Pet Peeve about Fandoms
I saw a long rambly post on tumblr which ended with 'stop the ship hate' but the entire body of the post was 'reasons why Misha Collins should be kicked off spn - for his own good' these reasons were a) he'd rather spend time with his family b) he's better off doing charity work c) people have forgotten what the show is really about, it's not Castiel.
So I responded to that, then deleted it and wrote my own post which pretty much sums up my views on fandoms everywhere.
I hate posts which pretty much tell you ‘you’re doin it wrong’ ie: this is the ship you should ship and giving long convoluted reasons why actor/character should be kicked off show ‘for their own good.’
Actors have a job to do, they don’t dictate where the story goes, if you want to complain go to the writers. If an actor doesn’t want to be part of a show, they don’t renew a contract, but you can’t say ‘oh they want time to do other things.’ etc. The gig still pays their mortgage. You can’t assume because an actor is on a tv show that they are well off now and for the rest of their lives, that show might be only a few years of a career which may span 20-30-40 years.
As for doing it wrong, it’s impossible, every fan has a right to like whatever they want. An emotional connection to a book, a film, isn’t something you can control. Also, fans come and go, there is always someone who liked the prequel or sequel or spinoff better. By having the gall to tell them what they should like, you are only putting off people getting into fandom, they’ll still like what they like, but you’ve just convinced them that the fandom won’t welcome them so they are better off not engaging.
Fandom is it’s own thing, separate from the show/movie/book. Actors may engage with fans, but they don’t have anything to do with fandom. They don’t (usually) write fic or create art, they don’t have anything to say about those aspects of fandom, and they shouldn’t have to promote anything but their own point of view reagrding a character or storyline.
Addendum: Actors and writers and creators don’t owe you anything. They work hard to produce that thing you love. Of course it won’t go the way you want everytime, that’s what fandom is for. Just because someone is in the public eye, they haven’t signed away a right to privacy.
So I responded to that, then deleted it and wrote my own post which pretty much sums up my views on fandoms everywhere.
I hate posts which pretty much tell you ‘you’re doin it wrong’ ie: this is the ship you should ship and giving long convoluted reasons why actor/character should be kicked off show ‘for their own good.’
Actors have a job to do, they don’t dictate where the story goes, if you want to complain go to the writers. If an actor doesn’t want to be part of a show, they don’t renew a contract, but you can’t say ‘oh they want time to do other things.’ etc. The gig still pays their mortgage. You can’t assume because an actor is on a tv show that they are well off now and for the rest of their lives, that show might be only a few years of a career which may span 20-30-40 years.
As for doing it wrong, it’s impossible, every fan has a right to like whatever they want. An emotional connection to a book, a film, isn’t something you can control. Also, fans come and go, there is always someone who liked the prequel or sequel or spinoff better. By having the gall to tell them what they should like, you are only putting off people getting into fandom, they’ll still like what they like, but you’ve just convinced them that the fandom won’t welcome them so they are better off not engaging.
Fandom is it’s own thing, separate from the show/movie/book. Actors may engage with fans, but they don’t have anything to do with fandom. They don’t (usually) write fic or create art, they don’t have anything to say about those aspects of fandom, and they shouldn’t have to promote anything but their own point of view reagrding a character or storyline.
Addendum: Actors and writers and creators don’t owe you anything. They work hard to produce that thing you love. Of course it won’t go the way you want everytime, that’s what fandom is for. Just because someone is in the public eye, they haven’t signed away a right to privacy.