#restoring faith in humanity

[i-want-my-iwtv]

Regarding that last ask about people still engaging with the show despite not liking it... I think it's also partially frustration. Can't say I'm that active in VC fandom, but I see it now in the LotR fandom with Rings of Power. Pretty early on I decided to just ignore it, but now it's in every LotR space/group I ever go to, and filtering/blocking does not work because people don't tag or post mix of ROP and not ROP content. So it feels like I'm forced to engage no matter how hard I try.

[Re: This ask.]

Yes, Anon, you're so right! I definitely see this as part of the reason. It's unavoidable, we're in a shared space, using shared tags, LotR fandom with Rings of Power is a great example.

I'm sorry in advance that this response got TOO LONG again. Oops. And you didn't mention racism, but that has been present in LOTR:ROP, and some of the people in VC who criticize the AMC show are/were being called racists, and it feels relevant to bring up here, in the context of this shared space issue.

TL;DR: This is a shared space. People who enjoy the show and people who want to criticize it are both in this shared space.

People are going to criticize even shows that try to be progressive. It's up to those adaptations to be strong enough to withstand it.

AMC has already greenlit a Season 2 for IWTV, so it's not going anywhere.

There are racists and homophobes in the world. I'm not spending my limited time seeking them out to try to educate them, and my stance is to block them, or drown them out with positivity.

I've been following the reactions to ROP pretty closely because I saw what was happening and had the same feeling that you do. And truly, some of the wave of fans of ROP/IWTV AMC are just happily posting their fanworks but some of them appear to be targeting resistance they find, aiming for fanspaces to dominate, this is a legit kind of conquest. More on that in a bit.

Example below. This is actually a really light hearted one, but if Brian Morgan in this tweet could genuinely just enjoy LOTR:ROP, then why post this at all? Because Brian wanted to also say, "Take that trolls!" Brian wanted to stand up for what they love. Which takes courage! I'm actually kind of charmed by this meme (maybe bc the context of Shia LaBoeuf watching his own movies was so bizarre that it flew past cringey and landed in heartwarming territory imo 💖) despite the fact that it's clearly being provocative.

[X]

~~~~~

So it is a legit kind of conquest. Re: People still engaging with the show despite not liking it (let's call them Skeptics, bc "haters" is too strong for some), that's because the shared spaces have become a kind of battleground, as you say, the content from people who enjoy the shows (let's call them Stans) are unavoidable because of the shared tags. When I've seen Stans trying to engage/provoke Skeptics, I know for a fact that at least some of them are concerned that the criticism (whether it's gentle/strong/good faith/bad faith doesn't matter) could end their show, and then they won't have it anymore. That's why criticism of the show is a personal attack on Stans, so they feel justified in seeking out all the spaces to fight any criticism in order to protect what they enjoy.

Not to worry, fans of IWTV AMC, because just in today: ‘Anne Rice’s Interview With The Vampire’ Renewed For Season 2 By AMC Ahead of Premiere. AMC is clearly pulling out all the stops, far beyond what Bezos is attempting with ROP, to create a multifaceted fanbase that'll be the foundation for their "Immortal Universe."

They've posted articles and cast interviews, they keep up their social media

There's been an avalanche of positive reviews

They've sent the first several episodes out to fans who have requested them in advance to start generating GIFs and other fan content

They're having a podcast review post-episodes in what seems like the spirit of the post-TWD episodes "Talking Dead".

They're having a free screening in NYC, and I would bet there will be more

They're promoting a fandom location for fanworks, Dorian

Negative criticism can end a show. But it looks like IWTV AMC is plenty robust enough to handle and outlast their share.💪

Whether the Stans like it or not, criticism is going to happen. Different fans of VC have different needs. Queer people are not a hive mind. Different groups of queer people see different things as good and progressive. This show can be meaningful to some fans and progressive to them, and not meaningful or progressive to others. The changes the showrunners made to IWTV appear to me to be a widening out to try to appeal to new groups of people, and that's fine. Just because a show attempts to be progressive does not mean that it gets a free pass and can be free of criticism.

Are there homophobes and racists complaining about race and gender/sexual orientation changes? Yes, of course. I have not seen these towards IWTV AMC myself, but there's been a huge reaction against Halle Bailey, the Black actress cast as Ariel in Ariel the Little Mermaid. There has been good faith criticism, and horrible racism. There was apparently a #NotMyAriel racist Twitter campaign.

There's also been good stuff that restores faith in humanity: "A new TikTok trend also shows young girls of color exclaiming at seeing Bailey as Ariel for the first time: “She’s Black like me!”" [X] This is such a wonderful way to respond to racism, IMO, by drowning it out with this positive impact!

DISCLAIMER: I am not a POC, so I'm not telling anyone, POC or otherwise, how to react to racism. But this is how I'm doing it at this time.

[I couldn't figure out how to embed the video but here's the link: X]

I have not seen racism against IWTV AMC, and even if I do in the future, it's not my job to act as the fandom police to seek out this content and go to battle over it. If I see someone make a racist comment, if it was a friend, I'd try to have a private dialogue about it. But if it's a stranger, I block. I am not spending my limited free time trying to educate strangers on the internet.

At least in VC tumblr fandom, I don't even know what they want from me/us. I assume they're trying to delegate fandom policing to others, but they are welcome to do it themselves. Or, they want to have public conversations about racist comments they have seen. They can write about whatever they choose on their own blog, and people can choose to engage with them or not.

We're in a shared space together. No one can ask the people who enjoy Rings of Power to tag their content without Lord of the Rings, because it technically is part of that IP. For the same reason, asking people posting about AMC to not use Vampire Chronicles or Interview with the Vampire would be completely absurd, because the AMC adaptation is within those tags.

It would be great to have some separation between Stans and Skeptics, if at all possible.

[livehorses]

I just keep receiving news of bad things that are happening in the world and that makes me feel down. I could really use some positivity right now. Reblog and share some good news you've heard about lately. I'm sure there must be something good out there that might be making this world a better place.

[filosofablogger]

Something We All Need Today!

We all know of Sally’s Smorgasbord Blog for her humour pieces, book reviews, and music posts, among other things, but today marks the start of a new series by Debby, aka D.G. Kaye, and I think this may be the most timely and needed series yet!  I’ll just hush now and let you check it out for yourself!  Thank you Debby & Sally … you are gems shining brightly in a sometimes dark world! Smorgasbord…

[vinn-ny]

Dire Wolf: Man, what the fuck?

[drawberry03]

So before anime my first love had always been cartoons, I only recently watched Hey Arnold! recently (I blame betaruga's art I've been sucked in ever since) and its been a hyperfixation for months now. I wanted to make a comic based on one of my fave fics of Shortaki.

I wanted to show my appreciation via this project, which has been fun and challenging so far (tell ya what my environment and angling of panels have never looked as good lmao). And I have fallen in love with pencil textures.

Here's the fic made by Reinamy (I love everything you've written!): https://archiveofourown.org/works/6896269/chapters/15734773#workskin

I never told @reinamycloud about doing this but I hope they like it anyway. I'm planning to eventually make the other chapters as well but it will take time cuz I'm going back to school.

P.S. Idk who Trevor is, so I just made up his face lmao.

[burquillos]

Dilulu as el woowoo

[bokunodumbassery]

One thing I love about erasermic as a ship is how both the characters aren’t infantilised in the majority of cases.

Like, it’s sun/moon troupe, but the moon isn’t an uwu pastel anxiety boi. And the sun isn’t sunshine happy rainbow who is incapable of intelligent thought. Both are grown-ass adults who spend their lives fighting crime, but who also have incredible capacity for care and love and appreciation.

I do see an occasional tendency to dismiss Mic, because he looks like a loud dumb blonde, but I’ve seen more and more authors looking at Mic from a more manipulative, cutthroat angle and I’m living for it. This ship has largely been taken in an incredibly mature and nuanced light that the BNHA fandom lacks in a lot of areas.

(If you’re looking for some brilliant characterisation of Present Mic, AWeeBitRustyEh on ao3 is your lord and saviour. They’ve also written some other great works such as ‘A Line Drawn in the Sand’. 100/10 absolutely recommend. Manipulative Mic brainrot is a rabbit hole that you’ll never truly escape, but I would love you to join me there.)

I think a lot of this outlook is due to the fact that both characters are adults with a fairly strong/stable in-canon character relationship. Still, it’d be nice to see some other ships as well written as this one tends to be.

[greedandenby]

The official shot is adorable and all, but the side view is just... 😍😭💀

[sgdlr-asdfghjkl]

Link Click Musical part 75

(help me.)

Thanks to wonderful @chocolatexiaoshi (💝 🙏) we were able to figure out why Wu Yihan cried during the encore performance. So here's what we know:

Basically it's inappropriate to act out of script. It's only okay during encore, since it's the laid-back part. So laughing out of character during main plot can be considered as a mistake. Most probably Wu Yihan was just being too hard on himself for this. He sounds like he cares a lot about his acting <3

Another thing is, it wasn't the first time he cried during a performance. Like, in general career. Apparently he sometimes gets emotional like that. And let me remind you, they were singing a very touching song with lines like 'Regret guides me when I’m lost, warm memories guide me when I’m lost'... I- understandable.

The last thing I need to mention is (rephrasing choco-xiaoshi): 'Shu Rongbo said Wu cried to a point of having a runny nose reaching his chin. So Shu wiped his nose with a tissue.' Meaning the photo at stage door is them joking about it ಥwಥ💗

Link Click stuff aside, I'm genuinely moved by how kind the cast members are to each other, as a people. And so hard-working and passionate. My heart feels warm, I love humans when we are like this💖

just... have some more of these two 🙇~

[b3y0ndm3asur3]

this is too fucking cute

[spinachjuice]

"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

Bonus R.O.U.S. + me being sick watching film

[kneelingshadowsalome]

I wanted you to know that life’s been shitty lately and your writing has helped me a lot <3 you’re so talented and i hope you feel happy always

Anon to me you are this cat and I'm going to pick you up and take you somewhere nice and warm 💕 maybe wrap you in a cozy blanket and slip you a tall glass of lemonade and then you can tell me all about your shitty adventures (i'll tell you mine lol 💛)

[charliespringsleftconverse]

Sometimes I’m like “Wow, people are awful” but today on my flight there was a baby crying and the parents were getting a bit anxious themselves not wanting to make the rest of the passengers uncomfortable with a screaming baby. But random people, clearly parents and grandparents themselves, came up to the couple and took turns entertaining the baby and walking up and down the aisle to distract the baby. And. Anyway. Shit like this fills my heart ❤️

[luthiest]

06.20.22

fun fun day at the met… so nice of them to keep the oceans 8 set open to the public 🤩

🎧: gimme all ur luv - hemlocks springs

[kebriones]

Getting ready for finals on monday