#( ☆ i'm the wolf today. / isms. )

[olderthannetfic]

i saw this post today where this person was talking abt fandom racism and was pointing out some real issues within my fandom and favorite ship that I too had noticed… but then kept bringing it back to the lack of one particular other ship they liked, when it's like, no that's not the problem, and that ship is unpopular because those characters have zero romantic or sexual chemistry and barely any scenes together. (it was really funny that someone had reblogged this to take their 'lack of seeing this one character in a sexual way in fic miiight be racist' complaint to be like 'i think you're right! we should have more fic about [a long list of different ships involving that character with people they have ACTUAL chemistry with].' it was really funny. ofc op totally missed the point they were making there.) anyway i just feel like way too many useful conversations about this stuff are ruined by people making it about shipping or other really subjective fandom preferences. i get that this is because something like 'number of fics X ship or character has on ao3' is an objective measure, and something like 'level of orientalism in how a lot of people are writing this desi character' is not, but i wish people would realize it tends to alienate more people that it converts. and ime, it's often the people who maybe would most benefit from hearing those criticisms (e.g. are writing unintentionally racist stuff in their works, and are someone who would want to know about that and how to do it differently) who tune it out the second you make it into insulting their shipping preferences.

i mean, there WAS some real racism in the star wars sequels fandom, including among the fanfic/shipping side. not just the shitty dudes harassing kelly marie tran. we saw the really bizarre 'predator' language people directed at john boyega just for making some joke posts on instagram about disliking reylo and its shippers. it was the very classic racist thing where people see something as automatically more threatening when a black man does it. ....but how many people had already tuned all that out because the people most outspoken about the racism in the fandom kept reducing it to 'if you ship reylo over finnrey, or kylux over finnpoe, you're a racist'? it's like a boy who cried wolf thing. if you've shown that you can't uncouple serious discussions and concerns from just being pissy that your otp is not more popular, people are going to see you as someone who can't be taken seriously and then ignore you when you do have a real complaint. it's like how i'm sure that some of stitch's essays are thoughtful and important, but i have no desire to read stuff by someone who is infamous for harassing people just for what they ship. i don't feel like i can take any of that person's judgments about fandoms i'm not in, for instance, seriously.

that's not to say fandom preferences in shipping can't ever be influenced by racism (or other 'isms') but is it ever really *that* specifically that is the problem, or the broader pattern it is part of? and i feel like 'maybe fandom is a little too focused on het and slash ships between two young skinny conventionally attractive white people' is a message more people are open to than 'your specific white M/M or F/M otp is racist'

anyway it reminds me of the stuff i've seen sometimes in academic fandom studies about how you can't really honestly study a fandom where you're deeply mired in its discourse - you need to focus your work on fandoms that you're familiar with but not in that way. and i think that maybe also applies to some of these discussions about fandom racism and misogyny. maybe you're just going to have better takes on something when you're not deeply invested in other unrelated arguments about it, like about which ship is the most popular. like i could not care less about star wars shipping and have zero take in reylo vs. finnrey, so that's why i feel like i could trust my perception that the way a small minority of reylos were posting about john boyega's instagram posts was racist. it didn't matter if he was genuinely being a jerk to them or about their ship. he obviously wasn't a 'predator' and it was pretty telling language for a group of largely white people to use about a black man making fun of their ship on a different social media site.

--

The laying pipe thing was blown so out of proportion, yes. Call it sexist, sure, but it wasn't fucking predatory.

[shallowseeker]

In some of your other meta you mention that sam is a workaholic to jack...i was wondering if you could expand on that or had some takes about jack running away from home? specifically during the beginning of season 14

Thank you for the ask. It's nice you've taken this idea and run with it. :-)

I've been sitting on this a few days, anon, and I'm a little tired right now, but I don't think Sam was horrible to Jack or anything when he was being a workaholic (Stranger in a Strange Land). I don't even think it was purely the workaholic-ism that led to Jack running away. Jack, precocious and frustrated, wanted to run away to prove himself.

When I talk about Sam being a workaholic, I think that's part of the larger SPN narrative, "Get so busy makin' a livin,' you forget to live." And cliché as that sounds, that's definitely the Western experience, you know? Hell, many of the recent millennial-and-forward workers can't even afford healthcare/security, much less kids. We're fast-headed toward company store setups and rent/land feudalism again, too.

ALTERNATE SAM: And this is hard to hear – performing at your best requires all of your mental energy. Every last drop. You see, it’s just not compatible with something like, uh… hobbies or, uh – or even having a family.

14x13

In the beginning of season 14, Sam DOES reach out to Jack and have a heart-to-heart. He's trying to be a group leader, a loyal brother, and a father. It's actually Cas who's run off to Detroit to meet with demons. Bobby and Mary are overseeing Jack, Sam is marshaling forces, and Cas, in typical Cas-style, has gone lone wolf. These aren't judgments, by the way. It's just, again, family crisis dynamics. (And, like it or not, when another family member is in crisis, it's normal for resources to divert to that family member's wellbeing. Multiple crises get a hierarchy of support, depending on the perceived severity of the struggle.)

[Jack is sitting on his bed. A knock comes from the door. It’s Sam. He opens the door.] SAM: Hey. JACK: Hey. SAM: I, uh... chatted with Bobby. [Sam sits on the bed.] SAM: He said you may have had a rough day today. JACK: It was fine. SAM: Okay. (pause) Jack, I know this must be so hard. Without your grace, without your powers, it's a lot, I'm sure. But you can get past this. I know you will. I have faith in you, Jack. And I believe in you.

14x01

///

I do talk a little bit in places about Sam ignoring Jack after Ouroboros, which is I *think* the take you're referring to? Sam starts going on hunt-after-hunt-after-hunt, and he runs everyone around him ragged. (He feels spun out and responsible for the deaths of the AU hunters.)

His grief manifests in such a way that he doesn't look up, and he puts pressure on Dean to jump when he says jump, not even allowing for rest. He's not thinking about what Jack's going through or what Dean might be going through post-Michael possession. He's got tunnel vision, and as the "youngest in the family," Sam is perhaps used to resources being diverted towards himself.

DEAN: We've just done three back-to-back Hunts. I need some rest. At least a night. We both do. SAM: Yeah, well I'm leaving in ten.

14x15

The pressure Dean feels is that, knowing Sam's mental state, Sam will be in danger alone. And Sam, like Dean in 14x03, is itching to get out on the hunt. Except Sam is doing this on multiple back-to-back hunts. He doesn't give an inch when Dean tries to create a healthy stop point.

Cas and Dean ARE juggling Sam and Jack's struggles. They're even checking in about Rowena.

CAS: Oh. Thought you, uh, were gonna sleep until the cows dragged you home. DEAN: That's not the -- Never mind. I was putting some gear away, and Rowena called. CAS: How is she? DEAN: Not great. She's coping. But, uh, you know, at least she's not dead. How's the kid? CAS: Well, he says he's good, but What about Sam? He says he's good. DEAN: I think they're both full of crap.

14x15

It's interesting to me that Rowena calls Dean this time, because Dean is the one who know what she's going through about Michael. Sam is her usual go-to, but he's wrapped up in his own grief.

#asks #i'm not sure if this is what you wanted #i tried #i can talk about jack running away some more if you like