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You are here. X
Just kinda musing about fandom when it comes to pairings after perusing my flist. No, this wasn't even prompted by the Doctor Who fandom, although do not get me started on *that* carnival of batshit.
This isn't meant to be a lecture, it's just where I am.
Something someone told me a long time ago was that your beliefs can be impacted by someone else's beliefs only if you let them. (Kind of a knockoff of that old Eleanor Roosevelt quote - "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.") But it's really helped me travel through fandom waters on a relatively even keel. Relatively.
Say I love Merry/Frodo. I mean, LOVE. Love, love, love. But my next-door LJ neighbor adores Pippin/Frodo and posts frequently about them. Now if I'm unable to look at their posts on my flist without going into some sort of need to constantly post anti-Pippin/Frodo essays or go to their journal to argue why Pippin/Frodo is all kinds of wrong, then maybe they shouldn't be on my flist. Or filtered out. Because there are now two people not having the best of times just because of a pairing.
Personally? I do not care a lick when it comes to other's pairing or non-pairing leanings. Because after all, how in the world does their seeing another pairing, or not seeing a pairing, lessen my love for my own pairing? Really, how? And who am I to ruin someone else's fandom fun? I'm no one. Just another faceless fan who happened to get a LJ account one day. My flist runs the gamut of pairings and fandoms and I think it's cool. And while I'm not the type to go in and start a debate over pairings, I've been known to tease about pairings. (Which was hopefully taken in the good-natured spirit in which it was intended.) And I do reserve the right to wander in someday with a, "Hey! I see you're now into Friedrich von Trapp/Kurt von Trapp Sound of Music incest slash and I gotta ask, how in the world did you get into *that*?" I may even use the little o_O emoticon.
Now to me, debate is just ducky. To a point. But it gets tiring after a while to have to *constantly* defend why you like a pairing or why you think the pairing is not evil beyond all other evil things in the world. It's part of the reason why I don't even look at the biggest D/R community anymore. Not even *tempted* to look.
Also, getting a pairing hate out of your system every once in a while is probably healthy. It's not my style, but I can see why some feel the need. But to constantly go on and on about something in the negative? I'm going to start questioning the grip on the sanity. LET. IT. GO. Good God.
To me, fandom is about having fun. It's Disneyland all the time, baby! Well, not *all* the time. But if I'm not generally having fun, I ain't sticking around. Why subject myself to something so unpleasant, when fandom is very much extracurricular to life?
Fickle, am I.
And now, I'm *dying* for an Iced Caramel Macchiato. Must. Have. I may even get a venti! MMMMMMMM.
ETA: Insane baristas had a fight over who got to pour caramel into said caramel macchiato and wound up with an obscene amount of caramel. Had epiphany. Fandom needs iced caramel macchiatos - everyone will be too busy trying to suck cold caramel through a straw to worry about what other people think.
This isn't meant to be a lecture, it's just where I am.
Something someone told me a long time ago was that your beliefs can be impacted by someone else's beliefs only if you let them. (Kind of a knockoff of that old Eleanor Roosevelt quote - "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.") But it's really helped me travel through fandom waters on a relatively even keel. Relatively.
Say I love Merry/Frodo. I mean, LOVE. Love, love, love. But my next-door LJ neighbor adores Pippin/Frodo and posts frequently about them. Now if I'm unable to look at their posts on my flist without going into some sort of need to constantly post anti-Pippin/Frodo essays or go to their journal to argue why Pippin/Frodo is all kinds of wrong, then maybe they shouldn't be on my flist. Or filtered out. Because there are now two people not having the best of times just because of a pairing.
Personally? I do not care a lick when it comes to other's pairing or non-pairing leanings. Because after all, how in the world does their seeing another pairing, or not seeing a pairing, lessen my love for my own pairing? Really, how? And who am I to ruin someone else's fandom fun? I'm no one. Just another faceless fan who happened to get a LJ account one day. My flist runs the gamut of pairings and fandoms and I think it's cool. And while I'm not the type to go in and start a debate over pairings, I've been known to tease about pairings. (Which was hopefully taken in the good-natured spirit in which it was intended.) And I do reserve the right to wander in someday with a, "Hey! I see you're now into Friedrich von Trapp/Kurt von Trapp Sound of Music incest slash and I gotta ask, how in the world did you get into *that*?" I may even use the little o_O emoticon.
Now to me, debate is just ducky. To a point. But it gets tiring after a while to have to *constantly* defend why you like a pairing or why you think the pairing is not evil beyond all other evil things in the world. It's part of the reason why I don't even look at the biggest D/R community anymore. Not even *tempted* to look.
Also, getting a pairing hate out of your system every once in a while is probably healthy. It's not my style, but I can see why some feel the need. But to constantly go on and on about something in the negative? I'm going to start questioning the grip on the sanity. LET. IT. GO. Good God.
To me, fandom is about having fun. It's Disneyland all the time, baby! Well, not *all* the time. But if I'm not generally having fun, I ain't sticking around. Why subject myself to something so unpleasant, when fandom is very much extracurricular to life?
Fickle, am I.
And now, I'm *dying* for an Iced Caramel Macchiato. Must. Have. I may even get a venti! MMMMMMMM.
ETA: Insane baristas had a fight over who got to pour caramel into said caramel macchiato and wound up with an obscene amount of caramel. Had epiphany. Fandom needs iced caramel macchiatos - everyone will be too busy trying to suck cold caramel through a straw to worry about what other people think.
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You just BROKE my BRAIN. *sputters*
And yeah, T&C got dumped from my flist a looooong time ago.
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EXCELLENT!
And yeah, T&C got dumped from my flist a looooong time ago.
Still cannot grasp the reason behind the ever-present Rose hate. Now *that* broke my brain.
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I can sort of get it because I have some Rose-hate myself. (Rather, I have hate for what a formerly quite likeable character got turned into this season. But I've been through that.) But hell, RL is depressing enough. No need to be depressed in fandom. Move on to the next thing.
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(I fully admit that part of my annoyance at that comes from the fact that I have at least three Doctor/Companion ships that I like better than Doctor/Rose. In fact, I like several companions in general better than I do Rose. She's definitely not worthy of hate, but she's not exactly at the top of my totem pole. Although she and Ten can be adorable.)
Anyway, Rose-hate doesn't bother me as long as there are reasons behind it and not just "it'll annoy people." Bringing it up a lot in one's own personal journal doesn't bother me because, hey, personal journal. Bringing it up every few days in a comm would get old real fast, and I'm glad I haven't been privy to any of that. (Hooray for only joining tiny communities based on bits of canon most people know nothing about!)
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Wow. We're gonna have to agree to disagree here because I didn't see that at all. To me Rose finally got past her newbie phase and was standing on her own in S2.
But then, I didn't really want to get into a debate. :D
(I fully admit that part of my annoyance at that comes from the fact that I have at least three Doctor/Companion ships that I like better than Doctor/Rose. In fact, I like several companions in general better than I do Rose. She's definitely not worthy of hate, but she's not exactly at the top of my totem pole. Although she and Ten can be adorable.)
Well, see? Those are your loves and no one should be knocking those! At least, not in the over-and-over context in your general direction.
Anyway, Rose-hate doesn't bother me as long as there are reasons behind it and not just "it'll annoy people." Bringing it up a lot in one's own personal journal doesn't bother me because, hey, personal journal.
Oh, I fully agree that you can post whatever you want in your own journal. However, if someone keeps brining something like that up every couple of days or every week or whatever, I am seriously going to question their sanity. Like, seriously. That to me is a quick sign of a bitter fan and basically someone I really don't want to be around. Sure, post whatever. But I won't be looking.
Bringing it up every few days in a comm would get old real fast, and I'm glad I haven't been privy to any of that. (Hooray for only joining tiny communities based on bits of canon most people know nothing about!)
HA!! Yeah, small communities are the way to go.
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But then, I didn't really want to get into a debate. :D
Eh, no debating. Most of the whofen on my flist see it your way, or in a way similar to yours. I said my piece after Doomsday aired, and I have no interest in repeating it or trying to change anyone else's views.
Well, see? Those are your loves and no one should be knocking those! At least, not in the over-and-over context in your general direction.
Hee. What I like is that many people haven't even heard of the foremost of my loves. Although that does cut down on the amount of fic, sadly.
That to me is a quick sign of a bitter fan and basically someone I really don't want to be around. Sure, post whatever. But I won't be looking.
Yeah, that's what I meant. Although if the bitterness is funny, I'll still be there. ;)
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I have! Eight/Charlie, yeah? But that's only because you've mentioned. :) You know, I never thought about this before - I've seen your icons, etc. of this pairing, but they were from the audio plays, right? Is that a pic of the actress that does the voice?
It probably would be. Okay, it's pretty much a dumb question. Heh heh.
Although that does cut down on the amount of fic, sadly.
Yeah. :(
Although if the bitterness is funny, I'll still be there. ;)
Yeah, sometimes you just cannot look away. I've watched more than a couple of bitter fans implode in the SG-1 fandom.
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*pats* ;) Yeah, it's the actress who plays Charley, India Fisher. (Isn't she adorable? I love her to bits.)
And it's not a dumb question if you've no experience with the audio dramas. (You should get experience, though! They're shiny!)
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She is cute!
And it's not a dumb question if you've no experience with the audio dramas. (You should get experience, though! They're shiny!)
I know, I know. Someday I'll get to that and to other old Who. After the current trauma goes away, that is.
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I can totally pimp you...useful links...when you're ready. Although waiting for current trauma to go away is a good idea.
(Also, can I just say that IMO the best thing about the audios, and Eight/Charley, is that their canon relationship goes way beyond what we saw even for Rose and Nine/Ten--no, really, it does--BUT, at the same time, the audios aren't really considered Who Canon, so everybody wins!
Er, possibly that makes you less interested in the audios. I don't know how OTP you are. But I can't contain my squee, dammit!)
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*snickers* Probably. You know, I had *just* started looking at old stuff when everything started going down. Meh. I'll get over it eventually and then I'll look you up. :)
(Also, can I just say that IMO the best thing about the audios, and Eight/Charley, is that their canon relationship goes way beyond what we saw even for Rose and Nine/Ten--no, really, it does--BUT, at the same time, the audios aren't really considered Who Canon, so everybody wins!
WOW. I'm surprised no one ever brings that up in the whole OMGSHIP debate. But awwwww!
Er, possibly that makes you less interested in the audios. I don't know how OTP you are. But I can't contain my squee, dammit!)
Right now I'm fairly D/R, but I'm never 100% exclusive with my pairings - good fic is good fic, no matter the pairing and good audio would be the same.
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Heh. *leans against pimp cane*
WOW. I'm surprised no one ever brings that up in the whole OMGSHIP debate. But awwwww!
If the batshit contingent knew about the audios (which I highly doubt they do), they would spend 90% of their time on trying to justify Why The Doctor And Charley's Love Is Not True.
I give you quotes:
Doctor, upon being asked to do something spoilery to Charley that he doesn't want to do: "I can't...you're my friend, and I love you."
Charley: "I love you too, but you have to!"
That's the first instance. Then there's one 1.5-hour audio that's entirely them, in this weird place where every sense except sound is cut off, walking around and discussing their relationship. For real. The Doctor has the lines, "I didn't expect to care for you as much as I did," and "...to find myself finally loving a friend, someone who meant that much more to me," and there are several more "I love yous" exchanged, although that's nowhere near as romantic as it sounds because they're both pretty angry with each other at that point (I promise, it makes sense in the context of the audio; also, Paul McGann is fantastic in his delivery of these lines). Some people read it as a platonic sort of thing, and there's certainly no mention of any kind of physical relationship between them, but you can read it pretty much any way you please.
So, yeah, if the batshit types for any other Doctor pairing, not just D/R, ever find this, expect massive head implosions. *g*
Right now I'm fairly D/R, but I'm never 100% exclusive with my pairings - good fic is good fic, no matter the pairing and good audio would be the same.
Wheee!
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Yeah, probably. *sigh*
Doctor, upon being asked to do something spoilery to Charley that he doesn't want to do: "I can't...you're my friend, and I love you."
Charley: "I love you too, but you have to!"
AWWWWWWWWWWWW! *snuffles*
"I didn't expect to care for you as much as I did," and "...to find myself finally loving a friend, someone who meant that much more to me,"
That's so sweet!
and there are several more "I love yous" exchanged, although that's nowhere near as romantic as it sounds because they're both pretty angry with each other at that point
*snickers*
Did they say whatever happened to her? Or did they just leave it open-ended?
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*melts* I [heart] them. TPTB sort of swept their relationship under the rug after that episode (a new companion joined them and broke up the closeness a bit), but even so, there have still be some adorable moments here and there where it's obvious they still love each other. They even mention it a couple times.
Did they say whatever happened to her? Or did they just leave it open-ended?
They're still being made, and they haven't mentioned plans for how she's going to leave, so I guess it's open-ended for now. *crosses fingers that she won't leave anytime soon*
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I want! *Grins*
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Yes. Summer and holidays in general are always to blame for strange new addictions. I got addicted to coffee, this summer. >D
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Who ever said I was wired correctly, Michelle? ^.~
Mochamochamocha!
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Bless you. You are a paragon of sanity. *cough* At least when you're not wibbling over Doctor Who. :-)
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