Fandom Snowflake Challenge: Day 9

[rogueslayer452]

In your own space, post a rec for at least three fanworks that you have created. It can be your favorite fanworks that you've created, or fanworks you feel no one ever saw, or fanworks you say would define you as a creator.

I used to create fanmixes years ago. Those took a lot of time because I wanted to find songs that fit with a particular theme I was going for, both in tone and lyrics, for the fandom/character/pairing I was creating it for. I also did some graphics on an old graphic program I had, which also took an incredible amount of time. Looking back now I do feel like I could've done better, and I would probably do it again today if I only had a program to make graphics with like my previous one. But here are just a few that I am somewhat proud of.

Also, due to Photobucket having done their dumb thing recently and I still haven't done anything to properly retrieve them and upload them elsewhere, the graphics won't be showing up. :(

Six/Gaius - Love & Madness
Because how could I not do something revolving around Six/Gaius from BSG?

Six/Castiel - Angels of the Lord
This one is very special to me because I was fascinated with the concept of crossing over two fandoms and pairing off two characters I held very dearly to my heart, so I created a ficmix for them, writing a story to coincide with the chosen music and picking a particular theme that would suit them both. I worked really hard to try and match their voices and to make a situation where they would both meet each other believable. And even with revisiting it now, this is still something I am immensely proud to have created.

Draco Malfoy - Through The Valley Of The Shadow Of Death
With Draco being my favorite character, I knew I had to create something for him, and this was a character study of what his character goes through particularly in Half-Blood Prince.

Aside from those, because of my recent obsession with the character Percival Graves from Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, I wrote some headcanons for him (part 1 and part 2), which I'll be continuing in the near future. Because he's my boo and I have ~ideas, okay.

Comments

[honeymink]

The fandom climate there has shifted significantly too, which makes me not want to engage, if that makes sense.

Can you explain what you mean by shifted? I haven't logged into my tumblr account in over two years and even before I don't know... like you said, I felt that it wasn't meant for conversations, then at some point you couldn't even send people actual messages anymore (it became this chat thing), and well I thought it was very clique-y. Now of course, that's always been fandom to some degree or other, with BNFs and whatnot but I found with tumblr there was also a loss of substance because suddenly everything was about the obsession with pretty gif sets. Don't get me wrong, I like pretty gif sets but that's not all I like about fandom.

I went through the fandom meme and... idk, some people on there I know and am friends with but what they post about is not fandom. Maybe they think it is but in my opinion posting: "I'm watching 'Gilmore Girls' again, yo." or "I went to the pictures on Friday and finally caught 'Black Panther'." ... that's nice but that's not really a fandom post. Maybe I'm too critical. I don't know.


I always feel a bit disheartened whenever I see either a flister or a community decide to go exclusively to DW.

Me too. I tried the cross posting but I was never really comfortable with DW. So I only use it as back-up as well. Like you, I'm not sure it's that much more active over there than LJ. It's just that things get more divided. Of course everyone can do as they please but still...

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

Can you explain what you mean by shifted?

There seems to be this "purity wank" that has been kind of bubbling underneath the surface of Tumblr fandom for some time now, that kind of exploded in recent years. Essentially the concept is unless everything you consume in media, including the pairings you ship or characters you like, are of the purest non-problematic kind then you are automatically gross and deserve to be shunned/shamed/bashed/dogpiled/etc. I view it as a combination of shipping wars, social justice, call-out culture, and fandom entitlement all wrapped into one where it's about policing what someone enjoys simply because they don't agree with it and acting like it's a form of activism when really it's just them being assholes who don't understand the simple difference between fantasy and reality and who cannot comprehend the concept of critical thinking.

That's a very long-winded explanation, but that's where the shift has been happening, and not for the better. Thankfully most people that I follow don't have this mentality, and there is a lot of people in fandom who don't agree with this mentality either, but it is unfortunately bleeding into and spreading rapidly across most fandoms and the general fandom population among Tumblr (esp the younger, more impressionable folks) that it just gets super exhausting.

[honeymink]

including the pairings you ship or characters you like, are of the purest non-problematic

I'm confused and I want to understand this. One part of the confusion comes from the fact that I got the impression that there were trends in fandom like say an increase in incest-shipping through GoT for example etc.?

Then again, I find that so many more people these days ship exclusively what's canon and reject everything unconventional, be that het, slash or femslash on principle. If it's not canon, it's not real, it's not okay. But they cannot see why I have some severe problems with and cannot approve of couples that are canon. Because if they are canon they are sacrosanct or something.

The lack of critical thinking is an ailment of our society, I'm afraid. So from the aspect of non-problematic, I should be hanged for my standard icon alone, I suppose. :)

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

One part of the confusion comes from the fact that I got the impression that there were trends in fandom like say an increase in incest-shipping through GoT for example etc.?

Oh, believe me there are still people who ship those ships, and those "fandom puritans" aren't happy about any of that either. Honestly, this kind of puritan mentality is more of an overall presence looming over general fandom, most people tend to try and ignore it the best they can but there will be those invading certain fannish spaces trying to police others, trying to tell them what they can or cannot like or enjoy, who they can or cannot interact with, etc. So it's not only exclusive to shipping preferences, but just controlling what someone enjoys and how they interact in fandom. It's something I'm still trying to wrap my head around because while it seems like it's only a loud minority of immature individuals, it still perpetuates dangerous behavior that unfortunately gets pushed onto young impressionable minds thinking that this is okay, when it's not.

Then again, I find that so many more people these days ship exclusively what's canon and reject everything unconventional, be that het, slash or femslash on principle. If it's not canon, it's not real, it's not okay.

Or, alternatively, there is a particular expectation for certain couples to become canon and if it's not then they were "misled" or, if it was with subtext between M/M or F/F, then it was "queerbaiting" or something like that. Which I find kind of ridiculous for numerous reasons. Most of my ships aren't canon and I prefer it that way, since most times whenever a pairing I like does become canon it is almost immediately ruined by the writers. Do I wish some of the pairings I love were? Of course, but it's not something I expect to happen and I'm perfectly content with that. At the end of the day, just let me enjoy my ships, whatever they are, in peace, and I will do the same with yours.

But even with that it seems that with some people in certain fandom circles (on Tumblr, of course) the notion of "ship and let ship" is considered a "controversial" concept or something, because unless it's a healthy pure ship it doesn't belong and you're wrong for shipping it and this whole thing just makes me so damn tired and exhausted dealing with that kind of ridiculousness. -_-

So from the aspect of non-problematic, I should be hanged for my standard icon alone, I suppose. :)

lol. ;)

[honeymink]

Or, alternatively, there is a particular expectation for certain couples to become canon and if it's not then they were "misled"

Ah yes, I've read about that too. Or just in general, I think some cast member of "Supergirl" was making fun of Kara/Lena (don't know the ship name) fans at Comic Con or something and they were enraged? It was very odd to me. I always thought of whatever the source material or people involved with it are doing and fandom exploits as two entities that despite having certain overlap on occasion are ultimately separate.

At the end of the day, just let me enjoy my ships, whatever they are, in peace, and I will do the same with yours.

Oh, absolutely. Then again, there's this other thing I find very stressful -- it's not just in fandom but also there. I certainly won't come to you or other shippers who enjoy something and run it down but I should be allowed to say in my space why I do not like something or in a discussion explain why I am not okay with something. But there is this "positivity culture" where you're only allowed to dwell on what's great. I mean, do I want to fangirl some? Yes, of course. But sometimes you need to have an honest conversation and then not everything's rosy.

a healthy pure ship

What does that even mean? Because if you look closely at some (het) canon ships that seem harmless enough at first glance, you can probably find so and so many scenes that can be interpreted in a way that suddenly make you realise that this ship is anything but healthy and pure.

just makes me so damn tired and exhausted dealing with that kind of ridiculousness.

No kidding. You've only told me about this yesterday, and I'm already impatient with people.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

I always thought of whatever the source material or people involved with it are doing and fandom exploits as two entities that despite having certain overlap on occasion are ultimately separate.

Yeah, that whole situation with the Supergirl cast at SDCC was extremely upsetting for numerous reasons (them mocking a fanon f/f ship, competely unprompted during an interview, thereby insulting the fanbase in turn, the non-apologies that followed afterward by one particular cast member, it was a huge mess). But this was a prime example of why breaking of the fourth wall between fandom and the creators/cast can be a dangerous slippery slope, shit like this occurs.

What the cast did at that event was wrong and I felt horrible for the fans, but at the same time I do think fandom is also partially responsible too, especially when you take into account the avid shippers who go on social media and harass actors and creators about particular pairings and whatnot. I'm not saying that's what happened here since I'm not involved with that fandom, but I do know that that's what fandom culture has become in recent years. There is a certain fan entitlement about bombarding actors with questions and such for validating a particular ship, and that's wildly inappropriate, imho.

When I first discovered fandom years ago during my teens there was this unwritten golden rule about whatever happens in fandom stays in fandom. Even though fandom itself has become more mainstream it recent years, this should still somewhat apply in terms of knowing your boundaries.

but I should be allowed to say in my space why I do not like something or in a discussion explain why I am not okay with something.

Oh, absolutely. That's one of the things I have enjoyed about the fandom community, is having someone writing their own thoughts about a particular character or pairing, and creating a conversation and allowing it being open for discussion. I think writing out your thoughts on something you disagree with, something you have observed, acknowledging the bad aspects of a character or pairing or something, or just doing a meta of sorts, to be quite healthy in terms of fandom interaction and seeing different opinions and exploring something you might not have thought about before.

What does that even mean?

Honestly? I don't even know anymore. The answer differs depending on who you talk to and what their definition of it is.

[honeymink]

them mocking a fanon f/f ship, competely unprompted during an interview

It was hard to understand why they did that. It seemed so unnecessary to put off part your fanbase like this. I'm actually not sure what this particular fandom is like but I get what you're saying about actors/creators being approached by fans maybe more openly now than in the past, probably also because these days everyone can take to twitter and whatnot to make themselves heard whereas even ten years ago I guess the social media landscape and how TV/movies/etc. were marketed was somewhat different and perhaps there wasn't so much interaction, the lines not as blurred?

whatever happens in fandom stays in fandom

I actually can't imagine why you would have it any other way. Ultimately, actors do not approach the material as fans (usually) but from a very different perspective.

Whenever I think of crazy entitled fans, I think of this hilarious novel by Sharyn McCrumb: "Bimbos of the Death Sun".