#seems to me it's time to advertise fandom etiquette again

[moonchair]

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[maiassensibleblog]

Dear theatre people, this is what I mean when I say theatre is elitist...

(All views expressed are my opinion).

I’ve been considering whether now is the right time to post this but when theatre comes back (which it will, it must), it cannot look how it looked before. I love theatre with all my heart, it is the part of my life that heals the most. But the industry drives me crazy.

I want to address the questions: Why don’t people go to the theatre? And why don’t people care about theatre? My perspective is from a West End theatre goer who is working class, not white and not straight. I am not involved in making theatre and do not desire to be involved. 

To answer this huge question, I’d like to start with two definitions:

Elitist: Relating to or supporting the view that a society or system should be led by an elite.

Inaccessible: Unable to be reached.

I often see people asking “why don’t people go to the theatre?” with only responses related to accessibility. When we talk about accessibility, we need to consider barriers such as ticket prices, geographical location and ableism. An awful lot of people are not stopped by accessibility, but they do not go to the theatre. Why? Theatre is elitist.

Elitism is the feeling that you do not belong in a space because the people who are there are different from you and often appear to think they are better than you. In my opinion, this is the reason that the general public do not care about theatre. Elitism is built into the theatre world and this has only been highlighted recently through the BLM movement (I don’t need to go into this here, you’ve all seen it). 

From a personal perspective, I’m privileged to have been going to the theatre since I was tiny. We didn’t have a lot of money but my mum was really good at finding deals on tickets and I grew to love theatre more and more as I grew up.  I go around once a week and see a lot of off West-end stuff. I, a seasoned theatregoer, feel elitism every time I go to the theatre. I will elaborate on these in the sub-topics below but I wanted to point out that I am somebody who is relatively confident around the elitist feeling, imagine if you aren’t. You just wouldn’t bother and that is what we’re seeing. 

Tickets

The first thing I would like to discuss may seem to sit between accessibility and elitism but getting affordable tickets sits in with elitism in my opinion. I am often asked how I can afford to go to the theatre so often and my answer is always I know where to look. Why do theatres feel that it is acceptable to hide their cheap seats? The only thing that is achieved here is keeping theatre for those who know where to look. 

If you have not be brought up around theatre folk, you don’t know that day seats exist. Even when theatres advertise and say something like “£15 day seats available”, people who do not know anything about theatre will not have a clue what that means. They won’t know the difference between a digital lottery and a regular in-person day seat, they won’t know how to press buy now just at the right time on TodayTix to get a rush ticket. Having cheaper options does improve accessibility but the way it has been done doesn’t serve to reduce elitism.

Put yourself in the shoes of somebody who has never been to the theatre before. They see a poster for a musical that looks amazing, they google it, they see decent seats for £100+. They decide to go for the £30 option in the Gods. They feel ripped off and don’t bother again OR they know that those are crap seats and don’t bother at all. There is nowhere on that main booking page that mentions cheaper, good seats. That is telling people that they only deserve good seats if they’re rich. That is elitist. 

Image

My next two points spill into each other, but they are not the same thing. What do you think of when you think of somebody who goes to the theatre. We all just thought of the same old, white couple. They tut at young people who talk at interval? Yeah we all know the type. It’s amazing that these people, who usually have disposable income, go to the theatre and spend money there but they are coming anyway. Why are you therefore using them to advertise? 

Some theatres do this amazingly (Bush, Soho, Young Vic, loves) but most don’t. Some shows have gone too far (looking at you Heathers West End transfer) but think: What is the demographic that you think would want to come, but isn’t? If you’re trying to attract non-theatre goers, they have to see themselves in those who are recommending it. 

Obviously, some known reviewers have to be included to keep the regulars in but theatres must start including a wider range of reviewers, they must be open to criticism from young people, queer people, Black people... Then, they must show the faces of these reviewers in their advertising, they must include their views using their vocabulary. And once you get these voices (and start respecting them), theatres must start taking these views into account. A mainstream producer actually listening (and properly listening) to the views of not the mainstream critics? That is revolutionary. That’s showing you’re willing to change.

Etiquette

This is the big one. Theatre etiquette is elitist. I’m sure many people know what I mean by this: Hushed tones even when the show isn’t on and you’re in the bar, FOH using theatre-y vocabulary to usher people places (even things like “the house is open” mean nothing to people who aren’t in theatre), expected restraint to reactions towards what’s happening on stage. I’ve never been to a theatre that doesn’t use vocabulary that would be alienating to non-theatregoers. Only a few theatres don’t have that feeling of “we’re better than you” hanging in the air. 

I have been told that I do not match up to people’s ideas of expected theatre etiquette twice outside of fandom things. I remember them both. Once, I was laughing at funny moments during a funny play. The second time I was talking to my friends excitedly at interval and had some older theatre-goers tut and ask us to be quiet (hun, it’s the interval). As I mentioned, I go to the theatre all the time, I generally conform (even when I hate it). Imagine how you’d feel if you didn’t know the nonsense rules.

The solution? Dismantle the rules. 

People dismiss panto because is does this and it’s the least elitist theatre out there. Stop getting on your high horse about people openly enjoying themselves. And to those panicking, very few people are actually going to chat their way through a whole show they’ve paid money for.

We need more relaxed performances. We need more for disabled people but we also need more for young people, where they can react to what’s going on during the show and whisper to each other about it. 

We need more sing-a-longs. Musicals can create an amazing fandom this way. Six is doing an amazing job because they’ve fostered this environment. Imagine a Hamilton sing-a-long. Just sit in that for a moment. Imagine a person who had never been to the theatre before and has heard a few songs of the soundtrack getting the feeling of a gig from the theatre. It’s powerful and it needs to happen. 

Shakespeare

Nothing exhibits the elitism of theatre more than Shakespeare. The sheer prevalence of it. And, I’m going to say it: Nobody fully understands what’s going on. 

Why, as an industry, are you all so obsessed with a sexist, racist, homophobe who died in the 1600′s? People alive today are writing plays about stories that people want to hear, in a language that people can understand. Commission them.

That is all on that. 

Secrecy 

There’s certainly something to be said about keeping the magic of theatre alive by keeping tricks a secret. I totally appreciate and love that about this art medium. You watch things happening in real time that look like magic and it’s beautiful. 

However, the secrecy around productions has gone too far. Why are full on HQ recordings of shows being filmed for them never to see the light of day? I have seen the argument that people will not feel the need to watch the show if they have seen a recording but I have only seen that argument from people who work in theatre. Listen to the people who just go to the theatre. I don’t know what I can actually say to convince the industry of this, but theatre people will still come because there’s nothing like live theatre. 

What you will do by releasing a good recording is open the show to the masses (and make money from it). You will essentially be building a fandom. People can watch football on TV but choose to pay for a ticket to go watch live because it is a different experience. People can listen to a band but choose to pay for a ticket to go to a concert because it is a different experience. It is the same thing. You honestly need to get over this because I think this is a massive reason why this elitism still exists. 

Also why not release HQ footage even as a trailer? Stick it on YouTube for free, get ad revenue and advertise.

These are just a few things that need to be taken into consideration when theatres re-open. Theatre must come back better and stronger than it was before and it must get more people in the room. The people will need art. 

This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal. - Toni Morrison

[itsleay]

Dear Diary: About Jimin’s disappearance from Twitter and more...

So many things have been happening around Jimin lately. Thought i write a little diary to keep tabs on things, and to help future and current fans to learn about what is happening during certain time period. I’ll touch on his change in twitter posts / social media behaviour, death threats, and Fan Cam being reported and views disappearing from MNet’s official fan cam video.

Where to begin... let’s start from Fake Love promo period and Jimin’s twts I guess, since this is the first time I witnessed the hate towards Jimin directly in front of my eyes (that and i’m a new fan only started watching their stuff around October 2017?)

So on Jun 7, 2018 Jimin posted a twt from MNet’s backstage with a picture of the boys name on the wall. However, he forgot to put down V’s name, right after he discovered his mistake he quickly apologized and twt’ed two or three more tweets saying that he made a mistake and he loves V and next time he’ll make up for his mistake, something along those lines (dear readers you can go check those twts for yourself). However, when you look down on the comments it was filled with mostly “certain types of solo stans” (and yes I did go into those account to see what type of people is saying these mean things and going through their past twts) saying that Jimin is fake, and that he did it on purpose and other accusations towards Jimin. BTW a lot of those hateful comments were also the most popular ones so you can see them right away underneath his twt i think one or two of them even have 1k likes and couple hundred retweets. The hashtag JiminYouFakerKeepGoing was also showing up under Jimin’s name as the top searches associated to him in twitter. If you search for that hashtag now you can still see traces of it and people taking screenshots of those comments. Fans quickly responded by reporting these hateful comments towards Jimin to cleanse the comment section and also trended JiminYouNiceKeepGoing hashtag. 

Now on Jun 10, 2018 after the mess on twitter, JM posted pictures featuring himself, JK and V with a hashtag that read something along the lines of IToldThemI’mGoingToPostThis in Korean. Now you can interpret it in different ways but if you’re a into Jikook or into shipping then I think you’ll read it like how I’ve read it, if you don’t know what shipping is my advice for you is stay away cause it’ll cause you so much grief, but all the situation will make so much more sense in terms of the events that are happening around Jimin.

Moving onto Jun 21, 2018 ... the last twt from Jimin on Twitter that felt more personal and not because he did it because he had to. The reason i’m saying this is, BTS tends to twt before they fly and before or after they go on stage or do some sort of performance. You’ll see alot of the members will post something. Now Jimin here though he’s the type to post random things other than the formal etiquette posts that everyone does. So he’ll shower us with videos of himself, selcas, picture with members, just really random little things to let the fans see him. But since Jun 21.. we got a twt for cosmetic product (according to older fans he’s never advertise in any of his twts before not to mention whoever posted didn’t know how to tag in twitter), and then we got a flying to Taipei twt and a thank you for attending the concert backstage twt. Etiquette posts...  Now this boy ... usually twts every 3 or 4 days sometimes you’ll get multiple twts within a day, and even when they’re super busy he’ll still post something maybe within a two week period. you can go through their twitter by using #Jimin to see the pattern yourself. I remember when i first followed BTS on their twitter, i was like... wow Jimin likes to post so much he should stop posting and lay off on social media a little bit (this was back in December 2017), but now i miss him so much T_______T Please feed us Jimin!!!!!!!

Now, I know that from Jun 21, 2018- to Mid July he has posted on Fan Cafe, so he didn’t really entirely disappear from the fans’ sight. He answered fans’ question one of them was what’s the best BTS song, which Jimin replied Serendipity and another question was which song do you want to sing now the most, Jimin replied House of Cards. He also posted message for the 5th year anniversary for Army but so did everyone else, another etiquette post, I think he also posted something a day after the 5th year anniversary something on the lines of I was too tired and fell asleep and missed the day but happy Army Day. All of these posts can be found on BTS Fancafe translation twitter account. Back onto topic, to see posts from BTS on Fan Cafe you need to create an account, they’re not public like twitter where u can have hassle free access to feel connected to BTS. Also the Fan Cafe is regulated by moderators so any form of harassment posts are banned violation of cafe rules will also result in permanent ban too. Also, this is speculation here, I think the Fan Cafe has lesser I-army presence since to create an account everything appears in Korean, so it’s a lot more work to try to sign up for something, and people will have to go out of their way to make accounts to have access into website. I for one gave up on it, for now, but maybe in the future I’ll try to make an account there if Jimin decides to never return to Twitter and decided to post a lot on Fan Cafe. Ah and we also have to mention how they have different membership level so depending on what level you’re at you have restricted access to contents.. yeah that’s a lot of work for someone who can’t read any Korean at all Q.Q (life long goal: learn Korean so you can have full access to BTS contents) 

I mentioned I-army specifically because.. all three death threats aimed at Jimin has been coming from the international side. First death threat was around WINGS Tour, the other two were during LY: Tour announcement. Can’t remember which concert they targeted but all three were planned for concerts in USA. Now you might think why international fans it could be fans from Korea too? Aren’t you being a bit extreme in your assumptions? But here’s my reasoning I could be wrong cause no one ever announced who gave out the threats. But let’s say for WINGS Tour. They went to several countries South America, Japan, USA but only the threat was given out for their location in the states. Same thing for the LY: Tour both death threats were targeted for the states once again. Combined with all the mass shooting news we hear, it doesn’t seem hard reason that it is relatively easier to obtain weaponaries in the US. Since you can have access to it if one of your family member possesses them, also the fact that firearms are legally sold. Maybe they targeted the US Tour due to ease of access to firearms? Also all the hate comment directed at JM on twitter. Most of them speak coherent English and also twt in English. I’ve also looked around at some K-army blog who can speak and post in English it seems to me that Jimin in S.Korea is well received by the public and by the fandom, and fans in general aren’t that toxic towards each other as well, minus those antis. That’s why I think most of the hate and death threats for Jimin actually comes from the International side. If someone has evidence or information that says otherwise please let me know, because I don’t want to misrepresent. 

Ah yes, JHope also got a death threat. Someone target him in the Seoul Concert for their LY:Tour. That twt was in English though and later on the person said it was all in jest and prank after they got reported. Honestly what is going through people’s mind these days? Death threat as pranks and jokes?

Now what’s really interesting is his 2nd death threat. I remember the post specifically stated that Jimin is “always in the way and that he’s been around for too long”. Now always in the way of what? In the way of your favorite K-pop group? The western artists? in the way of your life? or the way of your ship? I don’t know if Jimin alone is powerful enough to take down an entire K-Pop idol group on his own, or take over the western music theme, or get into your life if you’ve never come across K-pop in your life. As much as i like Jimin, even I have to admit I don’t think he can be in the way that much. I’ll leave the shipping part to people who knows what’s going on... 

Now let’s talk about the Fan cam. I think as a fandom we all know that Jimin, V and Jungkook usually gets a lot of views on their fan cam. Who can you blame they look good and they have a lot of fans who likes them a bit more than the rest of the other members. But here’s the problem. Why are the fan cams for Jimin which has millions of views started to get reported and taken down? 

Peach Jelly’s Pied Piper for 4th muster with 40mil views

https://twitter.com/peach_jelly1013/status/1014808921783980032

JamJam Park’s Mic Drop MAMA 2017 Jimin focus

https://twitter.com/parkjamjam_kr/status/1016606951956856843 

Pieces of Mind’s Fake Love BBMA Jimin focus

https://twitter.com/stussyjimin/status/999566044678123522

and M2′s Mpd Fake Love 4k Jimin Focus Cam with 29mil views reported to be the highest solo idol fan cam view got views decreased to 24mil on July 13th, 2018. Honorable mention in the same performance, Jungkook got 21mil views which also had some of his views taken away too.

Editted/Update July14, 2018 (PST):

So I checked on the Fake Love fan cam posted by M2, MNet’s official fancam... Jimin’s view dropped down to 22 mil now and JK’s view dropped down to 18 mil. Seriously what is going on? Is this from Youtube’s bot checking alogrithm? or is it purposefully being done by malicioius people?

Now if every other member’s fan cam are met with the same fate, I got nothing to say, but that’s not the story only Jimin’s fan cam are coming across with problem. Why is he getting so much hate? BTW those are big fan cam accounts too.  You’re now not only targeting the idol himself but his fan site as well? like wth? Could these be the works from other fandoms? or is it the work from antis within our own fandom? or just antis of Jimin? 

Could these be the works of BTS- anti or Jimin only-anti? If it’s BTS anti shouldn’t they focus on the whole group? how come it’s only Jimin who got affected? the M2′s Fake Love view decrease, I can see that could be a mix of various Jimin-hater because it’s uploaded on official broadcast network’s Youtube channel and he overtook another idol’s top spot, but really who would go search for Pied Piper fan cam or other specific performances. Anyway it just baffles me, and honestly if you read all the way til here I think you know what i wanted to say.

Could the fans themselves stop hating on other members just because you like another member more? Idols are humans too and they don’t deserve these hates nor do the fan site masters sharing footage for the rest of the fandom who did not have a chance to see them perform deserve their dedication and hard work to be taken away.

Sometimes I’m happy that people have complained about BH is not trying to push BTS as hard in terms of promo into the West. Because if what i speculate is true and that all of this hate is coming from the International side and all these sabotaging is from the fans themselves. I rather BTS and BH just stay in Korea where they have better protection and control because people don’t deserve them.

That being said I do wish they can become international legends for years to come.. o the dilemma.

And thank you for reading this long post :x I welcome to all exchange of information and opinions btw, since I probably overlooked some things or have missing information.

O I’ll add a keep reading button once Tumblr App is no longer buggy!