You know, it scares me when I have to say that comparatively, DW/TW/SJA fandom is so sane, but it is, especially in comparison to the antics over in Supernatural fandom ("let's send RPS to the actors" and "let's call security on the actors' gfs") and now SGA fandom (poor bastard). Of course, I know not to tar whole fandoms with the crazy brush, and I'm sure it will be my poor little fandom's turn soon, but perhaps, oh perhaps, we will heed these cautionary tales of batshittery. At least our bad boundary stuff has mostly happened in private. Christ.
Saw the SyFy name change ads on the bus this morning. STILL WRONG.
Forgot to mention I saw the preview for the new Trek when we saw Watchmen the other day. It looks AWESOME.
Orson Scott Card has joined the board of NOM or 2M4M or whatever the anti-gay marriage gathering storm bigots are calling themselves this week. No, I'm not surprised. And at this point, one can hardly even be disappointed. But I am, just a little, because at a given point you just run out of ways to boycott the work of someone that objectionable. That's right, I'm annoyed because I can't find a way to reject Card and his work enough.
Working my butt off. Lots of wacky freelance writing and deadlines for the Germans. In limbo on various creative/criticism projects. Fighting pothos.
Woo! Hey, got a CoT nomination for that Jack/Andy/Ianto porn I wrote the other day. Meanwhile, trying to finish a ton of small stories and feeling increasingly dubious I will make the Tardis Big Bang deadline. IHNIIHBT and one of its installments (The Most Beautiful Girl in the World) also won some other awards a couple of days ago. Yay.
Patty, still in Atlanta. Cool things there yesterday, but for her to tell.
They cease seeing the actors as people and view them as commodities and feel like they are owed something for having spent X amount of money to attend this gathering or the other.
This is why I will not be at Torchsong. Which is nothing down on people going or the actors doing it (their time _is_ valuable), AT ALL.
But the blurring line of what we're paying for (i.e., paying to hear someone speak or be interviewed is different than paying to go a party with them), despite it's long tradition in terms of arts patronage and the intermittent historical link between the arts and various forms of sex trade (to which I have no objection) brings out the worst in people, and if I'm around just one person not getting it, even discretely, I tend to get the heebie jeebies really badly. Also, being a quasi-pro means I walk a lot of complicated lines as it is, and I don't know how to be both patron and pro depending on what day it is. Which is why I can go to a con like Gallifrey as a fan and go to a con line Dragon*Con as a pro, but can't touch stuff like Torchsong with a ten-foot pole.
The way some of the people talk about how much they've spent chasing this particular star really gives me the heebie geebies. Since they're mostly het women, I can't help wondering if they understand just how creepy they sound. The sex trade links are spot on.
Of course, since I'm right there in line with the rest of them, I'm worried that I'm being tarred with the same brush.
And when you add in that this particular celebrity is particularly affectionate and the lines are blurring even more.
It's taking me some time to get my head around it all and it may not be something I can do a lot of. Not just monetarily (even though money isn't tight), my Catholic upbringing makes me feel guilty for spending "that much" on something that frivolous. I could be feeding homeless people with that. (I tell myself that I just paid for a text book for when his kids go to college. ;-p))
I kind of feel like I've floated into a bigger river with a totally new set of fish that aren't exactly the same fandom school and I'm not sure I fit or even how much I want to. It's weird.
So many of the TW actors are so affectionate and have legitimate personal friendships with people who are also in fandom and sometimes attend or have attended in the past these events: it makes it even harder for people outside of those situations to keep perspective.
For the record, I am not tarring you with that brush. And my level of judgment about it is perhaps less severe than easily indicated. Having been a sex worker and being someone who again is both a fan and a pro, I have both more sympathy and more squicks about the whole thing than a lot of people do.
When we gamble, we are not buying a ticket as an investment to win money. We buy a ticket to experience hope. For some people, events like Torchsong may be similar. That has a grace to it, when handled well. It's old-fashioned. It's joyful. It's really rather utterly lovely.
Others go to just... be fans. It's normal. It's good.
But there's always going to be a 1% or a 5% that makes folks question the phenomenon or themselves. And that's, I think, inevitable and also sad.
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Date: 2009-04-24 07:32 pm (UTC)This is why I will not be at Torchsong. Which is nothing down on people going or the actors doing it (their time _is_ valuable), AT ALL.
But the blurring line of what we're paying for (i.e., paying to hear someone speak or be interviewed is different than paying to go a party with them), despite it's long tradition in terms of arts patronage and the intermittent historical link between the arts and various forms of sex trade (to which I have no objection) brings out the worst in people, and if I'm around just one person not getting it, even discretely, I tend to get the heebie jeebies really badly. Also, being a quasi-pro means I walk a lot of complicated lines as it is, and I don't know how to be both patron and pro depending on what day it is. Which is why I can go to a con like Gallifrey as a fan and go to a con line Dragon*Con as a pro, but can't touch stuff like Torchsong with a ten-foot pole.
no subject
Date: 2009-04-25 12:54 am (UTC)Of course, since I'm right there in line with the rest of them, I'm worried that I'm being tarred with the same brush.
And when you add in that this particular celebrity is particularly affectionate and the lines are blurring even more.
It's taking me some time to get my head around it all and it may not be something I can do a lot of. Not just monetarily (even though money isn't tight), my Catholic upbringing makes me feel guilty for spending "that much" on something that frivolous. I could be feeding homeless people with that. (I tell myself that I just paid for a text book for when his kids go to college. ;-p))
I kind of feel like I've floated into a bigger river with a totally new set of fish that aren't exactly the same fandom school and I'm not sure I fit or even how much I want to. It's weird.
no subject
Date: 2009-04-25 01:01 am (UTC)So many of the TW actors are so affectionate and have legitimate personal friendships with people who are also in fandom and sometimes attend or have attended in the past these events: it makes it even harder for people outside of those situations to keep perspective.
For the record, I am not tarring you with that brush. And my level of judgment about it is perhaps less severe than easily indicated. Having been a sex worker and being someone who again is both a fan and a pro, I have both more sympathy and more squicks about the whole thing than a lot of people do.
When we gamble, we are not buying a ticket as an investment to win money. We buy a ticket to experience hope. For some people, events like Torchsong may be similar. That has a grace to it, when handled well. It's old-fashioned. It's joyful. It's really rather utterly lovely.
Others go to just... be fans. It's normal. It's good.
But there's always going to be a 1% or a 5% that makes folks question the phenomenon or themselves. And that's, I think, inevitable and also sad.
We should not have so much doubt in our joy.