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From a brief discussion in an unrelated comments thread on a previous post...I got to thinking about two things that bewilder me about fandom and part of my issue with fandom:
It regards:
a) Turning Fictional Characters into Icons for a Social Cause and what happens when the story and/or writer either has the characters betray that cause or die
b) Character Deaths, or more specifically controversial character deaths which the fandom took personally or as a personal affront.
a. The tendency to turn fictional characters into icons for social justice causes. Example: Buffy Summers as a feminist icon, or Ianto (and/or Tara) as an icon for the LGBT movement or the Tara/Willow and Ianto/Jack relationships.
( spoilers for major character deaths in Torchwood and Buffy )
b) This leads me to the other problem, where we become way too emotionally invested in one character or pairing. To the point that we wish to dictate to the writer what they should or should not do with the character or pairing. This intensity of emotion...is often what gives "shippers" a bad name and causes kerfuffles. Unlike (a), the individual who has become obsessed with the character isn't so much turning the character into a cause or icon, as turning the character into a personal best friend/boyfriend/girlfriend. OR they may just identify strongly. Something about that character resonates on a deep subliminal level - and the viewer falls in love. I understand this, actually, I've fallen in love with characters and wanted desperately to figure them out and get more of them. And I've stopped watching tv shows or reading books or comics, where that character is summarily killed off. Or the writer threatened to kill them. But I've noticed some fans take it to extremes, and like me, we lose the story.
The other day at work, I ran into my bud, Will, he feeds the squirrles in Rufus King Park. He groused to me that his squirrels all lost their homes, because they chopped down all the trees. You'll see when you go, he told me. I wasn't planning on walking around the park that day, a)it was cold and b) my leg hurt (back issues), but curiousity won out and I went. What shocked me was hardly any trees were gone. Just one - a big, beautiful, oak, which clearly had to be chopped down before it killed someone. But Will saw that tree gone and it didn't matter, might as well have been all the trees. This is similar to the fan who adores one character in tv series or book above all the others, and when that character is killed much like Will and his favorite tree - the writer might as well have killed all the characters.
Like Will they don't see why the writer had to kill the character, why it was necessary for the story or how it furthers it - they just see the dead character. That's all. They can't see the forest for the trees.
This is true in life as well.
( spoilers for major character deaths in Torchwood and Buffy )
This admittedly may be seen as a somewhat controversial post...so, if this topic is at all triggery for you? Do us both a favor and scroll on by. Just my opinion, after all. And as you know, my opinions aren't necessarily set in stone, they are often changeable as the tides. [ETA: if you are coming from a link, or are new to this journal, please be advised that I have a 0 tolerance rule for nasty comments and trollish behavior. I will delete you without warning and without comment as if you were spam.]
It regards:
a) Turning Fictional Characters into Icons for a Social Cause and what happens when the story and/or writer either has the characters betray that cause or die
b) Character Deaths, or more specifically controversial character deaths which the fandom took personally or as a personal affront.
a. The tendency to turn fictional characters into icons for social justice causes. Example: Buffy Summers as a feminist icon, or Ianto (and/or Tara) as an icon for the LGBT movement or the Tara/Willow and Ianto/Jack relationships.
( spoilers for major character deaths in Torchwood and Buffy )
b) This leads me to the other problem, where we become way too emotionally invested in one character or pairing. To the point that we wish to dictate to the writer what they should or should not do with the character or pairing. This intensity of emotion...is often what gives "shippers" a bad name and causes kerfuffles. Unlike (a), the individual who has become obsessed with the character isn't so much turning the character into a cause or icon, as turning the character into a personal best friend/boyfriend/girlfriend. OR they may just identify strongly. Something about that character resonates on a deep subliminal level - and the viewer falls in love. I understand this, actually, I've fallen in love with characters and wanted desperately to figure them out and get more of them. And I've stopped watching tv shows or reading books or comics, where that character is summarily killed off. Or the writer threatened to kill them. But I've noticed some fans take it to extremes, and like me, we lose the story.
The other day at work, I ran into my bud, Will, he feeds the squirrles in Rufus King Park. He groused to me that his squirrels all lost their homes, because they chopped down all the trees. You'll see when you go, he told me. I wasn't planning on walking around the park that day, a)it was cold and b) my leg hurt (back issues), but curiousity won out and I went. What shocked me was hardly any trees were gone. Just one - a big, beautiful, oak, which clearly had to be chopped down before it killed someone. But Will saw that tree gone and it didn't matter, might as well have been all the trees. This is similar to the fan who adores one character in tv series or book above all the others, and when that character is killed much like Will and his favorite tree - the writer might as well have killed all the characters.
Like Will they don't see why the writer had to kill the character, why it was necessary for the story or how it furthers it - they just see the dead character. That's all. They can't see the forest for the trees.
This is true in life as well.
( spoilers for major character deaths in Torchwood and Buffy )
This admittedly may be seen as a somewhat controversial post...so, if this topic is at all triggery for you? Do us both a favor and scroll on by. Just my opinion, after all. And as you know, my opinions aren't necessarily set in stone, they are often changeable as the tides. [ETA: if you are coming from a link, or are new to this journal, please be advised that I have a 0 tolerance rule for nasty comments and trollish behavior. I will delete you without warning and without comment as if you were spam.]
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