#i just hear the echo of ye olde moralizing about novels being insufficiently improving and leading the unwashed masses astray | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

anghraine · 2 years ago

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It's very weird when people talk about fandom as if fix-fic were the totality of fannish practice and also a job.

I've written some, for sure, and much of my stuff has some element of at least commenting in some way on things I find annoying or objectionable in the canon or in the discourse around it. I have no issue with fix-fic in itself. But the idea that all fandom activity is or should be about elevating flawed canons through hard work and moral rectitude is—damn, I'm not paid enough for that.

"This is a hobby" is not an excuse for bigotry, to be clear, but I swear, some people talk about fandom like its entire purpose is to be a second and particularly joyless job in which you receive nothing but the righteous glow of producing morally improving works.

#i just hear the echo of ye olde moralizing about novels being insufficiently improving and leading the unwashed masses astray #it was silly then and it's silly now #no this does not mean i'm endorsing a total lack of critical thought about your casual reading/watching habits #or what you do in fandom #but no not everything in fandom needs to be about improving someone or something #or creating moral and uplifting material #transformative does not mean 'making something better'; it just means 'changing it in a fundamental way'#the transformation can be in medium or genre as much as subject matter or quality #i'm honestly pretty tired of both celebration and scolding of fandom based on the idea that we're all just writing fix-its of some kind #like... no my lesbian darcy/bi elizabeth fic isn't fixing jane austen's pride and prejudice. it's just fun for me personally.#anghraine rants #general fanwank

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