oh fandom, NO!
Jul. 28th, 2009 08:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rmhttp://community.livejournal.com/jackxianto/3668643.html
in which someone says something that sounds an awful lot like "die-hard SF/F fans are an oppressed minority."
http://community.livejournal.com/jackxianto/3668643.html?view=12636067#t12636067
In which I yell.
thanks for the heads-up from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
starstealingirl
Subcutlures, because they are by definitions not the mainstream dominant culture, are technically minorities.
But here's the deal, I'm a minority because I'm queer, because I'm Jewish, because I am not as white as look.
Engaging with enterainment in a non-culturally dominant way may be responsible for affecting the tone of huge swathes of my life, but it doesn't define it. Being a member of an actual minority does.
I am not a minority because I like SF/F or because I cried and cried and cried for Ianto or even because I have an unpopular fannish opinion in the sense that I'm not all worked up about RTD and whether he respects fandom or not -- I don't care, I don't need his approval.
Believe me, I get what you are saying. For older fen in particular, there is this very real sense of being in this small, sort of looked down upon subculture and since many of us interact with the world differently than the mainstream (there are studies on the high incidence of the non-neurotypical in the fannish community), I do sort of get why you chose this angle to frame your point.
But with things like Harry Potter, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Comic Con, Dragon*Con, and, yes, the Children of Earth miniseries, fannishness is now a pretty nearly mainstream activity.
But more than that: no one ever threw beer bottles at me for being fannish. No one ever threatened to rape me for being fannish. No one fucking threatened to beat my face in with a brick for being fannish. They have (the first two) because I was gay and (the third) because I'm Jewish.
Considering one of the biggest plot points and now fandom controversies relates to the show's handling of Ianto's sexuality, you really might want to check yourself here.
I am a minority and it's not because I loved a man who never was, even though I did.
in which someone says something that sounds an awful lot like "die-hard SF/F fans are an oppressed minority."
http://community.livejournal.com/jackxianto/3668643.html?view=12636067#t12636067
In which I yell.
thanks for the heads-up from
starstealingirlSubcutlures, because they are by definitions not the mainstream dominant culture, are technically minorities.
But here's the deal, I'm a minority because I'm queer, because I'm Jewish, because I am not as white as look.
Engaging with enterainment in a non-culturally dominant way may be responsible for affecting the tone of huge swathes of my life, but it doesn't define it. Being a member of an actual minority does.
I am not a minority because I like SF/F or because I cried and cried and cried for Ianto or even because I have an unpopular fannish opinion in the sense that I'm not all worked up about RTD and whether he respects fandom or not -- I don't care, I don't need his approval.
Believe me, I get what you are saying. For older fen in particular, there is this very real sense of being in this small, sort of looked down upon subculture and since many of us interact with the world differently than the mainstream (there are studies on the high incidence of the non-neurotypical in the fannish community), I do sort of get why you chose this angle to frame your point.
But with things like Harry Potter, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Comic Con, Dragon*Con, and, yes, the Children of Earth miniseries, fannishness is now a pretty nearly mainstream activity.
But more than that: no one ever threw beer bottles at me for being fannish. No one ever threatened to rape me for being fannish. No one fucking threatened to beat my face in with a brick for being fannish. They have (the first two) because I was gay and (the third) because I'm Jewish.
Considering one of the biggest plot points and now fandom controversies relates to the show's handling of Ianto's sexuality, you really might want to check yourself here.
I am a minority and it's not because I loved a man who never was, even though I did.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-07-28 06:32 pm (UTC)Sure, it would be ever so lovely, but it's really, really not his job.
I'm going to disagree with you, purely on the business side of things - writer to writer, whatever, sure, he can be as opinionated and boundary-driven as he wants. But RTD is more than a writer, he's the guy who basically brought New Who and Torchwood into existence. In that respect, he's more like the head of a production company, who does have some responsibility for being the public face of the company. (especially if he puts himself in that role in public.)
speaking as a businessperson, it's generally a very poor idea to get in front of your target demographic and tell them you're uninterested in their opinions. Makes said demographic tend to opinionate with their wallets.
Bill Gates is about the only CEO I know who can get away with that level of user abuse, and Torchwood is not nearly as ubiquitous as Windows.. :D