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Contemplating fandom
Meta links - I don't know how I got here (tabs tabs tabs), but I came across this list of five obnoxious, pan-fandom fanon cliches by ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
selenak and I was just nodding my head going, yup, this all sounds awfully familiar. *g* There's also a tangentially related post on the Insignificant Other, aka characters who are introduced into a romantic triangle just to make the main romantic contender look good by comparison. I think one of the reasons why I dislike romantic comedies as a genre is that they tend to rely so heavily on this -- one of my pet peeves is the fiancé who is a complete asshole or just Mr. (or Ms.) Bland, so that the character goes fleeing into the arms of that shiny new lover they met at the pet store or through the personals column or whatever. I guess it can theoretically be done well, but just once I would like to see the protagonist realize that that the boring fiancé is really not that boring after all, and end up with him/her instead of the new love interest. (I also reserve a lot of affection for movies that don't go down the "evil fiancé" road -- it was one of the many reasons why I liked the first PotC movie and resented the second one.)
Reading both these posts, and the comments, makes me feel a little better about SGA (both canon and fandom); I've been in a lot of fandoms, but have spent the last three years being primarily a fannish monogamist, and I think it's helpful for me to be reminded that all the things that drive me nuts about SGA fandom, and the things I find bitterly disappointing in canon, are more or less universal to just about every big fandom that there is. In fact, some canons/fandoms are quite a lot worse with the things that make me miserable; the things I've heard about the ship wars and cliquishness in, say, Buffy fandom make me think that I wouldn't survive five minutes there. *g*
selenak and I was just nodding my head going, yup, this all sounds awfully familiar. *g* There's also a tangentially related post on the Insignificant Other, aka characters who are introduced into a romantic triangle just to make the main romantic contender look good by comparison. I think one of the reasons why I dislike romantic comedies as a genre is that they tend to rely so heavily on this -- one of my pet peeves is the fiancé who is a complete asshole or just Mr. (or Ms.) Bland, so that the character goes fleeing into the arms of that shiny new lover they met at the pet store or through the personals column or whatever. I guess it can theoretically be done well, but just once I would like to see the protagonist realize that that the boring fiancé is really not that boring after all, and end up with him/her instead of the new love interest. (I also reserve a lot of affection for movies that don't go down the "evil fiancé" road -- it was one of the many reasons why I liked the first PotC movie and resented the second one.)Reading both these posts, and the comments, makes me feel a little better about SGA (both canon and fandom); I've been in a lot of fandoms, but have spent the last three years being primarily a fannish monogamist, and I think it's helpful for me to be reminded that all the things that drive me nuts about SGA fandom, and the things I find bitterly disappointing in canon, are more or less universal to just about every big fandom that there is. In fact, some canons/fandoms are quite a lot worse with the things that make me miserable; the things I've heard about the ship wars and cliquishness in, say, Buffy fandom make me think that I wouldn't survive five minutes there. *g*