loody hell, it's meta. sorta.

[arabwel]

So after ranting in ff.rants, I kind of got thinking about stuff. Oh, and life is still boring as usual. Nothing new there.

The fandom golden mean

Comments

[tyra_amria]

*nod* Makes sense! <3

[arabwel]

Whee, am glad I am not talking out of my ass here :D

[tyra_amria]

^___^ Not at all.
Though I guess another thing - certain groups of fans think different ways about each character. Eg, some totally fucking bugnuts Yuugiou fans go for the whole abused!Bakura. (Which I won't rant about here. Won't. Promise.) Other saner fans won't have a bar of it, such as myself. Because I am a canon whore. Also, they're fucked up eno - right. Not ranting. Completely different views on the same character, and. Well. =/
But, I guess that would happen less for characters with more than almost-nonexistant screentime. /bitter.

[arabwel]

Yeah -t ath weould be the different ends of the specyttrum - and those cause wank and jkerfuffles. They are still close enough to the mena, I supose, to not to be blatantly labeleed ooc by weveryonbe, but not close enough for everyone to be able to agree to them becuase I doubt anyone is smack dab middle f the mean in their own persobnal views.

[tiggymalvern]

Yeah, basically XD

It's always a slightly fuzzy area, because half the point of writing fanfic is to pressure and change these characters - maybe not so much in short fics, but certainly in a work of any length, the story is about the progression. How would character A react to situation Y? What effect would that have on them? It's interesting to see different ideas on how things might go, and whether the fandom believes the results or not depends as much on how convincing the author's been with the journey as on the particular changes they bring about in the character.

You're right - it does take a lot before much of the fandom rejects a fic (considering some of the stuff I've seen praise heaped upon, an awful lot). I think there are two times that happens - one is the Mary Sue type trip where the author is twisting canon to fit with their fantasies and makes no attempt to justify it

[arabwel]

*nods*

This may offend people.

[mordred_sade]

You're mostly right, except the problem is, there are too many uptight, snarky fanfic maniacs who INSIST on people writing a character their way, and anyone who doesn't is subject to their OMG OOC complaints. I've seen it firsthand.

Of course, their way usually involves writing a version of the character who has little-to-no faults, because you just can't get off to a hot male character with REALLY undesirable traits. Anyone who portrays their favorite badass as anything but "Mr. James Bond Villian textbook psychopath who sleeps with his sister and rides a motorcycle too"*coughsands* is subject to not only literary bitching, but personal insult.

Why does "the fandom" seem more and more like an obnoxious highschool clique?

Re: This may offend people.

[arabwel]

Trhat is a v. good point - there is the whole culrt of self-sercvi e and one-true-wayism - certain parts of fandom establish their inner goldden mean, i suppose, and refuse to acknowwledge anything beyond it.

And as fgor the highschoolisness, maybe because so many fans are in fact still in high school?

Re: This may offend people.

[mordred_sade]

Yah, it is really annoying how people who enjoy writing get bitched out for their interpretations.

And I doubt a large percentage of the OUATIM/Johnny Depp fanfic crowd on LJ are in high school. Some might be, but the worst of them tend to be very anti-highschooler (and hypocritically enough, act like middle-schoolers with good grammar.) Wierd.

Re: This may offend people.

[arabwel]

Hmm, maybe it´s mid-life crisis? :P