#they're all fandom drama taken out of their cultural context

[themidnightcircusshow]

Every new thing I learn about James Somerton's process just drives home how he almost (but really doesn't) knows what he's doing. Yes, of course you use the sources you read as a jumping off point. Of course you copy and paste the important sections into your outline document so you can reread them. That's why you put them in quotation marks.

#James Somerton #honesty time: I totally believe he did this by accident #his entire problem is that he writes like a fandom account with bad takes #his anecdotal evidence that Todd in the Shadows spent a two hour video trying to find sources for? #they're all fandom drama taken out of their cultural context #(yes fandom counts as a subculture and therefore has specific context) #and all of it gets attributed to straight white women coz everyone knows shippers are all straight and cis women /s #he simultaneously treats his videos like bad fandom meta and Documentaries of Great Importance and those just do not mesh #it's part of why his videos were so unbearable if you actually knew what he was talking about #he learned how to make a youtube video essay. He did not learn how to write or study any of his chosen subject matter #I think that's also why he was not expecting to be called out the way he has because I suspect he probably thought everyone wrote this way #a lot of old video essayists especially the Chez Apocalypse bunch were very good at not broadcasting just how much went into their videos #so their style that has now become the norm feels incredibly off the cuff but is heavily researched #but also they are using that research to support their own hypotheses and ideas as you are supposed to #so I wonder if when he got called out he just brushed it off because surely he just writes the same way everyone writes #(and hey fandom posts are rarely cited because they assume everyone knows what they are talking about) #it almost makes me feel sorry for him but all I can think about is how catstrophically bad he is at this job #oh and for everyone wondering: I've found the best way to research is to put quotes in quotation marks #paraphrasing in either different punctuating or a different colour #and your own personal thoughts based on the source in something different again #all with the correct citations for your preferred style #this makes sure you have everything cited so when you put it all together you can do it easily without having to go back through it all #and prevents this from happening #(tbh I'm kinda sad I'm not still teaching. This would have been a perfect meme for how to do your damn citations week)

[pumpkin-memories]

My brain kind of exploded when I discovered that Twitter thread collecting clips from BL audio dramas in which Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (Vash's voice actor) acted out gay sex scenes (because Trigun Stampede's fandom is the horniest fandom in the world), and I could only wonder, as I listened to those breathy moans, "What the hell is the context of Japanese culture that lets this sort of thing even exist?"

Through googling, I found an article on animenewsnetwork.com that addresses this exact question: an "Answerman with Justin Sevakis" column about the art and business of BL audio dramas.

The question: "So this is something that I've always wondered about, most Yaoi manga tend to get adapted into drama cds or BL cds as some would like to call them. The male voice actors in these things (like Kamiya Hiroshi and Daisuke Ono) tend to be quite popular in anime fandom and have voiced many popular anime characters. Any reason why they lend their voices to these things? Is it to boost their popularity or to make extra cash?"

The answer: "Presumably straight voice actors take on gay roles for the same reason other straight actors take on gay roles, and why gay actors take on straight roles: because it's their job to act like someone they are not, and to pretend to do things they are not doing.

On-screen actors regularly have to make out with people they're not attracted to. All a voice actor has to do is say a few steamy lines and breathe heavily into a microphone, well away from human contact. Their character may do a whole host of things that they, themselves, are not into. The character could be evil, and could torture and kill people. Their character could be really weak-willed and stupid and let themselves be taken advantage of. None of that might line up with who the voice actor is, or who they want to be. But that doesn't matter, because they're an actor.

Anybody who has seriously studied acting can tell you that an actor's job is to empathize with their character, not judge them. Their job is to find the things within themselves that can bring that character to life. This can require them to do things -- sometimes physically -- that they might not want to do themselves. It is not real, and it is not them doing it. For them, it is work. Sometimes, it's very rewarding work.

Drama CDs have been around nearly as long as CDs. (I can't find evidence of drama LPs, but perhaps those existed too.) Often a manga publisher will commission a drama CD to see if there's enough of a fanbase to make an anime. Sometimes they're just made to supplement a franchise. They do sell, sometimes quite well, which means money for everybody. Radio dramas still exist in Japan (and indeed, many countries), and so drama CDs are pretty common things. There was even a drama CD for Perfect Blue, which was actually the drama-within-a-drama series the characters were filming, Double Bind! It's pretty cool.

Yaoi manga usually don't sell in the crazy numbers that more mainstream manga does, but drama CDs are very cheap to make compared to an anime. Even if there's no moving artwork, many fans just want to hear the characters be brought to life in SOME way, and drama CDs are a good way of doing that without having to worry about making back a huge investment.

There are good business reasons to be involved in yaoi. Yaoi fans are extremely passionate, and will likely buy CDs involving the series they like, which a voice actor would get royalties from. Some of those fans may even become a fans of the voice actor, and would then buy their solo CDs, show up at events and get autographs, and follow their work in other works. That's the sort of thing that can really boost a voice actor's career.

Hentai voice acting is, in fact, not something that most successful voice actors want to be caught doing. It pays poorly, it can sully their reputation after the fact, if their image doesn't line up with having dirty material in their filmography. Hentai is mostly voiced by junior level voice actors who are just getting started, and many use pseudonyms. However, nobody is really asking them to take off their clothes, and work is work, so many voice actors do it anyway.

But yaoi is usually not all that dirty. It's clean enough to be aired on television (even if some of it needs to be censored). There really isn't much stigma attached to voicing a yaoi show. Many prominent male voice actors do it, and are quite proud of it. They attend promotional events, assist in marketing the show, and sign autographs on DVDs. And I'm sure they get paid quite handsomely for it."

#weird things #japanese culture #voice acting #seiyuu #bl audio dramas #yaoi

[grimreich666]

So once again we are to this point when it comes to the Christina + Ruby server drama. Now I realize I made a YouTube video that explained my disgust of certain Fanfic Writers writing community of Lovecraft Country that write for the Ruby and Christina fandom that's ran by Kswhateverspace and Hernameisjaye. Now know it looks like I bullied somebody but that's far from the case, as every action has a reaction. Now because the situation I wasn't going to go too much into it until, someone told me about the twisted mess both Kwhateverspace and the other admins were saying. And it had come to alot of my members attention that they done stuff with members in the past and it has clearly made people unhappy to a point where they aren't talking in thier own server. When it comes to the Ruby plus Christina server owned by Kwhateverspace, I joined with decent intentions and it thought it was a community that shared a love for Christina and Ruby, but it turned out to be a Sixth-Grade Mean Girls Special on Crack. I never wanted it to get to a racial points between servers, but it is looking like these white women with a Misguided Black Woman as thier Server Owner, obviously do not know what true racism is and how to handle their power as Admins and accept others opinions. And the saddest part is that not just me but other members have been kicked out for absolutely no reason and I don't know if anybody seen Kswhateverspace Blog. But everything on there is just about a lie, she claims that all of us violated the rules but nobody was given any warning before being kicked out. Now mind you I do know that the rules exist but the rules should have been implemented for more extremer conditions, but none of us members took it to that level. The issue that I have with the other server is their ability not to gauge a situation at any kind of frequency of balance as they just kick off people who they don't like. A friend of mine who's in my Discord now got kicked for absolutely saying a joke it was nothing that was malicious or ill intent to these people, and while I get that respecting their mental health as Fan Fic writers is a thing to do, me and others always supported before we started reading racist ass Ruby and Chirstina fics. This friend of mine was enthusiastic about reading their stories and very supportive and we all kept a good positive energy that could be see in my current Discord. The issue that the Admins on the Christina + Ruby Server is that they made someone's enthusiasm for a story seem like it was an issue with harassment and that was not cool eespically when she meant it in a LOL kind of way. There was no reason for her to get kicked off just like there was no reason for my other friends to get kicked off and there was no reason for ME to get kicked off. I understand people were all into safe spaces and making safe spaces but as Admins they should've addressed thier complaints to people in warnings, but the kicked people for simply commenting. Thus making thier own server and its members uncomfortable to be themselves and thats when becomes a dangerous place and if I hadn't of known that I would've never ended my own server to expose my friends to their toxicity. The issue between the Admins is that pride themselves on being Admins, but the lack leadership skills and comprehension skills necessary for it. For me as an Admin if there was an issue with a person's comments I would talk to them in Dm's and warn them. So for them to say that they're not big on public warnings that is fine, but when you do not privately warn somebody for a simple comment and for them to get kicked the next day something isn't right. Also how can a behavior improve if there is no communication between an Admin and their members? Me as an Admin I dont function that way, I always take the time if someone comes to me with a complaint to address the person on DMs. And if you read Kwhateverspaces blog on the issue and the screenshots nothing she says parallels to the intent in which these comments where said.

The issue that I have with this group is there ability to flex around their power an act like we had did something so wrong when we were simply just expressing our opinions. And we were well within our respectable means to address our opinions in the saddest part is that these admins are white within a predominantly black server and they do not get our way of culture.

Now as for the next member who was kicked it was totally uncalled for as she questioned why I was gone due to the fact that I told Hernameisjaye to learn her Black History due to the fact that she and another member Agent Sheryl did not understand why I did not think Christina was racist I had a whole You Tube Video about it. So they knew my opinion on it and why they chose to double team me on an opinion was so uncalled for. So when I made the comment that I'm sorry if I dont want to be black and militant to a character that I dont find as racist she flipped out on me, and kicked me I never called her anything I told her the truth and if you've seen my YT people know I could've taken it alot further with these Birdbrain Hoes. Nevertheless until a certain point I thought we were having a decent civil discussion, yet she took it out of context very fast when I said what I did and as for the Black History factor you could see that they were giving no concern to it and only cherry picking my words to make me seem antagonistic to them, as I was telling them about the harm that white women had done in history vs Christina Braithwhite. Now mind you I had told Hernameisjaye several times that she is entitled to her opinion and I was entitled to mine and it's as you could see on the time stamps. At one point I thought it was a civil discussion, that was until I got kicked out for it. It's clear that these Admins have no commonsense to read a room and come to a basic agreement, even as I was telling them they have an opinion and I have mine and I respect it. And yes I was mad for the kick and I did warn Kswhateverspace that I would be going to my platform with it and she even gave her approval of it as I do have the screen shots for that as well.

Hernameisjaye along with Agent Sheryl had been going on a Christina is racist rant for two days, and both were very antagonistic to those in the Serious Discussions Discord Server, who engaged her. I even went so much so to agree with her just to shut her up, yet she kept on at agonizing me and another member to the point of harassment. It was clear that they had spoken about us, before as they were so ready to kick us AGAIN WITH OUT WARNING US PRIOR. Now I will be continuing the Dandybear situation on part two. However I find it messy that these Admins cherry picked our conversations that me and the other member thought where civil and tried to turn it into something uncivilized on our end. This is the same kind of intent that always happens when it comes to black and white people, it always happens that a white person says something out of line and then when black person gets mad then they act as if the black person had antagonized and started the situation. Hernameisjaye is really sad at this point to try a tactic like that, and it's detrimental that shes allowed racism into her group, but has dropped the people that meant her no harm with there opinions as FELLOW BLACK WOMEN.

The Admins Kwhateverspace and Hernameisjaye claim that they want freedom for people to express themselves, but they act like bullies when the situation is not to their favor. Yet it was after the fact that told a lie and still continue to tell one after another member and I were kicked, that made the situation worse. You can read the screenshots of my responses on Kwhateverspaces blog or this one qnd you can clearly see I did nothing in the wrong, as I was coming at Hernameisjaye as one black woman to another. And if she had talked to me in DMs and cleared things out maybe I would've apologized for the comment even if I personally thought I wasn't wrong for it, as I had no shame in my game to apologize even when I'm not wrong.

YET the point I cant stand the most is that they overreacted to a statement I made, and yet they allowed a racist fan fic writer to stay in group. It is clear these Admins don't have thier heads on straight as they kick us out for having a simple opinion or objection to common discussion. Now I do understand there is a level of what Admins can take and what they cannot take, but when you do not make those boundaries clear and when other members make their boundaries clear when your antagonizing them, and you still keep doing it theres something wrong with you as a leader. All I have to say is look at the screenshots and out responses to ours.

#ruby x christina #christina braithwhite #lovecraft country #ruby baptiste #abbey lee #ruby deserved better #wunmi mosaku #lovecraftcountryedit