It feels like fandom is about to explode

[darkemeralds]

I reached some kind of tolerance limit for meta today. Between the Pros on Fanfic lollapalooza of the last couple of weeks, and whatever the Bad Thing At The Con in 2008 was that has generated such a lot of discussion about sex in fandom, I feel as maxed out on Issues tonight as I did on sugar last night.

I've learned a lot of valuable stuff in these fannish spaces over the past couple of years, from various *fails and controversies. Everybody gets a chance to speak their mind. I've come a long way in seeing things differently, noticing my own privilege, respecting points of view that were never even on my radar before, and articulating some of my own previously wordless issues.

Now I'm tired and pouty and out of sorts, and I don't want to think any serious thoughts, or frame any more responses to other people's serious thoughts. I think I may need a brief internet vacation.

Comments

[kis]

You know I feel the same.

I think it's All About The Power. On one side, there's the financial power and associated status that paid writers who are terrified of competition from good (and often better) amateurs are trying to cling on to, and on the other, a Lord of the Flies scramble to the top of the amateur heap by fair means or foul. Plus there's a large number of amateurs looking to join the professionals who develop the same paranoia about the competition that affects the paid writers.

Fandom is big and involves strong feelings. I guess we shouldn't be surprised that when it reaches a critical size, it starts turning as spitefully fissiparous as most religions have done.

[darkemeralds]

I'm just sitting here in awe of "fissiparous" which, I surmise without actually doing any googling, means "giving rise to division."

Fissiparous. That's fantastic.

Anyway, as we've discussed a lot over time, issues of silencing don't go away just because people in a large and vocal group like internet fandom are talking about the problem of silencing. Anyone talking really loudly is, will-she, nill-she, silencing someone.

[nacbrie]

Fruity drinks with silly umbrellas on the beach, or the fandom equivalent thereof, can often be a good thing :)

[darkemeralds]

I am so there!

I think in my case the equivalent will be taking an evening off, watching the movie that Netflix sent me, cleaning up my kitchen, and leaving my computer shut.

My hands start to shake at the prospect, but I think it can be done.

[writerscramp]

Oy vey the Pro Opinions on Fanfic thing. Srsly...looooots of ass showing all over the damn place.

If it helps at all, I think the cracktastic views of authors on fanfic is a pretty generational thing. And I don't mean that wrt age, really, but more with the way and degree that writerly people have been involved with or part of online activities, especially with the infiltration of fandom into most everything online. Just as the kids in college/high school have never owned music on some physical format, and don't watch TV shows on television, there's a large and increasing percentage of writers and readers who have never known a time when fanfic was not simply a given. It doesn't even matter whether you're into fanfic, or engaged in fandom generally -- I'm not into fanfic, but I totally get the impulse and the fanthropology of it all interests me -- it's integrated into our cultural understanding, and seen as signifier of having made it as a writer/creator, not as something that must be stomped out. I get the kneejerk reaction of the pro-writers who are opposed to fanfic and where that comes from, but those of us coming up behind them (whatever our ages) are collectively shaking our heads and saying, "Dude! Way to cut yourself off at the knees! Those are your biggest fans, dumbass!"

Or, what she said. :)

[darkemeralds]

How did I miss that particular response in the latest Fic-a-wank-a-palooza? That was good. Thanks for the link. It does seem fairly obvious, the generational thing, once it's pointed out, but it's actually not an argument I'd seen yet in the case.