red_lasbelin: (girl: ear piercings)
Red ([personal profile] red_lasbelin) wrote2014-01-15 11:50 am
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Snowflake Challenge, Day 11, 12

Day 11

Stretch yourself a little and try something new. Go play in a new fandom or with a new pairing or trope. Try creating a different kind of fanwork. Or check out some types of fanworks that are new to you. (The recs from Day 1, Day 3, and Day 9 might be a good place to start!) Leave a comment in this post saying you did it.

I'm going a rec list for this prompt - I've complied what I've done so far and put it in a private, stickied entry right now. I've got a lot more stories to add, but not a lot of time/energy at the moment. So it's definitely a WIP. When I have more stories up, I'll make it public.

Day 12

In your own space, talk about what you think the future holds for fandom. What are your hopes and dreams for fandom? Do you have any predictions about what the next five years holds for fandom? Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I think fandom is going to be around for a good long time. Fandom is bigger than it's ever been with growing public support. The social stigma is lessening, for sure. It's still there, though, and may take on different forms. Stories inspire people and engage their imagination and the internet is an amazing platform for this expression. LOTR and the Silm - people have been engaged with those works for decades, and it would be silly to say it will stop or majorly decrease without us. People come, people go - even come back after a while! And I suspect it will always be like that.

I hope fandom will continue to call for more diversity (more females, different ethnicities, more LGBT representation) in major works of entertainment and support those shows that listen. I cannot tell you how many times I've heard from people in RL saying 'but Watson can't be a woman, it's just WRONG. and they've totally screwed up the character'. I've not actually watched Elementary, yet, it's on my list, but I will defend the right to interpret a canon character as another gender because that is really damn cool and it's engaging with the work in a really thoughtful, interesting way.

Fandom is the kind of place where people go 'what if?' - that kind of thinking is prevalent here. We're good at exploring different plots, different aspects of the character, different universes, different relationships and sometimes deconstructing what makes a character who that person is. So I hope that approach remains.

I do hope that within all the politics, different canon interpretations (or people who don't think canon is the only way), ship wars and all that jazz that everyone remembersthe love of whatever work/story brought us all here though.

[identity profile] aliana1.livejournal.com 2014-01-16 02:21 am (UTC)(link)
*applauds* Especially your points on diversity and canon-interpretation. Like, why is it "okay" to transplant Sherlock Holmes to a completely different century and culture, but not make one of the characters female? Doesn't make any sense, I tell you. I agree that fandom and fanfiction are great ways to play around with ideas and perception.

[identity profile] red-lasbelin.livejournal.com 2014-01-16 02:49 pm (UTC)(link)
why is it "okay" to transplant Sherlock Holmes to a completely different century and culture, but not make one of the characters female

This. So much. I was having a hard time with words when I wrote this, but this was one of the underlying concepts I was thinking of. It should be okay to do both. And not everyone will like it - I'm not trying to say people have to like it, but it has a right to exist and people to find out if they like it or not.

And diversity wasn't something I paid much attention to until people in fandom talked about it and linked to other people outside of talking about it...that and having a friend overseas really made me look at my ethnocentrism.

[identity profile] keiliss.livejournal.com 2014-01-16 04:06 pm (UTC)(link)
Remember the love, yes. Because it started with love and fun and excitement and it would be sad if that got lost in the discussions and canon arguments and pressures to run with the herd.

*hugs*

[identity profile] red-lasbelin.livejournal.com 2014-01-16 11:36 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes, or worrying about appearances or not towing the party line. That drives me nuts.

[identity profile] mithrial.livejournal.com 2014-01-20 03:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Rob and I are totally enjoying, 'Elementary'.
The characters are well developed - epsodes well written.
I think you'll like it too.

Fandom is growing and growing as far as I can tell. There are new legends from the TV/film generation.
Storytelling is human nature. :D