Where is the Olicity Fandom I used to know?
Many of you are new here, and I welcome you. Welcome to the craziness that is an Olicity shipper. Aren’t they just adorable?
Back on point.
Lately, my dash has been a lot of, to use Felicity’s words, nerd rage. A lot of ranting posts with ire and incense towards writing choices. Many different people all coming to the same conclusion.
Negativity.
Back during season 3, the season to end all the rest, tumblr was my safe haven. I could get on tumblr and blog for hours, being uplifted by others in the fandom. Oliver once again chose to not be with Felicity? I had fics full of fix its and inspiring posts.
There were debates defending both Oliver and Felicity and how they both were right. There was a lot of hate towards Raid Farmer. But all in all, there was a comradery, a support system for everyone of us.
Where has that gone?
instead, I now tend to avoid tumblr after an episode, because once I do, I’ll be dragged down into all the mistakes everyone else saw. Where I saw only sibling bonding time, other found flaws in the very wording of a character, or not enough emotional response from a line of dialogue.
While I believe critquing is all well and good, a constant stream of negativity isn’t. I’m afraid to post something that is contrary to popular thought because it will just be torn down or ignore. And I hate shouting into the blackness and having no one hear.
Arrow is my happy place. It is the one thing that can help pull me out of a depression slump. But all this constant down putting of imperfect writers just makes me think of what you think of my work. Are you this harsh when judging my writing? And others?
Basically, all I’m saying is can we start being nice? Nicer to others, nicer to writers who struggle to give us what we want, nicer in our judgements. We’re all human and we should support each other, not spiral down into negativity.
Just a thought.
I totally feel where you’re coming from and I sympathize. Really, I do. When you just want to love something it’s hard not to be affected by a constant barrage of negativity.
But here’s my thing … pop culture criticism is a big part of why I’m in fandom to begin with. Yes, I absolutely love to squee as much as the next person. But analyzing dialogue, going meta over characterization, and dissecting plot are part of the fun for me, and how I engage with both the show and my fellow fans. And that means calling out bullshit when I see bullshit.
The same way you want to revel in the happy feelings with your fellow fans, I want to commiserate over the crappy stuff. When I’m feeling disappointed in the story, it’s cathartic to vent and know that I’m not alone in the way I’m feeling.
I do try to keep a balance between the positive and the negative, because if I reach a point where everything I have to say is negative it’s probably time to quit watching. And I work pretty hard to keep my negative emotions directed at the show itself and not at my fellow fans (or even the characters, because they don’t have free will, they’re merely a construct of the writers and actors).
When I disagree with someone’s opinions, I try to do so civilly, and with an understanding that there’s plenty of room for different interpretations and reactions. They’re opinions, not facts, and just because I disliked something doesn’t mean everyone else has to. And when someone comments about how much they adored something I usually leave it alone rather than jump in to argue, because I know how much it sucks when people pee on your happiness.
I’m not going to stop being critical of the show, though. I’ve been complaining about Arrow’s propensity to throw characterization out the window in order to prop up poorly-executed plots from day one and I’m not going to quit until they do.
But it’s important to understand that the standards I hold the show to have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with how I approach fanworks and fan creators.
Criticizing experienced, highly-paid professionals who have been hired by a studio’s even higher-paid bosses to create profitable commercial media for a mass audience is a whole other ball of wax from criticizing fanworks created out of love by amateurs (and I use the word strictly in the not-being-paid sense, not as a judgment on quality—most Olympic athletes are amateurs and they’re highly-skilled elites) and offered up as a gift to our community.
If I buy a sweater at a store and the seams start to unravel I’m going to be pissed off and complain about it. But if my friend knits me a sweater by hand and gives it to me as a gift? I’m going to love it and cherish it and think it’s the best thing ever even if it falls completely apart in my hands.
But like I said, I get why you’re unhappy. I’ve been there. Sometimes you just want to love something unconditionally without having to have all its flaws pointed out to you. The thing is, though, you can’t expect the rest of fandom to always feel the way you feel or be to quiet about it when they don’t.
The only solution is to curate your online experience carefully. Be strong-willed about scrolling past text posts and meta when they’re not telling you what you want to hear. Ruthlessly mute/blacklist/unfollow anyone who’s bringing you down. It’s okay, even if they’re your friends or they’re a fic writer you like or they’re a mutual whose feelings you don’t want to hurt.
Put yourself first. The only one who can make your fandom experience what you want it to be is you.