And now for something a little fannish.

[rogueslayer452]

Taken from the Crunchy Questions Meme:

What is a series finale most fans disliked, but that you liked - or the other way around?

Battlestar Galactica is a show where the series finale was quite heavily divided by most of the fans, which unfortunately kinda led to the disappearance of the fandom shortly thereafter, much to my dismay. However, I'm someone who actually really liked the series finale when I first watched it. In fact, the more I rewatched it, the more I loved it. I can acknowledge it wasn't perfect, and that there were things that could've been managed a bit better, but overall it was a wonderful and beautiful finale to a fantastic show. I felt satisfied with it.

Funnily enough, since there has been a mini-resurgence of it with newer fans due to the current events happening in our world, I've seen many people binge-watch the entire show and some have said that they absolutely loved the ending and didn't understand why it wasn't well-received initially. Not gonna lie, it makes me feel kind of vindicated in a way.

If you're in fandom, do you prefer focusing on fanworks, meta, or do you like helpings of both?

I enjoy both equally.

Fanworks are great to see and support creative people in fandom, whether it be fanfiction, fanart, graphic and gifmaking, and other forms of artistic expression. You see a lot of variety and styles, from both big and smaller fandoms. And reading meta has always been something I've enjoyed, because I love seeing different opinions and thoughts that critiques or analyzes something, whether it's a specific piece of media, a character, a pairing, fandom as a whole, whatever it is. Sadly, the latter isn't seen as much these days, particularly in written form. It still does exist in certain areas of fandom of course, but not as prominent as it used to be. You'll most likely end up getting short "hot takes" without going further in-depth, and it's often just shared around on social media platforms without anyone adding anything to the conversation, and it just gets lost in the void. Video essays have become more common in recent years, which is great and I've liked a lot of those, although sometimes some of those don't really focus much on the fandom/fannish side of things and just go straight into media analysis, and I've personally liked seeing the interconnection of the two, like an introspection of fandom's relationship with a piece of media and the like.

But yeah, as a whole I love and enjoy both of my fandom experience.

Comments

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

I also don't like the impersonal side of video essays, and even have the same problem with podcasts. I love the essays and podcasts themselves, but often if there IS discourse between viewers/listeners, it's Patreon only, so you don't really get to be involved in the conversation if you're not a Patron. You just watch or listen. YouTube has comments, but while I don't think YouTube comments are as nonsensical as they used to be (I remember when 90% of the comments would be either flat-out nasty or more innocently strange, but still rather pointless), it's still not a platform I feel entirely comfortable engaging in. Even though I did find a way to disassociate my YouTube account with my email address so I feel comfortable commenting on that level. (Which is the other problem, you're supposed to use your real name for so much anymore. I'm not using my real name.)

I do love fanworks, although I don't have the time to seek them out as much anymore, and you really have to scour to find the good stuff, OR things you're interested in reading. :/ But I love the idea, and I will hopefully always stand by my belief that fanworks are a legitimate use of creative energy and worth indulging in. Fanart is real artwork and fanfiction is real writing. (I'd further argue that a lot of "classic" art and literature is highly derivative.)

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the impersonal side of video essays can be a downside, because while I can watch someone who does say, "I'm looking forward to reading and talking with you guys about your thoughts on this in the comments" and usually that's only for, like, for first several hours after the video goes up. I doubt the person looks back after that, and the comments section often turns into a nightmare from then on. So while I do think it is possible to engage, the timing has to be right otherwise you'll be getting a lot of unwanted comments from angry, disgruntled, bored people who just want to be dicks, which can be discouraging.

And yeah, that's not a platform I feel comfortable using either.

I just miss being able to actually engage in a conversation with fandom, and just fans in general about things, instead of just being casual about things. And on places that does talk about media, you often just are bombarded with just one-sided "discourse" that doesn't invite any kind of conversation with anyone unless you agree with them or don't challenge them in any way, which I think it's counterproductive when it comes to keeping fandom alive with people who have differing thoughts and opinions. Which I think has kind of discouraged people from actually openly talking about something because they're afraid they'll be attacked by others for simply saying they enjoy something, which is honestly sad.

Fanart is real artwork and fanfiction is real writing. (I'd further argue that a lot of "classic" art and literature is highly derivative.)

Exactly. Plus, there's a lot of people in professional fields now (published authors and professional artists) who got their start in fandom doing those particular things, and some authors have even credited their inspiration of writing through their time in fandom writing fanfiction and the like. So it shows that if you're someone who wants to become a professional writer one day, fanfic is a good writing exercise. Same with fanart, or writing filk songs, or doing cosplay (getting into costume design or makeup), etc. It's all beneficial, whether it's for a future profession or just because you're interested in it for fun.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_profiterole_/]

I liked the BSG ending too. However, the last 10 minutes of Lost don't exist for me. XD

Mostly fanworks for me. I just want to have some fun with the characters.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, the infamous ending of LOST. I only ever watched, like, the first season of that show but I kinda knew what was going on through fandom osmosis, and that series finale really divided much of the fandom because so many were confused.

[elizalavelle.livejournal.com]

I loved the BSG finale. I'm not sure what people wanted instead. Still a fantastic show that deserves a lot of fandom love!

I miss fandom groups on LJ or in places that require more than a "like" or a quick Facebook comment. I really liked having fandom discussions and I think there's less of that now. It's also a bit harder as with streaming people watch everything on their own schedule so it's not like when we all watched an episode on the same day and then talked about it for a week.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

From my observations, people felt like it was too deus ex machina, which I can understand somewhat, but the entire series was centered around this concept that there was something much bigger than them among the universe, pushing and guiding them along. From the prophecies and visions that Laura was having and the head!versions of Gaius and Caprica Six appearing to each other throughout and everything else, never mind that the theme song of the show is literally a Hindu mantra. Plus there were things left unanswered that I think some fans felt cheated out of actually getting resolution for, but the way I saw it was that it was purposefully left ambiguous to allow the audience to interpret things the way they wanted. I think some expected nice, clean answers and were disappointed when they didn't get it.

I don't know, like I do think certain aspects were a bit rushed and could've been done better, but as a whole the series finale wrapped up the show beautifully and I wouldn't have it any other way.

It has always made me sad that BSG was a massive deal when it aired, but then whether it was because of the series finale or whatever the fandom basically drifted off and it's not as talked about anymore, however now there are newer fans emerging and have appreciated the show and the series finale, which makes me happy.

Yeah, I definitely think social media has really kind of warped the way people interact as a whole because there's not so much discussions anymore. They still happen, of course, but it's very limited and often buried by other nonsense and we tend to really rely on likes/reblogs/retweets to validate a post instead of actually inviting conversation or discussion to take place. Fandom especially has suffered from the lack of discussions, meta or otherwise, and I'm sure that I'm not the only one missing that aspect of the fandom community.

[elizalavelle.livejournal.com]

I'd argue that BSG was never a show that lent itself to nice, clean answers. I totally get wanting favourite characters to get a happy ending but that's what fanfic is for later. Sometimes for the plot things get messy.

I still love BSG and recommend it to people all of the time. It's such a solid show.

I'd love to see LJ have a resurgence or something similar get more popular because I love the fandom discussions that spring up on platforms like this.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

I agree, plus when it comes to series finales you can't really please everyone. That's kind of a given. It's not like we shouldn't expect the ending to be good and to wrap things up, but when it comes to individual expectations it's not always going to live up to that. And you're right, that's what fanfic is for.

I also still love BSG, it's one of my favorite scifi shows of all time.

Man, I would love a resurgence of LJ especially when it comes to fandom. I've had some LJ friends who left for a long while kind of trickle back in, but I don't know if it'll have a proper resurgence. Those who left LJ did so for a reason, and those unfamiliar with the site will be confused by the platform because they're so used to the formatting of other social media sites. Although quite frankly, I'll admit as much as I want the fandom side of LJ to come back I don't want any of the nonsense that has been happening among the fandom community (i.e. policing people's interests, purity culture, etc), because there's a reason why I enjoy talking about my fannish interests here and not anywhere else.

[noybusiness.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what people wanted instead.

That's what I think about the end of Mass Effect 3. I mean, it had three different possible endings that are really the only ways it could have ended, yet people complain.

[elizalavelle.livejournal.com]

I guess I get that people may have specific happy fandom or shipping endings they wanted but sometimes while those are nice they don't make the most sense for the show overall.

I'd guess it's the same for the game? Sometimes everyone doesn't get a happy ending but that's better in terms of the overall plot.

[awakenyourfaith.livejournal.com]

I remember the uproar re: the Battlestar Galactica finale. I wasn't even a part of the fandom, and I was like "oh boyyy".

I like both fanworks and meta myself. Storied essays of a character's interactions (with evidence from the actual work) and the like are fascinating to me, and sometimes (if the author is really good) read like a book chapter or an academic paper (sans the footnotes).

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

I recently read that the series finale "killed" the BSG fandom for a good long while after the fact because of the uproar, and it makes me really disappointed and kinda annoyed that it happened that way. Granted, the BSG fandom could be very wanktastic so it's not entirely surprising some reacted the way they did when you look at it through that lens. Either way, I am kind of happy that a new slew of fans have emerged and are appreciating the show, and the series finale.

I miss metas and essays that you can tell the person worked incredibly hard on it, like it's not just a stream of consciousness or short "hot take" to ignite "discourse", but the people who actually took the time to do their research and actually add in that research through links and even adding pictures/videos/etc to further drive their points across. Video essays are now doing this, which I'm grateful for, but I do miss a good written-out piece meta.

[noybusiness.livejournal.com]

I miss metas and essays that you can tell the person worked incredibly hard on it

I've read a lot of metas and essays like that on Tumblr in the wake of the end of Game of Thrones.

For instance:
https://sharisfootly.tumblr.com/tagged/dany+and+her+choices

https://sharisfootly.tumblr.com/tagged/asoiaf+vs+got

https://sharisfootly.tumblr.com/danymetas

https://sharisfootly.tumblr.com/post/617012180887420928/lists-of-all-book-passages-showcasing-key-elements

[noybusiness.livejournal.com]

I so agree about the BSG finale. I think the amount of theorizing in the fandom hurt it. I'm glad to hear there's been a resurgence lately.

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that along with having certain expectations for it. I don't think the writer's strike helped matters either with the extension of certain fan theories during that time.

[malicat.livejournal.com]

I watched BSG some time after it was over so I had no idea about any kind of opinions in fandom,including the finale, which was probably a good thing because I for one loved the finale. Or at least it was satisfying to me on an emotional level,I don't quite remember how I thought about the plot at the time ^^

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I felt emotionally satisfied by the ending when I first saw it, as well. It was an epic finale to an epic show. Now sure, people have different opinions on how things could've or should've gone plot-wise but that happens to almost all series finales, I think. But the way the fandom was after the finale, idk, it was very off-putting and discouraging for a bit there. :/

But I'm glad that I'm learning that I'm not alone in loving the finale. :)

[malicat.livejournal.com]

I can related to that. I was one of the maybe 5 people who still loved Heroes - which was *my* show - beyond season 1 (season 3 slowly killed my love too though lol) and seeing all the hate and negativity made me so sad and made it really hard for me to still enjoy it. I mean,obviously people have different opinions and stuff but when I love something so much,I want everyone else to love it too. Can't help it...

[rogueslayer452.livejournal.com]

I'm someone who used to love Heroes, well, the first season anyway, but S2 really killed that love for me and I stopped watching after seeing the first episode of the third season. I understand that some watched and liked it all the way through, but for me it was a massive disappointment for a multitude of reasons. However, just because I didn't like it doesn't mean I'm going to tell those that did that they shouldn't.

Like, there are a lot of things that I love that many hate, or that were critically panned, but I don't care. If I enjoyed it and made me happy, I don't care about what other people say. I can try to understand where people come from with the criticisms (like with BSG, I understand some of the arguments made), but it doesn't make it lose my enjoyment of it, y'know?