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rogueslayer452++ Christmas came early as I'm now in possession of the first volumes of all three of MXTX's novels! We preordered them and they arrived the other day. They are absolutely gorgeous, the artwork on the front and back covers and the artwork inside, the way it's designed is just so beautiful. The fact that I'm now holding official physical copies of these stories makes me so unbelievably happy! I can't wait to dive right into reading them!
++ And unfortunately because there is a teaser trailer for the upcoming third Fantastic Beasts film, JKR is right back at it with her transphobic bullshit once again, and thus the discourse surrounding her and the HP series has risen, and quite frankly I'm just so tired of it all. More specifically, I'm tired of the discussion that has devolved into just shaming and guilt-tripping people. That is not only counterproductive to the situation, it's just mean-spirited as a whole, and unsurprisingly it's done by people who have never cared for HP to begin with or have just outright hated the franchise, and since the creator has exposed themselves to being an awful person headlining a hate movement they use that as an excuse to hate on fans who still love the series despite its awful creator. I've seen some really horrible and insensitive takes circulating lately, and the way a lot of these arguments are framed are so obviously performative with the faux activism angle, and I feel like the conversation has been derailed at this point because of that. This is a very delicate situation that deserves to be handled with nuance and discussed in a serious manner, but we cannot do that if people are just going to be so flippantly dismissive and insensitive with black and white ways of thinking. That is not a helpful approach, at all.
++ Speaking of polarizing public figures, Anne Rice has passed away.
Admittedly, aside from knowing the mainstream popularity of Interview with the Vampire and unashamedly adoring the Queen of the Damned movie, I never really got into her work. The only things that I know Anne Rice from are, unfortunately, the damage that she caused the overall fandom community from her anti-fanfiction stance. Her work was obviously deeply influential especially when it comes to vampire fiction in pop culture, there is no denying her importance in that, at the same time though she does have a dark history with fandom that is hard to ignore especially since it has affected so many people in very negative ways. We can, and should, acknowledge both when talking about her legacy as an author.
++ And unfortunately because there is a teaser trailer for the upcoming third Fantastic Beasts film, JKR is right back at it with her transphobic bullshit once again, and thus the discourse surrounding her and the HP series has risen, and quite frankly I'm just so tired of it all. More specifically, I'm tired of the discussion that has devolved into just shaming and guilt-tripping people. That is not only counterproductive to the situation, it's just mean-spirited as a whole, and unsurprisingly it's done by people who have never cared for HP to begin with or have just outright hated the franchise, and since the creator has exposed themselves to being an awful person headlining a hate movement they use that as an excuse to hate on fans who still love the series despite its awful creator. I've seen some really horrible and insensitive takes circulating lately, and the way a lot of these arguments are framed are so obviously performative with the faux activism angle, and I feel like the conversation has been derailed at this point because of that. This is a very delicate situation that deserves to be handled with nuance and discussed in a serious manner, but we cannot do that if people are just going to be so flippantly dismissive and insensitive with black and white ways of thinking. That is not a helpful approach, at all.
++ Speaking of polarizing public figures, Anne Rice has passed away.
Admittedly, aside from knowing the mainstream popularity of Interview with the Vampire and unashamedly adoring the Queen of the Damned movie, I never really got into her work. The only things that I know Anne Rice from are, unfortunately, the damage that she caused the overall fandom community from her anti-fanfiction stance. Her work was obviously deeply influential especially when it comes to vampire fiction in pop culture, there is no denying her importance in that, at the same time though she does have a dark history with fandom that is hard to ignore especially since it has affected so many people in very negative ways. We can, and should, acknowledge both when talking about her legacy as an author.
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no subject
Date: 2021-12-17 04:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-12-17 10:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-12-17 05:09 am (UTC)I haven't even been paying attention to JKR, but I'm not surprised she's back at her BS. I remember when she first got busted for her transphobia and then claimed that she accidentally liked the transphobic posts, I knew she was lying because some of her non-HP books are pretty telling. Not on transphobia, at least from what I recall, but there's some pretty blatant racism in addition to more fatphobia (which was always present in the HP books). I had already been very disenchanted by the time she came out publicly with her transphobia and it's quite sad to see her out there really pushing her transphobic views, especially for any trans person who once looked up to her only to now see someone they idolized hates their very being.
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Date: 2021-12-17 09:25 am (UTC)Yeah, she's had a questionable history so that whole "middle aged moment" defense back then was really sus, so it wasn't at all surprising when the truth came out, just disappointing. But yeah, some of her other non-HP books unfortunately do feature transphobic things, which people pointed it out a while back, which further backed up how transphobic, specifically transmisogynistic, she is. I've also been disillusioned with her for a long while, but this whole revelation about her just brings it to a whole new level. I know that the UK has a massive transphobia problem in recent years and it's really sad and infuriating that she is front and center of that hate movement, let alone using the HP franchise as a way of pushing her dangerous views onto people. :/
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Date: 2021-12-18 12:53 am (UTC)Ah I forgot about the transphobic stuff then. I was pretty overwhelmed by the blatant racism in her books that I still am now, so def had to have forgotten about the other stuff over time. It's really a huge af mess and we've all been disillusioned at different times. I think that, with her transphobia, it's the most public she's gone because it's not just in her books but now in her public statements and organizations she's supporting, and that hits worst than just knowing of her transphobia because she's putting money into it on top of it all. I can't say I'd rec the HP books to anyone once I was disillusioned after reading some of her non-HP books and even more now.
I'm so glad I didn't get that HP tattoo I wanted lmao. I mean, I'm keeping my HP books and they got me through a lot of tough things when I was younger, but I'm never going to buy an HP product again. If I had an HP tattoo, I'd keep thinking of all her BS rather than what that quote means to me every time I looked at it.
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Date: 2021-12-17 11:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-12-18 06:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-12-17 01:45 pm (UTC)But I had absolutely no idea she was against Fanfiction-Writers. :/ I only know that about about George R. R. Martin.
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Date: 2021-12-18 06:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-12-20 12:41 pm (UTC)What the hell? O_O''
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Date: 2021-12-17 04:22 pm (UTC)Same what the first person said about Anne Rice – I never cared for vampire fiction but I remember when first getting into fanfiction that there were always rules and FF.net cemented them -- nothing by Anne Rice or you'll be sued. This and arguing with your reader over reviews (don't know if she did that but there are a lot of authors out there who do) on goodreads or twitter always rubs me the wrong way. Perhaps because I've published in peer reviewed scientific journals and that review process is never fun but you always have to be patient and gracious.
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Date: 2021-12-18 09:40 am (UTC)Oh, Anne Rice definitely did that. That is what my subject line is referring to, where she wrote on Amazon (https://fanlore.org/wiki/Interrogating_the_text_from_the_wrong_perspective) with the now infamous phrase "interrogating the text from the wrong perspective". That, along with her anti-fanfic/suing fanfic writers, are what I know most about her, really.
In general, I'll never understand why authors, and creators in general, often engage with negative reviews in a way that is unprofessional. I know it happens all the time but I feel like I've seen a rise of such behavior in recent years. I've always been taught that, when you're an artist, whatever you publicly put out you are consenting for your work to be interpreted however people want to, including people just outright disliking it for whatever reason. Will it hurt to hear such things about something you worked so hard on? Of course, but that is a risk that every creative individual takes. Like you said, you have to be patient and gracious. If you feel the need to rant to vent out your frustrations and emotions, do so privately.
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Date: 2021-12-18 12:28 pm (UTC)I grant you that scientific publishing is maybe a bit different but then again maybe not. I really thought about it but the times I argued (as in making a case for sth rather than having an fight) and it wasn't heated or anything was when there was a misunderstanding about the maths which needed clearing up. But again I feel you need to do this extremely carefully and respectfully even if you get frustrated with somebody. I mean for me it's more or less important that people understand my work, that it's transparent and that others can use it and build on it. So in that sense it's perhaps a bit different. If it was fiction and I could leave it up to interpretation, I'd just do that and thank everybody kindly for reading. As for people not liking things you do ... I don't know -- it happens to me every day. That or I've worked months or in one case four years on a project and then don't even get a word of feedback. I mean... you know even if it's not your novel that you have nursed like a child it can be extremely frustrating but we all live with it somehow.
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Date: 2021-12-17 10:43 pm (UTC)That JKR is a transphobic jackass sucks hardcore, but frankly - fuck her. I'll take what I like from her stuff and ignore the rest, including her, and if anybody wants to give me shite about it, well - fuck them, too.
I didn't realize for a while just how ridiculous Anne Rice got about fanfic, but my reaction to it was the same as to the JKR ugliness - fuck her. I'll read or write what i want! (Though that was a fandom i was never really into; the books got so fucking annoying after a while, I just didn't care anymore).
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Date: 2021-12-21 03:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-12-21 09:50 am (UTC)If we're going to go on the author's/creator's sins, then the pool of things to read, watch, and listen to shrinks to a puddle, and eliminates nearly everything written before, oh....1990.
I'm just tired of all the hate from every side.
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Date: 2021-12-22 08:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-12-18 11:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-12-19 10:29 am (UTC)