Cranky pants time (with added REM song titles, just because!)

[graculus]

This week's question from fannish5:

What 5 things about your fandom (source or fen) make you cranky?

Not necessarily focussing on any one fandom, because there are so many commonalities :

1) Can't Get There From Here - characters on tv shows and in films and books are open to interpretation, of course. That's true from the moment the first writer dreams them up, through the actor's interpretation of the lines and then on to the fans' considerations of what it all means. So why is it that there are such extremes? I'm talking about the people who deify or demonise characters, depending on their point of view, with precious little canon to back up any such thing. Any kind of stretching on the part of fans to make either characters or pairings fit into a box that just doesn't quite accommodate them.

2) World Leader Pretend - fandom prima donnas, every fandom has one (or more, if they're really unlucky). Sometimes they're actually as talented as they think they are, just their ego is threatening to trample down the Tokyo skyscrapers, but usually they're not. But they have an opinion about everything, everyone has to listen to them or else, and they somehow manage to find enough would-be minions to keep them happy, at least for a while.

3) It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) - there's nothing more entertaining than someone flouncing off a list, if you're in the right frame of mind to appreciate it. However there's nothing more frustrating than someone threatening to flounce and then Not Doing It. Or doing it and coming back, particularly if they get invited back onto the list they flounced from not long before. Not big and not clever.

4) Welcome To The Occupation - gen is not ship is not slash. The three are very different things and should be clearly labelled for what they are. If it wouldn't be acceptable for two guys to do something and still call it 'gen' then it's not acceptable for a guy and a girl to do it and call it 'gen'. Why is that so difficult a concept for some people, particularly in certain fandoms, to understand?

5) The One I Love - there is no 'right' reading of a show/character/episode/scene/line. There are readings that have a more obvious basis in the rest of the canon of the show, or are affected by the stated intentions of the people who made it, but that does not make them Right. And if there is no right reading, then there are no wrong readings either. So quit coming over to our slash lists and telling us we're watching it wrong!

Comments

[innocent-lex.livejournal.com]

ROFL! Oh, you've made my day. Especially love this bit: "So quit coming over to our slash lists and telling us we're watching it wrong!"

There are so many things in life I do wrong, it seems, and my life has been far more interesting that way.

[graculus.livejournal.com]

I'm always bemused by that kind of behaviour. After all, why is it their business if we're not seeing things the same way as them and writing about what *we* see instead? I mean, when was the last time someone held a gun to their head and made them read the icky slash stuff?

Also, what reception do they expect? A round of slapped foreheads and 'OMG, we were so wrong all this time?', followed by signing our souls away to their point of view instead? ;)

[innocent-lex.livejournal.com]

The idea that everyone should think the same always amuses me. But the gun thing? Oh. Maybe you're saying I should put mine away...

[graculus.livejournal.com]

But... but... they're Right! :P

And stop forcing people to read the hot man-on-man action, it's not nice (and they obviously don't appreciate it properly anyway, so why waste it on them?).

[innocent-lex.livejournal.com]

Combining the hot man-on-man action thing and my result from the Kinsey test, I'm obviously the epitome of the "one guy good, two guys better" opinion.

[green-key.livejournal.com]

Why is that so difficult a concept for some people, particularly in certain fandoms, to understand?

Amen, sister. This makes me nuts in MFU. Yes, "het" sounds much like a cat hacking a hairball, but the term has a purpose.

[graculus.livejournal.com]

I'm a big fan of labelling. I understand and appreciate that slash is not everyone's cup of tea and therefore that some people might not want to stumble across the hot man-on-man action by mistake. So why isn't the same courtesy extended to those of us who don't want to read het stuff?

Double standards have always infuriated me.

[penfold-x.livejournal.com]

The three are very different things and should be clearly labelled for what they are. If it wouldn't be acceptable for two guys to do something and still call it 'gen' then it's not acceptable for a guy and a girl to do it and call it 'gen'. Why is that so difficult a concept for some people, particularly in certain fandoms, to understand?

Yes! This is why we have three different terms, folks. They're not big words. Please use them.

[graculus.livejournal.com]

But girls and boys snogging is normal and so why should we not be able to liberally sprinkle our fics with that (or indeed cram them full of that and make it the focus of the story) without having to actually label it accurately? ;)