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sisabetSo there have apparently been kerfuffles in SV and all of Jossverse (a wide and lovely place indeed, Jossverse. I'd love to own property there, actually) this week.
I have been distracted and not paying attention and so here is what I think the kerfuffles are about (based solely on reading my Flist):
Smallville Kerfuffle of Teh Moment:
Cats versus Dogs. I admit - I am leaning this way based upon![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
scribblenore giving Lex a cat and all of fandom exploding after Clark came out of the closet as a dog man last week.
At least I think Fandom exploded - I can never really tell nonexplodey fandom from really 'splodey fandom. Lots of fen just look naturally 'sploded to me. This is perhaps because I see them all right after watching a current episode of "Carnivale"?
But I imagine the flame wars on the boards -- are you a Clark-Fan? A Lex-Fan? Each came complete with its own unique properties before, but now you can truly have a mascot! I also imagine the poster:
How dare AlMiles do this! By setting Clark up as a Dog-Person they are dooming the Clark/Lex relationship!
And then I want to read whoever it is that writes the story where the rift happens because Clark likes dogs and Lex Likes Cats and Uma Thurman is Lex's neighbor and he decides to have her pretend that his cat belongs to her and then Janeane Garalfolo...
Aw, forget it. The Kerfuffle was probably about BNFs. SV kerfuffles are aways about BNFs. It gets rather boring, actually.
The Jossverse kerfuffle was actually - I think - about authorial intent and that eval Joss - he said Angel and Spike were gay 2gether and that is just wrong wrong wrong.
And you know - I agree. It is obvious that the pure true love on AtS was between Angel and Wes.
Wait, we weren't talking about love were we? Hee.
So I listened to Joss's commentary and I was pleased as punch with some of the things he said - that Angel and Spike were a beautiful romance (did he really call them Hepburn/Tracy or did I hallucinate that?) and that they have finally found the perfect girl for Angel. Sigh.
There was more. I didn't care. He got it. He got what I saw and you know -- it is always nice when this happens, when you watch, read, listen, or see something and you turn to the person next to you and say: "Did you see that?" and they smile and nod and you have just that moment of simpatico.
And that is what fandom is - so much of the time - it is one person turning to another person or to many people and saying "Did you see that?" and everyone sighing in unison and then! The discussion - "I saw it, what does it mean?" or "I did not see that, I saw this and what does this mean?" and then fan B comes in with an interview in hand and says "You are all wrong. Creator says it means *this*!" and thus Meta and Religion were both born on the same day.
What was I talking about? Oh, right - communication (and shush. If you pretend I have been talking about communication all this time, you eliminate my need for a complicated segue involving an antidote about my dearly departed Aunt Ruth, the waitress at the Country Kitchen, an excess of country ham, my dog Shaggy's indigestion and Ruth's malfunctioning hearing aid).
Anytime you open your mouth, move, look around, breathe - anything at all-- if there is someone around to see it -- you are communicating, like it or not.
Anytime you type anything on your computer - if just one other person reads it - communication occurs.
Sorry. I have no control over this. In fact, I kind of like this. Not that my liking or disliking it has anything at all to do with the success of the delivery - nope, this is gonna happen regardless.
Good thing I like it.
Now - communication is always going on - one way or the other. It is not always successful. This can be a problem. Not being able to communicate successfully leads to frustration.
You don't believe me? Go on the boards over a imdb.com. Those people can't communicate for shit and the result is frustrating for everyone involved.
Now - when I watch a show fannishly, do I care about authorial intent? Hell no. The show is All About Me and my Escapism. I am into "What does this show do for me? How does it improve my life? Am I interested? Am I intrigued? Do I care about this at all?"
Now - that being said - I giggled like a little girl when Joss was obviously just as charmed by the Angel/Spike dynamic as I have been for years. It was nice. It was communication and yeah - we don't agree on a lot of stuff, but we both see something there (I actually have more in common A/S wise with Steven DeKnight, but I Am NOT surprised about that).
So authorial intent has no role on how I will interpret the text - I will interpret it as I see fit -- and it will be valid to me and valid here where it is All About Me (YAY LJ) and that is fine. But - I got this first hand watching the Deadwood extras -- when what the creator wanted you to see, is exactly what you saw -- and it was incredible and deep and brilliant, that is pretty damned special.
And that is successful communication.
I have been distracted and not paying attention and so here is what I think the kerfuffles are about (based solely on reading my Flist):
Smallville Kerfuffle of Teh Moment:
Cats versus Dogs. I admit - I am leaning this way based upon
scribblenore giving Lex a cat and all of fandom exploding after Clark came out of the closet as a dog man last week. At least I think Fandom exploded - I can never really tell nonexplodey fandom from really 'splodey fandom. Lots of fen just look naturally 'sploded to me. This is perhaps because I see them all right after watching a current episode of "Carnivale"?
But I imagine the flame wars on the boards -- are you a Clark-Fan? A Lex-Fan? Each came complete with its own unique properties before, but now you can truly have a mascot! I also imagine the poster:
How dare AlMiles do this! By setting Clark up as a Dog-Person they are dooming the Clark/Lex relationship!
And then I want to read whoever it is that writes the story where the rift happens because Clark likes dogs and Lex Likes Cats and Uma Thurman is Lex's neighbor and he decides to have her pretend that his cat belongs to her and then Janeane Garalfolo...
Aw, forget it. The Kerfuffle was probably about BNFs. SV kerfuffles are aways about BNFs. It gets rather boring, actually.
The Jossverse kerfuffle was actually - I think - about authorial intent and that eval Joss - he said Angel and Spike were gay 2gether and that is just wrong wrong wrong.
And you know - I agree. It is obvious that the pure true love on AtS was between Angel and Wes.
Wait, we weren't talking about love were we? Hee.
So I listened to Joss's commentary and I was pleased as punch with some of the things he said - that Angel and Spike were a beautiful romance (did he really call them Hepburn/Tracy or did I hallucinate that?) and that they have finally found the perfect girl for Angel. Sigh.
There was more. I didn't care. He got it. He got what I saw and you know -- it is always nice when this happens, when you watch, read, listen, or see something and you turn to the person next to you and say: "Did you see that?" and they smile and nod and you have just that moment of simpatico.
And that is what fandom is - so much of the time - it is one person turning to another person or to many people and saying "Did you see that?" and everyone sighing in unison and then! The discussion - "I saw it, what does it mean?" or "I did not see that, I saw this and what does this mean?" and then fan B comes in with an interview in hand and says "You are all wrong. Creator says it means *this*!" and thus Meta and Religion were both born on the same day.
What was I talking about? Oh, right - communication (and shush. If you pretend I have been talking about communication all this time, you eliminate my need for a complicated segue involving an antidote about my dearly departed Aunt Ruth, the waitress at the Country Kitchen, an excess of country ham, my dog Shaggy's indigestion and Ruth's malfunctioning hearing aid).
Anytime you open your mouth, move, look around, breathe - anything at all-- if there is someone around to see it -- you are communicating, like it or not.
Anytime you type anything on your computer - if just one other person reads it - communication occurs.
Sorry. I have no control over this. In fact, I kind of like this. Not that my liking or disliking it has anything at all to do with the success of the delivery - nope, this is gonna happen regardless.
Good thing I like it.
Now - communication is always going on - one way or the other. It is not always successful. This can be a problem. Not being able to communicate successfully leads to frustration.
You don't believe me? Go on the boards over a imdb.com. Those people can't communicate for shit and the result is frustrating for everyone involved.
Now - when I watch a show fannishly, do I care about authorial intent? Hell no. The show is All About Me and my Escapism. I am into "What does this show do for me? How does it improve my life? Am I interested? Am I intrigued? Do I care about this at all?"
Now - that being said - I giggled like a little girl when Joss was obviously just as charmed by the Angel/Spike dynamic as I have been for years. It was nice. It was communication and yeah - we don't agree on a lot of stuff, but we both see something there (I actually have more in common A/S wise with Steven DeKnight, but I Am NOT surprised about that).
So authorial intent has no role on how I will interpret the text - I will interpret it as I see fit -- and it will be valid to me and valid here where it is All About Me (YAY LJ) and that is fine. But - I got this first hand watching the Deadwood extras -- when what the creator wanted you to see, is exactly what you saw -- and it was incredible and deep and brilliant, that is pretty damned special.
And that is successful communication.
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no subject
Date: 2005-02-21 09:59 pm (UTC)Also
Clark = dog
Lex = cat
?
Does this mean at some point in the end of the season Lex is going to be forced to wear rollerskates and be dragged across town by Krypto? ;)
no subject
Date: 2005-02-21 10:05 pm (UTC)I would pay cash money to see that happen.
no subject
Date: 2005-02-21 10:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-21 10:13 pm (UTC)The SV kerfuffle was tres entertaining in that pop-the-popcorn-and-hand-me-a-beer sort of way. The Jossverse kerfuffle was just... cool and informative, even if a few people had their feathers ruffled.
The A/S dynamic, to me, has always been that romantic "I love you! I hate you!" thing. Kind of like Moonlighting. Remember Moonlighting? When Maddie came in after Mark Harmon (Steve??) left her to figure out her feelings about David, and David's lying in her bed, looking smug, and they argue and she says to get out of her bed and her house, and he gets up, with the sheet wrapped around him, and they argue somemore, and she slaps him and slaps him again and then when she goes to slap him the third time, he grabs her wrist and they roll around on the floor and break furniture? Yeah, just like that.
I miss Moonlighting. Who knew back then that Moonlighting would be AAA?
no subject
Date: 2005-02-21 10:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-21 11:33 pm (UTC)Are you kidding me? Over whether or not they prefer a kitty to a puppy?
[rolls eyes]
Sometimes, fandom is stupider than even I think it capable of being.
no subject
Date: 2005-02-22 12:51 am (UTC)*craves dog*
no subject
Date: 2005-02-22 03:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-22 04:35 am (UTC)I hope you see like I see, Sisabet... *cries*
no subject
Date: 2005-02-22 04:55 am (UTC)There are secret journals?? And actually - I have a secret journal to try and write fic in...except I wrote 3 paragraphs and forgot the password. But it is totally my secret journal. It is kinda like the Secret Garden except Mandy Patinkin does not sing. If he did, I don't think I would have forgotten the password.