Obnoxiously long titles and/or ones that sound like a Fallout Boy/Panic! At the Disco songs are my aesthetic but it's mostly because I don't know how to be curt when it comes to these kinds of things.
...By Fallout Boy.
WARNING: This journal discusses past fandom and current fandom. It discusses slurs used by fans in the past, dark fiction, and equating fiction to reality. It talks about trolling of then VS the doxxing and harassment campaigns of now. It talks about OCs I or others have had, it references buzzwords (abuse/rape/pedophile) and Nazism in fiction (or things comparable to it).
This journal is meant to talk about the different climate of fandom from then VS now, and thus discusses triggering topics which were once fine to write/explore in fiction that will now get you vilified. If any of these things trigger you, take this as your warning to skip this piece.
Content Warning: References to Nazis and Nazism, Slurs, Mentions of Pedophilia, Rape, Non-Consent, Abuse, Doxxing and Harassment, Animal Abuse, Animal Slaughter, Scat
The interesting thing about fandom of today is its lack of and/or pointed breakdown of community. While I can only go off of my experiences, I have found that many relate, so while I'm not taking them as a universal, these experiences do seem to be relatively common. Take that, as always, with a grain of salt. If your experience in fandom has been different, let me know in what ways! Particularly if you have managed to be part of a community/fandom successfully in any way, shape, or form within the last decade. I tend to see parallels with "participating in fandom" and "just happening to not have the wrong ship/kink," but I actively wish to be proven wrong. I've talked about it elsewhere before, but two fandoms stick out in my mind as a kid: the Sonic fandom, and the Lilo & Stitch fandom. The first was, for all intents and purposes, my first actual fandom. It was the first time I participated online with others in any meaningful way, where my obsession with drawing grew (not began), and where I met the most people. At the time, Sonic original characters (henceforth dubbed "OCs") were seen as "cringy", but were a widely accepted part of the fandom nonetheless. A particular thing I remember is a comment by a dA user proclaiming, "There are Sonic fans, and Sonic fags. The difference is that fags have OCs." I'm not here to unpack that statement, but you're free to try if you'd like. Thus, people with OCs were a very separate group from people without-- but both groups, despite not liking each other (normally people with OCs were fine with people without them, but not as often the other way around), functioned well and kept out of each other's way when they could. Sure, trolls were everywhere, but it wasn't as serious. Most of the insults revolved around being a "fag," "retarded," or "a six-year old." Other variants existed, but those were the big ones. Despite that and some general "ew that's cringy" stuff, the Sonic fandom... managed. In the years I was part of it it was relatively mild, and once you'd blocked the trolls, you were pretty much free to do whatever. At that time, it was rare for trolls to make more accounts, and when they did, it was seen as extremely cringy in and of itself and generally got most Sonic fans on both sides to put the troll on their shit list. During this time I was exploring a lot of different topics: worldbuilding, character development, artistic growth, and learning to write and roleplay in a way that was generally pleasing. I took writing very seriously and did all I could to be as articulate as possible, often growing over-detailed (as many of us did at the time), and took criticism rather poorly. I learned quickly that, in a roleplay setting, no one has to like your character or even deal with them if they don't want to. This revelation helped me shape my characters a bit better, creating intricate backstories and explanations for behaviors (as opposed to the "lol my OC is SO bipolar!!!1!1" which sadly prevalent at the time and, in some circles, still is). Not only did that help, but sticking around in one fandom for so long gains a person notoriety. It wasn't extreme in most cases, but people tended to know who you were, especially if your character was particularly unique or loud, or you yourself made a point to interact with others (I always sought roleplay and commented on artwork/videos of others OCs, personally). This wasn't as much of a death sentence then as it is now. People either put up with you, befriended you, or blocked you altogether. It was quite a bit more simple, though the occasional harassment campaign still occurred. Once again, they usually weren't as aggressive as they are in present day. Despite being nicknamed "Hitler the Hedgehog" in some places (a reference to my exploration of war and eugenics in fiction, along with plenty of other dark topics, from the time I was 10 and onward), this wasn't a massive target on my back. In retrospect I still laugh at it, and that very character has developed into a far more realistic warlord with more detailed motivations-- but they are still evil, and they are still comparable to any dictator trying to take over neighboring places. It went from "needlessly edgy" to "fun exploration of bad things in fiction" and helped me a lot as I grew, both in coping with the unsavory life I had at the time and learning more about character development, motivations, and what is considered "interesting" VS "tasteless." Imagine that today-- a warlord character who prioritizes the breeding of their generals and soldiers. I'd be called a Nazi or Nazi sympathizer in a heartbeat, despite my visceral disgust of modern-day Neo Nazis, and the atrocities of the Holocaust. As a person who walked through a Holocaust memorial/museum in Washington DC (afraid it was a long time ago and I struggle to remember exact details) with their head down trying not to look at the horrible pictures displayed everywhere, being called such a thing is... quite the insult. However, today, the argument would be "Well, you subconsciously agree then, because why would you write something like that if you didn't?" ...I don't know, to write a fucked up narrative? To showcase the evils in full force (I nor any author need to hold your hand to tell you that eugenics are wrong, and if you need someone to convince you, I implore you seek aid immediately) and not mince words like the average squeaky-clean media of today? It shouldn't take me to explain to you why this mindset is totally ridiculous, but if it does, you might want to check out some other academic sources of fiction (as well as your county's laws on it) instead of trying to engage with anyone creating such content. So what did we see here? First and foremost is the term "fag" and the rampant homophobia of the time. Creating OCs makes you a faggot. Writing queer characters DEFINITELY made you a faggot, but generally that term wasn't used there-- it was "nasty gross virgin women" who wrote mlm/yaoi/BL (many of whom are now trans men, interestingly enough). The terms were interchangeable, however, because people with OCs were seen as autistic men or lonely, ugly women. There's a kind of pattern there, don't you think? Disability and general degeneracy was the consensus of the time... so why are harassment campaigns so much worse now than they were then? The introduction of mainstream society into fandom (see: The Decade Fandom Went Corporate) allowed for more than just "the odd and queer" to participate. Now your high school quarterback had a Twitter and LOVED the Marvel movies. Suddenly all his (and his buddies) misogyny and bullying had a new and pointed focus-- freaks that sullied "his" media. "Freaks" who he would have bullied anyways, be it for their sexuality, looks, interests, or whatever else. Now these, for lack of a better term, "normal" people were in on the big secret-- that there were whole, massive communities surrounding movies and books and games that they had never given the time of day previously. Now they wanted in on it, but weren't ready for what they were about to see: queer creators, POC creators, abused/survivor creators, and the very people they had previously spent their time attacking and beating down. It would be nice to blame western schooling, to some degree, for the horrid reaction this garnered. While in high school, we had stopped reading many of themore "controversial" books-- I managed to read Of Mice and Men and Outsiders, but those were the only books we were made to read that I felt had any real moral discussion. Everything else was parables of varying degrees. No one wanted to upset or offend the students, or their parents, it seemed (my school also cancelled a sex ed course-- in high school-- by demand of the parents). I remember so vividly when I took an elective to read and discuss The Life of Pi. It's a fantastic book and if you haven't read it, I implore you to pick it up at your first opportunity. However, there's a particular scene in the book that had people in the elective retching, looking away, proclaiming "no" in varying degrees of distress, and otherwise pushing the book away from them. If you've read the book, it's likely you know what scene I'm talking about. It wasn't the discussion of cannibalism, or the graphic depiction of turtle death (that phased no one), nor was it the disturbing implication of the teeth. It was the scene in which our main character, Pi, finds that the tiger has defecated on the little boat. He's starving and has no food. Know where this is going? I was genuinely shocked by the reaction. I'd read far stranger and far worse things in books, seen far more disturbing things in movies (mum loved horror, dad loved old sci-fi and B movies, I loved trashy romance novels and dark topics), and just couldn't believe that THIS is what freaked people out so much. I said as much, too, literally proclaiming to the class "It's fiction, who cares? There's not a real guy eating shit in front of you" (in more school-appropriate words), and was met with confusion. How could I not be grossed out? People gave me a lot of weird looks and seemed generally wary that I wasn't bothered by it. The teacher mentioned how different people have different levels of discomfort, but I could tell she agreed with me; I was one of her favorite students at the time because of my willingness to explore complex topics and discuss them in writing. It was something she hadn't seen with others, though she was early in her career. To this day, I don't understand how these "animal lovers" in the class didn't flinch at all the times Pi killed an innocent turtle. It wasn't played off, either: these things would float up beside him, the picture of an innocent creature. Not like catching a fish, who knew to run. Just a floating dumb animal that was immediately slaughtered for food. And the poop thing is what was "too much." Even the discussion of cannibalism didn't bother them, while I was disgusted (with the character) for in-context reasons. Friends of mine, who were just a bit older than me, had to read things like To Kill a Mocking Bird, Catcher in the Rye (I'm admittedly very glad I didn't have to read that), and, my absolute favorite, the fact that half of my friends read in school (and one of the schools being a Christian private school)-- KITERUNNER. I wonder how much of this (and this) had to do with the current fandom culture of today. Combined with its mainstream nature (which is still wild to think about) and the constantly-reoccurring "Satanic Panic" (see this, this, and this), which arguably hasn't even ended. This, combined with teen's need to rebel (not a phrase I ever expected to say in any level of seriousness), has created this pseudo-alt-right, book burning, horror-movies-create-murderers-from-normal-people sect of teens and young adults with, as it has been put before, "a gay hat." I wonder if it's that they didn't live during a time where they were vilified and attacked for their identity, if it's the doing of the media, or bad parenting on the prior generation's part. The general corporate demise of fandom likely also plays a huge part, making things squeaky-clean to reach as many people as possible, and knocking away anything that may be seen as offensive or upsetting because it could drive away potential buyers. In the end, while this was supposed to talk more about fandom community, it turned into more of a simple breakdown + person experience as to why things may have ended up this way. I will likely discuss later what it's like participating in modern fandom, and how it's changed from the experiences above, but for now you can take this. I hope it's coherent despite it's (maybe abrupt?) switch part way through.
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