fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2819 ]

[ SECRET POST #2819 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2819 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

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Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
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When fans write meta essays about fandom stuff (whether general or specific to a particular fandom), what kind of stuff do you love, and what kind of stuff really irritates you?

World building and insights into why the character acts a certain, basically stuff that feels like a natural extension of the existing world.

I'm not sure how to qualify it, but I'll try to explain a post I read as well as I can;

People think The Last Airbender is vastly superior to Legend of Korra at least in terms of female friendships, but this person pointed out how A) Katara and Toph were really just tolerating each other a lot of the time, Suki was only involved for the last few episodes as a real part of the Gaang, and the Trio of Dangerous Ladies were essentially broken up (and we NEVER see Mai again, and while Ty Lee goes off to join a true sisterhood, we don't see the aftermath).

Legend of Korra has a multitude of female characters, and more of them are older. The White Lotus in the original show (A bunch of Grandmasters) were a bunch of men. In Korra, the older women are masters of their craft and teach Korra. Pema is a mother, and that's fine! Jinora is the youngest airbending master, and that's fine too!

I think the point was ' Hey, TLA isn't as great regarding this as you might have thought',

TLDR: so meta that puts things into perspective I guess? Also, stuff about characters, why they act some way, how they might act in the future 'off screen'.

and we NEVER see Mai again

Um, yes, we do. She and Zuko make up and get back together and she's even hanging out with the Gaang at the end.

Re: What kind of meta do you like?

morieris - 2014-09-22 02:23 (UTC) - Expand

Meta that makes me even sadder about the characters I love. "Oh, you thought this character made you cry? WELL HOW ABOUT I TELL YOU WHAT HE WOULD HAVE GONE THROUGH DURING HIS TIME!"

Also, short meta for the most part. I don't want to read an essay, I want bite sized stuff I can weave into my various headcanons. Been enjoying Marvel meta of late.

Love: Speculation about a character's motivations, when the source material is extremely ambiguous or coy, or simply fails to give us a satisfactory motivation.

Hate: Speculation about a character's motivations when the source material already gives us an explicit, well-developed, non-OOC motivation, but the fan wants a motivation that is all about how much in love with another character the character is (because if you're in love with someone, you're not allowed to have any other motivations at all!), and/or makes their woobified villain fave more sympathetic and excuses their actions.

Love: observations about the effect that certain details about the environment, events, systems, and attitudes present within a work has on the general themes it embodies and messages it sends.

Hate: claims that the writers CLEARLY INTENDED some grand conspiracy of symbolism to convey a secret message for fans to decode, and when they don't follow the pattern, it's because they are terrible writers who don't realize what they're doing.

You probably see a pattern here...

(reply from suspended user)

but it's very strange to read this gigantic thesis on Professor X's motivations and who he is as a person with the caveat that this has nothing to do with the actual Professor X who's been around for 50-ish years.

doesn't bother me. i think mcavoy's character has been more inspired by ultimateverse than 616, anyway.

(reply from suspended user)

Re: What kind of meta do you like?

brooms - 2014-09-21 21:03 (UTC) - Expand

Re: What kind of meta do you like?

(Anonymous) - 2014-09-21 20:38 (UTC) - Expand

(reply from suspended user)

Re: What kind of meta do you like?

brooms - 2014-09-21 21:09 (UTC) - Expand

Re: What kind of meta do you like?

elaminator - 2014-09-21 22:29 (UTC) - Expand

Re: What kind of meta do you like?

(Anonymous) - 2014-09-22 10:11 (UTC) - Expand

Re: What kind of meta do you like?

nightscale - 2014-09-21 22:55 (UTC) - Expand

(reply from suspended user)

Re: What kind of meta do you like?

nightscale - 2014-09-21 23:26 (UTC) - Expand

I hate it when people put down meta musings as if they were facts.

Re: What kind of meta do you like?

(Anonymous) - 2014-09-21 23:31 (UTC) - Expand

I love stuff about world building, character background and development, and plot speculation if applicable.

There's nothing I really hate just stuff I find less interesting.

I like well-documented meta where a person goes through canon and makes a detailed account of things to support their head-canons. I would add, though, that these details cannot be tin-hat types of evidence. I want to see someone who has a fairly reasonable understanding of canon and acknowledges the points of canon they are changing/overlooking for personal preference.

Meta also has to be fairly neutral in tone for me. Like, I like enthusiasm but I don't want to be preached at. I want to feel like I could discuss with this person any points of difference I have and feel like this person would fairly evaluate my position. They don't have to change their minds but I like it better when someone makes it clear that they understand the shades of difference between canon, plausible canon, wish fulfillment, subjective reading, etc. and can engage thoughtfully in discussion.

Re: What kind of meta do you like?

(Anonymous) - 2014-09-22 00:01 (UTC) - Expand

Re: What kind of meta do you like?

(Anonymous) - 2014-09-22 03:27 (UTC) - Expand

i love it all, tbh!!

I vastly prefer people to phrase their meta as "what if...?" "can it be...?" "is it possible that...?" "Let's assume that..." and then list their speculations, along with alternative possible explanations.

Meta that's phrased as "This is what is happening here" really irritates me, even if I know that the writer is just putting down their opinions.

"This is what is happening here"-type speculation just works way better in fanfic than in meta essays.

I like nearly any kind of meta that's not The Johnlock Conspiracy.

Definitely world-building. There's a couple of essays on the Steam forums that explain the Half-Life universe, for example why the HECU act the way they do, why their equipment seems so oddly placed for a Marine unit, and so on. It's the most in-depth thought about the subject I've ever seen and I love it.

I dislike worldbuilding. I've just kind of stopped caring about all the details of that kind of thing. I like reading about characters, and points of view, and especially about tone and genre and point of reference. That's what really interests me, not the internal details of organizational structure or systems or what have you.

I like when characters' actions, motivations, and dialogue are dissected. World building can be fun at times, but I'm definitely a more character-oriented person.

I dislike meta that throws canon out the window. If you want to write an AU fic, then write an AU fic; don't dress it up as meta.

I like character/relationship dynamic focused. Like, talking about what the characters could think and how certain relationships could help or hinder them, and such.

I don't know how to explain it.

Death meta.

I love essays about characters and their motivations, predictions about plot stuff, or extrapolations about setting and universe that's not really given but can be pieced together through random context clues.

I'm not very fond of shipping-related essays, though, as much as I'm a shipper at heart.

Likes: Most Meta. I really, really love meta.

Dislikes: Anything where the author contradicts canon material (and not in an opinion way of disliking the source but where they get the canon wrong).

I likes most of it.

I like all meta that doesn't try to claim that [show] was based on some horrible thing that happened to a real child, and I get irritated when meta reaches too far with flimsy evidence (see: 'the parents in Frozen got shipwrecked and were Tarzan's parents!', okay, first off, they were sailing from fucking Norway to like England or something, how the fuck did they get to Africa) or tries to claim it's ACTUAL CANON YOU GUYS IF YOU BELIEVE OTHERWISE YOU'RE WRONG AND PROBABLY A HOMOPHOBE.

ship_manifesto-like meta, e.g. 'Butt/Hole is the greatest ship in the history of the universe, let me tell you why with lots of fuzzy screen shots of them touching each other and analysis of character motivations and plot in terms of their tru luv!!!1'
I find that fun and cute.

Also like a bit of 'Did you know that the Hunger Games are actually set in the same universe as Bob the Builder? Let me show you why, with intense diagrams.' Only if they're both convincing and also firmly tongue in cheek though.

Seriously, I quite enjoy meta that delves into the themes motifs of shows, as long as they're written well and not clutching at straws.

World building is good. But I hate posts that get very SJWy and very very oppression olympicsy or do them just for the "points" of being an SJW type.

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