The Fact That We're Slowly Losing The Understanding That If We Want More Of Something Like A TV Show

The fact that we're slowly losing the understanding that if we want more of something like a TV show or a type of merch we have to support it is. Astonishing, honestly.

People are demanding to know why they should have to spend money on X or tweet about Y or leaving ratings and reviews on Z and why can't they just get more of it without having to do anything for it and each time I want to shake them and tell them that its a transaction.

Studios don't make movies for free. Creators don't make merchandise for free. If a TV show has dirt-low numbers, the service is going to cancel it so it stops making a loss and can funnel resources into something more popular.

I cannot stress this enough. If you want something to succeed and if you want more of something, you absolutely have to engage with it and support it and push for more.

Creator and fan relationships are transactions. The creator gives you the content in exchange for things like your money, your ratings and your views.

Just read an amazing post about ship discourse in the Genshin fandom

Being anti-censorship means I believe you have the inherent right to a space for your content, to speak within, ect. Not that you are entitled to my space.

Do not get confused and think you can use my stance as a gotcha to force me to endure your hostility or your ill-intent.

Fandom racism happens because people are racist. The whole "oh but you were mean to me so I have to be mean to an entire marginalized group" like no. You're just racist

We're not discussing racism or retaliatory racism. I'm assuming you're referencing my recent Madney posts, so I'll clarify.

I'm talking about re-imaginings of canon events within the show that explore different takes and perspectives. Madney fans in particular seem to have an automatic habit of going for the jugular of any author who doesn't strictly present Chimney/Maddie/Madney exactly as seen in the show, often with wild accusations that have left permanent scars in the fandom.

When I say that creative liberty and freedom will get you sniped by Madney fans, I am quite obviously not talking about actual racism and scenarios such as the fallout from last year when a handful of racists were using fanfiction in order to perpetuate racism.

I'm talking about exploration of alternate canon. You can devise scenarios that aren't in the favor of a character without it having ill-intent. You can villainise a character for the narrative without it coming from hate.

For example; I adore Buck. He's my boy. My little sunshine idiot. I've also written fanfiction where he's a ruthless killer that does unspeakable things simply for the thrill of it. Does that mean I hate him? No. He's the villain, but that's the whole purpose of the story. To explore that alternate narrative of what Buck would be if he wasn't the Buck in the show.

I'm not stating he behaves this way in the show. I'm not using the narrative as an excuse to attack who he is, his skin color, ect.

But that's an understanding that I've noticed a lot of Madney fans are unwilling to accept. And not even when its exclusively relevant to Chimney and Maddie, either.

What I referred to in my last post about spite fic was additional fanfiction written on top of existing fanfiction out of spite for hate posts about the existing fanfiction. For example;

Let's say you write watersports. Someone who is not a fan of watersports comments on your work and tells you its disgusting and you should delete it. Instead, you write another fic about watersports.

Likewise, that's exactly what we've seen happen multiple times in the 911 fandom over various scenes and canon events. There's always a witch hunt through recent fanfiction after something happens in an episode, which spirals into a tangled mess of spite fics and 100+ posts of people arguing.

People who want to explore canon material outside of canon aren't going to let the people who believe in rigid canon chokehold them or throw around biased accusations.

My point is; sometimes you simply have to understand that there will always be fanfiction you dislike or disagree with, and that its not healthy to spend your time actively witch-hunting authors and dumping constant shit all over any type of content you don't agree with.

If an author sees someone falsely accusing them of hate, bigotry, ect, they're going to defend themselves. And then it devolves into a public argument that drags people in like a vortex and ruins everything. It keeps happening in the 911 fandom in a vicious cycle that, for a while actually, killed off a lot of the fan count. I know a vast amount of blogs that stepped away from the fandom because people, mostly Madney-based blogs, just couldn't let go or leave people alone.

If your blog is mostly just you shitting all over anything and everything that other people make in your fandom, ask yourself why you're even active in the fandom space in the first place. If you're truly not happy, maybe its time to look elsewhere, or maybe its time to start utilizing the tools provided to ensure you're tailoring your fandom experience to the things you do want to see.

Every time it happens they add 5 years to my life. God bless.

I'd actually really like you to tell me where you think Billy should've, or in fact even could've gotten help from. And not from the standpoint of a modern fan watching a historical-setting TV show with therapy and modern concepts of psychology and sociology at your finger tips.

I'm talking about where does an abused, bipolar, isolated, terrified victim living in an era where beating your kids is discipline, stuck in a backwater town full of snotty teenagers and gruff men in their fifties, get help?

Therapy in the eighties was for war vets, alcoholics and depressed housewives. The cops were just as likely to beat you up as your abusive parent. A town like Hawkins was unlikely to have any viable professional options for therapy outside of some underqualified school counsellor. Much less anywhere an 'orphaned' almost-adult with no money and no other family could go.

Billy is a complete stranger to anyone in Hawkins, so its not even like he has any foundation of trust or respect or loyalty to rely on.

Billy realistically has no money (the moment he eventually gets a job he's possessed and killed anyway), nowhere to go, no support system, no understanding of himself, no resources.

And lets not forget; the first person to know about Billy's abuse left him behind, the second watches him get abused, and the third routinely believes he deserves it and is frequently, even if unintentionally, the cause of it.

Telling people that Billy should've just helped himself, or asked for help, is like telling a homeless person to just 'stop being homeless.'