Some questions about meta
So... Has anyone ever written an essay on the differences between western/eastern fanbases? Or the difference between the storytelling in popular western fandoms and popular eastern fandoms? There are a few generalizations I can make but I can't really coalesce my thoughts into anything. Really, I'd like to know what it is about Japanese media (video games and anime, mostly) that keeps me coming back, other than the fact that the odds of magical Nazis giant fighting robots? are much higher. I don't think I'd be able to come up with any decent analysis on things like differences in plot and character development or themes, but I'd be way interested in hearing anybody else's thoughts.
It also seems to me that most of the "acafen," aka, fans more inclined to writing extensive essays on intersectional feminism and fanvidding, belong to Western fandom and often forget that anime/video game fandom exists. I can explain away the larger number of "srs business" people with generalized age differences and the fact that... well, hey, I'm living in Western culture, Western media's probably going to appeal more to people over here. All the same, I'm interested not only in the differences between media but the differences in fandoms and why one seems to attract more wordy, pretentious meta than the other.
On a related note: What's all this nonsense about Penny from Dr. Horrible being fridged? I agree that they could have done more with Penny, but given the circumstances, I think it's ridiculous. There's a difference between fridging and tragic irony.
It also seems to me that most of the "acafen," aka, fans more inclined to writing extensive essays on intersectional feminism and fanvidding, belong to Western fandom and often forget that anime/video game fandom exists. I can explain away the larger number of "srs business" people with generalized age differences and the fact that... well, hey, I'm living in Western culture, Western media's probably going to appeal more to people over here. All the same, I'm interested not only in the differences between media but the differences in fandoms and why one seems to attract more wordy, pretentious meta than the other.
On a related note: What's all this nonsense about Penny from Dr. Horrible being fridged? I agree that they could have done more with Penny, but given the circumstances, I think it's ridiculous. There's a difference between fridging and tragic irony.