Why is SGA fandom so segregated?
Jul. 13th, 2006 11:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
trinityofone![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
lavvyan! I got your package! Thank you so much, it's gorgeous. (To curious parties: it's a piece of papyrus with the Ancient Egyptian calendar on it.) Actually, the tube it came in is gorgeous, too. But I really want to try to get it framed. And this Treed Murray poster, which I keep saying I should treat myself to. (Hey, I have a new apartment and a new office to decorate here!) There has to be a cheap frame shop in existence somewhere...right?I am incredibly, incredibly tired today. I was exhausted yesterday, and couldn't even make it through The Daily Show before I crashed. This is bad. I thought I was adjusting to my new work schedule, but I guess I'm not. Is there any way to train yourself to need less sleep?
One thing that has almost kept me energized has been the response to the SGA Bulwer-Lytton Contest. There are so many awesome and hysterical entries, it's going to be killer to choose. So I think I'll pick my--15? Is that how many entries an LJ poll allows?--my 15 or so favorites and let people vote on the Grand Prize Winner. Unless anybody has wild objections, I'll put that up tomorrow.
Like I said, the response has been incredible, and I've seen some new names (by which I mean: people I don't know, even by association, not "people who don't usually comment here"), which is always cool. But--and please correct me if I'm wrong--I still seem to be attracting mostly McKay/Sheppard people, or at least mostly slash people. Which in general makes sense, because hey, I write McKay/Sheppard, I talk about McKay/Sheppard, most of my friends are into McKay/Sheppard. As far as I'm concerned, McKay/Sheppard is for yay.
BUT. I like other pairings, too (my other fandom interest could possibly be described as McKay/women), and I think at least a little cross-pairing pollination is to be encouraged. My last fandom was BtVS/AtS, and it was wild, man. I mean, I started out a Spuffy shipper (Shut up! Their love was
Why is SGA so much more segregated? I mean, I don't think this is entirely a bad thing--I don't want my flist flooded with Sheppard/Weir stories, and I doubt the Sheppard/Weir shippers want a gazillion McKay/Sheppard stories on their friends pages, either. But is it just me, or is it extremely hard to organize activities that include all sides of fandom? Take
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reel_sga. The response to that has been great...but as pairings go, not very diverse. In terms of my personal reading habits, that's fine, but I had kind of hoped that there'd be more pairings represented. And maybe there still will be. That would be cool.(Speaking of one nice bit of pairing diversity, I really loved this
reel_sga entry: McKay/Ford art by deani_bean. It's the tie thing. That's awesome, and that transcends OTP-loyalty [and I say this as someone who is mockably OTPish at times]. Which is cool, no?)Anyway, the Bulwer-Lytton thing is different, because of course it is not pairing-centric: it's mostly about mocking style and usage, although certain tropes have been fun to mock, too. It's about bad writing, but it's also about amusing and clever writing, and seeing what you can do in the space of a sentence. That's something everybody can appreciate, right?
So I guess what I'm wondering is, where are the het shippers? (Again, please correct me if they're around and I've just been too dumb to notice.) And I just don't mean, why aren't they here, responding to this--what is here is awesome, and I'm not like, demanding more people participate, omg. I just mean, I've been in this fandom for almost a year now--how have we managed not to interact at all? Of course, part of this may be me--I'm certainly not trolling
john_elizabeth, because why would I want to? So I'm also not saying, "Sheppard/Weir peeps! Why aren't you over at mckay_sheppard? We've got a hot tub, come hang out!" Because seriously, why would they want to? But the fact that there's little-to-no crossover is just astonishing to me.Maybe it's just that we have a situation that's more like X-Files fandom than Buffydom. Back in the old days, I was rabid about MSR, and I just didn't go anywhere near the slash. (Or Scully/Skinner, or whatever else there was.) I can't remember very well, but I think I was actively afraid of those unfamiliar corners of the net, and that included any of the projects "those people" may have been involved in. Of course, I think this may have had MUCH more to do with the fact that I was 14 than with my shipping preferences, but could there possibly be some connection? What I'd like to know is, do most people on the het end of fandom see even a name associated with slash and immediately go, "Avoid! Avoid! Avoid!"? Which, I hasten to say, would be totally their right. But I realize, I don't even know anyone over there that I could ask.
I'm not saying that there needs to be some sort of cross-ship dialogue, because I think those things tend to end in angry glaring at best. Possibly, just ignoring each other is the best way to avoid conflict, and I'm all for avoiding conflict. I'm just surprised there isn't some sort of neutral zone, some shaded area at the center of the Giant Venn Diagram of Fandom Life. Why do you think that is?
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Re: SGA Fandom Divide
Date: 2006-07-13 08:03 pm (UTC)WankWorld...Sorry if I scared you...
Re: SGA Fandom Divide
Date: 2006-07-13 08:11 pm (UTC)(I use hyperbole because I love. And because I'm many years removed from the blast zone.)
I've never really looked into GateWorld, but isn't it the case that there's not a PTB influence like Joss Whedon, who's played fan-games? Is there really a feeling that the boards are a gateway to TPTB? Because that combination right there will guarantee a flashpoint.
Being observed changes the psychology. Kind of like reality shows. ^^; Left on its own, fandom behaves differently.
Re: SGA Fandom Divide
Date: 2006-07-13 08:19 pm (UTC)GW...you are not missing anything, let me (and others) assure you. Even TPTB had enough and pissed off in the end and stopped making their presence actively known. However, they do mention it periodically on DVD commentaries and the like.
I luff LJ *snuggles* because I have to say, I've never actually experienced anything that started here - more that people took it upon themselves to be defamatory about me and some of my friends...
Re: SGA Fandom Divide
Date: 2006-07-13 08:24 pm (UTC)Yeah, format can play a huge role. LJ tends to be self-regulating and unless you recruit a cast of thousands to maintain your delusions, there's always LJ Abuse. People bein' people, alack.
Re: SGA Fandom Divide
Date: 2006-07-13 09:02 pm (UTC)Re: SGA Fandom Divide
Date: 2006-07-13 11:52 pm (UTC)I don't hit messageboard (unless I positively have to and then it's like going to the dentist), so as you say, LJ is a great place self-regulate and figure out who you tend to find non-annoying and the flipside of who you do. It's easier to avoid them on LJ rather a message board where you can't exactly ban without modly powers for starting something, you know?
Re: SGA Fandom Divide
Date: 2006-07-15 12:17 am (UTC)I don't even have to acknowledge their existance, cos I can ban_set their asses if they annoy me too much and deny all knowledge of their existance - it's fantastic!
Re: SGA Fandom Divide
Date: 2006-07-15 12:33 am (UTC)