fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #3963 ]

[ SECRET POST #3963 ]

⌈ Secret Post #3963 ⌋

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

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04. [SPOILERS for Stranger Things 2]

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05. [SPOILERS for Stranger Things 2]

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06. [SPOILERS for Stranger Things 2]

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07. [SPOILERS for Great British Bake Off, S08E08: Forgotten Bakes]

[Stacey Hart in Great British Bake Off]

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 07 secrets from Secret Submission Post #567.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

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With the ease of social media and fandom becoming more public, it seems like there's a lot more of people professionally involved with the book/movies/show/whatever offering their commentary on fan shipping.

Do you think this is a good thing? Bad thing? What are people's feelings when actors/authors/etc. acknowledge fan shipping?

My own thoughts in reply.

I do find people involved in the show participating in ship stuff to be... weird and uncomfortable? And sort of leading to weird fandom stuff?

Like lets say I'm a huge Finn/Kylo shipper and I see the actors reblogging/talking about Finn/Poe and Finn/Rey because they're popular I'm sort of going to feel weird and left out. Like I already know I ship something unpopular, thanks for rubbing it in. And then the Finn/Poe and Finn/Rey shippers are going to be squealing about how their pairings are the best pairings because they're the ones the actors like the best.

It sort of feels like shipping used to be a big secret that you kept from the people in charge unless you were a jerk with no boundaries. Now it's perfectly acceptable to talk about shipping...... as long as it's the 'right' pairing, and the weirdos have to stay in the closet. Sure it's fine to tell the people involved your sexual/romantic fantasies about these fictional characters... as long as it's a nice normal fantasy. (I'm aware I might feel differently if I was one of those people getting shoutouts for shipping, instead of being stuck in rarepair hell)

No offense, but... that seems like a really bad reason to care about this.

I just don't think it's the job of the people creating a shoe to care about shippers feelings? I mean it seems like you could use the exact same reasoning to argue that shows shouldn't make ships canon.

Get over it, whiny butt. Why shouldn't the actors get to have as much fun as the fandom or be muzzled into silence because of your pweshush feewings?

what does "pweshush" even mean

Precious in dumb meme-baby-speak.

Acknowledgment in general doesn't bother me but I do think the lines between content creators and fans have become too blurred and I wish the two could be a little more separate.

And media professionals should really be careful about what they say online in general, too many of them seem to have no self control on twitter. Like I'm not famous and even I censor what I say online.

It's basically inevitable, and mostly fine, but it's definitely going to require us to figure out some new norms and standards of behavior to work things through

Which unfortunately the Internet sucks ass at

I definitely find it weird since I'm from the 'keep it secret, keep it safe' generation of fandom, but at the same time it's also kind of nice to have the people involved not balk at it like we're all weirdos. I don't think they really get it but mild bewilderment is nicer than 'ew wtf are you all doing, also stop it'.

But there are issues with the lines crossing, like fans not getting that being able to talk to their fave actor via Twitter/Instagram doesn't make them your* friend, and that just because someone on the creative team talks about a ship it doesn't mean that it's going to happen.

(*general your here).

I think it's fine... Mostly? I have mixed thoughts.

I like seeing creators actually acknowledge fans/fandom. I also think it has a postive effect on fandom culture bc I think *in general* it helps reinforce for fans that a) creators are real people and b) creators are NOT insulated from whatever stupid/creepy/awful shit fandom often gets up to. Like, yes, Popular Actor is probably aware of your weird RPF ship shrine, and Major Game Dev is aware of the ten million rage-filled shitposts about them, so maybe knock that shit off.

Obviously shipping is kind of a delicate topic, because people get really invested in it. And also a huge portion of shipping revolves around same-sex couples, underage couples, incest couples, and a lot of other things that are very much Not Okay for professional contexts. Like, I'm sure you could get away with saying you really like Mulder/Scully, no one is going to be clutching their pearls over that, but an actor can't exactly be like "I fucking LOVE Thorki!"

I also think that it can be a really bad thing for creators to be casual about fandom/canon. Like just recently the writer for the new Mass Effect novel was on reddit doing an AMA type thing, and she said she didn't like whatever character bc she thought they were boring. Holy fuck, the salt on tumblr. I mean there was legit people saying she shouldn't be allowed to write Mass Effect books if she couldn't be respectful of canon, and people saying she clearly didn't care enough to write a good story. There were even people who were fans of her saying these things. Her comment was REALLY mild, but people expect professionals to act a certain way. When you veer outside of that and try to engage with your fans in a more casual manner, like on social media, you're risking a lot more backlash and hurt feelings.

I can't remember the exact details, but I know there was a huge blowup in Steven Universe fandom because one storyboard artist posted some doodles of one ship and basically everyone who shipped the characters with others attacked and harassed her and accused her of sabotaging their ships because she shipped a rival pairing.

Lauren Zuke lol

Something similar happened with Voltron where one of the creators posted a completely innocuous picture but tagged it in a way that could be interpreted as a Shiro/Keith shipping comment. Cue rabid antis accusing the guy of real life pedophilia. That was not funny.

I feel sorry for everyone involved with that show, they clearly wanted to have fun with the fans and engage fandom at least a little and it blew up into... this.

Creators are allowed to have dumb opinions, even and especially about their own creations. I'd say it's only a problem when they shut down fanworks they don't like.

Oh I absolutely think they should be allowed to. I just kind of feel like the current culture of it is... kind of having a toxic effect on fandom? Like it helps fuel the current mindset of which ships are more or less valid and if you're a bad person for shipping them or not. And stuff like fans chasing people off twitter for liking the wrong fan ship or screaming at them and calling them pedophiles for saying there's nothing wrong with Shiro/Paladin ships etc.

Like how can Rowling coming out later and saying Harry/Ginny was wrong and she should have made it Harry/Hermione possibly have a nice soothing effect on fandom?

Except that's not what she said at all - heck, Ginny wasn't even mentioned in that interview. She said that, in some ways, Harry/Hermione were a better fit but in other ways Ron/Hermione were a better fit. Not once did she say it should've been H/Hr or that she regretted R/Hr.

Full interview att the bottom of this article (CRTL+F "Full J.K. Rowling and Emma Watson Wonderland Interview"):
http://www.mugglenet.com/2014/02/the-truth-behind-the-j-k-rowling-wonderland-interview/

This is kind of a weird reason to dislike the trend but I feel like the blurred line destroys some of the integrity of the Canon? Like people's outside opinions can't help but change the storyline or the creator's opinions.

Someone above mentioned JK Rowling. I'd love to know what her feelings about the HP Universe were now if she hadn't been influenced by other people. Same goes for George RR Martin. If we ever get another book will it bear any resemblence to what we would have gotten before the TV show? I'm guessing not at all.

I'm okay with it if it's just the actors having good-natured fun with the ship/fandom stuff. Like, I know the cast of "Criminal Minds" seems totally cool with a lot of the shipping that the fans do, and they have cute and silly BTS photos together and things of that sort. That stuff is fine, and can be a bit of lighthearted fun, and a good way to show that the cast and crew of a show appreciates the cool things that fandoms can bring to the entire experience.

I think it mainly becomes a problem when showrunners/writers/actors actively stoke the flames of any ship wars that they know about, and try and tease the fans and pit them against each other.

I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, creators and media profesionals being involved and engaging with the fandom seems fun. On the other hand fans don't always have the best reactions, not to mention the mob mentality when said creators say what they deem the wrong thing. Think of when fandom goes after BNFs or other fans, even.

So I'd say they can get involved with fandom but always keeping a healthy distance from them.

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[ SECRET POST #3963 ]

Media Professionals and Shipping

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Re: Media Professionals and Shipping

Re: Media Professionals and Shipping