Meta links 12/12/2014 - 12/19/2014
Notices
If you have meta to submit 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.
Links
General Fandom
Post-Traumatic Superhero Syndrome: Chris Gavaler (blog) - "Trauma didn’t fully hit the pulps till 1939, when the Black Bat got a face full of acid, and the Avenger’s family perished in a plane crash."
fandom:comics, topic:trauma
Fandom and Ew, Girls: UrbanHymnal (blog) - "At some point in a criticism of fandom there will be a phrase like this one, either explicitly stated or heavily implied: ‘Fandom’s full of straight, white girls."
topic:fandom
Saving the World and So On: melannen (DW) - "So instead I am going to talk about one thing that I would like to see less of in all the stories I consume, but especially in fantasy novels: the good guys only winning because they find the Cheat Codes of Destiny.
topic:fantasygenre, topic:tropes
Why It’s Bad Fandom Etiquette To Put Other People’s Fics on Goodreads: Ingberry (tumblr) - "Books and fics exist in different contexts. Fandom has its whole other set of tropes, conventions, and expectations. Some tropes and conventions are common across different fandoms, but often individual fandoms have their own conventions and things that are only recognisable to the reader within the frames of that particular fandom."
topic:fanfic, topic:etiquette
Princess Shaming: Liz B (blog) - "There is nothing wrong -- absolutely nothing wrong -- with your young child liking princesses. Any princess."
topic:femalecharacter, topic:fantasy
Minds meet, bodies meat: beccaelizabeth (DW) - "It is frustrating when fanfic has, like, a completely opposites world view of what a relationship is about."
topic:fanfic, topic:romance
Thinky thoughts on episode reactions: ash48 (LJ) - "After episode 10.09 ended I went on a verbal tirade around the house and my husband copped most of it. After carrying on a treat he stopped me and said "why don't you just stop watching it then?" (rather too hopefully I might add!). I looked at him and said "Are you mad? How could I do that? You can see how passionate I still am. I wouldn't be ranting like this if I could simply walk away. I still ADORE these characters and I am still heavily invested in their story""
topic:criticism
Specific Fandoms
Angel Beats
Angel Beats!: An Anime About The Afterlife Influenced By Different Religions: MarchHareMoe (blog) - As I continue brooding about life and true happiness, I can’t help but think about the anime series Angel Beats! After re-watching the show for the eighth time, I realized just how often the characters’ thoughts about religion (and the afterlife) affect what happens in the plot."
fandom:anime, topic:religion
Batgirl
’Batgirl’ #37 Criticized For Transphobia; Creators Apologize: Andrew Wheeler (blog) - "So it came as a particular disappointment when last week’s Batgirl #37 contained themes and imagery that were transphobic and transmisogynistic, leading several critics to call out the creative team for their insensitivity. This weekend the creators offered a statement of apology, saying, "we want to acknowledge the hurt and offense we’ve caused.""
fandom:dccomics, warning:spoilers, topic:transgender
Comics
The Trick of "Overcompensating": Cathy G. Johnson (blog) - ""Overcompensating" develops the point-of-view of an abusive man, asking its audience to empathize with its Narrator under the guise of a critique on masculinity. It’s misguided in its critical approach, effectively eliminating a woman’s humanity. Trigger-Warnings: Discussion of domestic violence and abuse, mention of incest and child sexual abuse"
fandom:comics, warning:abuse
Batgirl and The Perpetual State of Transphobia: J. Skyler (blog) - "It’s with a heavy heart I’m forced to discuss this long-standing media trope within the context of Batgirl, the one area of geek life I considered to be a safe-zone."
fandom:dccomics, topic:transgender
Doctor Who
: elisi (LJ) - "My theory is terribly simple: Clara is [/could possibly be] a [future] fobwatched Doctor. Presumably Thirteen."
fandom:doctorwho
It’s All Mirrors: Death in Heaven Meta: elisi (LJ) - "In my Dark Water meta I mentioned the three-way mirror of Clara, the Doctor and Missy. I am so very pleased that I was right, even though I didn’t foresee just how. Whereas Missy (/the Master) has always been a dark mirror for the Doctor, this time she mirrors Clara. We even have Missy as evil!Mary Poppins, after Clara's stint in the Mary Poppins role in The Snowmen…"
fandom:doctorwho
Dune
In Which Three Adults Discuss "Dune" Seriously and At Length: Johannah King-Slutzky and Joe Howley (blog) - "We spoke with Dave via Gchat about how Dune affected his foreign policy analyst career choice, how Dune’s cultural values have held up over time, and how it relates to the only other books we’ve read- other science fiction novels and Greek tragedies."
fandom:dune
Hannibal
Oh, My Pop Culture Religion: Theodicy, Dystheism, and Moral Complexity on Hannibal: polyglotpisces (blog) - "Hannibal is a man of infinite complexity, and through his dialogues with Will Graham, as well as his own actions, we see glimpses of said deep inner complexity in regards to his beliefs about God and morality."
fandom:hannibal, topic:religion
The Hobbit
[The Hobbit films] let’s have a discourse on the first film: vivsavage (forum) - "With the final Hobbit film set to be released in the US on Dec. 17, I thought it might be nice to have a discourse about the first two films. Most internet opinions I read tend to range from "The worst crap since Michael Bay" to "I don't give a damn what you say -- I like them!". My reactions to the first two tend to be more toward the 'thumbs up' side, but with some major issues."
fandom:thehobbit
The Hunger Games
Katniss Everdeen, Thank You For Your Service: Ben Adams (blog) - "what is the relationship between the stories told about "The Mockingjay" and the lived experience of Katniss Everdeen? And what are the parallels to the stories we tell about veterans of war today?"
fandom:thehungergames
Marvel Cinematic Universe
All the characters yield up their secrets to me. Except Loki.: fail-fandomanon (DW) - "What do you see that makes you think [Loki]'s abused?"
fandom:mcu, topic:mentalillness, topic:abuse, topic:characterization
Mega Man
Mega Man: Forgiveness, Ethics and The Nature Of The Soul: Chris Sims (blog) - "Mega Man hasn’t just continued building one of the most enjoyably action-packed stories around the bare-bones plot of "go right, shoot robots" that it got from the video games, it’s also having conversations about ethics, forgiveness and what it means to love someone that nobody else in comics is coming close to."
fandom:comics
Otomen
Putting the "Otome" In Otomen: Final Thoughts (For Real, This Time): Tsunderin (blog) - "And as much as my little shoujo-adoring heart loved the happy-sappy, undeniably predictable marriage ending, the question remains: were any of these problems elaborated on or improved? I’m sorry to say that they weren’t. Not to the extent I would have hoped for."
fandom:otomen
Sherlock
Deductions About Deductions: The Holmes Brothers’ Hallmark: Tammany (AO3) - "This is head canon time--not even REALLY deduction. There's not enough evidence, really. But it's deductive sort of thinking rather than just wholesale "making it up." (Grin) See what you think...."
fandom:bbcsherlock
Star Wars
[Star Wars] What if the Empire wins?: Dr. Rudolf von Richten (forum) - "Suppose Han never comes back to help Luke at the Battle of Yavin. Vader and his wingman aren't hindered, they shoot Luke, the Death Star isn't blown up and Yavin IV (or it's moon or wherever the rebel base is) is destroyed, taking with it a significant part of the rebel leaders, soldiers and pilots. With an intact Death Star, and no one alive knowing it's weaknesses, the Empire has little to fear from any rebels or other opposition. What would happen next?"
fandom:starwars
Thesis - Star Wars works not despite being derivative, but because it is derivative: Bailywolf (forum) - "Lucas made no bones about how much of Star Wars was a riff on something else - WWII fighter combat, westerns, samurai movies, domestic comedies, etc. Sometimes shot for shot parallels between scenes in the films and reference footage. And there's also internal self-references, with as he describes it, variations on themes, like in music."
fandom:starwars
What Star Wars Needs To Hear From Its Female Fans: Fangirl (blog) - "What my inner fangirl was hoping was that the kernel of doubt still floating around inside my heart was just a sign that I might be too suspicious of the franchise, that I still held onto the clear chain of disappoints over the past few years that have struck female fans particularly hard. Instead what happened was that every fierce, passionate fangirl on my panel told me Star Wars hadn’t done enough - that they were still waiting for the franchise to embrace them as wholly as we have embraced it."
fandom:starwars
Supernatural
: laugh-while-crying (tumblr) - "I feel a lot of people misunderstand Sam’s motivation for leaving and going to college."
fandom:supernatural
Teen Wolf
Sexualized Saturdays: "Not Your Angel" of Gender and Morality in Teen Wolf: Lady Geek Girl (blog) - "Though Teen Wolf has had less of a problem with this particular trope in its recent seasons, the show has in seasons past specifically invoked the idea of women being the moral compass for men."
fandom:teenwolf
True Blood
Magical Mondays: V from True Blood: MadameAce (blog) - "Unfortunately, the show also has a problem with consistency, at least when it comes to drinking vampire blood. While this problem is nowhere near as offensive as these others, it’s still a pretty big issue, since vampire blood is a central part of the story."
fandom:trueblood
Vikings
The Vikings: Was Ragnar Lothbrok the First Viking?: aelarsen (blog) - "So as the series frames it, Ragnar is the first man to go Viking to the west."
fandom:vikings
The Vikings: Hey, Gang! Let’s Go Discover Britain!: aelarsen (blog) - "One of the more prominent elements of the History Channel’s The Vikings series is the early plotline about Ragnar’s determination to sail west to Britain. Like many other parts of the series, this is a mixture of fact and nonsense."
fandom:vikings
The Vikings: The Problem with Earl Haraldson: aelarsen (blog) - " Instead of trying to show the audience how a very different legal system operated, it just imposes modern American notions of justice back on Norse society, picking and choosing whatever historical bits sound interesting and ignoring the rest."
fandom:vikings
If you have meta to submit 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.
Links
General Fandom
Post-Traumatic Superhero Syndrome: Chris Gavaler (blog) - "Trauma didn’t fully hit the pulps till 1939, when the Black Bat got a face full of acid, and the Avenger’s family perished in a plane crash."
fandom:comics, topic:trauma
Fandom and Ew, Girls: UrbanHymnal (blog) - "At some point in a criticism of fandom there will be a phrase like this one, either explicitly stated or heavily implied: ‘Fandom’s full of straight, white girls."
topic:fandom
Saving the World and So On: melannen (DW) - "So instead I am going to talk about one thing that I would like to see less of in all the stories I consume, but especially in fantasy novels: the good guys only winning because they find the Cheat Codes of Destiny.
topic:fantasygenre, topic:tropes
Why It’s Bad Fandom Etiquette To Put Other People’s Fics on Goodreads: Ingberry (tumblr) - "Books and fics exist in different contexts. Fandom has its whole other set of tropes, conventions, and expectations. Some tropes and conventions are common across different fandoms, but often individual fandoms have their own conventions and things that are only recognisable to the reader within the frames of that particular fandom."
topic:fanfic, topic:etiquette
Princess Shaming: Liz B (blog) - "There is nothing wrong -- absolutely nothing wrong -- with your young child liking princesses. Any princess."
topic:femalecharacter, topic:fantasy
Minds meet, bodies meat: beccaelizabeth (DW) - "It is frustrating when fanfic has, like, a completely opposites world view of what a relationship is about."
topic:fanfic, topic:romance
Thinky thoughts on episode reactions: ash48 (LJ) - "After episode 10.09 ended I went on a verbal tirade around the house and my husband copped most of it. After carrying on a treat he stopped me and said "why don't you just stop watching it then?" (rather too hopefully I might add!). I looked at him and said "Are you mad? How could I do that? You can see how passionate I still am. I wouldn't be ranting like this if I could simply walk away. I still ADORE these characters and I am still heavily invested in their story""
topic:criticism
Specific Fandoms
Angel Beats
Angel Beats!: An Anime About The Afterlife Influenced By Different Religions: MarchHareMoe (blog) - As I continue brooding about life and true happiness, I can’t help but think about the anime series Angel Beats! After re-watching the show for the eighth time, I realized just how often the characters’ thoughts about religion (and the afterlife) affect what happens in the plot."
fandom:anime, topic:religion
Batgirl
’Batgirl’ #37 Criticized For Transphobia; Creators Apologize: Andrew Wheeler (blog) - "So it came as a particular disappointment when last week’s Batgirl #37 contained themes and imagery that were transphobic and transmisogynistic, leading several critics to call out the creative team for their insensitivity. This weekend the creators offered a statement of apology, saying, "we want to acknowledge the hurt and offense we’ve caused.""
fandom:dccomics, warning:spoilers, topic:transgender
Comics
The Trick of "Overcompensating": Cathy G. Johnson (blog) - ""Overcompensating" develops the point-of-view of an abusive man, asking its audience to empathize with its Narrator under the guise of a critique on masculinity. It’s misguided in its critical approach, effectively eliminating a woman’s humanity. Trigger-Warnings: Discussion of domestic violence and abuse, mention of incest and child sexual abuse"
fandom:comics, warning:abuse
Batgirl and The Perpetual State of Transphobia: J. Skyler (blog) - "It’s with a heavy heart I’m forced to discuss this long-standing media trope within the context of Batgirl, the one area of geek life I considered to be a safe-zone."
fandom:dccomics, topic:transgender
Doctor Who
: elisi (LJ) - "My theory is terribly simple: Clara is [/could possibly be] a [future] fobwatched Doctor. Presumably Thirteen."
fandom:doctorwho
It’s All Mirrors: Death in Heaven Meta: elisi (LJ) - "In my Dark Water meta I mentioned the three-way mirror of Clara, the Doctor and Missy. I am so very pleased that I was right, even though I didn’t foresee just how. Whereas Missy (/the Master) has always been a dark mirror for the Doctor, this time she mirrors Clara. We even have Missy as evil!Mary Poppins, after Clara's stint in the Mary Poppins role in The Snowmen…"
fandom:doctorwho
Dune
In Which Three Adults Discuss "Dune" Seriously and At Length: Johannah King-Slutzky and Joe Howley (blog) - "We spoke with Dave via Gchat about how Dune affected his foreign policy analyst career choice, how Dune’s cultural values have held up over time, and how it relates to the only other books we’ve read- other science fiction novels and Greek tragedies."
fandom:dune
Hannibal
Oh, My Pop Culture Religion: Theodicy, Dystheism, and Moral Complexity on Hannibal: polyglotpisces (blog) - "Hannibal is a man of infinite complexity, and through his dialogues with Will Graham, as well as his own actions, we see glimpses of said deep inner complexity in regards to his beliefs about God and morality."
fandom:hannibal, topic:religion
The Hobbit
[The Hobbit films] let’s have a discourse on the first film: vivsavage (forum) - "With the final Hobbit film set to be released in the US on Dec. 17, I thought it might be nice to have a discourse about the first two films. Most internet opinions I read tend to range from "The worst crap since Michael Bay" to "I don't give a damn what you say -- I like them!". My reactions to the first two tend to be more toward the 'thumbs up' side, but with some major issues."
fandom:thehobbit
The Hunger Games
Katniss Everdeen, Thank You For Your Service: Ben Adams (blog) - "what is the relationship between the stories told about "The Mockingjay" and the lived experience of Katniss Everdeen? And what are the parallels to the stories we tell about veterans of war today?"
fandom:thehungergames
Marvel Cinematic Universe
All the characters yield up their secrets to me. Except Loki.: fail-fandomanon (DW) - "What do you see that makes you think [Loki]'s abused?"
fandom:mcu, topic:mentalillness, topic:abuse, topic:characterization
Mega Man
Mega Man: Forgiveness, Ethics and The Nature Of The Soul: Chris Sims (blog) - "Mega Man hasn’t just continued building one of the most enjoyably action-packed stories around the bare-bones plot of "go right, shoot robots" that it got from the video games, it’s also having conversations about ethics, forgiveness and what it means to love someone that nobody else in comics is coming close to."
fandom:comics
Otomen
Putting the "Otome" In Otomen: Final Thoughts (For Real, This Time): Tsunderin (blog) - "And as much as my little shoujo-adoring heart loved the happy-sappy, undeniably predictable marriage ending, the question remains: were any of these problems elaborated on or improved? I’m sorry to say that they weren’t. Not to the extent I would have hoped for."
fandom:otomen
Sherlock
Deductions About Deductions: The Holmes Brothers’ Hallmark: Tammany (AO3) - "This is head canon time--not even REALLY deduction. There's not enough evidence, really. But it's deductive sort of thinking rather than just wholesale "making it up." (Grin) See what you think...."
fandom:bbcsherlock
Star Wars
[Star Wars] What if the Empire wins?: Dr. Rudolf von Richten (forum) - "Suppose Han never comes back to help Luke at the Battle of Yavin. Vader and his wingman aren't hindered, they shoot Luke, the Death Star isn't blown up and Yavin IV (or it's moon or wherever the rebel base is) is destroyed, taking with it a significant part of the rebel leaders, soldiers and pilots. With an intact Death Star, and no one alive knowing it's weaknesses, the Empire has little to fear from any rebels or other opposition. What would happen next?"
fandom:starwars
Thesis - Star Wars works not despite being derivative, but because it is derivative: Bailywolf (forum) - "Lucas made no bones about how much of Star Wars was a riff on something else - WWII fighter combat, westerns, samurai movies, domestic comedies, etc. Sometimes shot for shot parallels between scenes in the films and reference footage. And there's also internal self-references, with as he describes it, variations on themes, like in music."
fandom:starwars
What Star Wars Needs To Hear From Its Female Fans: Fangirl (blog) - "What my inner fangirl was hoping was that the kernel of doubt still floating around inside my heart was just a sign that I might be too suspicious of the franchise, that I still held onto the clear chain of disappoints over the past few years that have struck female fans particularly hard. Instead what happened was that every fierce, passionate fangirl on my panel told me Star Wars hadn’t done enough - that they were still waiting for the franchise to embrace them as wholly as we have embraced it."
fandom:starwars
Supernatural
: laugh-while-crying (tumblr) - "I feel a lot of people misunderstand Sam’s motivation for leaving and going to college."
fandom:supernatural
Teen Wolf
Sexualized Saturdays: "Not Your Angel" of Gender and Morality in Teen Wolf: Lady Geek Girl (blog) - "Though Teen Wolf has had less of a problem with this particular trope in its recent seasons, the show has in seasons past specifically invoked the idea of women being the moral compass for men."
fandom:teenwolf
True Blood
Magical Mondays: V from True Blood: MadameAce (blog) - "Unfortunately, the show also has a problem with consistency, at least when it comes to drinking vampire blood. While this problem is nowhere near as offensive as these others, it’s still a pretty big issue, since vampire blood is a central part of the story."
fandom:trueblood
Vikings
The Vikings: Was Ragnar Lothbrok the First Viking?: aelarsen (blog) - "So as the series frames it, Ragnar is the first man to go Viking to the west."
fandom:vikings
The Vikings: Hey, Gang! Let’s Go Discover Britain!: aelarsen (blog) - "One of the more prominent elements of the History Channel’s The Vikings series is the early plotline about Ragnar’s determination to sail west to Britain. Like many other parts of the series, this is a mixture of fact and nonsense."
fandom:vikings
The Vikings: The Problem with Earl Haraldson: aelarsen (blog) - " Instead of trying to show the audience how a very different legal system operated, it just imposes modern American notions of justice back on Norse society, picking and choosing whatever historical bits sound interesting and ignoring the rest."
fandom:vikings