#just that the fandom likes to look at the dynamic (esp third life) through a queer lens

[ramblings-into-the-void]

It’s just occurred to me that I suggested to my project partner that we do our video essay on scarian

[hargrieve]

hargrieve’s fic recs — jan 2022

hello!! I am still alive!! and I am back (late) with a bunch of fic recs! this is just from january; I’m planning on posting a separate nov/dec post too. thanks for still being here, if you have been following for this series! sorry that the content slowly swerved away from strictly haikyuu fic recs—whenever season five drops (and I hope they do take as much time as they need) I’m going to be back with a fury. in the meantime, I hope you enjoy reading kang taehyun as much as I do

hi @ravenclawboys I am miraculously still kicking

ALSO if any of these links aren’t working, please do let me know

FANDOMS: Haikyuu!!, Tomorrow x Together, Enhypen

Haikyuu!!:

and the birds looking for a place to land. by asynchrony

kageyama/yamaguchi; rated Gen; 2.5k words; 1/1; yamaguchi pov

canon compliant, karasuno first-years in their third year. yamaguchi watches and yearns

really genuinely such a gorgeous study of kageyama through yamaguchi, yamaguchi through kageyama, and the karasuno first-years’ family dynamics. all of this is packed up into a very short very impactful fic

even if you don’t usually read/ship yamayama, I would encourage you to read this

ao3 asynchrony your range is awe-inspiring and genuinely i am your biggest fan

Creative Problem Solving 101 by ftld

sunaosa; rated M; 3.3k words; 1/1; osamu pov

college au in which they are friends with benefits

suna insists that sucking osamu’s dick will help him quit smoking. that’s it that’s the fic. osamu also dresses up in a mascot costume at one point

it was so very enjoyable. clowns being clowns, the true sunaosa dynamic

everything is blue by hatsuna

semishira; rated T+; 3.8k words; 1/1; shirabu pov

canon compliant relationship study

pure poetry in prose form. moments small and big in a relationship

hatsuna’s fics always have an Ending and I think it’s one of the most glorious parts about their writing

Tomorrow x Together:

minimal by sonria

tyunning; rated M; 13k words; 1/1; taehyun pov

college au in america, established relationship. very very simply (and perhaps it is this simple): in which taehyun and huening kai fall in love

I feel like there’s always one fic on each list that made me cry. this was the one. listen ao3 sonria I am a generally romance-repulsed grayromantic person and therefore usually feel a sort of impersonal barrier when reading established relationship fic, but This One Broke Me. huening kai is so in love. taehyun is so in love, and in true taehyun fashion, he tries to use facts and logic to explain it. they’re so young and they’re not perfect but it is going to work because they like each other so goddamn much. I will cry again right here right now

“It was always like this with Kai. Taehyun leaned in expecting resistance, and was surprised when Kai, eagerly, pliantly gave way.” FUCK

trip up to the moon (get a room) by orphan account

yeonjun/taehyun/huening kai; rated M; 5.6k words; 1/1; huening kai pov

au relationship study in which kai slots perfectly in-between taehyun and yeonjun

there are some lines about longing and boundaries and crossing them that are just. heart-crushing. they all WANT so much. it kills me

author has this innate understanding of who these three are as characters

rated M but lowkey it is p*rn with feelings

Enhypen:

'cause it feels right by predebut

jayhoon; rated T+; 5k words; 1/1; jay pov

college au, development of a relationship ft. jay’s friends all thinking there’s no way he’s actually dating park sunghoon

this fic is about getting to know someone in steps and integrating them into your life. though it’s an au, their core personalities and motivations and views of the world (esp for sunghoon) are excellently retained. tbh jay is one philosophical mf. what DOES love at first sight mean, jay, please enlighten me

A+++ for accurate enhypen ensemble characterization. there’s a line where sunoo asks sunghoon for his birth time to analyze his natal chart that made me ugly-laugh in public

jake's declassified uni survival guide (results may vary) by chamsae

jakehoon; rated T+; 17k words; 1/1; jake pov

australian college au in which jake and sunghoon are undergrad psych majors but sunghoon is rich and expected to marry a girl his family chose. which is a big plot point but the story is not about that; the story is mostly about jake: college student, down bad, all up in his head about it

ft enhypen ensemble as other college students and affiliates. long-suffering park jongseong. rascal nishimura riki. plus some txt members

what i really liked about this fic is that it’s a college au without relying on college au tropes, esp in terms of characterization. i think this is my favorite jake pov i’ve read so far

recs from dani (all haikyuu!!):

Final Boss by saltedpin

ushioi; rated M; 42k words; 5/5

canon divergent university au

summary: “It’s totally fine, though – Oikawa can, temporarily at least, put aside a grudge that was six years in the making for the sake of trying to impress his coaches and senpai. // Or at least he could, if Ushijima weren’t so obviously and blatantly staring at his ass.”

Botched Dating Escapades by zimriya

kagehina; rated E; 16k words; 1/1

canon compliant, post-timeskip, msby schweiden era

summary: “The holiday love story of Hinata “I Think You Have Big Dick Energy” Shouyou and Kageyama “You Think I’m a Big Dick?” Tobio.”

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[noxstellacaelum]

#Fanart #Fanfic Musings: Female Creators, Female Fans, and Fandom Policing

Earlier today, I re-blogged an exchange about Fan Art.   Someone had asked a creator when they intended to stop drawing fanart, because (no offense, the questioner said), “it just seems like the kind of thing that you are supposed to grow out of.”  Lots of folks have unpacked the biases that underlie this question. I am copying my thoughts here, as a free-standing post, with the suggestion that you check out the excellent commentary in the re-blogged material reflected in my earlier post.

So, here goes.

First, why is it that we don’t demand people grow out of male-centered fan spaces?

- For example, sports culture (particularly basketball, football, and baseball in the US, and soccer globally), is totally a fandom. Complete with cosplay. And ship wars/ drama.  And stan culture. And yet, we NEVER, EVER tell people they need to grow up and exit sports fandom.  In fact, we regularly lionize folks for being life-long, multi-generational fans.

Second, what does the distinction between fanart (that creators and fans apparently need to leave behind, according to the questioner) and non-fanart really mean, when so much of the art that we now consider to be “high art” or canon has its origins in fanart/fanfic? 

- The “Literature” that makes up the Western canon has its origins in essentially fanfic re-tellings of stories from religious texts, folklore, and myths and legends. (Heck, that’s where many of our literary tropes and genres come from — the quest, the chosen one, the prodigal child, the temptress, the ingenue, etc.). The visual arts are no different — all of those now-canon paintings and drawings recreating scenes from the Odyssey and the Iliad, the Bible, etc. didn’t exactly spring full-grown from the head of Zeus, so to speak.

Third, what is really behind this attempt to police creators, fans and fandom culture?  Well, the question is not whether there is a distinction between fanart and “high culture” when it comes to subject-matter — because that distinction is neither real nor meaningful. It’s not even about whether there is or ought to be an age limit on fan spaces -- just try telling a Yankees fan that he’s too old to be paying thousands of dollars to watch grown men play hit, catch, and run. It is about who creates the art and who consumes it, and who decides what we will see/read/hear. More specifically, it’s about a system that devalues the work of female creators, and minimizes and even erases the contributions, perspectives, and desires of female fans. And the patriarchal norms, sexism and misogyny that underlie this dynamic.  

At the end of the day, this dynamic explains how and why get art (TV, movies, images, etc.) where female characters, stories, and bodies are filtered through the male gaze over and over again — with the result that girls and women exist not as fully human in this art, but only as objects of male desire or rage (arm candy, half of a ship, victim of rape or assault), or as instruments of other character’s narrative arcs. 

It’s why women’s sexual lives and sexual selves so often are presented in art as performative (and for the male gaze), rather than as authentically felt, and from the perspective of the female character. And, it’s why female desire -- especially the desire of females who are not teens/20s -- is so often presented as predatory or creepy. 

Patriarchal norms also explain why Hollywood routinely “revises” (to put it kindly) the work of female creators, often sidelining female protagonists, ignoring female fans, and stories perceived to be female-focused. (Looking at you, showrunners/directors and producers behind the second and esp. third Divergent movies; Shadowhunters TV).  And, it explains the treatment of female characters in Veronica Mars Season 4, Game of Thrones.  And, I will always believe that as much as I dislike the Twilight books personally -- and as much as Bella annoys me as a character -- only the first movie (directed by Catherine Hardwicke) captured the essence/ emotional logic of the story.

Finally, sexism, misogyny and patriarchal norms explain the dynamics of fandom culture today.  Which, as best I can tell, is basically a bunch of young people telling older female fans that they are gross, and that they should go back to the hubs and kids. And, a bunch folks heaping abuse upon female creators and fans who question fandom culture.  With no self-awareness about the fact that they are consuming the work of the middle-aged, white (and more often than not straight) guys in Hollywood who control content. 

Cluelessness about the gender dynamics of art is a powerful drug.