#but that'sbc I've literally never interacted witha part of Riverdale fandom

[thedreadvampy]

see this is going to be another unkind Fandom Hate post but like

godddddd can't the Fandom Internet. en masse. just idk chill out and have a laugh?

like I don't like when the Big Fandoms are comedies bc the Fandom Hivemind often feels like it only has one mode of dealing with things and it's treating them like Extremely Important High Literature And High Romance

and it shakes down to feeling like there's only one genre of media in the world. like the fandom for a little kid's cartoon has the same vibes and takes itself as seriously as the fandom for a silly wee comedy which takes itself as seriously as the fandom for a slasher film which takes itself as seriously as the fandom for idk the Green Knight or some other artistic statement piece.

and this is a double edged sword bc media that is trying to Say Something and be a serious exploration of ideas and themes gets treated as just a collection of characters and beats to smash together

and media that was never designed to bear the weight of Serious Po-Faced Conversation bc by its nature it's glib or relatively simplistic or shocking or silly gets treated like a deeply important philosophical statement and people get really angry that it doesn't go as deep into ideas (or romance) as a prestige drama.

and that's not to say there's no characters or story to get hype about in thoughtful philosophical pieces, or that there's no philosophy or themes or meaning to "low art" genres worth taking about. most popular comedies and kids shows are very clearly trying to convey some quite complex ideas.

nor is this about a specific fandom or specific discourse. in isolation most of these conversations are good and fine. like most things, it's a pattern problem.

but like. the monogenre approach to fandom is exhausting tedious and uninspiring. and it also puts so much pressure on creators to be all things to all people. like how much harassment have Rebecca Sugar or ND Stevenson got largely for making kids' shows that aren't also simultaneously covering every base of an adult understanding of issues? how many writers of popular horror have got attacked for writing Bad Things Happening? how little room are popular comedy writers given to make throwaway jokes without stopping the story dead to cover their bases? and of course how many people who Literally Aren't Writing Romance have their work received as an underwhelming romance?

idk it's just wearing. I wouldn't have any interest in the fandom version of OFMD or of TMA - I like the shows but fandom very evidently isn't built for comedy or horror. at best it's built for handling YA adventure novels and tentpole blockbusters but honestly it doesn't really do any favours for anything more complicated than Harry Potter and Marvel there either.

you need different frameworks to enjoy different media, because different media is trying to do different things. It's a colossal disservice to treat them all as interchangeable building blocks and also we can't all want the same very specific genre of art. nowt wrong with that genre of art but again we're different people who are looking for different things.

anyway I think that's why fandom leaves me so cold. among a few other things but mostly that. it boils everything down to the same genre and it's not a genre that offers me what I'm looking for.