-found themselves burned out by the massive, city-level destruction that seems to have become the norm in action movies, but that doesn’t come accompanied with corresponding emotional reactions or appropriate societal responses."
fandom:mccu
Sleepy Hollow
10 reasons to love 'Sleepy Hollow,' even if you don't watch the show: (blog) - "Orlando Jones, who plays Detective Irving on the show, is a one-man PR vehicle all by himself. Not only does he seem to innately understand fan culture, but he’s wholeheartedly embraced it, and probably spends more time interacting with fans on Tumblr and Twitter than the show’s actual PR staff."
fandom:sleepyhollow
Sons of Anarchy
How ‘Sons of Anarchy’ Became An Unexpected Advocate For Trans Equality: Alyssa Rosenberg- ThinkProgress (blog) - "Sons of Anarchy has always been a show deeply concerned with the declining value of white masculinity, and the terror of being white, and male, and downwardly mobile. But this season, it’s done something fascinating, aligning those downwardly mobile white men with a transgender woman, Venus Van Dam (Walton Goggins)."
fandom:sonsofanarchy, topic:representation, topic:queer
Supernatural
parallels between 9.01 and 2.01 expanded: amonitrate (tumblr) - "There are significant differences! But there are enough similarities I think this is an intentional call back to 2.01"
fandom:supernatural
Meta on Reapers: fannishliss (LJ) - "Reapers: What we know about them and why they are not necessarily being "Retconned""
fandom:supernatural
Tolkien
Meta frustration post: mildred_of_midgard (DW) - "Denethor is causing me no end of frustration. There are several conflicting impulses at work in my brain right now."
fandom:jrrtolkien, topic:meta, topic:characterstudy
Welcome to Night Vale
META: WHAT IT IS I TALK ABOUT, WHEN I TALK ABOUT LOVING WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE: alreadystardust (DW) - "I've noticed a tendency in myself to gloss over some of the too-close-to-home elements of Night Vale's horror, to maintain this idea in my head of a surreal, kind of silly-scary place that's still generally kinder than our own. "
fandom:welcometonightvale