McG likes fanworks

 

Thoughts? He seems to know broadly what he's talking about, and seems to get the point of fanworks, likening them to reboots, remakes and sequels that seek to reinterpret and expand existing films/shows/whatever. He seems to get that it's about participation and passion.

I am hating the internet this week

[This might be an ill-advised, off-putting rant, but what the hell. Sometimes you gotta let off some steam.]

So Something Awful has discovered fandomsecrets. I'm mildly annoyed by their comments on the nature of fandom, but what really pissed me off was rereading an older secret that I'd happily forgotten. The gist of the secret is this: LJ fandom is full of rich/middle class women with too much time on their hands. Further, the vast majority of fans participating in the Fail conversations, were rich/middle class women with too much time on their hands. Why do these intensely privileged people care so much about fandom Fail, when there's Real Suffering in the world? To the secret maker, I say this: FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU.

1. I am so goddamn tired of this classist myopia. Oh hey, guess what? Not everyone on the internet is rich or middle class. Working class and poor people have internet access too! Also, not all participants in the Fail discussions have university degrees. Shocking though it may be, high school educated people can string words together into sentences, and can even formulate complex arguments about media and fan culture. But obviously active fans are middle class. Poor and working class people wouldn't squander their precious free time on fandom. It really would be irresponsible to save up for a computer, and then shell out for internet service every month, never mind spending time (that could be spent on a second or third job), on leisure activities. Not when you're working class or poor. *gasp!*

2. Secret maker, I'm willing to bet my pitiful bank account on your knowing very little about your fellow fans' real life circumstances, let alone what kinds of activism they're engaged in outside of fandom. As far as I can tell, most of the loudest voices in the Fail discussions are experienced activists of one stripe or another, and many, many people whose first exposure to these issues was through a Fail, have applied the lessons they learned in fandom, to their offline lives. Also? Stop trying to deflect bb. There is bigotry, power and privilege in fandom, just as there is in all parts of life, and it should be called out wherever it is found. We don't save this shit up for whatever you've decided is the ~important stuff.

3. And lo, once again the specter of the Facebook Activist eclipses the efforts of sincere advocates and activists. So let's take this head on: I'm not going to dispute that some Facebook Activists are insincere, image conscious, band wagoners. If all you can be bothered to do for the cause is join 1,000,000 Strong Against Whatever, it's possible you're more interested in how your profile looks, than Whatever. (Of course, it's also possible that you're too busy to be an advocate at x point in time). However, if you're active in the group, posting and reading messages, following links to useful videos and resources, and educating your friends about the issues, then you are doing something. That lazy people join Facebook groups and leave it at that, does not mean that all internet activism is bunk. In the 60s they would have been button-wearing, weekend Flower Children. The internet has not made people lazier, or worse advocates for social change. It has made it much easier for activists to coordinate their efforts, and for people from different backgrounds (including women, PoC, poor and working class folks, and people from the developing world) to network, and voice their vital concerns.

4. There are still massive, and frankly disgusting disparities in internet access (both in the West and the world over), but there are lots and lots of people trying to close those gaps. The internet is increasingly not made up of rich and middle class (presumably white) people from the West. There is a growing movement to have access to the internet understood as a rights issue.

5. Rich/middle class women with too much time on their hands? Really, secret maker, that's how you want to play this? I... can't even touch this one.


Excuse me, I'll just be rageflailing in the corner over this, and many other things that are annoying me this week.

Ms. Marvel #50

So, this issue is awful. Like, really and truly godawful. A cluttered mishmash of poorly plotted action, awkward wrap up, and Carol doing a S7 Buffy speech while Spidey randomly sticks to things and is marginally (if blandly) cute. I hated every last thing about this issue, save that it was the last one, and I'll never again be subjected to Sana Takeda's blurry, sexed up rendition of Carol. I'll never again be subjected to Brian Reed's complete disinterest in, and slow train-wrecking of a character I love. God, this series started out so promising, and had some great moments: Arana, Machine Man, Sleepwalker, Chewie, the whole Wonder Man drama. What the hell happened? ( Read more... )

So this is the end. RIP Ms. Marvel. May your next shot at a solo title not suck quite so heinously. D: