#fandomification of politics

[thebreakfastgenie]

Also I think we can have a larger conversation about the fandomification of politics and merch that treats specific political figures as idols but no one reacts the same way to the Bernie merch including those tattoos people were getting in 2016 or even the Obama "hope" poster and general pop culture buzz around him. And I think the buzz around Obama is largely justified by what a significant historical figure he is, it's just the same can be said for RBG, Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris, etc. The people making fun of Notorious RBG aren't offering good faith criticism of fandomized politics they just think women are cringe.

[mint-in-the-moonlight]

the fandomification of paganism

hello everyone! first of all, thank you for taking the time to read this post. I want to preface it by saying that it is based on my opinion and observations and it's coming from a genuine place of care for the community. I don't mean to attack anyone or deny anyone's experience, I simply want us to reflect on the path that online paganism has been taking in recent years. with that being said, I hope you can continue reading with an open mind and limit your critiques to those actually related to my points, framing or conclusions. thank you!

there is something that I've been noticing in online pagan spaces lately, a shift which has me worried and feeling disconnected from much of the community. it seems to affect the way we think and talk about our deities which then seeps into the rest of our practices and communities.

I think we have already witnessed many large ways in which it manifests. the most recent and widespread example that I can think of was the whole "the gods are mad" thing on the eve of the US presidential election. some people were adamant that the gods were emotionally affected by the affair as if they themselves had a personal stake in it. now, I don't mean to say that the gods don't care about human affairs but the general consensus after this whole debacle seems to be that the gods are generally quite distant from stuff like this as they have no stake in things like human politics beyond potentially how it affects their worshippers. I agree with this general idea and I think what is likely happening is people are projecting their own opinions and feelings onto the gods because it is important to them that the gods seemingly agree and can sympathise (i wrote a bit more about this situation here if you're interested in reading it).

so from this one example, but potentially many more that I or you reader have experienced, i think what we are seeing is a certain trend (and I don't mean this in a negative way) of the gods as much more human-like. this is not necessarily a bad thing, many pagans see the gods as much closer to humans than I do (I see them as much more non-human or superhuman and just completely out of our realm of understanding). but what i usually see this being accompanied by is a certain belief that the gods are always around and very invested in every tiny aspect of our lives. in some people's practices, they seem to serve a more companion role and their importance as gods is severely downplayed.

I think this want for spiritual companionship is completely understandable and normal, this is after all one of the reasons why people can decide to become pagan or religious in general. but I think at times I see this move into a territory that I find problematic. I call it the "fandomification" of paganism.

I've been struggling with how I want to describe it because as much as I want people to be able to worship and practice however they want, I genuinely think that some of these behaviours cause problems in our communities and I want to address that from a place of good faith. with the knowledge that this might ruffle some feathers I want to say the following: I think some people treat the gods too much as manifestations of their favourite blorbo from a tv show or book rather than the powerful spiritual beings that they are.

I think that the idea that anyone can immediately communicate with the gods through a candle flame or a pendulum has led people to believe that they always have the ear of the gods and that the gods care and have opinions about every little thing that we can think of. I think skits on tiktok have popularised the erroneous idea that the gods can have snippy little conversations among themselves and practitioners and that they have beef amongst themselves.

what I honestly think is that many people have lost the respect and awe of the gods and made them into their personal entertainment clowns and that really rubs me the wrong way. this is not the way I want to engage in my religion, and once again while I do not wish to compel people to adapt their religion to what I believe, I have definitely noticed a growing schism between pagans who think like me and pagans who do not. I think it may be time for us to reflect on this development and how we want to tackle it going forward in relation to the future of our pagan communities.

[toddandersonn]

the fandomification of politics something something

[savedgame]

The fandomification of political movements is so corny to me ‘Miku is a communist icon” bro what are you TALKING about actually Idgaf just draw your red and yellow pallete swap miku get those twitter likes and epicly ratio the haters in the comments You are so fucking cool

[vampire-on-main]

the whole fandomification of idk the correct word politics (ig) in terms of the "do what you want forever" circle would be funny and cringe and we'd all point and laugh at it if it didn't actually rot ppls mind and make them actually racist, transphobic, and misogynistic while playing uwu innocent about it

[quietwingsinthesky]

13, 24

13. Worst blorbofication

See, the one I run into that bothers me the most is Dean. God forbid we treat him with an ounce of nuance and allow him to be a little shitty sometimes. But for the worst worst? Gabriel. Gabriel got hit so hard with the fandomification ray and he’s never recovered. I’d wager a bit of it is how a not inconsiderable amount of people did not watch s1-3 and so are. Less aware of the whole ‘killing Dean hundreds of times in a row for Sam’s personal torture in a misguided attempt to make Dean’s eventual real death hit less hard and uhm. Actually making it much much worse lmao.’ I feel like maybe if you didn’t sit there and watch Gabriel laugh off Sam’s distress at first and then force him to go six months without Dean + think he killed his pseudo-father figure for a minute, you perhaps are just going to believe he’s a funny goofy guy who stuck them in tv land for a bit. And this obviously makes it very easy to pair the spares with him & Sam in the background of destiel. Because this entire fandom is the worlds most boring game of politics influenced by dean and cas sucking each others dicks. All things can and shall be traced back to destiel. Or wincest. Sometimes. But mostly destiel.

24. topic that brings up the most rancid discourse

So many to choose from. I’m gonna pick the one that’s started to annoy me as I get deeper into the later seasons, and that’s Sam and Dean and the entire topic of the abuse literally happening on the screen in front of our eyes. Because, I think I’ve said this before, I don’t care if someone doesn’t want to engage with that topic, hell knows the show doesn’t care to examine what’s going on there beyond a surface level that always loops back around to ‘but dean was right to be paranoid and controlling because bad things happen otherwise’, but what is. So gross. Is the takes I have now been forced to see ranging from ‘well ACTUALLY none of the things Dean does are abusive and are normal’ which is Worrying to ‘Sam deserves it because if it was that bad, he would just leave Dean and he doesn’t, so he must like the way he’s being treated’ which is Rancid! Well aware of this fandom’s inability to do nuance ever or recognize that emotional abuse is as destructive as physical abuse (see: every fic that insists John hit his kids when show canon has a literal actual episode emphasizing to us that John did not in fact hit his kids, but the damage he did through neglect and emotional abuse is just as harmful.)

Oh, actually, you know what. Changing my answer. John Winchester. That’s my answer. Rancid takes all around. Holding my nose wading through metas about him looking for the rare gold that actually understands his character.

[dzamie]

i just had a thought. with a certain type of terminally online user, "zionist" is the new "proshipper". it sounds just crazy enough to be plausible imo.

Anon, I mean this with the least amount of disrespect possible, but ""zionist" is the new "proshipper"" is the most terminally online phrase I have read in several days.

Also I'd argue that, while I do know what you're referring to, the first is a result of the fandomification of politics, and the second is the politicization of fandom.

[thosemintcookies]

See the problem isn't even about shipping itself. I've seen like "Yeah shipping doesn't have to exist what about nonromantic relationships and gen!" Which I think is also missing the point. I think the deeper root is that it's discouraging to see people lose sight of art itself as something that's political, as something with bias, as something with a message, as symbolic, etc as a construct of the thing itself. The real problem is that art is becoming a marketable product for wanton consumption and people don't want to engage in art for arts sake.

Yes light-hearted stuff does have its place but what is art for? Sometimes you should be emotionally and ideologically challenged because it fosters growth, and it helps build empathy for complex experiences that you might not have.

Art is subjective, not just in reference to "quality" whatever that means. It means it deals with the realm of the subjective- in emotions, experiences, expressions, philosophies, perspectives, attachments.

And then also being able to sit and decode biases of the writers and the constructs of the narrative also help with being able to enjoy light-hearted things and to understand the jokes. Dr. Goldfoot and the bikini machine is also a deconstruction of the treatment of women in the James Bond franchise. Megamind is also a statement on toxic possessive masculinity and humanizing criminals and immigrants.

Its also kind of wild that these are just. Topics. They're not even particularly deep topics and explorations. It's wild to me that just interpreting at all is seen as intellectual and unnecessary. Also, understanding these themes and being able to agree/disagree with the methods and messaging is part of what makes a piece of media enjoyable in the first place!

The other thing is, I want to leave room for the idea that not everyone is able to intepret. Ive seen the stance that being anti-fandomification is ableist. There are people who won't, for example, he able to pick up on social cues of the characters and therefore come to different conclusions on why a certain scene was put in place. I think that's all fine and good and valid, but I think the more we can enjoy and interpret media as a culture beyond their face value marketability the better. I mean there are going to be asexual aromantic autistic people for example who would love to be able to have media that explore a wider diversity of motifs and topics and interests presented. Diversifying fan reception also helps out people who engage with media differently from you (ex. I know there has been a huge backlash in the stereotype of thr gatekeeping comics reader who just asks if you've read certain runs to test your alliegence to the franchise. I wonder how much of that is just a fucked up portrayal of autistic fans who want to talk about their favourite plots with someone who might understand).

I don't know. It's just kind of exhausting it's become about defensiveness about how you enjoy your media. Like yeah to be honest shipping characters is fun or whatever. I think though this is a sentiment coming from people who are constantly seeing people miss the point of a piece of media that they do love, having characters they love be misinterpreted, or being distraught when people are praising a show for fat queer rep when the media is clearly pushing an anti-fat and anti-queer narrative by making them a Nazi sympathizer and pedophile or something. It also encourages less thoughtful media making on the part of artists and creators who are more encouraged to think about the bottom line, especially when fans flock to things with interesting concepts and aesthetics but absolutely no substance or chemistry between characters.

Idk. People point to how Spirk was so popular and that shipping has existed since the 70s. And yes weird porn has always existed and I encourage people writing whatever. But that ship also arose out of a progressive piece of media that tried to come up with a hopeful future world where people are united regardless of race or nationality. You have a black woman and a Russian and an honest-to-god mixed race alien all working together like its normal. The themes of the show are progressive. Of course people are going to read into the homoerotic relationship at the heart of the series.

The problem now is that people are still drumming up excitement over absolute shit-tier content like marvel films and Avatar 2 that are actually pretty regressive for Our Modern Times being pro-military and cisheteronormative. Care more about the artistic value of a piece if only to demand better from corporations. If only to be able to see through progressive posturing on the topic of representation just to spout regressive propaganda.

[cynamonowo]

i want ao3 users like that to [REDACTED]

[thetigerisariver]

It's strange to see random ppl from Eastern Europe eulogizing an USA judge? Like what exactly does she mean to us? Who makes the world?

[iravaid]

Character meme - LaCroix, obviously. If he has already been picked, how about Mercurio?

heehee hell yeah >:)

Favourite thing about them:

Absolutely love his slow devolution into both obsession and madness, as the game slowly reveals just how loathed and isolated LaCroix really is in a city he’s supposed to be ruling over. It’s really compelling and interesting and I think a lot can be extrapolated about his background, inner thoughts, and emotions that the game plays straight, no big twists like he was actually the good guy or w/e, just a wretched, pathetic little bastard til the end, and that’s something I really love lmao, lots to play around with. The way everything culminates with his staring at the sarcophagus and just Watching the timer tick down while he starts laughing? delicious. love it

Least favourite thing about them:

White Wolf/Troika does a Lot to emasculate him and like. portray less masculine men as a joke or laughing stock and there are parts where the fans etc can make it work but like. hmg. concerning. 

Favourite line:

lmao it’s between ‘STOLEN? HOW! GARY. Gary you TREASONOUS MAGGOT. I should have anticipated your TREACHERY, SEWER RAT’ like. go off i guess akjdfjsd, big up to his va for such a solid job at portraying LaCroix, he really brought a lot of depth to LaCroix with his performance. 

or, 

‘Did you ever think about what it takes to live as long as I have, to come this far?’, like. shit. hell yeah, what have you Done little man? what wretched crimes and humiliations have you committed and suffered through to get to this point both as a Prince and as a person. What were you like before you were embraced, a coward? a hero? how rotted is your soul for you to do such things.

brOTP:

Him and the Sheriff and him and Mercurio are definitely up there as fun dynamics that can go multiple ways and it’s Very fun to imagine more comradeship between them. But also. maybe. With Skelter, another veteran. If they manage to either ignore or see past political allegiances and hostility, which is uh. difficult lmao

OTP:

You probably haven’t heard of it but LaCroix / Nines is pretty fun,,,, It’s a pretty niche ship and idk if anyone has hear me talking about it or anything 💅🙄

nOTP:

I’m usually squicked out by any ship that portrays LaCroix as an abuser/manipulator. It’s a valid read of his character but not one I want to consume, really. other than that; probably him and Cross, but i’ve talked about not rlly vibing with that ship before

Random headcanon:

Had two older brothers who died in different campaigns and a young sister who was born via surrogate when he was about 19. She’s all that’s left of the La Croix line and LaCroix never managed to find her when he was free to search. She just kind of disappeared, with his and his brothers’ things ending up in the Napoleonic sections of museums around Europe and NA, including LaCroix’s journal from that time. 

Unpopular opinion:

Woobifying LaCroix would be so so easy and if the fan circle for VtMB gets a bit bigger/full of people who kind of impress their own pre-set fandomification onto different characters without like actually investing or thinking critically about it, I’m v concerned that that will happen lmao. It does a disservice to both his character and his actions in the story.

Song I associate with them:

I will do this in three parts because I have too too too many thoughts about this wretched vampire

Canon LaCroix - Werewolf Gimmick, Be Nice To Me, Little Lion Man

Sabbat LaCroix - Crucified, Lion, A Burning Hill (gets immensely fucked up by the SI)

Malkavian LaCroix - Piano Man, I Bet On Losing Dogs, Little Dark Age

Favourite picture of them:

I don’t have it on me but the one where he’s grimacing like the banana cat. Also the one where he’s got his stupid neck Stabbed and he’s just sitting there gagging on his blood smh 🙄

[stfudiscoinfernoed]

Something I've noticed interacting with ace communities from the time when I thought I was ace is how for the most part they treat being ace as a fandom. They see wlw/mlm have butch&femme, so they come up with cake&dragon aces. They see the pink triangle, so they come up with the ace of spades. Etc. It's all the "fun" of LGBT spaces without any real substance. I don't know what to think about this watering down of politics and identities or what's the source, but it's bizarre to say the least.

I think there’s a larger issue with the fandomification of lgbtq identities as whole, largely as people replace in person, local communities with primarily online communities. That being said I think it’s particularly bad with the ace community and microlabels in general because they don’t have history or irl community to lean on.

[weirdloverwilde]

the fucking... fandomification of political figures is really something. the 'stan' behaviour people online have towards literally barely centre left politicians online, get annoyed if people criticize them. also expecting/calling for politicians who've been transphobic or whatever to 'apologize' instead of yknow, wanting them to introduce legislation that actually helps trans, etc people.. expecting that right wing politicians could get better, thinking that politicians care about you (developing somewhat parasocial relations) when all they care about is your vote... it's all just so weird to see

[clownsnake]

to me fandomification of political media or just really good stories kindof feels like if you listened to hadestown for the first time and were like. Damn. I wonder which of these characters likes pineapples on pizza

[iricressent]

i think there's some deep problems with the fandomification of minecraft youtubers and how most of them are just egotistical clout-chasing young white men with little to no political engagement who willingly collaborate with white supremacists because all they care about is cashing the largest check. and this is a problem with a Lot of modern online culture but minecraft youtubers do it more than i think people care to admit. like dream literally exploited the community tab to force his content into people's view and he's proven himself to be a disingenuous grifter who uses every chance he can get to make himself a couple bucks (selling overpriced pride merch because he knows his rabid tween fanbase are usually lgbt, collaborating with pewdiepie for a couple of those sweet youtuber blood bucks, etc)

[deep-green-existentialist]

nailing "The Fandomification of Radical Politics" to my local university because there aren't any doors to the internet