Category: Fandom

Fandom Math

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A tag wrangling decision that coddles racists in fandom and emboldens racists to be condescending and antiblack in response to Black fans speaking about it is a racist tag wrangling decision. An archive practice that protects racists’ feelings is a racist archive practice.

Full stop.

This is a decision that was made in order to coddle racists still mad about Sam Wilson being the new Captain America. This was a decision, made just over two weeks from Brave New World‘s release, to prioritize the One True Captain America, center whiteness in fandom, and remind Black fans that we don’t get to have anything at all in fandom.

These films are not different franchises and it’s not a new continuity. There is no need to separate them at the franchise level in the tags. And had Bucky become Captain America instead of Sam, they would not have made this decision. It’s a decision made to insulate them from the reminder that this change has happened and that Captain America is now (and has been for a couple of years) a Black man.

And everyone in the comments and tags condescending to or mocking Black fans as if the ones talking about how bad a look this is are too unintelligent to understand how archives work or what racism looks like? The ones alternating between calling Black fans armchair activists and saying that we should tackle the “real racism” on the archive first – something I’m certain they’d get in the way of discussing too because these people literally will not let Black fans speak on what we see?

Those antiblack assholes can go straight to hell too alongside every single person responsible for that tag wrangling decision.

Hannibal Fandom’s Hate-On For Jack Crawford Should’ve Gone Limp By Now

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Jack Crawford will never be my favorite character on NBC’s Hannibal.

That dubious honor goes to the titular character because I’ve been unhinged and unwell about Hannibal since reading Hannibal Rising day of release in the library.

But while I’m not a Jack fan, I’m not a Jack hater. I thought his character – played by Laurence Fishburne – was perfectly serviceable and fit established genre tropes really well. He’s Will Graham’s “boss” and pushes Will to dig deeper and deeper into cases that damage him in order to solve horrifying cases. So, not a great boss… and yet he’s far from the worst person in a series full of sadistic and manipulative serial killers.

Well, that’s what you’d think if you weren’t a die-hard Will Graham kinnie (someone who hyper-identifies with/as a fictional character) or a Hannibal/Will (Hannigram) shipper.

If you were – or are – either of those things, you probably would believe that Jack Crawford is the worst character on the show.

Not the worst written, but the most monstrous.

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Leave Black Women On The Internet Alone, Goddamn

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The original headline for this piece was supposed to be “people are so weird about Black women on the internet,” but that didn’t do enough. It doesn’t say enough.

It’s not just that people are some unspecified but supposedly harmless form of “weird” when they see a Black woman (or queer or femme) online speak on anything with any seriousness.

It’s that they’re racist.

People aren’t weird about Black women online.

They’re racist to them.

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Shoujo Sundae and the Shoujo Anime Renaissance

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We’re currently in what feels like a shoujo series renaissance. Kimi Ni Todoke is about to get its third season, A Condition Called Love showed that not all red flag male leads are actually terrible, and A Sign of Affection had everybody talking about the most gorgeous white-haired guy since Jujutsu Kaisen’s Gojo Satoru.

There are so many shoujo and josei series – the latter geared towards more mature audiences via series like the upcoming anime adaptation of Yakuza Fiancé: Raise wa Tanin ga Ii – that have either gotten picked up for anime adaptations or have gained new fans thanks to the rise of passionate fans online.

One set of amazing fans are the lovely hosts of the shoujo anime podcast Shoujo Sundae. I sat down with hosts Giana Luna and Chika Supreme to talk about what got them into the podcast arena, their favorite series, what they’ve learned about themselves while working on this podcast together, and the future of their team-up.

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Black Fans Get Run Out of Fandom All The Time

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Near the 21st, tumblr user ororomunroedontpullout (re)posted about how annoying it was to see (primarily white) fans use “ACAB” to talk about people they consider “fancops” – which can and often does explicitly include people of color talking about racism in fandom. (This is something I also find particularly infuriating, as you know.)

One of the fandom-brained responses they got? Phoenix-kin-home sending them the following message:

Genuinely, if you can’t understand how being driven out of online spaces where one finds community and friends, especially if they struggle to irl, can be harmful to people, then I don’t know how to convince you. I hope you have a nice week, and realize why you’re wrong.

Ororomunroedontpullout handled it well. She pointed out both that what that user describes isn’t police brutality and, once the user came back to moan about “the actual issue”, that the real issue that they’re talking about is that people harassing you on the internet is not the same as police brutality.

Anyway, that user’s comment made me think about something. They mention that “being driven out of online spaces where one finds community and friends […] can be harmful to people”.

But Black people are consistently alienated in and forced out of fandom, and no one gives a shit.

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Do You Think If I Beat This Horse Enough It’ll Actually Die?

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This piece on racist spite fic – sparked by someone writing thousands of words of such to get back at “antis” in the MDZS fandom after a BNF requested and then received racist threadfic – is getting clicks again and I know why.

It’s because, as is the case when racists in fandom do something racist… they never get the same consequences or pushback as people like me calling out racism or just speaking about it mildly. So people are finding out that the two people involved did this racist thing and then a third person did a more racist thing. Two years later. Because BNFs can do no wrong. Obviously.

But this isn’t the point of the audiopost, not fully.

Although, I will say it’s wild to see people who actively participate (present tense) in harassing, mocking, and punishing me for talking about racism in any fandom speak out against “hunting” people across the internet and out of fandom after they continue to do just that to me,

The point of this audio post is the horse I’m beating.

It’s the “you guys need to leave me out of your shit” of it all.

Especially because it’s not like you’re sharing my work with people who will read it in good faith or like you’re defending me at the risk of your own reputation and relationships. The vast majority of people who share my work do so knowing the people they’re linking it to will say awful shit about me. The majority of the people who invoke my name as some fandom spectre of anti racism do so knowing that they’re speaking to people who have a messed up mythology of me in their minds.

And honestly?

You all know the company you keep.

Keep me out of it!

[Ships ‘n Shit] Mahito/Junpei (Jujutsu Kaisen)

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“Just like how water flows through the earth… life simply flows. For you, me and everyone else — it’s the same. Without meaning. Without value. That’s why you can do whatever you want. Live the way you want. Don’t limit yourself to just being indifferent. There’s no reason to live by such a restricting philosophy. If you’re hungry, eat. If you hate, kill. I support… everything you represent, Junpei.”

— Mahito to Junpei in Jujutsu Kaisen Chapter 21: “Young Fish and Reverse Punishment, Part 3”
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Fandom Hot Take Corner – Week 1/Day 1

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For all our sakes, I’m trying to wring myself dry of free-pouring fandom thoughts by the 31st so here’s another rousing rendition of “No you don’t actually like villains if you get mad and weird when the bad guy in a battle shonen/star wars film you like actually has haters” featuring the jujutsu kaisen fandom.

Season 2 will be done soon and then I will be free from a really unexpected hell… the small circle of Mahito fans who think he’s actually a little meow meow baby boy who should “win” and that is being hated For No Reason. (I love Mahito an unreasonable amount. I enjoy the pain he causes. He’s good because he’s so dang bad. A widdle soft baby he is not and it is weird to see people act like he is/that should be the dominant fandom reading of him.)

Anyway, check the Villain Woobification article from last year that got me called homophobic, racist, and sexist! Think Your Fave Fictional Villain Is the Real Hero? Think Again.

“I Didn’t Expect To Marry Him… But I’m Still Hurt”: Revisiting The Parasocial Relationship

Stitch

Note: By the time this piece eventually came back to me as a thing to publish, Yuzuru Hanyu and his wife had divorced because of harassment from his fans, Taylor Swift had moved on from Healy to a football player with a mid digital footprint, and… I have no idea what Doja is doing with her love life. Normally, I’d fully scrap the piece but… it’s too good to jettison despite being Old News at points.

“Kick out Chen and Chanyeol who are hurting the group, Stop deceiving the fans, EXO doesn’t need vicious members, Chen and Chanyeol OUT”

This is a message plastered across a mobile billboard that was apparently stationed outside of SM Entertainment in summer 2023, calling for the removal of two of the group’s members. While fans’ ire towards Chanyeol stem from rumors that he’s a serial cheater who causes damage to his group’s reputation, the reason why the fans want Chen gone? He got his fiancée pregnant before marriage and before enlistment a few years back. From the second that his relationship – with a non-famous woman – was revealed, several EXO-Ls, the group’s very vocal fanbase, and unaffiliated Korean internet users (of course) took to the internet and made it known that they weren’t pleased and that they thought his relationship ruined EXO’s reputation in the public eye.

When it comes to the love lives of idols, Korean fans have been associated with being extra possessive of their fandom objects: the idols and actors that they adore.

Because of the nature of the idol-fan relationship – one where idols actively participate in the parasocial relationship as a form of marketing and fans can win opportunities to interact with their idols one on one in the form of in-person and virtual events – the deep relationship that develops is intense and can become negative on the part of the fans who believe the idol-fan parasocial relationship is a) mutually intense and b) something that gives them the right to dictate their idol’s behavior and comment on it as well.

However, that’s not to say that Korean fans have cornered the market when it comes to raging or weeping when their fandom object gets in a relationship or has children out of wedlock.

They most certainly do not.

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[Fic Friday] Once Upon A Time in Busan

Stitch

“I love you, Jungkook. Let’s get old together and get a cat and some fish and live happily ever after.”

Title: Once Upon a Time in Busan

Rating: Explicit

Pairing: Jeon Jungkook/Park Jimin

Fandom: BTS RPS

Author: 0nlyamemory, greyeyesandprettylies

HERE

Summary:

Park Jimin and Jeon Jungkook have never quite fit in. Not into their roles or the expectations that their families have for them. But maybe, with a little work, they can be the right fit for each other.

Transcript:

{Will come eventually!)

Some off the cuff musings on horror

Stitch

0:00:00.5: “History of Horror”, and “Horror Noire” are two of my favorite things to consume during October. Both are documentaries. In the case of “History of horror”, it’s a docuseries branching across three seasons. But “History of Horror” is like… we’re frenemies, “Horror Noire” is really where it’s at. For me, I love Robin Means Coleman’s book. And when I heard that it was getting the documentary film, I was like, oh, well, yes. And I watch both things every year on Twitter. I used to live tweet and I will port those threads over to my website whenever I remember that’s a thing I wanna do because I actually really loved the experience of tweeting through my experiences with media. And I can write an essay sure. But the rapid fire pace of here’s a thought, here’s a thought, here’s a thought were like really fun.

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Ladies, Is It Feminist To Mostly Write/Read About Men?

Stitch

As always, I’m working on A Longer/More In-Depth Piece About This, but I am, to quote Jungkook in the bridge for Dis-ease, “sick and tired” – I’m awake for 18/24 hours at least for today. So you’ll have to vacuum up the crumbs in the interim, my bad. 

Late last month, the poet Richard Siken posted a tweet asking “So are there any women out there that ever read a Siken poem and imagined that the characters were a girl and a boy?” It is such a comical question because if you’ve read his work, you know that it’s really difficult to do anything other than a specific gay reading of them because of who he is and what his works about. but what I find fascinating is this one response that has gotten a bunch of likes and repost that  somehow makes this about male/male fiction?

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For The Second Time in Six Months, We’ve Got Messed Up F/F Discourse

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I don’t know how to tell the most absurd fandom brained fools that lesbians – especially trans lesbians – talking about how they feel alienated in fandoms dominated by cis male M/M content or are upset about the way media about lesbians and other queer women get treated by the professionals running studios… are not inherently terfy. 

It’s the second time since February that I’m watching people in fandom – who aren’t  trans femmes themselves for the most part – call trans lesbians TERFs or accuse them of having/utilizing “TERF rhetoric” for pointing out discrepancies in content volume or criticizing cis women or trans masc co-opting of “TERF” and “TERF rhetoric” to divorce them from trans women/misogyny in particular and claim that any slight criticism of fandom (of misogyny, of a lack of F/F, of racism) is in and of itself TERFy. 

And it’s the same people doing this. 

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[Fic Friday] (and your love is) standing next to me

Stitch

“You can see the kid’s cursed energy, but you can’t see the worm.”

Title: (and your love is) standing next to me

Rating: Explicit

Pairing: Fushiguro Toji/Reader

Fandom: Jujutsu Kaisen

Author: shidouryusei

HERE

Summary:

“I wanna meet your son.”

You regret what you’ve said the second the words leave your lips.

“Why the hell do you wanna meet my kid?”

Transcript:

(Literally in progress… but I don’t feel like editing it right now. Whoops!)

[Fic Friday] the way you look is so right for me

Stitch

“You look like you’re mine.”

Title: the way you look is so right for me

Rating: Explicit

Pairing: Vash the Stampede/Meryl Stryfe

Fandom: Trigun Stampede

Author: spacebeyonce

HERE

Summary:

vash comes home to a surprise. vash comes home and gets to bask in the warmth of meryl’s thighs around his head, the way that she looks so good in his red.

Transcript:

0:00  

Welcome to another exciting installment of Fic Friday. This is our second and I’ve decided I’ll do these twice a month. So you’ve heard it here: twice a month, you get my thoughts on fanfic. Those two weeks are not planned as in, it could be two weeks in a row at the start of the month, two weeks at the end of the month, or alternating Fridays. 

0:27  

Anyway, for this installment, we get to – I get to talk about a new fic that my friends wrote. And like that won’t always be the case, you know, posting something that a friend wrote, but my friends are so talented, that you know, I kind of want to talk them up all the time. 

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