![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aruruThe contents of the following post were originally shared in this Mary Sue comm. thread here. I had been saving this type of rant for a PERSONAL LJ SUPAA-EXCLUSIVE!!!, but after seeing this attitude one too many times in one week I was pretty much too goddamn eager to share. So now, what you will find here is a compilation of what I have had to say on the matter across various posts. Enjoy.
(Also, my thanks and credits go out to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
iczer6, tifag, v02499, and my good ol' pal arcian for their comments, which have been of help in elaborating my point further in this compilation.)
[THIS LETTER IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO ALL BOOK/MOVIE/GAME/TV/ETC. FANDOMS. PLEASE REPLACE ALL ANIME-THEMED SECTIONS WITH YOUR OWN EXAMPLES OF PERSONAL FANDOM OF CHOICE.]
Dear Sirs and Madams,
BITE ME.
Seriously, guys, that's just not fair to others for many reasons.
First off, how many of you DIDN'T get into anime thanks to something on TV? I'm quite certain the answer is pretty few.
I mean, I loved cartoons since childhood, but I'm sure I wouldn't have "fallen into" anime fandom quite as wholeheartedly or as quickly if I hadn't been fairly exposed to the medium since an early age: Way before I knew what the hell "anime" was, I was already seeing it on TV - around here in the local channels, they had stuff like Candy Candy, Mazinger Z, Voltron, Saint Seiya, as well as a fair number of others. And on one of the English channels, we got that one 80's staple every single American kid knew and loved: Transformers. Then, in my early teens, I was exposed to Dragonball Z and Sailor Moon, which (dubbing issues aside) I thought were corny but amusing, even though at that point I still didn't know that was anime (At that time, "anime" to me was "that Japanese stuff in the late-night ads," namely that "strange-but-interesting-looking" Akira movie.).
I didn't really get into the genre until I started more seriously getting into gaming - the interest in anime developed as an offshoot of that, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have had as much of a predisposition to enjoying it if it weren't for my previous experiences with TV. So I think I owe television and the companies who decided to share these things with us a great deal. It doesn't matter if they did it because they knew it'd make them money (Well DUH, how do you expect the company to stay afloat?), I still feel indebted to them in that sense.
(Other personal examples from the realm of books include how I feel indebted to Disney for making movie adaptations of children's literature classics like Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland. Had it not been for these, I would likely not have eventually looked for the original novels, or at least, taken a lot longer than I did in going to check them out.)
Which leads to the second point: Most anime was made for television/theatrical release FIRST. You know, those same mediums of mass consumption you guys yowl about so much? In other words, ANIME WAS ALREADY A COMMERCIAL PRODUCT BEFORE IT CAME HERE. If we go by the logic you people have, then all your precious series were "ruined" LONG BEFORE YOU EVER SAW THEM.
(And no, don't try to give me the "Well, OVAs weren't on TV, so they're not commercial!" crap. OF COURSE they're commercial products, they're just marketed in a different manner and to a slightly different consumer group.)
This, of course, leads to the third point: If you think the creators of these series made them just thinking of you guys exclusively, then YOU PEOPLE ARE SERIOUSLY DAFT. I'm sorry, but while I'm sure George Lucas wanted to have people enjoy Star Wars when he originally came up with it, he was also LOOKING TO MAKE A FILM THAT WOULD SELL (How else do you expect him to have been able to make the rest of the films had the first failed, after all?). And while I'm certain J.K. Rowling is appreciative of the fanbase she's amassed, the main reason she wrote Harry Potter was TO HOPEFULLY GET HERSELF AND HER FAMILY OUT OF THE POORHOUSE. While I believe that they were both confident enough people in their works to realize ahead of time that there might be some people that would like it, they probably did NOT expect their works to be as much of a success as they were. I reiterate, THEY DID NOT MAKE THESE THINGS WITH YOU GUYS EXCLUSIVELY OR PRIMARILY IN THEIR MINDS.
But wahh wahh Aurora there's enough ways to get anime cheap/free we don't need television wahh wahh...
Fourth point: Not everyone has high-speed connections to download fansubs (I sure don't.). Not everyone has a friend or an anime club with access to these they can borrow from (There was certainly NO anime fanclub that I heard of at my college during my stint there, much less was there one in my high school back when I was around.). Not everyone has a rental place that has anime available. Or if they do happen to have some, it's barely anything. Blockbuster around here certainly has a downright pitiful selection. People in my particular city are only fortunate to have two comic book stores that do have video rentals, and one of them only allows you to become a member if you have a credit card. And I sincerely hope you guys realize not everybody has a plastic-carrying member in the household.
YOU may not need television, but for some OTHER people, the simple truth is that TV is all they've got.
Wahh wahh then that just means they're being lazy and they should get jobs if it mattered to them that much wahh wahh wahh...
Some people aren't old enough to work part-time (And even those that can will likely have somewhat of a hard time due to the fact that the current job market is in QUITE a bad state.). Even if there's always the chance of getting odd jobs, odd jobs are still random (and usually very temporary) opportunities (hence the "odd" part of the term), and some people are already using that money for MUCH more pressing matters, like helping their family if they're tight on cash or paying for freakin' college (even the "small" things cost money, yanno).
A good example of this would be my friend Danny. He likes anime and manga, and he would like it more if he could actually afford to spend the money (AND the time, he's a very busy fellow) on the hobby. He's hoping to be able to continue his studies into fashion design in London, so naturally, he's working and trying to save toward that goal. Just buying a copy of the Silent Möbius manga every once in a while is "splurging" for him.
That's FAR from being "lazy," I would say.
So, in short, please DO realize that not every anime fan out there happens to be an upper-middle class suburbanite with a lot of disposable income (often mommy and daddy's).
(And I say this as someone who IS from the middle class, so those of you who were about to say how "jealous" I am, please do everyone a favor and go shoot yourselves in the head now.)
But then there's going to be more NON-fans criticizing the series and their reviews will be all misinformed and wahh wahh wahh wahh...
Just like how I could write an article on the current season of Buffy (which I'm not a fan of) and it would be woefully uninformed. Just like how I could write an article on Xena (which I WAS quite fond of, but didn't follow religiously, especially towards the later seasons), and it would STILL be woefully uninformed. Just like how people with access to fansubs write crappy reviews of series already (like one I saw for Get Backers a few weeks back). Big effing deal.
To sum up the fifth point: There have always and WILL always be "non-fans" reviewing stuff you happen to personally like, and some of them will not enjoy it, or even if they enjoy it, will make mistakes while reviewing. It's not going to kill you, so LIVE WITH IT.
Wahh but more fans means more idiots and more bad fic and art wahh wahh wahh...
You guys are being myopic and completely failing to see the big picture of the situation: An increase in the number of fans means there's an increase all accross the board, not just in morons.
Percentage-wise, there have ALWAYS been more asshats than intelligent folks in a fandom (Hell, one could say the same thing for life in general.). This is NOT a new thing, it just seems more noticeable when there's more people around to interact with.
Thusly, it is pretty safe to say that while an increase in fans means that yes, there will be more idiots and more crappy fanfic/fanart/etc., it ALSO means that there are going to be MORE INTELLIGENT FANS TO SHARE FANDOM WITH and MORE FRESH IDEAS/NEW AND CREATIVE SPINS ON OLD IDEAS in the fanwork area (Believe it or not, but fandoms tend to stagnate without an influx of new blood to share their own two cents on the subject matter.). You just need to be willing to look around a little.
Additionally, how many of you were clueless n00bs yourselves when you just started out? (Now, c'mon, be honest here.)
To put it plainly, we were ALL stupid n00bs at one point or another. Some people will never grow out of fanwanky idiot mode, but most will. Some will do so faster than others. Don't just discredit every new fan you run into right off the bat - give them some time. Some will actually turn out to be cool.
Lastly, as it was pointed out by my friendarcian, NO ONE is forcing you to interact with these people, or look at their fanfics or fanart (I should HOPE that the people of places like ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
tws_support, ficbitches, marysues, or fandom_wank do what they do because they derive some sort of ENTERTAINMENT from it, and not doing it against their will.). Also, NO ONE is forcing you to "stay in" a fandom if it's really aggravating you that much - there IS such a thing as working "from the fringes" (which is something I tend to do).
If for some reason you do feel forced to "be" in a fandom, then frankly, YOU SERIOUSLY NEED TO HAVE YOUR HEAD EXAMINED.
Simply put, the sixth point is: YOU WILL ALWAYS BE AROUND TYPES OF PEOPLE YOU'LL WISH WOULD STOP BREATHING, BOTH IN FANDOM AND IN REGULAR LIFE. Learn to FUCKING RELAX, DEAL WITH IT, and just go on and keep enjoying your series (or game/book/whatever) simply for what it is, rather than be "ruled" by fandom.
And that would be it. So, in summary of all points (for those of you who have the attention span of a spastic fruit fly), PLEASE STOP BEING SUCH A BUNCH OF GODDAMN SELFISH ELITIST INGRATES.
Remember how less than five years ago (when anime was just starting to spark a little more interest and companies were only beginning to market things more aggressively?), most of you were still saying how much you wish anime were more popular?
Well, you got that wish.
SO QUIT WHINING AND MOTHERFUCKING REJOICE ALREADY!
Sincerely,
Aurora Derall
*********
Dear Idiots,
At least MY supposed "elitism" and "hypocrisy" are done for the sake of being tongue-in-cheek, rather than actually being serious like the people I'm commenting on are.
So please, kindly remove the sticks from your asses so that I might have at least some respect for you. Or sit on them and spin, if you prefer - your wankery provides me with much, much entertainment.
Sincerely,
Aurora
(Also, my thanks and credits go out to
iczer6, tifag, v02499, and my good ol' pal arcian for their comments, which have been of help in elaborating my point further in this compilation.)AN OPEN LETTER TO ALL FANS WHO SAY THAT COMMERCIALIZATION OF ANIME RUINS THEIR FANDOMS
[THIS LETTER IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO ALL BOOK/MOVIE/GAME/TV/ETC. FANDOMS. PLEASE REPLACE ALL ANIME-THEMED SECTIONS WITH YOUR OWN EXAMPLES OF PERSONAL FANDOM OF CHOICE.]
Dear Sirs and Madams,
BITE ME.
Seriously, guys, that's just not fair to others for many reasons.
First off, how many of you DIDN'T get into anime thanks to something on TV? I'm quite certain the answer is pretty few.
I mean, I loved cartoons since childhood, but I'm sure I wouldn't have "fallen into" anime fandom quite as wholeheartedly or as quickly if I hadn't been fairly exposed to the medium since an early age: Way before I knew what the hell "anime" was, I was already seeing it on TV - around here in the local channels, they had stuff like Candy Candy, Mazinger Z, Voltron, Saint Seiya, as well as a fair number of others. And on one of the English channels, we got that one 80's staple every single American kid knew and loved: Transformers. Then, in my early teens, I was exposed to Dragonball Z and Sailor Moon, which (dubbing issues aside) I thought were corny but amusing, even though at that point I still didn't know that was anime (At that time, "anime" to me was "that Japanese stuff in the late-night ads," namely that "strange-but-interesting-looking" Akira movie.).
I didn't really get into the genre until I started more seriously getting into gaming - the interest in anime developed as an offshoot of that, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have had as much of a predisposition to enjoying it if it weren't for my previous experiences with TV. So I think I owe television and the companies who decided to share these things with us a great deal. It doesn't matter if they did it because they knew it'd make them money (Well DUH, how do you expect the company to stay afloat?), I still feel indebted to them in that sense.
(Other personal examples from the realm of books include how I feel indebted to Disney for making movie adaptations of children's literature classics like Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland. Had it not been for these, I would likely not have eventually looked for the original novels, or at least, taken a lot longer than I did in going to check them out.)
Which leads to the second point: Most anime was made for television/theatrical release FIRST. You know, those same mediums of mass consumption you guys yowl about so much? In other words, ANIME WAS ALREADY A COMMERCIAL PRODUCT BEFORE IT CAME HERE. If we go by the logic you people have, then all your precious series were "ruined" LONG BEFORE YOU EVER SAW THEM.
(And no, don't try to give me the "Well, OVAs weren't on TV, so they're not commercial!" crap. OF COURSE they're commercial products, they're just marketed in a different manner and to a slightly different consumer group.)
This, of course, leads to the third point: If you think the creators of these series made them just thinking of you guys exclusively, then YOU PEOPLE ARE SERIOUSLY DAFT. I'm sorry, but while I'm sure George Lucas wanted to have people enjoy Star Wars when he originally came up with it, he was also LOOKING TO MAKE A FILM THAT WOULD SELL (How else do you expect him to have been able to make the rest of the films had the first failed, after all?). And while I'm certain J.K. Rowling is appreciative of the fanbase she's amassed, the main reason she wrote Harry Potter was TO HOPEFULLY GET HERSELF AND HER FAMILY OUT OF THE POORHOUSE. While I believe that they were both confident enough people in their works to realize ahead of time that there might be some people that would like it, they probably did NOT expect their works to be as much of a success as they were. I reiterate, THEY DID NOT MAKE THESE THINGS WITH YOU GUYS EXCLUSIVELY OR PRIMARILY IN THEIR MINDS.
But wahh wahh Aurora there's enough ways to get anime cheap/free we don't need television wahh wahh...
Fourth point: Not everyone has high-speed connections to download fansubs (I sure don't.). Not everyone has a friend or an anime club with access to these they can borrow from (There was certainly NO anime fanclub that I heard of at my college during my stint there, much less was there one in my high school back when I was around.). Not everyone has a rental place that has anime available. Or if they do happen to have some, it's barely anything. Blockbuster around here certainly has a downright pitiful selection. People in my particular city are only fortunate to have two comic book stores that do have video rentals, and one of them only allows you to become a member if you have a credit card. And I sincerely hope you guys realize not everybody has a plastic-carrying member in the household.
YOU may not need television, but for some OTHER people, the simple truth is that TV is all they've got.
Wahh wahh then that just means they're being lazy and they should get jobs if it mattered to them that much wahh wahh wahh...
Some people aren't old enough to work part-time (And even those that can will likely have somewhat of a hard time due to the fact that the current job market is in QUITE a bad state.). Even if there's always the chance of getting odd jobs, odd jobs are still random (and usually very temporary) opportunities (hence the "odd" part of the term), and some people are already using that money for MUCH more pressing matters, like helping their family if they're tight on cash or paying for freakin' college (even the "small" things cost money, yanno).
A good example of this would be my friend Danny. He likes anime and manga, and he would like it more if he could actually afford to spend the money (AND the time, he's a very busy fellow) on the hobby. He's hoping to be able to continue his studies into fashion design in London, so naturally, he's working and trying to save toward that goal. Just buying a copy of the Silent Möbius manga every once in a while is "splurging" for him.
That's FAR from being "lazy," I would say.
So, in short, please DO realize that not every anime fan out there happens to be an upper-middle class suburbanite with a lot of disposable income (often mommy and daddy's).
(And I say this as someone who IS from the middle class, so those of you who were about to say how "jealous" I am, please do everyone a favor and go shoot yourselves in the head now.)
But then there's going to be more NON-fans criticizing the series and their reviews will be all misinformed and wahh wahh wahh wahh...
Just like how I could write an article on the current season of Buffy (which I'm not a fan of) and it would be woefully uninformed. Just like how I could write an article on Xena (which I WAS quite fond of, but didn't follow religiously, especially towards the later seasons), and it would STILL be woefully uninformed. Just like how people with access to fansubs write crappy reviews of series already (like one I saw for Get Backers a few weeks back). Big effing deal.
To sum up the fifth point: There have always and WILL always be "non-fans" reviewing stuff you happen to personally like, and some of them will not enjoy it, or even if they enjoy it, will make mistakes while reviewing. It's not going to kill you, so LIVE WITH IT.
Wahh but more fans means more idiots and more bad fic and art wahh wahh wahh...
You guys are being myopic and completely failing to see the big picture of the situation: An increase in the number of fans means there's an increase all accross the board, not just in morons.
Percentage-wise, there have ALWAYS been more asshats than intelligent folks in a fandom (Hell, one could say the same thing for life in general.). This is NOT a new thing, it just seems more noticeable when there's more people around to interact with.
Thusly, it is pretty safe to say that while an increase in fans means that yes, there will be more idiots and more crappy fanfic/fanart/etc., it ALSO means that there are going to be MORE INTELLIGENT FANS TO SHARE FANDOM WITH and MORE FRESH IDEAS/NEW AND CREATIVE SPINS ON OLD IDEAS in the fanwork area (Believe it or not, but fandoms tend to stagnate without an influx of new blood to share their own two cents on the subject matter.). You just need to be willing to look around a little.
Additionally, how many of you were clueless n00bs yourselves when you just started out? (Now, c'mon, be honest here.)
To put it plainly, we were ALL stupid n00bs at one point or another. Some people will never grow out of fanwanky idiot mode, but most will. Some will do so faster than others. Don't just discredit every new fan you run into right off the bat - give them some time. Some will actually turn out to be cool.
Lastly, as it was pointed out by my friend
arcian, NO ONE is forcing you to interact with these people, or look at their fanfics or fanart (I should HOPE that the people of places like tws_support, ficbitches, marysues, or fandom_wank do what they do because they derive some sort of ENTERTAINMENT from it, and not doing it against their will.). Also, NO ONE is forcing you to "stay in" a fandom if it's really aggravating you that much - there IS such a thing as working "from the fringes" (which is something I tend to do).If for some reason you do feel forced to "be" in a fandom, then frankly, YOU SERIOUSLY NEED TO HAVE YOUR HEAD EXAMINED.
Simply put, the sixth point is: YOU WILL ALWAYS BE AROUND TYPES OF PEOPLE YOU'LL WISH WOULD STOP BREATHING, BOTH IN FANDOM AND IN REGULAR LIFE. Learn to FUCKING RELAX, DEAL WITH IT, and just go on and keep enjoying your series (or game/book/whatever) simply for what it is, rather than be "ruled" by fandom.
And that would be it. So, in summary of all points (for those of you who have the attention span of a spastic fruit fly), PLEASE STOP BEING SUCH A BUNCH OF GODDAMN SELFISH ELITIST INGRATES.
Remember how less than five years ago (when anime was just starting to spark a little more interest and companies were only beginning to market things more aggressively?), most of you were still saying how much you wish anime were more popular?
Well, you got that wish.
SO QUIT WHINING AND MOTHERFUCKING REJOICE ALREADY!
Sincerely,
Aurora Derall
ADDITIONAL LETTER FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE GOING TO TRY POINTING OUT TO ME THAT BEING THIS CRITICAL OF THE AFOREMENTIONED BEHAVIOR (AS WELL AS MY ATTITUDE TOWARDS IT) IS BEING "ELITIST" AND "HYPOCRITICAL" IN AND OF ITSELF
Dear Idiots,
At least MY supposed "elitism" and "hypocrisy" are done for the sake of being tongue-in-cheek, rather than actually being serious like the people I'm commenting on are.
So please, kindly remove the sticks from your asses so that I might have at least some respect for you. Or sit on them and spin, if you prefer - your wankery provides me with much, much entertainment.
Sincerely,
Aurora
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Re: Eh?
Date: 2003-06-01 09:50 am (UTC)6 eps a disk? That's a helluva lot better than some anime DVDs, with 2 or 3 eps a disk. (Sad, I tell you. So sad.) It's expensive, but that's why jobs exist, right? At any rate, thank you for letting me know!
--Amasa ^_^