Torchwood is Not Fandom's Bitch
Mar. 2nd, 2010 05:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bluejeans07I wasn't going to write this but then I read the entries from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
51stcenturyfox, redstapler and rm, and thought about things in my little head for a moment.
No, I did not go to the Character Deaths Panel at Gallifrey this year because I think I probably would've laughed, especially hearing that someone started crying. My knee-jerk reaction to anything that gets fandom riled up and emotional has been to respond with my sense of humor and that's usually where my comics come from. When it goes on a for awhile, I end up drawing lots and lots of comics. But my comic would have been a channeled reaction to my laughter, and I don't think laughing would have gone over well inside the room
It might be cruel and insensitive to laugh when someone is clearly in pain, but I'm not feeling very apologetic about the way I feel and just telling me that I should be won't change that. Neil Gaiman once told a fan that, "George R.R. Martin is not your bitch." Likewise, I am not your bitch. TORCHWOOD is not your bitch. Russell T. Davies is very unapologetically, not fandom's bitch.
Fans do not own the series that they are a fan of in the slightest. They don't get a say whether a character lives or dies, they don't have a choice in what the story is. And honestly, they shouldn't! It'd be a boring story if they did and I'd rather see a story that's well crafted, dramatically intense, and be entertained. And yes, sometimes things are done because it WOULD get a huge reaction out of fans, whether good or bad, because this proves that people are watching, being engaged, and being interested in whatever the property is.
Personally, I think that fandom feeling entitlement from their properties is very arrogant. You don't become a fan to own the show, you become a fan because you LIKE what you're getting from the show. You are a consumer of the show and it's merchandise, but that doesn't get you to own any sort of rights to the show and the characters. You can certainly voice your opinion, but they don't have to take it.
Because, they are not your bitch. End of story.
51stcenturyfox, redstapler and rm, and thought about things in my little head for a moment.No, I did not go to the Character Deaths Panel at Gallifrey this year because I think I probably would've laughed, especially hearing that someone started crying. My knee-jerk reaction to anything that gets fandom riled up and emotional has been to respond with my sense of humor and that's usually where my comics come from. When it goes on a for awhile, I end up drawing lots and lots of comics. But my comic would have been a channeled reaction to my laughter, and I don't think laughing would have gone over well inside the room
It might be cruel and insensitive to laugh when someone is clearly in pain, but I'm not feeling very apologetic about the way I feel and just telling me that I should be won't change that. Neil Gaiman once told a fan that, "George R.R. Martin is not your bitch." Likewise, I am not your bitch. TORCHWOOD is not your bitch. Russell T. Davies is very unapologetically, not fandom's bitch.
Fans do not own the series that they are a fan of in the slightest. They don't get a say whether a character lives or dies, they don't have a choice in what the story is. And honestly, they shouldn't! It'd be a boring story if they did and I'd rather see a story that's well crafted, dramatically intense, and be entertained. And yes, sometimes things are done because it WOULD get a huge reaction out of fans, whether good or bad, because this proves that people are watching, being engaged, and being interested in whatever the property is.
Personally, I think that fandom feeling entitlement from their properties is very arrogant. You don't become a fan to own the show, you become a fan because you LIKE what you're getting from the show. You are a consumer of the show and it's merchandise, but that doesn't get you to own any sort of rights to the show and the characters. You can certainly voice your opinion, but they don't have to take it.
Because, they are not your bitch. End of story.
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Date: 2010-03-03 01:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-03 02:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-03 02:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-03 02:47 am (UTC)(Except Cherry is buried in Wheathampstead ... I will take Bill and Birdie as recompense. But they died on the ice shelf, so if all the ice melted ...!)
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Date: 2010-03-03 03:02 am (UTC)DAHAHAHA CLIP! We are as GOOOOOOOOODS~!
(psst. I still want dim sum. Do you want some dim sum?)
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Date: 2010-03-03 03:09 am (UTC)Which makes the Amundsen's Sled Dogs movie delightfully dark, doncha think? }:]
(I still want dim sum. I just don't know wheeeen. D:)
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Date: 2010-03-03 03:23 am (UTC)(I don't know when either! We'll work something out for some sweet buns!)
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Date: 2010-03-03 03:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-03 02:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-03 03:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-03 03:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-03 03:48 am (UTC)Just because a fan wants a story to go a certain way does NOT make it a good idea! In fact, I feel like there WAS a series (probably a webcomic) where the creator was trying to write the story based on where the fans wanted it to go...and the story ended up stagnating and just sucking, because there's no way you can please everyone.
Plus dude, that's what fanfic is for!
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Date: 2010-03-03 05:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-03 05:32 am (UTC)(Thank you for the shoutout. And wordy mcword.)
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Date: 2010-03-03 05:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-03 01:34 pm (UTC)1. If it made you cry, made you angry, made you react that strongly, then it's GOOD DRAMA! So stop being angry about it. It wasn't stated in those words. Not even close. But it's what I took away from it.
2. No one "gets a pass" on homophobia. Please don't use that phrase. It hints that the person getting said pass actually IS homophobic and is being allowed to be so because of whatever it is being argued. In this case, RTD was being "given a pass" on homophobic undertones of "Children of Earth" because of his being one of the most out-there gay men in Great Britain. It took me a half hour to realize that the phrasing was inaccurate and I now reject the phrase in almost any context.
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Date: 2010-03-03 06:06 pm (UTC)2. That's... yeah. Homophobic is a STRONG word to use and really, it was used wrongly. Personally, I think RTD deserves a huge apology for that.
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Date: 2010-03-03 01:41 pm (UTC)But I did want to tell you that you get agreement from this corner of peanut gallery, also.
On a side note, I'm just watching the run of Buffy for the first time, but Firefly taught me quick about Joss. My friend who got me into Buffy keeps asking me how broken up I am about certain things, and all I can say is "It's Joss. I knew what I was getting into." I pretty much apply that to all TV shows now, just to be safe, lol.
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Date: 2010-03-03 06:07 pm (UTC)Fun! I've never watched Buffy straight through (I really need to) and I'm more familiar with Joss in comic book form. But then Joss on TV is also Joss in comics and similar things happen.
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Date: 2010-03-04 12:08 am (UTC)It's so much fun, I'm glad my friend finally roped me into it. I definitely would believe no matter the medium, Joss is Joss. He just enjoys breaking our hearts far too much!
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Date: 2010-03-03 03:03 pm (UTC)Comics fandom was brought up, which I think we'll see more about (I didn't take notes during, but someone did).
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Date: 2010-03-03 06:12 pm (UTC)OH COMICS FANDOM. Let me tell you though, I don't think comic character deaths would be as relevant. Characters have died and come back to life multiple times in American comics, the CANON is so full of crack because American mainstream comics is a FRANCHISE. There may be good stories within the franchise but at the end of the day, it's true purpose is to earn money for the company. Bruce Wayne is currently considered dead in Detective Comics but that's not going to last long and all the fans know that he's totally coming back. Superman was dying from apoptosis, but that's gone too. You can't kill off the main characters in a franchise because the money will stop.
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Date: 2010-03-03 04:44 pm (UTC)As far as I go is wishing certain movies wouldn't get/have been made because they trash the story and characters, but aside from my own grumbling I'm not going to take to the streets ( or convention rooms ) in protest.
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Date: 2010-03-03 06:14 pm (UTC)Yeah same here. I just choose not to give them my money!
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Date: 2010-03-03 05:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-03 06:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-04 03:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-04 07:49 am (UTC)