fandom, the internet shit

theres not really a category to put this in so im just putting it here.

i have been in fandom spaces and on the internet since i was in 6th grade and its so interesting seeing how ot has changed to WILDLY from what it was. im not exactly one of those people that are like 'oh fandom has been ruined by normies and horrible people getting into the space and making everything worse' because while some of this is true, it has also always been that way.

there have always been bad people in fan spaces and there always will be and tho it sucks, thats just the way that the internet is. we cant always bar people from getting into spaces, even if we really wanted to.

now i will say that there are somethings in fandom that  i truly believe have gone to shit, but i blame this mostly on a serious lack of media literacy and understanding that people online arent chat bots, but real people.

one of the biggest things ive seen as of late is a serious turn towards fandom purity culture, and in gerneral wanting internet and media purity. as a person who enjoys darkers stories such as horror, thriller, or just stories that talk about human people being human people, whether good or bad, i find this so stupid. ive seen so many people in fandom spaces get to pissy about media being darker and dealing with mroe taboo topics, such as real villain, assault, violence and things of that nature. now i will say, i dont like when these things are shown as something noraml or something to want to be or have (<i>cough cough</i> colleen hoover <i>cough</i>) but just the existance of the these darker things doesn't't mean that the media or creator itself of problematic. it becomes problematic when these darker things aren't treating with the respect and maturiy that they need to be treated with.

ive seen so many people say shit like 'omg this creator has a character that is a groomer, therefore the creator must support grooming' which is some of the dumbest shit ive ever heard in my life. things that actually make a person problematic are things like actually grooming people, liking kids and animals, being an abuser, thinking that abusive relationships are actually good and thigns of that nature. which is why i dont understand things like normal shipping discourse when things like darkships are the real issue in these spaces. im not a proshipper but i can acknowlegde the fact that a lot of proshippers are stupid kids and i think that if they are proshippers they should keep certain things to themselves as not everything needs to be put on the internet. i have a whole blog on what i think about proshipping if anyone wants to see that.

continuing on the whole problematic creator thing, some poeple just dont understand what actually makes a person problematic. having a white sepremisist character doesnt make a person problematic, but if they treat that character like their beliefs are correct, then its problematic. having a groomer character doesn't make a person problematic, but treating the groomer like a normla person and romanticizing them does. having a character that does sh doesnt make a person problematic, but romanticizing it does.

back to fandom, OH MY GAWD  this shit has gone downhill.

shipping is a big thing in fandom spaecs and always has been. i like shipping characters, i like it a lot. im a sucker for a good ship but something i hate is how a lot of shipping discourse is so stupid.

one of the biggest things thats so stupid is the fact that it has become a sort of weird space for ships that arent canon and arent going to be canon. it has become such a big thing to put down ships that arent going to be canon and people having the opinion that you should only ship things that have to potential to become canon. thats so dumb.

one of my favourite ships of all time is one that i know will not ever be canon for a multitude of reason, but that doesnt mean that i should be put down for liking it. and im lucky enough that a lot of modern fandom issues arent that big in my main fandom as its a bit older. but with fandom spaces being a big reason as to why i get into a new thing, as i want to enjoy that sense of community based on a common interest, things like this keep me from wanting to get into new shows/anime/books/games because its so draining and no longer fun or welcoming.

similarly, HEADCANON DISCOURSE (which is the stupidest thing) is something that is so jaring to me. the whole point of headcanons is that it is something that is canon about a character in a persons OWN HEAD. the fact that there are people out here fighting like 'that headcaon is stupid, it makes no sense in the canon', LIKE NO SHIT THATS THE WHOLE POINT. race headcanons are a big part of this and thats a whole thing steeped in racism in fandom and how minorities are under represented in media that we enjoy. my whole thing is, as long as the headcanon doesnt erase a characters existing race/identity in a story where that race or identity is a big part of that characters delelopment/ story, then its chill. and as long as the headcanon its promoting someone as a predator/groomer and treating that as a positive thing, then who cares???????

i guess all this to say, i just thing that as long as a person isnt trying to be gross and make things like grooming and assault and hatred a positive thing in fan spaces, when why should you care so much and try and drive people out of fan spaces? the interent used to be a place where people of like interests could come together and celebrate the things that the enjoy