![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
type_wildMy main fandom production is and has always been meta.
Of which maybe 1% ever got posted, presumably because I'm a wuss who don't like getting into arguments online or don't like upsetting people or whatever. I'm afraid to try and do estimates based on the sizes of the dozens of .txt documents saved in a carefully buried folder on an external hard drive. I've got fandom commentary going back to 2005 at least. There is a lot of it, and most of it is at least halfway finished, and got left behind as my fandom interest waned.
Today's topic included two drafts on a lengthy defence of the NO. 6 anime contra the novels (and technically the manga, but no-one ever brings up the manga in this discussion and we all know why). A long take on why Luka Coffaine is a shite character next to Kagami and why I'm not about to forgive that even IF he gets a personality outside his guitar next season (tl;dr amatonormativity). A near 2000 words of exploration of Chloé, Kagami, Lila and Alya in how they're placed around Marinette and around each other.
I was about ready to post that last one, in fact, because pointing out that "Lila" and "Alya" are near anagrams can't possibly upset people.
Point is, this was the results of my latest laptop decluttering a few months back, consisting of the pieces that were good enough and interesting enough to maybe be worth finishing and sharing. There were some 15 000 words on it. But GUESS WHAT GENUIS did something something with her shift and backspace button when she was trying to delete a few empty lines, and hit ctrl+s on instinct before se realised what she'd done.
What's left is some non-English tweet on subtitling practices that I wouldn't post anyway, and three lines of imaginary explanation on the topic of how Kino's NB status is definitely arguable but far from hard canon that I also wouldn't post anyway, because good god that is one discussion you can't win.
And, I mean. I probably wouldn't post that Luka piece, since my main beef with him isn't his existence so much what it says about or society that large parts of the fandom l o v e s him but is all "ew, Kagami" even though she's objectively a far better character. I'm not sure I'd do the NO. 6 piece either - I mean, it consisted of a separate preface about adaptation theory and that no, I don't in fact think the anime in particular is good but jesus christ, neither are the novels. The issue is that the fandom has recently got into reading a lot more meaning into said novels than I suspect they ever were supposed to have, and I don't particularly want to get into the it's-not-that-deep-fam debates with people who are political about them.
I remember the content of these essays well enough. I can re-trace them and make the same points, and at least that NO. 6 one, I can maybe get RIGHT rather than being torn between two pretty good but not perfect versions. And ultimately - what's the use of hauling around essays on fandom topics that nobody would ever read? I mean, I like going back to read them sometime, probably just becaues I like my own points. If nothing else, maybe this could be a lesson in having the courage to say things before the chance is gone.
Or maybe just something about using a file format that only allows for undoing one thing.
Of which maybe 1% ever got posted, presumably because I'm a wuss who don't like getting into arguments online or don't like upsetting people or whatever. I'm afraid to try and do estimates based on the sizes of the dozens of .txt documents saved in a carefully buried folder on an external hard drive. I've got fandom commentary going back to 2005 at least. There is a lot of it, and most of it is at least halfway finished, and got left behind as my fandom interest waned.
Today's topic included two drafts on a lengthy defence of the NO. 6 anime contra the novels (and technically the manga, but no-one ever brings up the manga in this discussion and we all know why). A long take on why Luka Coffaine is a shite character next to Kagami and why I'm not about to forgive that even IF he gets a personality outside his guitar next season (tl;dr amatonormativity). A near 2000 words of exploration of Chloé, Kagami, Lila and Alya in how they're placed around Marinette and around each other.
I was about ready to post that last one, in fact, because pointing out that "Lila" and "Alya" are near anagrams can't possibly upset people.
Point is, this was the results of my latest laptop decluttering a few months back, consisting of the pieces that were good enough and interesting enough to maybe be worth finishing and sharing. There were some 15 000 words on it. But GUESS WHAT GENUIS did something something with her shift and backspace button when she was trying to delete a few empty lines, and hit ctrl+s on instinct before se realised what she'd done.
What's left is some non-English tweet on subtitling practices that I wouldn't post anyway, and three lines of imaginary explanation on the topic of how Kino's NB status is definitely arguable but far from hard canon that I also wouldn't post anyway, because good god that is one discussion you can't win.
And, I mean. I probably wouldn't post that Luka piece, since my main beef with him isn't his existence so much what it says about or society that large parts of the fandom l o v e s him but is all "ew, Kagami" even though she's objectively a far better character. I'm not sure I'd do the NO. 6 piece either - I mean, it consisted of a separate preface about adaptation theory and that no, I don't in fact think the anime in particular is good but jesus christ, neither are the novels. The issue is that the fandom has recently got into reading a lot more meaning into said novels than I suspect they ever were supposed to have, and I don't particularly want to get into the it's-not-that-deep-fam debates with people who are political about them.
I remember the content of these essays well enough. I can re-trace them and make the same points, and at least that NO. 6 one, I can maybe get RIGHT rather than being torn between two pretty good but not perfect versions. And ultimately - what's the use of hauling around essays on fandom topics that nobody would ever read? I mean, I like going back to read them sometime, probably just becaues I like my own points. If nothing else, maybe this could be a lesson in having the courage to say things before the chance is gone.
Or maybe just something about using a file format that only allows for undoing one thing.
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2020-06-05 06:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-06-05 12:15 pm (UTC)If you mean contemporary political context about the NO. 6 novels? The answer is "not really", but I suppose it makes sense *g* It is an indisputably political work in all its incarnations, but I think part of my issue with the political readings I see in the fandom today, is that a lot of these people are the age that I was when the novels were first published. It was in a completely different geopolitical context (as the afterwords to the novels make very clear), and there's also the entire, well, JAPAN bit to consider. The novels and manga absolutely have a weird colonial vibe you'll find in western works, and the end moral that human politics are powerless against the forces of nature is one that feels extremely apt from a country frequently ravaged by natural disasters.
What I see from the fandom, is a tendency to romanticise the revolutionary aspect, and to a degree, discuss the socially progressive aspects of the story as if they were part of the same political agenda. In the context of when and where the story was first written, I'm fairly confident neither of those were the intended reading.
no subject
Date: 2020-06-24 11:54 pm (UTC)so people who got into it at that time at the age they did are going to remember No.6 not just for whatever happened in the show or how the novels were written, but for what it brought to the fandom
much like how Yoi was for a lot of people in 2016 if they were too young or just wasn't in anime fandom & internet spaces back in 2016 - i just watched the show, enjoyed it and went on my merry way but for a lot of people it was representation - for figure skaters who were fans, it was seeing MLM on mainstream that existed alongside a larger plot. people are going to remember something fondly and elevate it if it had meant something important to them, regardless of whether or not the media itself was good, is what i think ^^;
but if you're focusing on the soundness of the media itself, that's fair. i just think that what was happening around it at different time periods has an influence on the consumers of that media a fair bit
i could also be wrong ^^; i was just remembering what i observed in the circles i was in