Fandom Meta

julad - "Anyone who had a heart..." All slashers make the homoerotic subtext of their canon explicit, but not all think it's appropriate to also make the emotional subtext explicit. . . . In the privacy of my own head, I refer to these two kinds of readers as The Warm Fuzzies and The Cold Pricklies.

carlanime - Lessons Learned from Fandom and Fanfiction

idlerat - Fannish misc. It seems to me that always citing ST zines as the beginning of fandom history is kind of like always citing Jamestown and Plymouth (or pick your colonial moment) as the beginning of US history. The problem is not so much the stuff that came before (Native Americans, Sherlock Holmes), because it *is* an important disjuncture, and you can always redefine your topic to show what's relevant. The problem is that what comes after is so big and messy, it can't be traced to a single set of founding Fathers.

executrix - Mitigated Steaming Piles of Dren Sometimes I'll find myself not liking a story, even though it's well-constructed and well-written, because I think it reflects an ugly view of life. . . . Then again, a story can be beautifully constructed but rather dull

wemblee - My McShep/Spangel crossover will cure your acne! This discussion reminds me of the complaint that OOC fanfiction is "false advertising." You came to read about McKay (or Daniel, or Methos, or Krycek, or...) and you're getting someone that doesn't sound or act or even look like McKay to you. Yet it's being published, even marketed, as a piece of fanfiction about McKay. So you feel a little gypped.

carenejeans - Rant In A Run-On Sentence I fail to see how women expressing our desire for men, . . . I fail to see how this is not a feminist project.

mofic - Attitudes of Slash Fen towards RL gay men What still surprises me, though, is that very few slash fen seem to be bothered by - or even notice - homophobia among women who read and write slash. And in any forum I've been in, the only ones who comment on homophobia expressed by others are the (very few) lesbians.

musesfool - so this is what it means to be a fan The question of whether one can really be a "fan" if one doesn't write fanfic was broached and this was my response

rcody - On me and fandoms decided to go with how fans are using the fandom to create, support, and mold their own interepretations of the series. I have found that many fans feel very strongly about the individual interpretation and expression of each person within the fandom, and while few may agree with one fan's interpretation, they still respect it.

fabu - Performing friendship on lj Lately I've been thinking about the performative aspects of lj, and the ways in which, because we create this world with our words, things aren't "real" unless we post about them.

Specific Fandom Meta

watersnark - [the missing comma before Harry] movie will NEVER. EVER. EVER be up to par with a book. [HP]

On Reading and Writing

cupidsbow - The Myths of Authorship Most of my adult life, I've been running up against a certain attitude about authorship that has left me puzzled and disillusioned. Most of the world, it seems, has this conception of what an author should be, and it's a conception that runs counter to my lived experience of being an author.

alittlewhisper - The Great Fandom Penis Wank Rant I'm begging you fandom. Get over your cocks. They're not that important. . . . Generally the penis does not talk, wag like a dog or bounce enthusiastically with the balls to the tune of Stairway to Heaven