[ SECRET POST #4402 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4402 ⌋

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

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 17 secrets from Secret Submission Post #630.
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.

Comments

[fscom]

03. https://i.imgur.com/DAxYo3u.png

[(Anonymous)]

I mean, one uses fictional characters and the other involves actual people so inherently that's the difference.

[(Anonymous)]

But we know so little about these real people, who also usually have some sort of a public image, that it may as well be fictional people shipping. If the fans and shippers don't invade private lives and don't jam their shippy feelings down the real people throats, I can see no actual problem.

[(Anonymous)]

You're kind of missing OP's point, though. It's not like people who are into RPF really know the real people, they're often just basing it off the characters they play or wishful thinking headcanon. It's more persona than person.

[(Anonymous)]

It's mildly squicky to some people and toxic rpf fans seem particularly noxious in their bad behavior. I think those two things pretty much cover it.

[(Anonymous)]

Some sports fans are really terrible - aggressive, violent, and with a tendency to vandalize public property and get into fights. That's not really a good reason for shaming everyone who's interested in sports, though.

[(Anonymous)]

Okay but this covers pretty much... everything in fandom? Almost everyone has something they find squicky, and there a toxic fans in literally EVERY fandom.

[stelleappese]

I agree with you. Most people writing RPF see the people they're writing about as characters, and have no problem telling reality from fiction.
Idk, man. Some people dislike RPF and understand it's up to them to avoid them, just like they would avoid any other squick, so they do what everybody else does and don't read RPF; others just enjoy trying to prove they're better than the rest of us poor suckers and try to call people out as 'toxic' for enjoying something harmless ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[(Anonymous)]

The thought of RPF brings immediate connotations to tinhatters and crazy celebrity stalkers. No-one sane want to be associated with that.

[(Anonymous)]

But those are things that are done by extreme crazy members of the fandom, not things that are inherent to RPF as a concept. There's nothing shameful in it, and we should only be ashamed of those things that are truly shameful.

[(Anonymous)]

No one intelligent would say this.

[(Anonymous)]

In the end, it's a question of boundaries. Fictional characters don't have privacy. Everything they are is, by definition, put out for public consumption. You can play with fictional characters like dolls and send them on adventures and make them kiss and fight and fuck and that's okay because they are literally designed for your entertainment and don't have any feelings to hurt.

Actors are real people. Like many real people, they have a public face that they present to the world. But at the end of the day, actors don't belong to the public the way that fictional characters do. They belong to themselves, the way that real people do. And because they are people with feelings and families and unknown sore spots, there's something off about treating their lives as if they were fictional characters. YMMV.

[(Anonymous)]

ia, and I feel like a lot of people assume their "public personas" are also acting when they're probably not even remotely. I used to work in the music industry, spent a lot of time with musicians, and their public face was nothing more than a customer service face, same as we all have when we need to not snap at someone in public.

[(Anonymous)]

So, what can we do in relation to a real person within a random? Is creating a meme off them fair game? Drawing fanart that depicts them in a way that isn't strictly following their presented image? Can we discuss their fashion choices and behaviour? Is it okay to thrash showrunners and be rude at them on twitter because we think their showrunning isn't meeting our expectations? Is it okay to say on your own private blog that you find some celebrity hot and declare that you'd bang them in a heartbeat? If we begin to discuss the ethical side of the random's relationship with real people all of it begins to look pretty sketchy. I don't necessarily find rpf tasteful, but presenting it as the worst thing a fan can do to a person is rather misguided, imo. In the end, it's just a fantasy put in words - millions of people fantasise about celebrities, meaning no harm and no disrespect. Imagining someone in a made up scenario is not a criminal offense and neither it is unethical - just like drawing Brad Pitt wearing Han Solo outfit isn't unethical.

[(Anonymous)]

I agree, OP. They're basically just writing existing characters or OCs with the real people as face claims.

[(Anonymous)]

Every time I see someone protesting that RPF/RPS is cool and no one including the persons being fic'd/shipped has the right to find it weird or distasteful, I always think of the Simpsons where Homer says "if actors didn't want people going through their trash and saying they're gay, they shouldn't have tried to express themselves creatively!"

[(Anonymous)]

Straw man much?

I agree.

[(Anonymous)]

But I will not be at all surprised if someone comments that people that write RPF are awful and are violating people's privacy or something.

[(Anonymous)]

For me the difference is—well, I don’t ever want to be famous, and much as I enjoy writing, I don’t really want to be a professional writer either.

But while in the hypothetical world where I was a published author or had my screenplays turned into successful movies, I’d be happy that people liked my work enough to want to put their own spin on it in fanworks, in the even more hypothetical universe where I was in the public eye, the thought of people writing RPF and excitedly sharing fan-theories about my love life gives me the screaming heebie-jeebies. So, so much ew and nope and yuck and cringe.

Some of my favorite actors have said that fans’ speculation about their private lives, or pressure to reveal everything about their lives and their (not famous) spouses and/or kids, makes them really uncomfortable, and have been really angry at RPF tinhatter gossip, and saying it made working with their coworkers awkward and their spouses creeped out/horrified.

And I think it’s really shitty that some fans then go “aw, look how cute they are denying the truth about their love for each other,” and not “oh god sorry we fucked up.”

And I know that most RPF fans aren’t sharing/shoving their fic and art and headcanons with the actors it’s about, but these days so many actors google themselves, or click on unfamiliar tags, or their families do, that I feel like all RPF except some fan’s handwritten fic notebook is likely to eventually bring the existence of RPF to the people it’s about.

[(Anonymous)]

Uhh, if you really can't tell the difference between fictional characters and real people, you probably have a problem that requires a professional diagnosis. That isn't normal.

[(Anonymous)]

I agree, OP. That's really all I have to say.

[(Anonymous)]

Boy, RPF shippers love making excuses.

[(Anonymous)]

Is RPF wank the flavor of the month here? And does this mean less obnoxious Snape vs. James wank as we move into February?

[(Anonymous)]

Write what you want, keep it to yourselves where it can’t hurt anyone, but for the love of fuck, when the people you’re writing about or their friends and families ask you to knock it off, stop acting like dudebros who can’t understand why a woman wouldn’t be flattered by their catcalls.

[(Anonymous)]

I just... I can't OP. Totally fictional characters that aren't acted by a real person? Cool, I can do whatever the fuck I want with them. Characters acted by a real person? Nope. It's just squicky to me. I can't explain why, I just can't do it.