This is a ranty post. VERY RANTY. Feel free to skip.
Oh, this week... I don't know if the planets have aligned with a specific purpose to make me extra-sensitive, but I've been cranky with fandom A LOT.
Cut into individual rants for your masochistic reading convenience. Although seriously, I wouldn't read this. I'm just relieved I fucking wrote it down. BAH FUCKING HUMBUG.
***
On people treating celebs like objects - not to be confused with objectifying celebs
As a few of you probably know already, this is about the recent fangirling of Chris Pine. It might be triggery or embarrassing for readers with a strong public squick, so please proceed with caution.
Short version: a fangirl goes to LA and decides to be a bit goofy - goes to take a silly pic of the coffee shop where Chris regularly gets coffee (many of the paparazzi pics show him walking to/from this place). While she's there, as luck would have it, Chris actually goes on his coffee run: walks right by her and into the place. She gets flustered, can't even imagine talking to him, but - as he gets his drink and starts to walk away - she decides the opportunity is just too good to miss and STARTS TAKING PICTURES OF HIM.
(It's not clear whether he noticed her, though I doubt he could be oblivious given the presence of paps' cameras in his daily life; however, it is VERY likely that, had she approached him and asked for a pic, he would have been friendly as he has been with fans all over the place judging by dozens of happy reports from fan encounters. The fangirl jokingly reports that he "ran away from her" - but that's a hair-raising less because of the 0.00001% chance it's true and more because she treats it like a joke. ANYWAY.)
The fangirl posts at least 6 pics online; I've no idea how many she'd taken (in her extremely flustered state). I don't want to link to her post because last time I checked, there was a picture of his freakin' house in the comments (the fangirl had taken down the one in her post but somebody decided it was "free game"), and I am REALLY uncomfortable with that breach of privacy.
The tone of the fangirl's post has practically had me chanting OH JOHN RINGO NO in my head, because she keeps referring to herself as ridiculous and silly and embarrassed and even guilty after the fact - but she also describes the event with lots of humor, compares herself to a paparazzo, talks about the crazy luck of encountering CFine "in the wild" (or something along those lines), and basically asks for approval/ego stroking from the comm. Which, to my surprise, she RECEIVES IN SPADES.
In the first two-and-a-half pages of comment, there were maybe 2 gifs expressing confusion, displeasure, and/or embarrassment; all the written comments congratulated her, told her she was living the dream, jumped around with excitement... you get the picture. Only on the third page did someone comment asking why nobody seemed to get squicked by this post, when a recent video clip of Zach Quinto in a restaurant, shot by a fan and posted to the same comm, elicited mostly negative reactions (and with good reason).
In all honesty, I expected the backlash to be WORSE in Chris' case because in the weeks preceding this fangirl's "amateur pap" post, he himself had said that the paparazzi are "the bane of [his] existence" and that he sometimes "vents" by asking one of them about his mother, because nobody who was raised properly would be in that line of work. (He said this during the Q&A for the recent show he did in LA; one of the fangirls who reported on it posted here, near the end of her writeup.) The fandom picked up on this, anti-paparazzi macros were made, the works.
It's POSSIBLE that the fangirl didn't know about this, but it's REALLY not probable. Really.
In addition to Chris' statement at the Q&A, there's more evidence of the tension between him and the paps: an EXTREMELY CREEPY blog post by one of the paparazzi who appear to regularly stalk him (even though the guy claims this is the first time he'd photographed Chris against his will - but wow, for some odd reason I'm not inclined to believe him). This guy recently took pictures of Chris and an ex leaving a restaurant and parting ways; the pap was noticed, approached, flipped off, and told to fuck off.
And then? He whined about it as he posted the pictures he took.
I almost don't want to provide the link to this blog post, not just because the pics clearly show that Chris is pissed off (moreso than usual - alas, I've seen enough pap pics to notice this - and probably because he's extra-protective of the people in his life), but because the writeup is FULL OF TRIGGERS for me. Let me put it this way: if you've ever had to deal with a stalker, or been harassed publicly/sexually, or get squicked by other people's presumption that your body/privacy/relationships are public property - you might want to skip this. It is THAT BAD. (That said, here is the link; if this doesn't make you lose some faith in humanity, I don't know what will.)
ANYWAY. Back to fandom. Given the general response to the amateur pap fangirl's post, the other fans clearly identified with HER in the situation - and why not? She's funny, squeeful, and eloquent, AND she posted pics of the guy we like to ogle a lot. Plus, she didn't DO anything ILLEGAL.
The problem is: neither do the paparazzi. (Although I can't imagine how their behavior doesn't constitute harassment, since they often try to provoke the subjects of their "work" into giving them a reaction. UGH.)
In those dozens of comments, all the supportive fans who identify with a fellow fangirl don't seem to realize they're actually identifying with reprehensible behavior. They just assume that taking unauthorized pics out of fannish love, instead of with intent to sell them to the tabloids, is somehow more acceptable. In other words, they have ZERO EMPATHY for the person they apparently adore oh-so-much but whose personal time and space they're invading.
Well, FUCKING NEWSFLASH: it's not about the fan or the fan's good intentions. It's about a guy who happens to have a job in the film industry, lives in the time of rabid celebrity consumption and social media that's severely muddled up most people's comprehension of privacy, and happens to be getting a cup of coffee across the street from his house - where he gets photographed without his consent. He MIGHT be photographed by a fan, but HE DOESN'T KNOW THAT. To him, the action is visible (either the act itself or the posting of pics online); the thought behind it is not. And even if it were, who's to say he'd be OK with it?
Sometimes I feel like the closer certain fans physically get to celebs, the less they perceive them as being REAL PEOPLE. Is it THAT HARD to both objectify an image of a celebrity AND have the basic level of empathy for the person behind the image? You know, enough to let him have a hassle-free private life when he's clearly NOT involved in creating said public image? Fucking hell.
Now, I like a tidbit of gossip here and there; I've clicked on a given link to JustJared to check out some shirtlessness after a workout, or some extra-swankiness while on a date, or whatever. But there are celebs who frequent hot spots where they KNOW they'd be photographed (so they do it for free publicity), and then there are celebs who really, really don't LIKE being treated like celebs in their daily lives.
Since I found out that Chris is clearly in the latter group, I haven't been able to enjoy looking at the paps' pics of him - because I like the guy's WORK first and foremost, because I'm fully aware that I only find him superhot because of his acting and NOT (just) his looks, and because now I know that he's upset about those pics being taken and, well, it just feels wrong to fangirl over someone's MISERY. So I've deleted the icons made out of paps' pics and all such images I had saved to my comp and file-hosting sites (and didn't even shed a tear! not even over the hottest ones!). I won't judge anyone for using such icons or posting these pics because, trust me, I GET IT and yes, HE IS HOT and in this age of celebrity consumption it's rather impossible to avoid - but I just can't actively participate when it makes me feel kind of ill. Like I said, this stuff is triggery.
Damn, that was long and hideous. But it's been weighing on my mind for a while now; it's good to let it out.
***
On people bashing Uhura
Earlier this week, faith_girl222 posted a link to this particularly nasty thread in the kink meme, where someone asked for a fic in which Uhura would be jealous, hurt by Spock's feelings for Kirk, and 'taken down a peg' as she loses her boyfriend.
The thread (apparently second for the same request) was closed (again); luckily, a few sane people got to point out that using such language in regards to this particular character is, well, KINDA RACIST (no, really?!?). But even outside of racism, I'm really bothered by the request.
If you've glanced at my LJ at any time since, uh, late May of this year, you might have noticed I'm a pretty devoted K/S shipper. I don't read Kirk/McCoy because I don't feel the chemistry; I'm not interested in any other slash or straight pairings between/among other characters (except for het!Pike because his voice is SEX and it's got me feelin' kinda Mary Sue-ish); I'm not invested in any other ships, canonical or not. For me, it's pretty much 100% K/S.
But speaking as a fan of the 'verse itself? I think it might actually be pretty groundbreakingly (shh, it's a word) awesome if Spock and Uhura got to have a healthy, happy, ongoing relationship through ALL of the movies in the Reboot franchise! Because THAT ALMOST NEVER HAPPENS. And because they are clearly in love in canon, and they're good for each other, and they're hot and gorgeous to look at, and also because het relationships only amplify the slash factor ANYWAY. ;)
And yes, I've read and enjoyed K/S/U (and even some S/U - mostly because Spock is the sexiest character to happen to fandom in FOREVER and can you blame me?) and plan to continue to do so in the future. As such, I don't GET Uhura bashing; if you're gonna bash someone, do it to the writers/director who had her stripping FOR NO REASON AT ALL other than to provide some gratuitous eye candy for the boys. For example.
(No, seriously. Hating on Uhura just... does not compute.)
***
On the misuse of the ethnic Other
This one is rough. Especially in SciFi fandoms, where so many shows canonically and blatantly use ethnic Otherness in representations of alienness; so it's not like we can hold fans to a higher standard, right? Except - well, I have a personal trigger when it comes to the ethnic Other being associated with animals.
My trigger is partly made of national history (Serbs were often associated with less-than-human creatures, including werewolves but also several animal species, during world wars and in relevant propaganda) and partly of media representation (in Hollywood's Cat People, we turn into leopards when aroused - trufax!). This is probably why I had a pretty bad reaction to a certain vid, created by a fan whom I like and respect, in which she uses the music made by an ethnic Other with the "story" about a species of animals... with whom the protagonists are trying to communicate. Maybe I'm hypersensitive, but to me this combination says: the humans who made that song are clearly so alien to the Western "us" and their music and language so Other, it might as well be animal talk.
Just to be clear, this is not "weird music" uniquely produced by a single band outside of ethnic context (think Bjork whose "weirdness" is not thought of as Icelandic but rather as specifically hers); this is "weird music" of indigenous/traditional songs, a.k.a. music of a certain ethnicity.
Of course, the song could actually BE ABOUT communicating with animals - I've spent about an hour looking for the translation of the lyrics online and couldn't find any; I've also asked the vidder about it and will update this post once I get a reply - in which case I will tell myself to stop stressing over this, and possibly ask the vidder to mention that the song is relevant OUTSIDE being ethnically Other to avoid any other(ed) freaks like me getting pissy. Until then, however, I'm afraid I'm gonna be a sensitive fucking flower, and it might be good for me to keep the hell away from fandom until I get over myself.
(It goes without saying that I haven't linked to the vid because my trigger might be missing the point completely, but I'd like to be proven wrong before I comment in an open forum. Until then, I'm just gonna rant in a locked post.)
ETA: The meaning of the song is still a mystery, but it was evidently not chosen because it's about communication, with animals or otherwise. The vid can be found in this post. My exchange with the vidder is in the comments. And - yeah, that's pretty much all I'm going to say. There's no reason for this post to stay locked.
Btw, quite recently I've had to examine the tendency in myself to exoticise via Other, as I (re)discovered that the idea of K/S in a Catholic Church AU hits a whole truckload of my buttons. And I thought, maybe that's because the Catholic Church is as exotic to me as Vulcan (Spock is a priest in the AU in my head) - except that's really not it, not by a long shot, since the philosophy of Vulcan does not mirror any particular religion; it's really the context of any kind of strict behavioral code/system of belief that dictates the suppression of one's FEELINGS that can work in a slashy narrative. The particular type of feeling, in our let-them-be-gaaaay faction of fandom, is homoerotic attraction; the rest is a creative reinvention of what the STXI canon has already provided, generously enough, plus the Catholic stance on homosexuality (and hey, how mean am I to pick on the religious homophobes? SO MEAN OMG!). Besides, my (kink-fueled) perception of the parallel between Catholicism and an alien culture is not a, um, "hierarchical" one - if anything, they're on the same evolutionary level.
Also? Please tell me if anyone actually considers a major church to be an Other, because from where I stand as an atheist, it sure doesn't seem that way. (And I think I'm a pretty well-adjusted minority atheist: I've learned to say "I don't believe in god" instead of "There is no god" because I don't want to alienate my friends, I will pay a tourist visit to places of worship as long as they don't throw mysogyny directly at my face, and I'll take those paid holidays, thank you very much. I think that, due to good behavior, I should be allowed to perv over priest!Spock getting a blowjob from Kirk in the confessional. Right?)
***
OK. RANT OVER. Wow, I... am a horrible person to read right now. Just horrible.
Tomorrow I'll write about love. AT LENGTH. So you know, expect a GIGANTIC post about Star Trek.
Crankypants out.
Cut into individual rants for your masochistic reading convenience. Although seriously, I wouldn't read this. I'm just relieved I fucking wrote it down. BAH FUCKING HUMBUG.
***
On people treating celebs like objects - not to be confused with objectifying celebs
As a few of you probably know already, this is about the recent fangirling of Chris Pine. It might be triggery or embarrassing for readers with a strong public squick, so please proceed with caution.
Short version: a fangirl goes to LA and decides to be a bit goofy - goes to take a silly pic of the coffee shop where Chris regularly gets coffee (many of the paparazzi pics show him walking to/from this place). While she's there, as luck would have it, Chris actually goes on his coffee run: walks right by her and into the place. She gets flustered, can't even imagine talking to him, but - as he gets his drink and starts to walk away - she decides the opportunity is just too good to miss and STARTS TAKING PICTURES OF HIM.
(It's not clear whether he noticed her, though I doubt he could be oblivious given the presence of paps' cameras in his daily life; however, it is VERY likely that, had she approached him and asked for a pic, he would have been friendly as he has been with fans all over the place judging by dozens of happy reports from fan encounters. The fangirl jokingly reports that he "ran away from her" - but that's a hair-raising less because of the 0.00001% chance it's true and more because she treats it like a joke. ANYWAY.)
The fangirl posts at least 6 pics online; I've no idea how many she'd taken (in her extremely flustered state). I don't want to link to her post because last time I checked, there was a picture of his freakin' house in the comments (the fangirl had taken down the one in her post but somebody decided it was "free game"), and I am REALLY uncomfortable with that breach of privacy.
The tone of the fangirl's post has practically had me chanting OH JOHN RINGO NO in my head, because she keeps referring to herself as ridiculous and silly and embarrassed and even guilty after the fact - but she also describes the event with lots of humor, compares herself to a paparazzo, talks about the crazy luck of encountering CFine "in the wild" (or something along those lines), and basically asks for approval/ego stroking from the comm. Which, to my surprise, she RECEIVES IN SPADES.
In the first two-and-a-half pages of comment, there were maybe 2 gifs expressing confusion, displeasure, and/or embarrassment; all the written comments congratulated her, told her she was living the dream, jumped around with excitement... you get the picture. Only on the third page did someone comment asking why nobody seemed to get squicked by this post, when a recent video clip of Zach Quinto in a restaurant, shot by a fan and posted to the same comm, elicited mostly negative reactions (and with good reason).
In all honesty, I expected the backlash to be WORSE in Chris' case because in the weeks preceding this fangirl's "amateur pap" post, he himself had said that the paparazzi are "the bane of [his] existence" and that he sometimes "vents" by asking one of them about his mother, because nobody who was raised properly would be in that line of work. (He said this during the Q&A for the recent show he did in LA; one of the fangirls who reported on it posted here, near the end of her writeup.) The fandom picked up on this, anti-paparazzi macros were made, the works.
It's POSSIBLE that the fangirl didn't know about this, but it's REALLY not probable. Really.
In addition to Chris' statement at the Q&A, there's more evidence of the tension between him and the paps: an EXTREMELY CREEPY blog post by one of the paparazzi who appear to regularly stalk him (even though the guy claims this is the first time he'd photographed Chris against his will - but wow, for some odd reason I'm not inclined to believe him). This guy recently took pictures of Chris and an ex leaving a restaurant and parting ways; the pap was noticed, approached, flipped off, and told to fuck off.
And then? He whined about it as he posted the pictures he took.
I almost don't want to provide the link to this blog post, not just because the pics clearly show that Chris is pissed off (moreso than usual - alas, I've seen enough pap pics to notice this - and probably because he's extra-protective of the people in his life), but because the writeup is FULL OF TRIGGERS for me. Let me put it this way: if you've ever had to deal with a stalker, or been harassed publicly/sexually, or get squicked by other people's presumption that your body/privacy/relationships are public property - you might want to skip this. It is THAT BAD. (That said, here is the link; if this doesn't make you lose some faith in humanity, I don't know what will.)
ANYWAY. Back to fandom. Given the general response to the amateur pap fangirl's post, the other fans clearly identified with HER in the situation - and why not? She's funny, squeeful, and eloquent, AND she posted pics of the guy we like to ogle a lot. Plus, she didn't DO anything ILLEGAL.
The problem is: neither do the paparazzi. (Although I can't imagine how their behavior doesn't constitute harassment, since they often try to provoke the subjects of their "work" into giving them a reaction. UGH.)
In those dozens of comments, all the supportive fans who identify with a fellow fangirl don't seem to realize they're actually identifying with reprehensible behavior. They just assume that taking unauthorized pics out of fannish love, instead of with intent to sell them to the tabloids, is somehow more acceptable. In other words, they have ZERO EMPATHY for the person they apparently adore oh-so-much but whose personal time and space they're invading.
Well, FUCKING NEWSFLASH: it's not about the fan or the fan's good intentions. It's about a guy who happens to have a job in the film industry, lives in the time of rabid celebrity consumption and social media that's severely muddled up most people's comprehension of privacy, and happens to be getting a cup of coffee across the street from his house - where he gets photographed without his consent. He MIGHT be photographed by a fan, but HE DOESN'T KNOW THAT. To him, the action is visible (either the act itself or the posting of pics online); the thought behind it is not. And even if it were, who's to say he'd be OK with it?
Sometimes I feel like the closer certain fans physically get to celebs, the less they perceive them as being REAL PEOPLE. Is it THAT HARD to both objectify an image of a celebrity AND have the basic level of empathy for the person behind the image? You know, enough to let him have a hassle-free private life when he's clearly NOT involved in creating said public image? Fucking hell.
Now, I like a tidbit of gossip here and there; I've clicked on a given link to JustJared to check out some shirtlessness after a workout, or some extra-swankiness while on a date, or whatever. But there are celebs who frequent hot spots where they KNOW they'd be photographed (so they do it for free publicity), and then there are celebs who really, really don't LIKE being treated like celebs in their daily lives.
Since I found out that Chris is clearly in the latter group, I haven't been able to enjoy looking at the paps' pics of him - because I like the guy's WORK first and foremost, because I'm fully aware that I only find him superhot because of his acting and NOT (just) his looks, and because now I know that he's upset about those pics being taken and, well, it just feels wrong to fangirl over someone's MISERY. So I've deleted the icons made out of paps' pics and all such images I had saved to my comp and file-hosting sites (and didn't even shed a tear! not even over the hottest ones!). I won't judge anyone for using such icons or posting these pics because, trust me, I GET IT and yes, HE IS HOT and in this age of celebrity consumption it's rather impossible to avoid - but I just can't actively participate when it makes me feel kind of ill. Like I said, this stuff is triggery.
Damn, that was long and hideous. But it's been weighing on my mind for a while now; it's good to let it out.
***
On people bashing Uhura
Earlier this week, faith_girl222 posted a link to this particularly nasty thread in the kink meme, where someone asked for a fic in which Uhura would be jealous, hurt by Spock's feelings for Kirk, and 'taken down a peg' as she loses her boyfriend.
The thread (apparently second for the same request) was closed (again); luckily, a few sane people got to point out that using such language in regards to this particular character is, well, KINDA RACIST (no, really?!?). But even outside of racism, I'm really bothered by the request.
If you've glanced at my LJ at any time since, uh, late May of this year, you might have noticed I'm a pretty devoted K/S shipper. I don't read Kirk/McCoy because I don't feel the chemistry; I'm not interested in any other slash or straight pairings between/among other characters (except for het!Pike because his voice is SEX and it's got me feelin' kinda Mary Sue-ish); I'm not invested in any other ships, canonical or not. For me, it's pretty much 100% K/S.
But speaking as a fan of the 'verse itself? I think it might actually be pretty groundbreakingly (shh, it's a word) awesome if Spock and Uhura got to have a healthy, happy, ongoing relationship through ALL of the movies in the Reboot franchise! Because THAT ALMOST NEVER HAPPENS. And because they are clearly in love in canon, and they're good for each other, and they're hot and gorgeous to look at, and also because het relationships only amplify the slash factor ANYWAY. ;)
And yes, I've read and enjoyed K/S/U (and even some S/U - mostly because Spock is the sexiest character to happen to fandom in FOREVER and can you blame me?) and plan to continue to do so in the future. As such, I don't GET Uhura bashing; if you're gonna bash someone, do it to the writers/director who had her stripping FOR NO REASON AT ALL other than to provide some gratuitous eye candy for the boys. For example.
(No, seriously. Hating on Uhura just... does not compute.)
***
On the misuse of the ethnic Other
This one is rough. Especially in SciFi fandoms, where so many shows canonically and blatantly use ethnic Otherness in representations of alienness; so it's not like we can hold fans to a higher standard, right? Except - well, I have a personal trigger when it comes to the ethnic Other being associated with animals.
My trigger is partly made of national history (Serbs were often associated with less-than-human creatures, including werewolves but also several animal species, during world wars and in relevant propaganda) and partly of media representation (in Hollywood's Cat People, we turn into leopards when aroused - trufax!). This is probably why I had a pretty bad reaction to a certain vid, created by a fan whom I like and respect, in which she uses the music made by an ethnic Other with the "story" about a species of animals... with whom the protagonists are trying to communicate. Maybe I'm hypersensitive, but to me this combination says: the humans who made that song are clearly so alien to the Western "us" and their music and language so Other, it might as well be animal talk.
Just to be clear, this is not "weird music" uniquely produced by a single band outside of ethnic context (think Bjork whose "weirdness" is not thought of as Icelandic but rather as specifically hers); this is "weird music" of indigenous/traditional songs, a.k.a. music of a certain ethnicity.
Of course, the song could actually BE ABOUT communicating with animals - I've spent about an hour looking for the translation of the lyrics online and couldn't find any; I've also asked the vidder about it and will update this post once I get a reply - in which case I will tell myself to stop stressing over this, and possibly ask the vidder to mention that the song is relevant OUTSIDE being ethnically Other to avoid any other(ed) freaks like me getting pissy. Until then, however, I'm afraid I'm gonna be a sensitive fucking flower, and it might be good for me to keep the hell away from fandom until I get over myself.
(It goes without saying that I haven't linked to the vid because my trigger might be missing the point completely, but I'd like to be proven wrong before I comment in an open forum. Until then, I'm just gonna rant in a locked post.)
ETA: The meaning of the song is still a mystery, but it was evidently not chosen because it's about communication, with animals or otherwise. The vid can be found in this post. My exchange with the vidder is in the comments. And - yeah, that's pretty much all I'm going to say. There's no reason for this post to stay locked.
Btw, quite recently I've had to examine the tendency in myself to exoticise via Other, as I (re)discovered that the idea of K/S in a Catholic Church AU hits a whole truckload of my buttons. And I thought, maybe that's because the Catholic Church is as exotic to me as Vulcan (Spock is a priest in the AU in my head) - except that's really not it, not by a long shot, since the philosophy of Vulcan does not mirror any particular religion; it's really the context of any kind of strict behavioral code/system of belief that dictates the suppression of one's FEELINGS that can work in a slashy narrative. The particular type of feeling, in our let-them-be-gaaaay faction of fandom, is homoerotic attraction; the rest is a creative reinvention of what the STXI canon has already provided, generously enough, plus the Catholic stance on homosexuality (and hey, how mean am I to pick on the religious homophobes? SO MEAN OMG!). Besides, my (kink-fueled) perception of the parallel between Catholicism and an alien culture is not a, um, "hierarchical" one - if anything, they're on the same evolutionary level.
Also? Please tell me if anyone actually considers a major church to be an Other, because from where I stand as an atheist, it sure doesn't seem that way. (And I think I'm a pretty well-adjusted minority atheist: I've learned to say "I don't believe in god" instead of "There is no god" because I don't want to alienate my friends, I will pay a tourist visit to places of worship as long as they don't throw mysogyny directly at my face, and I'll take those paid holidays, thank you very much. I think that, due to good behavior, I should be allowed to perv over priest!Spock getting a blowjob from Kirk in the confessional. Right?)
***
OK. RANT OVER. Wow, I... am a horrible person to read right now. Just horrible.
Tomorrow I'll write about love. AT LENGTH. So you know, expect a GIGANTIC post about Star Trek.
Crankypants out.