#Your Fave is Problematic

[welcomingdisaster]

i heard from the edain in ossiriand that lord balan is having a mid-life crisis and dating some blond floozy who looks young enough to be his kid. in unrelated news elves in nargothrond tell me that finrod felagund is cradle robbing some human guy like 1/10th his age :/

[your-fave-is-forklift-certified]

Nandor the Relentless from What We Do in the Shadows (2019) is Not Forklift Certified!

[theshinysnivy1]

evbo is a class traitor

[detectivethicc]

Dear Writers

It is possible for your characters to have emotional or healing moments that do not lead to sex (LOOKING POINTEDLY)

healthy people do not solve all of their problems with sex (LOOKING POINTEDLY)

[brieserker]

If Iroh resisted the urge to firebend that tea, Jet wouldn't have died.

[darkshrimpemotions]

This article has been out for over a year, but I just heard of it via a youtube video by Princess Weekes (who I highly recommend you check out if you enjoy media analysis from someone who is clearly well-versed in fandom without feeling the need to establish themselves as some condescending authority studying us like creatures in a zoo, unlike some youtubers who post about fandom).

If you've been on tumblr for as long as I have (10+ years), you probably vividly remember the heyday of yourfaveisproblematic, and how that blog's popularity feels even today like one of the major catalysts for a lot of the purity policing on tumblr. In this article, the author of that blog--who was a teenager when it was active--talks about what motivated them at the time, how they feel about the blog now as an adult, how they see similar impulses being acted out across the internet today, and why they have never taken the blog down.

I highly recommend reading the whole thing, but here are a few key lines that really stuck out to me:

"In the years since, I’ve looked back on my blog with shame and regret — about my pettiness, my motivating rage, my hard-and-fast assumptions that people were either good or bad."

"I just wanted to see someone face consequences; no one who’d hurt me ever had."

"There’s something almost quaint about it all now: teenage me, teaching myself about social justice on Tumblr while also posturing as an authority on that very subject, thinking I was making a difference while engaging in a bit of schadenfreude."

"Looking back, I was more of a cop than a social justice warrior, as people on Tumblr had come to think of me."

These quotes remind me vividly of my own fall down the purity police pipeline, and my struggle to claw my way back out. Looking back, it's so easy to see how my pain and helplessness fueled a ruthlessness in my approach to social justice that was less about actually helping anyone and more about feeling like I wasn't so powerless.

Thinking of the friends I had at the time, many of whom I no longer associate with for related reasons, we were all traumatized or marginalized teenagers and twenty-somethings, newly awakened to the idea that the treatment we'd suffered for most of our lives was not in fact our fault and was due to systemic injustice and culturally accepted cruelty.

But we weren't healed enough, or distanced enough ourselves from the power structures causing or enabling that suffering, to think beyond wanting to flip the hierarchy. In a very real way, we weren't ready for the nuance required to give people grace and the opportunity to learn and grow. Despite having needed, and frankly still needing, those things ourselves.

I think we can learn a lot from Your Fave Is Problematic about the motivations and emotions behind purity culture, black and white thinking, and why neither is actually productive in reducing harm, easing suffering, or creating a kinder and more equitable world. And maybe, if we learn to recognize those impulses in ourselves, we can unpack them before they lead us to cause harm in the name of making ourselves feel less powerless.

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

Actually, your answer makes a lot of sense, and has given me a new perspective on the issue of the #Problematic. Due to personal trauma, I've always been very wary of those who enjoy certain problematic media, because I assume that means they support it, which is clearly an assumption that I need to work on. Hadn't considered that I enjoy problematic stuff myself, and criticize it. Being aware of the problematic and not replicating that on Real Life is enough when dealing with fiction.

Anyway, thanks for a good dosis of self-awareness.

Yeah, it's a messy and complicated issue. Because I recognize that, for example, women who say "a guy who mentions on the first date that his favorite movies are Taxi Driver and American Psycho is sending up a red flag" are probably onto something. And I've had students tell me "the Joker from The Joker makes some really good points", and I've felt a prickling of discomfort at their words.

But. I love Fight Club. The movie is a darkly funny critique of the alienation of capitalist life. The book is a brilliant horror story, written by a gay man raised by a single mom who wanted to understand why "masculinity" is considered this fragile thing that must be defended with violence, as someone who was himself shut from qualifying for the precious "man card." I got hooked on horror from Fight Club, I've written imaginary-friend-as-boogeyman as a result of Fight Club, I cosplayed as Tyler Durden in high school, I drove an hour to see Chuck Palahniuk speak... and I'm only spending an entire paragraph defending my love for Fight Club because I know what it looks like and that fragile part of me is tempted even now to scream I'm not one of THOSE guys, I swear!

So, I think it's best to recognize that my opinions can make other people uncomfortable, and that other people aren't having opinions at me. Even the people who like James Bond or Gone with the Wind might do so out of ignorance, or willingness to forgive sexism because of good cinematography, and the best thing for it is just to disengage from the conversation and find other people to talk to.

Which is where the internet can be nice. I fully support blocking and muting people whose opinions make me uncomfortable. I support others blocking and muting me. In fact, my most-used reason for blocking someone is that I'm unsure whether or not I qualify for their DNI (do not interact) list. I can't tell if I'm a BNHA Apologist or not... guess I'd best not interact. I googled KL//Ance Shipper but nothing came up, and I might support KL and Ance's romance... guess I won't interact. So on. I never hear from them, they presumably never hear from me, and we're all so much happier than we would be if we got into a shouting match over Your Fave is Problematic.

[quicktimeeventfull]

L is arguably not the worlds greatest detective

sires NO warrior children

slays NO bears

raises NO horses

NO ballads sung

NO tragic spurned lover

NO glorious castle

NO coat of arms

fhdjjdjdjd is this a reference to something or are these just truths.

IN FAIRNESS he does have one tragic spurned lover and, although he has no castle, he did build himself a gigantic apartment for no one to live in

[personal-blog243]

When are we going to unpack that in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” there is a literal pedophile ring of mostly underage girls in a place called “castle anthrax” and that Sir Galahad is an adult who is VERY much wanting to fuck the teenagers 😳 and it is portrayed as genuinely harmless and justifiable and normal.

The movie might take place in the Middle Ages but it came out in the 70’s surely the British had an age of consent by then???

[alarrytale]

It's interesting that on Tumblr I always see attacks on H, from "fas" or accounts that are Larrie. But Louis comes through unscathed, and he's done some terrible things in the last 2 years. Anon said that H only treats his fans well when he needs them. Didn't she see Louis in latam? What did he and the team do? That he only changed his stance after the exposure in twitter? lol people just want to criticize H, that's the truth

Hi, anon!

I can only speak for myself, but i criticize them both equally. Neither of them are perfect and they've got different strengths and weaknesses. It should be possible to discuss H's problematic behaviour or his image, or have people vent about H, without people bringing Louis into the conversation and start to compare and contrast. It's comparing apples with oranges either way. The same goes the other way around.

Of course larries will criticize H, who else? Harries won't. A lot of harrie larries won't do that either. They gloss over everything or prefer not to talk about it or bring it up. Just like louies or louie larries tend to do with Louis. That's just how things are. Most people got a favourite who they want to protect from criticism.

I think both H and L should be called out for their bad behaviour. I like to hear from anons who struggle with accepting, or coming to terms with, H or L's problematic behaviour or their shitty images, because i struggle with that too sometimes. I don't like to sweep things under the carpet. I like to talk about what's bothering me, understand why it does, vent, and end up accepting it or moving past it.

Remember the "Your fave is problematic" blog from 2013? I think we need to teach the new generation of fans that everyone has got a problematic fave. The world isn't black and white. H and L both show hypocritical, egotistical, capitalistic and spoiled rich kid behaviour. They're gaslighting and lying to their fans. It's happening and it's going to happen again in the future. So you can either choose to ignore it or you can call them out on it. It doesn’t mean that they are bad people or should be cancelled. It means they should correct their behaviour and do better.

[your-fave-is-forklift-certified]

Dream of the Endless aka Morpheus aka Sandman aka Oneiros aka Kai'ckul aka L'Zoril from The Sandman Comics is Not Forklift Certified!

[riondisease]

i love when people post hate about a piece of media in the art/community tags because i just read the first few words, realize its a dumb hate post, and then block them

like what do they think they’re achieving

[kyliafanfiction]

Also, is it wrong that I kinda ship Amanda and Emily a little? There's something so deliciously toxic there. :rofl:

[the-space-junker]

He’s a classic - no one ever said he’s one of the good classics!

[cwdumptruck]

So is the show ever going to address Jordan’s unhealthy fixation with his ex...

Or are we supposed to be rooting for him in his quest to “get the girl™”?