This Is Potentially Life Saving Information Everyone Should Know.

crisp glass of water moodboard

So wait are livestock guardian dogs to their flocks like… Clark Kent among the residents of Smallville? He’s been here since he was a baby, we all know him, and he’s… generally one-of-us shaped, uh, approximately. And then when something goes wrong he suddenly leaps into action and does some terrifying impossible shit none of us could do. And then comes back home and settles in like nothing happened and he’s one of us again.

Come into a fandom late. Leave early. Write 100 fics. Write 1. Write none. Read every single fic written in your fandom. Read only your OTP. Write only your OTP. Write every pairing under the sun. Make gifs just for your friends. Make gifs to share with everyone. Make art. Make nothing.

Cheerlead from afar and keep to yourself. Join a groupchat. Yell about headcanons with your friends. Leave kudos. Leave comments. Make fic recs. Bookmark everything. Read or watch and then forget it.

Treat canon like gospel. Treat canon like a dumpster fire. Only read/write/art coffeeshop AUs. Decide your corner will be all hurt no comfort. Decide your corner  will be all fluff no angst.

Fandom isn’t one size fits all, and there is no one right way to do it. So find what works for you, and don’t worry about all of the outside noise. It doesn’t matter how everyone else does fandom.

All are welcome.

Hot take: Actual literary analysis requires at least as much skill as writing itself, with less obvious measures of whether or not you’re shit at it, and nobody is allowed to do any more god damn litcrit until they learn what the terms “show, don’t tell” and “pacing” mean.

I don’t think you’re ready to have an adult conversation about politics until you’re able to admit that there are things you love and enjoy that would not and should not exist in a just world. $8 billion dollar budget movies every other month don’t exist in a just world. New 900 GB AAA video games every year don’t exist in a just world. Next day delivery doesn’t exist in a just world. 80 different soda brands don’t exist in a just world. 

All of those things come from exploitation on some level, and if you wouldn’t trade those for a world where everyone can eat and have a home no matter who they are or what they do, I don’t know what to tell you. 

Hey students, here’s a pro tip: do not write an email to your prof while you’re seriously sick.

Signed, a person who somehow came up with “dear hello, I am sick and not sure if I’ll be alive to come tomorrow and I’m sorry, best slutantions, [name]”.

it’s so bizarre when animated American films are set in a certain location and then only certain characters have the accents of that place. It makes no damn sense!! like

WHY IS SHE MORE FRENCH THAN THE REST OF THEM???

The duality of man is thinking “children cannot help themselves and we all need to be patient with them as they explore what it means to be human in public” and also “damn, I wish this crying baby was not on the plane rn :/“

What Fandoms Need To Know About Literary Theory

A lot of the controversy and toxicity in fandoms today comes from people who assert that their perspectives or interpretations are superior to all others, that there are certain inarguable facts about a character or story, and anything that contradicts that is “bad” or “wrong”. As an English teacher, this bothers the hell out of me. Here’s why:

In the world of literary criticism, we call the perspectives from which we approach a piece of art “lenses”: we might look at something through a queer lens, a feminist lens, a marxist lens, etc. The reason we have this term is because it is necessary to acknowledge that we are approaching the work with a specific focus, and anything we determine about the work will be affected by that focus.

A lens warps your perspective: it emphasizes some things and blurs out others, makes some things disappear but might make visible what was before unseen. The best, most interesting, most amazing parts of analysis come from working with these lenses, but we cannot forget that our perspective of the work is being affected by the lens we choose to use.

In short: When you are looking for something specific, you are more likely to find it. A feminist lens will reveal feminist themes; an LGBT+ lens will reveal LGBT+ themes; a psychoanalytical lens will reveal mental health themes; and so on. All of these could use the same evidence to support them. All of these are valid.

Fandom creators make fascinating, profound, valid assertions about their media that are thoughtful and possible, but too often, they don’t realize that their theory – indeed, any theory outside of the established canon – is not the absolute truth. They become more concerned with having the “correct” interpretation and don’t realize that in true analysis, all of these interpretations can be simultaneously valid, even if they contradict each other.

The text – in this case, the show / game / film / novel – always supports multiple different perspectives, readings, and interpretations. One interpretation of the evidence is not the only interpretation of the evidence, because there are so many diverse perspectives to come from.

And that is a good thing! If there was one absolute truth, fandoms would have nothing to draw and write and create! Multiple perspectives exist, and that is okay. If we start insisting that all interpretations come from one perspective, that is extremely limiting and even discriminatory.

Fandoms should stop looking for an absolute “truth” that does not exist, and start celebrating all of the possible interpretations and perspectives that analysis gives us.