You There! Potter or Death?

[harp]

dancingcarrot21 posted a meme about Fandoms as Lovers, and the answer to the question about the cruel lover was, for her The Harry Potter Fandom!!!. She ranted beautifully, and when I went to comment, it was so darned lengthy that I made it into a post instead. I suggest... no, I ask you very kindly to skip this entry if you aren't familiar with the moldy, scum-and ejaculate-covered locker room shower drain of the Harry Potter fandom. It's wanky, rabid, and the truth is, unless you were in the forums during the release of OotP through Deathly Hallows, it's really not going to make any sense to you. Really, it doesn't make sense, but when you're in it, for those few hours, it makes a world of sense. To put it into internet terms, "it was srs bznss at the time!"

Instead, please enjoy the latest Harpsiccord Entry about the morgue. Or Fill out the RPer Friending Meme if you haven't! You don't have to be looking for a game to fill it out.

Carrot (and everyone else who did a tour on LJ, FictionAlly, and Journalfen), lets get ranty. P.S- Carrot if you want me to delete your quote or use a different one, tell me.

The one who seduced you and fucked you over and broke your heart in a million pieces and laughed about it.
[...] I’ll always cherish my memories there, the banner exchanges, and the people who made it possible to have fun. The ones on my f-list, you know who you are.

However, after I ventured into other territory in the HP fandom, dear lord did I see the difference. FF.net, Fiction Alley, and Livejournal have to be the most vile cesspools of crazy you’ll ever see in the HP fandom. It’s pretty much given that at least one fight will break out a day over some meaningless topic.

[...]

This fandom is nuts. Oh, and not to mention the ever going war between obsessive OBHWF shippers and H/Hr shippers. Or the debate of who’s more of a jackass while comparing Snape, James, Lily, and the other Marauders. Despite the books being over for FOUR YEARS.

People keep complaining about how it’s over, but I’m giddy with excitement. I can’t wait for this train wreck of a fandom to die down. It’s so full of its own self entitlement.
-Carrot

As Potter is the only fandom I know from your list, it's the only one I can comment on, and I say this.

I too have my fun experiences- Femslash exchange, Dron, Potter Sims, drawings for people, chat logs with my friend Leslie, and of course f-listers like you and Telem and Loki. Probably other stuff I can't remember, too. I'll never forget those and I loved every second of them.

But on the whole? The fandom is full of disgusting, vindictive, boastful, pigheaded, judgmental, petty, cruel, bigoted shallow people. I was pissed about the Katie-hate when it first came up, but I had no idea how bad it was until you told me more about it, Carrot. Death threats to the actress? They may as well have been pre-written, because no matter who they got, in the end, she was kissing DanRad, and that is a sin. And sure, actresses get death threats all the time, but the racist comments were really putting me over the edge- I didn’t know they were getting racist with it.

Incidentally, read a thing online yesterday where someone said that white women feel "threatened" by Asian women, but I’ll get to the fandom pettiness in a bit.

Now that Blaise thing you mentioned?. Wow. I cannot. I can. Not.
And look at that! A lot of the above comments are deleted, and *shock* the ones that defend the OP are anon. Moo-cowards. At least a lot of the comments called out the poster. That’s a good sign.
I’m also slightly amused at the conversation between the anon and LVT. The two of us can’t seem to get along ever, but this anon’s attempt at shaming her speaks volumes of HP Stupidity. The word “mudblood” is oh-so-offensive, but it’s fine to say “muggle”. Think about that for a bit.

But I’m not surprised by this display of shallowness. Just take the case of the Death Eaters. Draco, Snape, Lord Voldemort, Lucius Malfoy, and Tom Riddle all have legions of fangirls and fanfiction. The other bad guys are largely ignored, but there’s one that gets special treatment by being left out of fanfic, written over, replaced with Lily, and bashed repeatedly, and that’s Peter Pettigrew. The only difference between him and the others mentioned is that he’s unattractive. I guarantee you that if he was a bird-boned pretty boy and carried on with his crying and wailing, there would be a legion of Peter Apologists writing fanfics and claiming “if he didn’t do it, then there’d be no story”.

The fandom is insanely hypocritical. Half of them claim to identify with Hermione, say that they, too were outcaaaast because they (le gasp) read books and studied, then they turn around and gang up on one-another or rally around bullies like emerson (not worth the capitalization) . Funny how for a fandom full of nerds and outcasts there’s a ship that’s “okay” to pick on.

Oh, and selfishness. I’ve defended H/Hr and H/L in forums before, or just plain said that I don’t like R/Hr in forums. The response has, 100% of the time, been people assuming I ship H/Hr. They can’t get it through their heads that someone could possibly defend something they don’t ship. Of course not! They see someone being picked on, and they’re quick to join in so that they don’t get it next. Know what's good fun? Watching the wibbling when the one joining in makes a remark that the original bully doesn’t like. Lots of ass-covering and back-tracking.

Again, I can hardly say I’m surprised by this- it's a matter of self-preservation. In the PFW (Potter Fandom Wars), Livejournal, Journalfen, and FictionAlley Park were the Western Front, and people got really creepy and nasty, with namecalling, troop rallying, and following one-another to personal journals (Hi, Daksian!). LadyJayne was telling us in one community how, during one argument, someone commented asking her about her daughter’s hair. This was in reference to a personal journal entry she made about how her daughter had really long hair and they were trying to manage the tangles.

Point of Order: The OBHWFers I'm talking about here are a very specific group. This is the hoard that does not merely ship OBHWF, but gets angry when anyone via outright speech or different shipping dares to imply that parts of Rowling's golden universe would look better in hunter green rather than forest green.

I’m convinced that the phrase “you’re just jealous” was invented for this fandom. Take a look at every act of fandom-righteous spite-sniping and you'll see that every one was either born of jealousy or has jealousy's fingerprints on it- the anti-Cho Chang, the sneering at the HHR dance scene, the Fleur bashing, the Lavender straw man, Harry’s kiss with Ginny in the common room where he takes a moment to look up from his kiss with Ginny to see Dean and have a little inward gloat about it. However the “you’re jealous” was reserved for anyone with a differing opinion from canon, meaning people who didn’t like how a ship turned out and explained why they felt that way, people who didn’t like a certain character because of how s/he acted or just plain didn’t like a character’s attitudes and beliefs.

The fandom is insecure to the point of being rabid. You’d think that with a series so beloved that pop culture references it all over the place, we’d be pretty secure as insiders, but just try making a point that doesn’t fit in with the collective. Just try saying “this part here was stupid”. The wrath of the masses will descend.

“You’re just butthurt because JK killed your character/ship!”

Oh, and don't forget Fandom Wank on JournalFen. Tell me that place isn't run by the Focus on the Family... the biggest insult these people can come up with boils down to implying that the insultee does not have a boyfriend/lover/spouse/date. You can really profile the Big Name Warriors in the OBHWF camp- people in their late twenties and up (I will never, never, never get over the fact that the Laurel Camer, the person who would go around calling Harmoney fans "little bitches" is in her early sixties), attached to someone, kids, extended family, believes strongly that being married and bearing children is a given in anyone's life, utterly unable to understand the concept of preferring not to date. No wonder H/Hr is an insult- it leaves two lose ends. Where's Ron's prize? And Ginny needs to have a man! First of all she waited for him, but more importantly, that's the only reason she was written in- Harry's trophy. I'm not just being biased either. This sexist tripe is celebrated in that camp-

The first barrier, which Harry (and Harry alone) can breach with his snakelike power of Parseltongue, represents the hymen that guards the entrance to the passage leading to the womb.

[...]

And a man does "slide into" that pipe – first Lockhart, then Harry, then Ron. The imagery is appropriately dark, damp, and slimy: "It was like rushing down an endless, slimy, dark slide."

[...]

[...] the resulting avalanche ensures that Harry must go on alone – fittingly so, as the return to the womb is traditionally a lone adventure, and also fittingly because the girl who has been used to lure them there – Ginny – is an inappropriate sexual object for both Ron and Lockhart. It is Harry who is the object of Ginny’s emerging adolescent desire, and only Harry can rescue her from her ravisher. [WAT.]

Civilized society, however, has its demands, and Harry is only twelve years old. He does not keep the sword, but gives it to Dumbledore, who returns it to its glass case. Nor does he keep the maiden; instead he returns her to the safety of her family, represented by her brother Ron and then by her mother and father in Dumbledore's office.
-Angua9's essay "The Chamber of Smut: Sexual Imagery in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" here.

I can't even... you have got to be kidding me with this sexist garbage. But what really kills me is how the people commenting on her journal tore at Harmony fans for a theory about symbolism in the flight on Buckbeak's back. They'd never let another shipper get away with this. When rival (popular) shippers comment in private forums about why they like their pairing, Fandom Wank is all over it, but if someone from their camp writes a goddamned essay about how wands in Chamber of Secrets are male reproductives and how Harry is sliding down slimy, dark, dirty bathroom pipes that are supposed to represent vaginas...



There was a brief, glorious moment when the fandom set aside their differences to mock the Twilight series, and that was nice. Unfortunately, it was just a front. The awful truth is that we claim to be the superior, intellectual fandom, but the Twilight fandom has something we’ll never have- they stick together. They don’t eat their own. If fandoms were houses, the Twihards are living in a poorly constructed shack with paper thin walls and a roof made of swiss cheese, and they have the winds and rains of criticism of all kinds constantly bearing down on them, but inside, they’re a happy family that Ma and Pa Potter say “will never know the finer things in life, the poor dumb bastards” but that doesn’t really need insulation because they cuddle each other to stay warm.

Meanwhile, over in the Potter Mansion where the climate is always relatively mild, the parents are throwing bottles of imported wine at one-another and screaming obscenities and one of the kids presses his nose to the glass to look across the street at the shack and think how nice it must be to live in a happy home. That’s why we confined ourselves to our rooms for the most part, and only let our friends in. Carrot, you said it alright- this fandom’s an effing madhouse.

Comments

[static-pixie.livejournal.com]

Oh, HP fandom! I had forgotten all the bullshit - I guess I blocked it out? OBHWF - I'd forgotten about that ridiculous acronym! Lol, I love the first comment about how people are arguing about Snape, Lily and the Marauders four years later because it is so true. And one of best people on my flist still writes about Lily and we totally disagree but she's cool about it.

I'm 90% sure that most of the SPN fandom is the old HP fandom and that's why it's so wanky. At least all the Marauder fans and the Slytherin fans. Sometimes I wonder what happened to Gun - I know most people didn't like her but we somehow came to some agreement despite pretty much having opposing views on everything. Like someone else said, though, despite all the crazy that went on I think some of my favorite people on my flist are from my HP days. The fandom had a way of making you very loyal.

[harpsi-fizz.livejournal.com]

*Is surprised and intrigued twice* So... so Gun was not well liked? I kinda thought I was the only one for some reason...
Also, you actually talked her into an understanding?! That... that troll?! Information on both subjects, please!

[static-pixie.livejournal.com]

Hahaha, oh, Gun.

Gun was well-liked by that whole ridiculous crowd over at journalfen. She was sort of their ring-leader at one time, I think because she was funny and pretty articulate. And, you know, kinda mean. The thing you really had to do was beat her. Really, I think she just liked the way I argued and the way that I was willing to listen to what she had to say and admit when she had a good point. Because I think her perception of everyone on our side was pretty much the same perception we had of them - that we weren't willing to listen despite the fact that we had it all wrong. And if you really got down to a discussion with her, you'd find you had points in common.

So it sorta worked out. I'd stand up for her and because she was popular, I could say whatever I wanted and not end up on journalfen. And I think it was interesting for both of us to try and sustain this connection with someone whose viewpoints were so different.

And then one day she just dropped off the map. Haven't heard from her since. Hope she's ok. Because beyond HP and everything, she was actually a good person, she just put up a really good front and, like me, sometimes took it too far with the mocking.

[harpsi-fizz.livejournal.com]

*Eyebrow raise* O Rly? The one time I ever had it out with her, she was making jokes and I started making jokes back- not mean ones, but neutral ones. Ones to show that I really didn't want to fight. In the end, she said something about writing some ridiculous pairing crackfic and I replied with "Be sure to put it on HP_rarepairs" with a link, and then she resorted to petty namecalling and that was the end. That left a sour taste in my mouth about the whole thing, as you can imagine, and though I'm inclined to believe you, it's hard to convince myself that she's "actually a good person". Especially since any idiot could clearly see that at the time, my ship loyalty and preference was to Harry/Ron, so I really shouldn't have been a "threat".

But I guess that's what you meant about taking it too far with the mocking.

So your take plus my personal experience, plus some half-remembered explanation about how she kept changing her name because of bitchfits thrown leads me to form a picture of chronic Internet Tough Guy and certified Approval Junkie. I suppose I can't hold any active ill will. Still, that side drew first blood, and her associating with them makes it hard for me to think of her as little more than a bully. And I'm sad about that, because she was clever. Both camps had their counterparts, and her's was Floria (remember her? Brilliant, snarky Columbia student). So I bet she would be fun to know.

And while we're sharing, I made friends with someone from the other side, too. Remember Dak? Yeah...