astridv | (no subject)

I wonder how people would feel if they constantly got comments like "I had to grit my teeth to get past the McShep but otherwise great story" or "Obviously I skipped past the McShep parts because that pairing is just wrong, but great fic!" or "Rodney is such a terrible character because [list of reasons why Rodney McKay is a terrible character] and I hate him on the show but you almost made me like him here!"? Because people comment like that on fanwork that contains McKeller All. The. Time. All the fucking time.

(I just saw another one first thing this morning.)

Or how would they feel about fic requests at genrefinders phrased "since obviously Sheppard and McKay are both straight, the slash makes no sense and it's OOC so I'm looking for Rodney/Katie and John/Larrin."

You know what all this looks like to me? Like a discouraging tactic, to actively discourage people from including any hint of Keller or Rodney/Jennifer in their fanwork at all. Maybe that's not the intention, maybe it's just thoughtlessness, but that's how it's starting to come across to me.

Seriously, is it so terrible to have a bit of diversity in fandom? Is another pairing so threatening? I don't get it.

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There is definitely a reason why I started locking down comments on my stories. I've opened them back up lately because, well, I don't really care anymore, but it was very puzzling to me. I really don't mind comments along the lines of "I don't normally read such & such a kind of fic, but you really sold me on it!" (actually, I think they're very flattering). But it always used to be that the really "WTF? and you're telling me this why?" comments were rare, rare enough that I specifically remember them (like the one I got on a McKay/Beckett friendship story that was basically something like "I can't stand Beckett so I didn't like most of the story, but I liked the parts with Sheppard"). Not so anymore.

On the other hand, this isn't the first time this has happened in SGA fandom; I don't know if you were in the fandom between seasons 3 and 4, but there was a staggering amount of negativity directed at Carter, at Keller, and at the show in general. I must admit that I'm kind of eyerolling at all the people who are saying "I wanted to like Keller, I tried to like her, but they wrote her so badly I just couldn't!" -- because I remember how the fandom responded to the news of Jewel's casting, and it wasn't with great joy. Now for all I know, it may well be different people and maybe all these closet would-be fans were just staying quiet then, but I remember how gloomy the fannish reaction was, and all the nasty comments about "Doctor Barbie" and so forth, before she'd even appeared in an episode.

I had actually forgotten how bad it was during the season 3/4 hiatus until I read some fic from that era not too long ago, and rediscovered the "Carter as evil witch trying to break up John and Rodney" characterization that was so prevalent then. It was extraordinarily rare to find a story that didn't demonize her, let alone that treated her positively and gave her a chance to shine. I know people who left the fandom then because, as Carter fans, they felt unwelcome.

I am very reluctant to blame it purely on gender or OTP, because I've been in several fandoms where the demonized/hated characters were male (though all the examples I can think of are anime; hmm, I wonder if having the characters played by live actors makes a difference?). But it's definitely the same damn thing happening this time around as with Carter, with most of the same arguments (that she was a Mary Sue, only in the show because the writers thought Amanda was hot, etc, etc), except in the case of Carter, the bewailing turned out to be completely unfounded (if anything, they did the character a disservice by under-utilizing her), while in Keller's case it's kicked up a few levels because she actually did end up getting a lot of screen time and becoming involved with a main character.

Can I just say...

Yes.

Same frikkin' brain.

But you already know that.