So, Supernatural fans are the craziest of the crazy...

[giandujakiss]

...according to - some guy on the internet.

And - look, see, these kinds of stories I generally find funny, and no, I don't particularly care when people make fun of SPN fans or even when they make fun of Wincest, and no, I don't take this kind of thing very seriously. It's just - there's a tone here that kind of perfectly captures the problem when people outside fandom (and that often, though not always, means men) look at fandom activities (activities that are often, though not always, favored by women) and express revulsion, and it gets to the heart of why fandom is (to me) a political project as well as a fun pastime:

Listen, I love Supernatural, I really do. But some fans out there really love Supernatural, to almost clinical levels. Ahem: The show's weirdest fans are known for writing tales about a little something called "Wincest," a play on the main characters' surname (they're known as the Winchester brothers) and that taboo where siblings get it on. And as much as I enjoy watching Sam and Dean Winchester battle demons, I do not have any inclination to see them (or read about them) having sex with each other.

Proof: Nor do I care to read about what the angel Castiel, with a crab claw for a hand, does with Dean.

Now ... I'm not quite sure what he's talking about with the crab claw thing, but that aside - note the phrasing here. "I do not have any inclination to see them having sex with each other" and "Nor do I care to read about what the angel Castiel does with Dean." With an apparent total lack of self-awareness, he's explicitly gauging Sam/Dean and Dean/Castiel only by reference to what he personally wants to read. If he's interested, thumbs up; if he's not, it's crazycakes, and that's his sole criterion.

One might almost call it ... Kripke-esque.

So, you know - support the OTW!

Comments

[delphinapterus]

I don't have a link (maybe somebody else does) but there was a really funny-sweet Dean/Castiel fic where Castiel had a lobster claw that was always going Clasp Clasp. Dean ended up getting turned on by the clasp clasp sound at the end of the fic.

I like to think I'm pretty laid back about fandom getting teased but maybe I'm not as laid back as I'd like because the tone of that article annoyed me really fast. It has the underlying implication that there is a Right Way and a Wrong Way to be a fan and doing any fic, art, vidding is very much the Wrong Way. That tone is part of the inherent gender division of in discourses about fandom where male fans are goofy geeks (look, they talk about continuities!) but female fans are just sexually into the object of their fannishness - they don't want to be Batman, they just want to be with Batman.

[giandujakiss]

because the tone of that article annoyed me really fast. It has the underlying implication that there is a Right Way and a Wrong Way to be a fan and doing any fic, art, vidding is very much the Wrong Way. That tone is part of the inherent gender division of in discourses about fandom where male fans are goofy geeks (look, they talk about continuities!) but female fans are just sexually into the object of their fannishness - they don't want to be Batman, they just want to be with Batman.

Yes, exactly. And I don't care what Some Guy on the Internet thinks, it's just that his view is also reflected in, say, actual people with power - like the people who actually work in Hollywood and make the television shows. Because that tone is exactly the tone that you can hear/see in Kripke's "meta" episodes and in the male fan/female fan divide in The Real Ghostbusters.

[delphinapterus]

reflected in, say, actual people with power I agree with this so much. I was watching CSI the other day and the episode had a female fan as one of the characters. She lived in a shrine to Rascal Flatts (they were being that week's guest stars) and had left their signitures on her arm, wanted to keep the guitar because the guitarist had touched it, all herself "Rascal Flatts Psycho" and they made her dimwitted on top of everything. I really wish they'd either leave fans out completely or at least try not to make all the female fans just interested in sex with their fannish object.

Plus, this whole attitude towards fans - and female fans in particular - is part of the reason we are so worried about being "outted" and don't even get me started on being a female fan in a comics store...

[giandujakiss]

Yeah, I know little about comics fandom but from what I've heard ... it sounds less than hospitable.

And I certainly hear you on the outing - I'm not exactly forthcoming with my own personal details :-).

[delphinapterus]

That's a nice way to put it. I mean I get that the internet spaces can be very gendered but I'm always floored by how I get treated in a store where I'm planning to spend money - I've walked out of some of them because of it. I've yet to come across ones where when I ask for recs the clerks will not automatically guide me to the "girl friendly" titles like Buffy, Runaways, etc. I'll have to specify the types of comics I'm into and even then there is a lot of reluctance. I've had clerks tell me that I won't like certain titles (Preacher springs to mind) because of the gore and profanity.
Edit: Sorry, didn't mean to go on a rant there.

[giandujakiss]

Rant away - it sounds like an awful gauntlet to have to run.

[ratcreature]

Yeah seriously. I once (on a search for backissues) ventured into a windowless basement store (aptly named Comic Cave) located in an out of the way sidestreet that had erratic opening hours (i.e. the hours posted on the door did not match actual opening hours so I had to come back), squeezed through some kind of corridor packed with boxes, which were also everywhere in the retail area (they did not manage delivery day well), climbed over a big dog, to finally ask the comic store guy where certain Batman series backissues were, because I certainly couldn't look on my own without being buried under boxes. The first reaction was total disbelief that I wanted to buy their comics (they pointed out that they were selling US comics rather than translations), as if I could somehow have accidentally wandered into their irregularly opened basement hole. I was then told that I ought to come back at another time, because they couldn't be bothered to shift those boxes around. Not enough WTF in the world...

[cathexys]

What bothers me actually more than his post are the comments that declare themselves proud SPN fans but wincest is ewwwww.

I still maintain that we are as strong as our weakest members, i.e., if I have to defend the crappiest tackiest canon fic on ffnet or the squickiest whatnot. It's ALL fandom. Not just the nice and presentable; not just the artistic and cool. All of it! /steps off soapbox...

[giandujakiss]

No, I agree - those kinds of comments are very annoying. But while I'm defending it, I may reserve my right to note that certain things either aren't to my,umm, taste ... or are just... poorly written.

[cathexys]

Sure :)

But you don't go defending "your" type of fan expression against those bad or yucky ones.

I always feel like they're saving their ass and hanging the rest out to dry...I may not like it but I defend it. I think that's the bottom line (and yes, it's harder to defend what you DON'T like!)

[delphinapterus]

I agree with your point which is, I think, sort of a "I'll defend your right to do it even though I don't like it" deal?

[cathexys]

LOL. Yes. It just takes me much longer to say that :D

[delphinapterus]

Well I am cribbing from Voltaire *g*

[softestbullet]

If he's interested, thumbs up; if he's not, it's crazycakes, and that's his sole criterion.

Yes, ugh.

[giandujakiss]

Yeah, and as I said in comments above, it's not that I care what some guy on the internet thinks - it's just that he's kind of thrown a much broader attitude into stark relief with his choice of words.

[softestbullet]

Totally. So many people think this way, and it is so, so maddening.

[erda]

Yes, this is obnoxious and all too familiar, but I'm mostly weirded out wondering how he found out about this cracky thing.

[giandujakiss]

So that's the crab claw reference? Huh.