[ SECRET POST #4437 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4437 ⌋

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

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 14 secrets from Secret Submission Post #635.
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]

06. https://i.imgur.com/auqij9Z.png

[(Anonymous)]

I think a lot of the way that people reference it comes across as uncritical and simplistic and almost hagiographic.

[philstar22]

Harry Potter was the big fandom right when the internet was getting big and when the current generation was growing up. So it does make sense that many people would view it with rose-colored glasses.

I think just in general a lot of people talk that way about the things they were into as a child. I hear it a lot about Star Trek and the Star Wars OT as well.

[(Anonymous)]

It's one thing to view something with rose-colored glasses if you're leaving it in the past. I think it's another thing if you're still actively engaging with it. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect adults to take, like, a nuanced critical view of things like that. Or at least it shouldn't be unreasonable.

[philstar22]

Oh I agree. That was meant to be explanation, not excuse. I wish people were more critical about it or at least could be open to criticism without seeing it as a personal attack on the author.

[(Anonymous)]

I do agree with that, but it's also important to keep in mind the in-fandom / out-of-fandom distinction here, because it can be a very different context for saying things

[(Anonymous)]

I think it's completely unreasonable to demand that adults interact with everything they consume critically, even (gasp, shock, horror) popular/nostalgic things.

People are allowed to just enjoy things! People shouldn't use that as a reason to shut down more nuanced discussion, and I know sometimes they do, but people also shouldn't police anyone else's right to have a dumb comfort food show/book/whatever.

Like. I enjoy analyzing star wars to death. Its so dumb!!! But that doesn't make it wrong to just love it and not care about its flaws. I unironically love some super trashy niche shows. I wish everyone well who wants to deconstruct them, but if they come into my inbox about it they're getting banned or mocked, because it's my space and life is short.

Harry Potter in particular, sometimes I'm in the mood for nuanced discussion and sometimes I'm in the mood for nostalgia. But boy am I fucking tired of a relentless swarm of negativity ready to descend on any hint of sincere enjoyment with tirades about how racist JK is.

Like, critique of race issues should absolutely exist. "Every word spoken by a person of color in the Harry Potter Movies" is a genuinely radical digital media project revealing some really damning stuff. But it does not need to be part of *every* mention of HP. Especially when it's less nuance and more "I hate that a thing I loved disappointed me and now NO ONE ELSE IS ALLOWED TO LOVE IT ANYMORE EITHER." Which isn't really happening here but I've seen so much of it.

[philstar22]

I get equally frustrated when discussion is shut down on either side. People should just allow other people to enjoy as they choose. Why is how someone else does fandom something that somehow affects you? That's just strange to me. Let people love things, let people hate things, let people discuss as they want to. Them loving or hating something isn't hurting you.

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, but, I mean, Philstar, it really seems like you strongly dislike every single Harry Potter character except maybe Luna, and that is kind of a downer in fandom-y conversations sometimes.

[philstar22]

Okay? I like Neville and McGonagall too. But that's beside the point. Sometimes fandom discussions are negative. As long as people aren't telling other people how to fandom, I don't see the problem. People hate things I love all the time. I only get annoyed if people tell me that I shouldn't love something or am wrong for loving it. People are allowed to discuss things. The problem in fandom is not negativity.

We're all going to have things we like and dislike. People should be free to discuss whatever their opinions on something are. If a place is a strictly positive place, sure, avoid hate there. I follow some positive-only Star Wars and Doctor Who groups. But FS is not a positive-only place. FS is for discussing all opinions.

[(Anonymous)]

I don't think it's anything wrong that you're doing, necessarily, and I agree with everything you're saying, I just sort of wonder, like, at a certain point, why keep engaging about something that you dislike that much? It reminds me of Walking Dead fandom where you have these people who are in the fandom despite apparently hating every aspect of the show and it's just like... why?

[philstar22]

For me, with Harry Potter, it is because it meant so much to me growing up. It was my first fandom, and for the longest time it was the only fandom I participated in or read fics for. And I still read fics. Something about the world still speaks to me, even if I believe that a lot of fic writers have done a better job than the actual author.

[(Anonymous)]

DA
My personal guess is that there is a train wreck factor at work. Some people can't tear their eyes away from something they view as disgusting.
And then there are the people who love to gleefully slaughter every sacred cow they think they encounter. I'm probably in the latter camp some of the time.

[(Anonymous)]

Why do people recap Fifty Shades and Twilight? It's a thing.

[(Anonymous)]

I should be clearer, I think that people should definitely be *capable* of engaging with things critically, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they have to be that way all the time. But specifically when you're outside of that fandom mode of engaging, thats a slightly different story. Like, what I'm thinking of is when you see people using Harry Potter analogies to make political points - I don't think at that point you can rely on nostalgia, and people seem to do so.

[(Anonymous)]

people using Harry Potter analogies to make political points

People do that??

OP

[(Anonymous)]

OP here. I wouldn't say I need people to be more critical. It's just that referencing Harry Potter is more likely to spark an eye-roll or second-hand embarrassment in me than most other popular entertainment.

For an example of an HP reference that doesn't bug me, I was reading an article from The Atlantic about a moose tick population boom that is killing moose calves by literally sucking them dry, and it included the sentence "The moose tick, a.k.a. the winter tick—or Dermacentor albipictus, to use its aptly sinister, Potteresque Latin name..." That made me smile because "Potteresque" is a great way to describe it.

But, like, don't be the person who quotes Dumbledore in your personal statement or in your #thoughtsandprayers response to a tragedy, because it completely undercuts any potential gravitas and I will squirm with embarrassment on your behalf (and then feel like a bit of a jerk because maybe you're 13).

Re: OP

[(Anonymous)]

I totally agree! And, like, when I say "uncritical", I don't mean that they like it too much, but more that they seem to be unaware of its limitations and flaws.

Re: OP

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, that's more like it. I get that it's extremely meaningful to a lot of people, but at the end of the day it's also twee fantasy aimed at children - and I mean that in the most loving way possible - and I figure if one would feel silly quoting things like Star Wars or Lewis Carroll in a given situation, then maybe back away from quoting Harry Potter, too.