#anyway yeah 10/10 highly recommend taking some time to geek out about things you love with people outside the fandom echo chamber

[bereft-of-frogs]

just my two cents/unasked for advice: if a fandom is getting so stressful that it’s to the point where it’s no longer fun, all the usual pieces of advice apply - unfollowing people / blocking tags / focusing on what you do enjoy / creating the content you wish to see -

but also, it is so worth it to have someone outside the fandom, or who participates in the fandom in a completely different way, to talk about this stuff with and just enjoy the thing. having someone who doesn’t really participate in the fandom can be so helpful in breaking out of some of the negative spirals fandoms can get into, to offer new perspectives outside of the fandom echo chambers, and honestly just have fun.

an example: it was so much fun every Friday night to finish the new episode of Wandavision, and before coming back online, text with my brother about how much we were enjoying it and how much we love Wanda and Vision, and speculating about fan theories just for the fun of it. And this week, he rewatched Infinity War and Endgame - Endgame being, as you all know, the one MCU entry I actively dislike - but hearing him talk about the things he liked reminded me of various things I did like about it. I go for walks with my friend who’s much more a comics fan and we talk about the podcast she’s been listening to that explains theories. It can just be so refreshing to share this with people who aren’t active participants in the online fandom.

It’s just nice sometimes to be able to take a step back away from all the overthinking and accumulated critiques and just...have fun.

I’m not saying that you like...can’t find enjoyment or fun in the critiques itself. I do love meta and critique and finding people who share my grievances with various creative decisions. But I just observe that...there’s been a lot of stress lately and I wanted to share one thing that has been significantly improving my mood towards fandom. And like I said at the start, all other advice still applies. But if you’re really feeling down about the MCU, or find that the only thing you ever talk or think about is the grievances, I would highly recommend finding someone who unironically enjoys these movies/shows without participating in the fandom, and just letting yourself get lost in some uncomplicated enjoyment. If all you’re doing is talking about how upset you are about things - it might help to take a step back.

I also say that as someone who has several ill-advised salty fandom posts stashed in my drafts loll. I’m not say to entirely give up on the discourse (tm) but I think having a healthy balance between criticizing and having fun is a good way to keep enjoying fandom things and not get bogged down in the negativity.

this has been my 2 cents thank you for your time XD