oh, look, I'm opinioning again

[maevele]

okay this whole 'the meen aca-fans are harshing my privileged squee' thing again?


Getting to squee about something without noticing when racism or other bullshit shows up? is not something everyone gets to do. If you are someone personally affected by whatever brand of bullshit drips of your entertainment? that harshes your squee right there. So saying that talking about this shit ruins your happyfun experience is putting your squee above someone else's, and how the hell can you say your squee matters more than someone else's?


also, the implication that it's 'aca-fans' that are spoiling up your happy place by actually discussing shit that hurts people? as though only some sort of dry academic pedant would want to talk about these things? wtf is that even about? being anti-bullshit is not an academic stance. I am a goddamn high school dropout. Not some elitist academic. stfu and stfd.

Comments

[sparkymonster]

I have some comments relevant to your interests.

My roommate and I were also discussing the rampant classism of fandom. Like, that in order to be a "real fan" you need to have money and free time to not only view/read the material, but also the time to discuss it. The "golden age" of fandom was also a time when fandom was very homogeneous because the hurdle to get involved (having a computer, dial up access, a line for dial up, etc. etc.) kept a lot of marginalized groups of getting involved. Oh and now there is an expectation you have the kind of job where you can take "internet breaks" at work. You know who can't do that? Many blue collar working class people. If you are working two jobs you might not have the time to dedicate to extensively rewatching TV shows or arguing with people about them. See also working mothers, people are also care givers, etc. etc.

[maevele]

right, totally.

and in one of the last couple of bullshits, the classism jumped out at me with the whole 'i judge what fandom looks like by who is at conventions' because cons are a bigass luxury, I would never make it to a con if wiscon weren't in my hometown.

so between 'real fans have lots of net access and time to watch stuff' and 'real fans can get the time and money to go to cons' po folks can't be real fen, i guess.

[softestbullet]

Ohhhh, it's in this fail, too.

[laceblade]

AGREE!

I even have a white collar job in research/academia, and there's no way in hell that I ever have the time to sit around and peruse LJ or wherever the hell else everyone hangs out.

I think that in addition having some weirdass class issues, fandom also has really weird conceptions of time-use.

[raanve]

One of the things that jumps to mind reading that nonsense -- quite apart from the excellent points you & sparkymonster have made here -- is, well, what if MY happy place of squee is critically taking something apart with an eye toward academic discourse or social justice? I mean... aren't there a thousand different happy places on the internets?

[sophygurl]

I don't even know the latest issue as I'm kind of fandom illiterate, but that middle paragraph sums up my feelings about these things generally very well.

Every squee is sacred! Or, you know, not.

[softestbullet]

So saying that talking about this shit ruins your happyfun experience is putting your squee above someone else's, and how the hell can you say your squee matters more than someone else's?

That sounds like something that might even make sense to those people!

[belleweather.livejournal.com]

I don't know. I'm a feminist and 90% of my squee these days is over a show that is possibly the single most misogynistic thing I've ever seen on TV. I'm pretty damn effected by misogyny in the real world, but can overlook it on TV. I also have a strong position that we're allowed to like shit in fictional worlds that we'd consider downright criminal in real life.

[pantryslut.livejournal.com]

being anti-bullshit is not an academic stance.

QOTD. Hell yeah.