We Didn't Start The Fire.

[pyrrhiccomedy]

I still like my fandom.

Not a lot of people are saying that today, and you probably already know why: at Anime Boston this weekend, several girls cosplaying as Germany and Prussia attended the Hetalia photoshoot and seig heiled the camera

Comments

[mithrigil]

Honestly, a lot of my trepidation about the fandom right now is due less to the stupid fuckers who pulled this off, and more to the ongoing issue I've been experiencing with some former friends over the course of a year. I really didn't like the actions of those cosplayers on multiple levels, not the least of all that they're just plain ignorant and the scene speaks ill of all fans, not just Hetalia fans. But said former friends have used my fandom in Hetalia to insult me and to emblematize what they think are negative changes in my personality and quality. That the actions of those ignorant fans make my former friends right about Hetalia, and right about me for playing in Hetalia, is incredibly frustrating.

So when I say that I'm not going to photoshoots, and certainly never doing an Hetalia skit in a Masquerade again, it's also because I wish to dissociate with the people who gave credence to the people who've been denigrating me. I still love the parts of fandom that I've been associating with--I've met lots of talented and fun people, both contributors and commenters, and I've also solidified some older friendships through this fandom and discovered new ones. And Hetalia as a canon, I still adore, and I love what it can do and has done to fandom. What you said about how, more often than not, you get as many "I never knew that before!"s as "that was hot"s, is just wonderful, and I still believe that I've found my best balance between fun and intellectualism in this fandom. And I am not embarrassed to be an Hetalia fan. But for the sake of my own sanity, I do not want to be around people who do such thoughtless things as those cosplayers in Boston.

[pyrrhiccomedy]

Oh, let me be absolutely clear: this isn't a personal attack on you, or Puel, or Linden, or Teca, or anyone else in my friends list who has written about this incident with dismay and disappointment. I know you girls are under a ton of stress right now, and as individuals, everyone has extenuating circumstances. (And...more to the point, if I wanted to start a conversation with you ladies specifically about what you had experienced, I would not be so crass as to make A Speech about it on my journal. I would e-mail you. ♥)

This is about--well--I read that entire thread. All six hundred-something comments of it, at the time that I read it. And after "What the fuck, that was so offensive and retarded of them," "I'm ashamed to be a Hetalia fan today/I don't intend to go to shoots anymore" was the most common sentiment I saw expressed. And I know why people feel that way, it's a sensible reaction, but it's a reaction I hope people will think about a little more, you know? If the stress of participating in Hetalia cosplay and photoshoots and whatever else is really starting to affect their quality of life, then for God's sakes, stop doing it. I will start expecting us to do things that make us unhappy for fandom when somebody starts cutting us a paycheck for the shit we put up with. Until then, this is something we're supposedly doing for fun.

But burnout and excoriation were not, I don't think, foremost in most people's minds, in that thread. And I really want people to--think; you don't have to let those dumb bitches drag down the fandom for you. And if you think they're dumb bitches, and you think of what they're doing as "dragging down the fandom," then you're probably the sort of person who should speak up more about being a Hetalia fan, not less.

For all our sakes.