#I don't need to show my 'credentials' in order to be validated

[shadowmaat]

Fandom elitism and bullying

I’ve been catching up on the kerfluffle about Ray Park and Daniel Logan leaving the 501st and I gotta say, a lot of the commenters on that post are kinda proving the point.

First of all, it doesn’t matter if there are “just a couple of bad apples” in the group or if “every group has its rotten members.” The point is that the “bad apples” exist and are allowed to exist. Hell, in some cases they’re even protected. 

When you’re talking about fandom in general, yeah, it can be hard to police that, but when you have an actual organization with a leadership that can revoke membership then it becomes a case of management allowing those members to stay. In that case it doesn’t matter if the management itself doesn’t do any bullying because they are still enabling the bullies and giving their tacit approval of their behavior.

“Maybe they just don’t know what’s going on!” Really? Really?? You really honestly believe that no one has ever complained before? No one has gone up to someone in the leadership and said “Hey, X is acting like a jackass and this should be handled?” Really? Yeah, no. If someone is a dick to one person they’re going to be a dick to a lot of people and some of those victims along the line are going to be upset enough about it to make an official complaint.

“But think of all the charity work they do!” Yes? And? No one is saying the group doesn’t do a lot of good, but should toxic bullies be tolerated just because they help raise money for good causes? Are you supposed to smile and take whatever punches are dealt to you just because the asshole that’s hurting you is nice to other people? Thanks, but no thanks.

“Don’t punish the whole group because of a couple of bad apples!” See above, re: management allowing toxicity to exist. See also: you shouldn’t have to swallow your suffering just for the “good” ones. Anyway, from what I’m seeing there is no wholesale condemnation of the vast worldwide network of 501 outposts. Ray and Daniel even say that there are a lot of good peeps to be found within it. But the bad ones still make it an intolerable environment and they are well within their right to leave if they’re unhappy. In cases like this no one HAS to stay with a group if they don’t want to. They can leave for any damn reason they want, or even no reason at all. It’s called a choice.

If you think that a couple of guys leaving your group is somehow punishing the entire group, maybe you should sit down and parse out why you think that. Because you think they make you look bad? What about the one who drove them off? And before you start with the “well, I’ve never harassed anyone” stuff, I’ve gotta say “so what?” Do you think harassment doesn’t exist? Do you think the actions of a few should be ignored? You are, of course, welcome to think those things even if they’re ignorant. But you shouldn’t expect everyone to cater to your expectations just because you don’t think something is a problem.

“That’s just the way it is. Suck it up.” Uh, no. Even if it was the way things are, that sure as fuck doesn’t mean it’s the way things have to be. The world is a terrible place? SO CHANGE IT. Enough with the goddamned fatalism. Enough with sitting on your ass and acting like there’s nothing to be done. Find ways to make things better. And stop belittling others for finding their own way to improve things, even if it’s only for themselves.

It’s also worth pointing out that the comments on that post contain other examples of elitism and bullying. People who left because they were harassed. People who weren’t allowed to join because they were “too fat” or “not good enough” in their cosplay skills. Maybe it is just a few “bad apples” but it isn’t stopping them from ruining it for others. And if your feeling is that the organization is too big to be able to police everyone, maybe that’s something to think about, too. 

I’m not really interested in “debating” this issue. I wanted to vent and I have. But I will say that I am goddamned sick and tired of gatekeepers and bullies being excused while their victims are condemned, questioned (”are you sure you aren’t making a big deal out of nothing?), and written off.

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

What do you think about TheBangtankaijuu Director's outlook on the GCF? Thebangtankaijuu had interesting ideas about JM and JK's relationship but deleted tumblr.

I went and looked for those posts, I found the analysis on GCF Tokyo and GCF Osaka (this one). There a few things which I would like to mention about the credentials of this director, in particular this part:

''One of his films won twenty-three international awards at the Cannes film festival''

Cannes in itself is an international festival, it does not have a separate section for international production. Second of all, there are indeed over 20 categories, but for a film to win in the same edition, 23 awards is impossible. Anyone who checks the Cannes list will see why. It's not like at the Oscars where a film wins even 10-13 awards in different categories. No Indian film has won even remotely that many awards at Cannes during a single edition. Here is a list of films that were presented there and won some awards over the years. It's also mentioned that the director is a scriptwriter as well and he wrote the script for the first 3D Indian film. Again, I did some research and this is what I found: The film is titled My Dear Kuttichathan (1984) and the script was written by Raghunath Paleri. He directed 2 films and wrote the script for the film Vanaprastham which indeed premiered at Cannes in 1999, in the section Une Certain Regard and won other awards at various film festivals. If this is the guy and my research is correct, then it seems some information has been distorted in the original post. I don't know why, maybe to give more legitimacy to what he says about GCF but I don't really see the point in it.

I read what he said about both films, it's obvious from his comments that he knows the craft and his judgments are pertinent. But to me, it's kind of pointless, although I do agree with some of what he said. GCF don't need a director's explanation because everything is so obvious and easy to understand. There's no hidden symbolism difficult to identify and to understand. The first GCF is taken during a trip in Tokyo, but it's not only about the city, as it focuses more on the subject (Jimin), how the subject feels and how the director (Jungkook) himself wants to show his subject. Of course the music is not random, it has a point, especially in a video that is supposed to reflect a personal, more intimate trip. The Osaka one is not a travel vlog either, it focuses on friendship and it's more goofy, as it has Taehyung and Jimin and it changes the mood. I'll leave a link to what I also wrote about GCFT in order not to repeat myself.

https://bangtan-media-thoughts.tumblr.com/post/657783602418991104/gcf-in-tokyo-and-the-validity-of-interpretation