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syncope at 05:13pm on 05/01/2009
syncope at 05:13pm on 05/01/2009This cracked me up: twitters hacked Clearly hacked by a 14 year old boy in Idaho, but still amusing.
( SAG: Vegas )
Via metafandom: So it's totally cool now to tell people what to fan or not? Didn't this thing used to be considered the height of taboo wherein if you engaged in such behaviors people would label you a giant wanker and mock you for years and years to come? I think fundamentally this person doesn't grasp 1. that shows like SGA aren't super shitty because the creators CARE LESS ABOUT THEIR OWN WORK than fans do but that broadcast media is an industry ruled by some pretty idiotic people (seriously, the level to which people are of self-important and self-congratulatory for cockblocking makes the Pentagon envious) who ruin things by endless conference calls in which entire plots are lost due to a need to make work for themselves and 2. that Merlin is part of the movement to pander to the youth market that's going on in every market but particularly strongly with the BBC right now--peep the casting for the 11th Doctor for more evidence of this multi-million pound rebranding scheme.
I suppose that I get so annoyed by commentary like this because I tend to live a pretty live and let live kind of life (believe it or not) and think people should follow their bliss wrt to hobbies and the like so I think getting inflamed over other people's choices is pretty, idk, stressful for no reason, I suppose. This is compounded by the fact I think many fans seem to think we're some kind of ultimate audience and have elevated status when it comes to media criticisms yet they fail to even begin to intersect with the business that is the media business. No one is making tv shows to make you happy, most people make television to make money, some do so to finally prove to their dad they're better than their older brother, some do it because they didn't get into grad school, some do it because it's easier than rewriting their resumes, and a few do it because it's a passion. The passionate people are often passionate about the profit and loss sheet, though, so keep that mind mind when you're disappointed that Fox canceled another cult favorite (cult favorites make no money!).
I think most of my disinterest in media criticism (that is the kind of criticism that so often goes on in fandom wrt movies and television) stems from the fact that I don't accept broadcast media as an art form that can be divorced from the business that uses the content as a place to sell you things. The selling you things comes first, the content second. Whether they're selling you laundry soap or a branded "look" (like with Gossip Girl and the other WB properties), they're always selling you something (with HBO it's a subscription fee). Sometimes a quality program hits the box, but that's sort of like chimps typing Shakespeare.
But like I said before, I don't care what people do with their spare time, so write a 30k essay on the superiority of classic Trek to all that came afterwards or how homosexual subtext in television occurs because of sexism--whatever, I won't read it. It does bother me when people actively advocate AGAINST a certain fandom, though, because no matter in what terms you put that, you're basically devaluing an entire subset of our population based on your prejudices. (Saying you irrationally hate something is fine, though, because that's actually what you're doing.)
(As a disclaimer I'd like to say that I do think that very often there is some sexism involved in male homosexual subtext. That's because the world is a sexist place!)
eta: In a very strange turn of events, the OP locked the comment threads. Hrm.
( SAG: Vegas )
Via metafandom: So it's totally cool now to tell people what to fan or not? Didn't this thing used to be considered the height of taboo wherein if you engaged in such behaviors people would label you a giant wanker and mock you for years and years to come? I think fundamentally this person doesn't grasp 1. that shows like SGA aren't super shitty because the creators CARE LESS ABOUT THEIR OWN WORK than fans do but that broadcast media is an industry ruled by some pretty idiotic people (seriously, the level to which people are of self-important and self-congratulatory for cockblocking makes the Pentagon envious) who ruin things by endless conference calls in which entire plots are lost due to a need to make work for themselves and 2. that Merlin is part of the movement to pander to the youth market that's going on in every market but particularly strongly with the BBC right now--peep the casting for the 11th Doctor for more evidence of this multi-million pound rebranding scheme.
I suppose that I get so annoyed by commentary like this because I tend to live a pretty live and let live kind of life (believe it or not) and think people should follow their bliss wrt to hobbies and the like so I think getting inflamed over other people's choices is pretty, idk, stressful for no reason, I suppose. This is compounded by the fact I think many fans seem to think we're some kind of ultimate audience and have elevated status when it comes to media criticisms yet they fail to even begin to intersect with the business that is the media business. No one is making tv shows to make you happy, most people make television to make money, some do so to finally prove to their dad they're better than their older brother, some do it because they didn't get into grad school, some do it because it's easier than rewriting their resumes, and a few do it because it's a passion. The passionate people are often passionate about the profit and loss sheet, though, so keep that mind mind when you're disappointed that Fox canceled another cult favorite (cult favorites make no money!).
I think most of my disinterest in media criticism (that is the kind of criticism that so often goes on in fandom wrt movies and television) stems from the fact that I don't accept broadcast media as an art form that can be divorced from the business that uses the content as a place to sell you things. The selling you things comes first, the content second. Whether they're selling you laundry soap or a branded "look" (like with Gossip Girl and the other WB properties), they're always selling you something (with HBO it's a subscription fee). Sometimes a quality program hits the box, but that's sort of like chimps typing Shakespeare.
But like I said before, I don't care what people do with their spare time, so write a 30k essay on the superiority of classic Trek to all that came afterwards or how homosexual subtext in television occurs because of sexism--whatever, I won't read it. It does bother me when people actively advocate AGAINST a certain fandom, though, because no matter in what terms you put that, you're basically devaluing an entire subset of our population based on your prejudices. (Saying you irrationally hate something is fine, though, because that's actually what you're doing.)
(As a disclaimer I'd like to say that I do think that very often there is some sexism involved in male homosexual subtext. That's because the world is a sexist place!)
eta: In a very strange turn of events, the OP locked the comment threads. Hrm.
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