witchygfsgf · 17 days ago
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everything i hate about the modern marauders fandom ✨✨
characters are stripped of all defining traits. example: In POA, Remus is overall, a kind person. He has faced huge adversity, and despite this, proves society wrong by being a good person, by helping, by listening, time and again. But in fanon, he is aggressive, rude to friends, believes himself superior to the dumb, weak Sirius, he hurts people physically and verbally, he sides with bigots, he is quick to anger etc. He is not allowed to be gentle, supportive, meek and kind.
by assigning a villain character an LGBTQ+ sexuality, they are protected by any criticism. It's seen as homophobic if you so much as point out canon actions, much less make theories/headcanons about them that aren't positive, or negative but "hot." Everyone's personality is either warped beyond recognition or sanitised to the point they did nothing wrong, or both. Creating a ship for them, especially a character who we've only seen do terrible, unjustifiable things, only romanticises them, watering down their personality to create an aspect of their life that isn't so terrible, all in the hope that this will "make up" for their actions. "Barty didn't torture Alice and Frank, silly. He was too busy getting railed by his hot crazy boyfriend." "What do you mean Regulus is a fascist? Tell that to his husband."
extreme misunderstanding of canon backstories. example: Fanon perpetuates the idea that Regulus betrayed Voldemort in the end, which must mean he held no bigotry to begin with, he hated his parents and his upbringing from birth, and his crimes weren't that bad because eventually he changed. In reality, he had clips of newspaper articles about Voldemort hung on his walls, a literal shrine. He did betray Voldemort, but there is no implication this is because his beliefs changed. The fact it was likely due to the fact Voldemort planned to leave his house elf to die is ignored every time people theorise. What was well-known information is know deliberately cast aside in favour of popular headcanon, even if it doesn't fit the character. Barty wasn't Imperiused when he first joined the Death Eaters! He did that by choice! But fans remembered his daddy issues and now that's all that matters. Your father being an asshole doesn't give you the right to join a supremecist cult.
women are neatly paired off in wlw ships to avoid them affecting plot. example: A Jegulus shipper feels bad that Lily has been sidelined. Instead of investigating why they never allow women to prosper with their canon love interests, they find out about Mary, and decide that she will do, so no one is lonely. In most cases, Mary and Lily's relationship is defined by a) being a softer, drama-free counterpart to Jegulus and b) that's it. But they will rarely further the narrative in fanfiction, let alone provide more than background diversity.
shipping is prioritised over all else. there is no headcanon, no fic, no piece of art, that depicts one character without making it extremely clear that they are soulmates with another, and any attempt to depict characters separately, to show their own traits and individual stories and familial/platonic relationships instead, is pushed to the side. similarly, any discourse is less important when not related to shipping. talk about how jegulus makes no sense and how jilys better and get 100 notes, but talk about the evans sisters and get none.
the ableism. example: Remus' condition is very similar to a disability or chronic illness. He is constantly exhausted, especially nearing full moons, appears prematurely aged from the stress on his body etc. And then there's the societal stigma. For example, he is unable to get a stable job because he will be fired for missing work for rest/a full moon (reminiscent of needing frequent days off for flare ups). It impacts him in every aspect of his life. Many fanon fans have decided to erase all of this in favour of creating the two symptoms that impact him at all. One being horniness, and the other being anger. He doesn't have extreme fatigue and even pain, he just wants to rail Sirius twice daily. He doesn't hate himself because he will never be viewed as more than a beast by society, he yells at his close friends, hurts people he loves, and is forgiven by those weaker than him, because he is first and foremost powerful and intimidating. Instead of allowing the reality of his condition to be portrayed, it must become sexualised in order to fit in with his fanon characterisation.
"there's no information about them in canon, we have to make it up." I guarantee you there is. You can gather a lot from a small piece of information while still having it be accurate, and then, you can expand on that and build on those ideas by creating headcanons. Headcanons should not contradict canon, that's an AU. But if you're talking about canon-compliant universes, and you claim there's no information on Sirius Black, who has a whole book named after him, I have to laugh. For rarer, smaller characters, it's more complicated, but she still exists, and you can still take certain things from her character. Take Mary MacDonald. She was assaulted with Dark Magic by Mulciber, a friend of Snape's who later became a Death Eater, and he was described as "creepy." Despite that being her only mention, you can infer plenty from it, and build your own ideas that could fit with her character given those roots. To say there is no information, you have to have tried to seek it out because I promise (without having to give money to the TERF) you will find more than you thought was out there. If you prefer to ignore it, be my guest, please don't let a stranger on the Internet tell you how to live your life. But that's a choice, not your only option.
the fatphobia. For a fandom that claims to be inclusive and diverse, their attitudes towards plus size people imply otherwise. Peter is canonically fat, and while in the original context of the books this is done for fatphobic reasons, erasing this representation lets plus size fans know that you don't think they should have a place in your world, that you'd rather they were skinny so that they match your standards of "hotness" that you change every character to fit in with. For example, since the 2010s, Dane DeHaan has been the primary fancast for him, despite being slim, and this detail is rarely looked upon as anything other than standard altering of characters' appearances - e.g. it's treated similarly to people who use Ben Barnes (an actor with brown eyes) to portray Sirius (a character with grey eyes), a minor mistake that can be excused based on preference. If Peter is allowed to remain fat, many fans treat him worse than those who make him thin. His only hobbies include eating excessively and baking/cooking. He priorities food over people, is lazy and greedy/selfish in regards to food, he is always seen eating something or thinking about food out loud. Any angst about him pre-betrayal is focused on the idea of giving him an eating disorder, which fans claim "makes so much sense." That reflects how you view real fat people, and it can make us feel uncomfortable to engage in content about an otherwise very interesting character, because this will almost always be coloured by society's negative perception of fat people. He is also held to a higher standard than other Death Eaters, such as Evan Rosier. I would say that this applies to all fan-favourite DEs but for sanctity's sake, I'm only using one example. Rosier is heavily romanticised, his actions are excused or diluted, and he is given a sob story and angst unrelated to his appearance. His canon friends (Snape's gang) are replaced and any attempt to remember his true affiliation is ignored. Peter is villainised from a young age, he is never shown to be more than a traitor, he never gets a backstory let alone one that attempts to explain his personality and choices, and all angst in related to his appearance and weight. His canon friends (The Marauders) do not care about him in fanon, as if they were gifted with the knowledge that he was always a traitor. The only difference between them is that one is viewed as conventionally attractive and the other isn't. Also, any attempt to imagine any of the characters as plus size, even those with no physical description, is shut down or ignored. Fans hate fat evil characters because it's "fatphobic" but hate fat, good characters more because it's ruining their idealised, perfect version of the series, in which everyone is thin and hot.
heteronormative ships. example: In canon, both Remus and Sirius are fairly masculine, for example in terms of the way they dress. However, Sirius has shoulder length hair, while Remus' is short. This is his only "feminine" trait, and is definitely part of why fanon later decides to feminise him. In fact, as Remus is gentler, more mild mannered and kind, you could argue that of the two of them, he is more stereotypically feminine. Fanon has latched onto the idea that Sirius is feminine, whether that be transfem or an identity under the non-binary umbrella, and therefore their personalities have been altered to fit this. Remus is no longer as described in the books, but aggressive, tough, rude, hot-headed and dominant. He has also changed physically. Whereas canonically his height was never mentioned, and he is described as having prematurely aged, and as thin and weak looking due to exhaustion and poverty, he is now muscular, tall and conventionally attractive. Sirius is no longer careless, mean, immature and selfish, he is weak, submissive, dramatic, stupid and obsessed with Remus, who seems in most cases to not care about him, or at least find his personality annoying and make it very clear. He is also short, his hair is even longer, he dresses in short skirts and low cut or cropped shirts with heels and jewellery, he wears makeup, and he is referred to with feminine terms. These are all stereotypes of women. Men can be feminine, and non binary/trans identities are of course valid, but by stripping him of all masculinity and increasing the stereotypical masculinity of his partner, fans effectively suggest that there should be "a man and a woman" in the relationship. Further, sexist ideas of what a man and woman should be like when dating are ingrained into the fandom version of the ship, for example Remus is almost always the aggressive dominant top, and Sirius is almost always the weak submissive bottom. This is true, though not to the same extent as Wolfstar, in every MLM ship in the fandom. I will say that it seems to be different for the WLW ships, but I'll elaborate on that later (see "the palatable kind of lesbian.")
shipping the oppressor with the opressed. example: At the point most fan works are set, Regulus is a Death Eater or close to becoming one. He shares their beliefs of Muggleborns and Muggles, and worships Voldemort. Lily is a Muggleborn girl. She has been called a slur for her background, and I'd say she likely faced similar if not worse oppression to Hermione. Shipping them together, despite the fact that Jegulily/Regulily isn't as popular as other ships, betrays their entire personalities. Would Regulus date someone he views as inherently inferior? No he wouldn't, but his character has been so butchered it becomes impossible for people to remember what would be realistic for him.
the palatable kind of lesbian. Marlene/Dorcas. Masc*/Femme. Typically 2 Cis girls. Skinny. Conventionally attractive. Relationship rarely interferes with the main plot. Lily/Mary. Femme/Femme. Typically 2 Cis girls. Skinny. Conventionally attractive. Relationship rarely interferes with the main plot. Pandora/Lily. Femme/Femme. Typically 2 Cis girls. Skinny. Conventionally attractive. Relationship rarely interferes with the main plot. Emmeline/Mary. Femme/Femme. Typically 2 Cis girls. Skinny. Conventionally attractive. Relationship rarely interferes with the main plot. Alice/Narcissa. Femme/Femme. Typically 2 Cis girls. Skinny. Conventionally attractive. Relationship rarely interferes with the main plot. Do you notice the theme?
*Marlene is often presented as "masc" but in a way that conveys that the fandom views her as the butchest they'll allow a character to be. She has long hair, wears skirts and dresses, wears elaborate makeup and excessive jewellery, and yet many people seem to claim her as representation that they don't view femme lesbians as the only "good" ones. These are all things that butch lesbians can do, but when a fandom that claims to be diverse doesn't allow their lesbian characters to stray outside of the acceptable standards for womanhood, when the most masculine female character there wears leather skirts, lipstick and has long hair...Their efforts to be inclusive aren't succeeding.
women are avoided at all costs to prevent them effecting gay ships. Now forgive me that this isn't 100% Marauders Era, but i like to rant so you're getting context, if anyone's reading this that is. Tonks. She is constantly treated as if she shouldn't exist by predominantly Wolfstar shippers who want to justify pushing her aside. "Well (insert TERF) made her up to stop people shipping Remus and Sirius." Not true. Wolfstar didn't become popular until after the release of the POA film, in around 2009, and even then it was around 2015 when the Marauders Era itself became less underground and 2020 when Wolfstar started getting all-colnsumingly popular. Before that, Snupin was more popular by a long shot. If she created a whole character to stop gay ships, it would have been that one. That being said, it's not. Tonks existed as her own person in OOTP onwards. When the TERF decided not to kill off Arthur in the Department of Mysteries she wanted to kill off Remus instead, and so he was not only a semi father figure to Harry, but a biological father to Teddy. It's likely that because this child and death were "needed" Tonks was put with Remus to fulfil those themes of loss. And yet, despite not existing to prevent them, many Wolfstar shippers treat her character as if she's in the way, as if she doesn't have a place in the story etc. She is treated like a child who can't make her own decisions, even at the big age of 24, and portrayed as a victim of Remus. In reality, she holds all the power in the relationship that an older man would. She has reputation, money and she's an Auror (Wizard cop). Remus however, has had any reputation he did have stripped in Book 3, he is poor and unable to get a job, and he's a werewolf, a minority that is heavily discriminated against. And yet the age gap is suggested to be the only thing that matters, and the primary reason their relationship shouldn't exist, and as a result, why Tonks shouldn't be acknowledged. According to fans, her relationship and very existence is problematic, and she destroyed Wolfstar. Two crimes that cannot be forgiven. She has to go. In fact, her own child isn't her's now. In fanon, Teddy is more of Sirius' son than he is her's. She is never even grieved.
basically, it's a beautiful fandom, and i love being in it, creating for it, discussing with people. sometimes people just need some critical thinking, but they refuse to do so because thinking deeper about canon characterisation apparently makes them a jkr supporter. it doesn't. don't give money to the bitch but enjoying characters as they are is not the same thing. not basing all headcanons off of stereotypes and instead caring about how they realistically would act based on their previous actions is not the same thing as hating on trans people. you can make up as many trans headcanons as you want while still appreciating the fact that lycanthropy shouldn't be sexualised, or more importantly, that plus size people shouldn't be mistreated.
anyways, do what you want im not your mum.
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