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bettsfic · 5 years

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do you know anything about like, the development of the purity rhetoric that now seems to be ubiquitous in fandom and how it got there? i used to be on tumblr in like, 2014 and only recently came back to fandom and i remember everyone being generally kind of cool with things like incest ships and morally grey characters (speaking specifically re the frozen fandom and elsa/anna here lmao) whereas now it seems like the conversation about those things has drastically shifted and i am..puzzled by it

this is what i imagine that experience was like for you:

according to fanlore, purity culture started in the homestuck fandom which. based on what i know of homestuck, that tracks. however i’ve never been in homestuck so i’m not sure what that transformation was like. all i know is my personal experience with the disk horse. afaik there’s no cohesive timeline of events across fandom, and i lack the time and resources to be able to make one myself. if anyone knows of one, or wants to make one, please let me know.

i do know that purity culture is a movement started by very young teenagers, who were maybe 13-15 in 2014 and are now 18-20. they were 8-10 when ao3 was founded, and therefore seem to have a limited knowledge of fan history, censorship, and critical thinking. i’m hoping that since they’re now entering college, they’ll get some insight and broader social awareness, and this movement will finally die out in the next few years.

on any other platform, at any other time, their toxic rhetoric would not have gained traction. but here and now, on tunglr dot com where anyone can gain a platform, where mob mentality thrives and inciting an anonymous dogpile is as easy as hitting Post, where the brokenness of this place makes it difficult to control the content you’re exposed to -- it’s the perfect storm. we live in an age of hopelessness. young people grow up with social media as an extension of their identities, tethered to devices that hold all the information in the world. i think it’s fair for them to be afraid of their futures, and i can understand the desire to control the online spaces where they have the most agency, where their voices are the loudest.

that may explain why, but not how. as in, where did they pick up this mentality at all? @freedom-of-fanfic (whose work is a necessity in understanding the disk horse) connected anti-shipping to TERF rhetoric. i’ve linked the fanlore page because it has all of the links and some of the responses. i honestly do believe that the language surrounding purity culture has its ugly roots in TERFdom. at its core, purity culture -- the policing of female and queer sexuality -- is misogyny.

when i started writing destiel circa 2014, fandom was as you described. wincest was a juggernaut on par with destiel. teen wolf was full of underage and noncon. a/b/o was on the rise. it seemed like fandom was a genre without restraint -- anything you wrote, if it found the right audience, would be celebrated unabashedly. people who have been following me for a long time know that i was addicted to adderall at the time and pounding out all sorts of manic nonsense. i remember living on the validation of comments (and at the time, there were lots of comments. not so much anymore, but that’s another story). i got critical comments only rarely, and they were the type that i admired -- readers without judgment thinking through the story, reacting to it earnestly. i made some of my best friends because they left long, critical comments on my work. sometimes they didn’t like it, sometimes they did, but ultimately, they were engaged, and that’s what counted.

i remember my first policing-type comment, i think at the start of all the purity nonsense. it was a destiel fic, and someone very angrily told me i should tag my bottom!cas because it was triggering. i’ve thought about that comment a lot over the years. top/bottom discourse is nothing new, but to say that bottom castiel is triggering? that was ridiculous. but then i realized -- there was a writer in fandom at the time i won’t name, who was known for being extremely sensitive (for bottom!cas especially, which they found triggering), and their very dedicated following offered fic that was safe for their fave to read. i have nothing against this person at all. they were not part of the purity discourse, they were up front about their sensitive nature, and as far as i knew (i believe i met them at a con once?) they were very kind.

but that commenter had been clearly influenced by this person and believed that a specific fictional character receiving anal sex from another specific fictional character was actual, real triggering content, and it was my obligation as a writer to tag for it. which i did, because i felt bad, and i was baffled by that request. at the time, i wanted more than anything to be liked, and conformed wherever i could. if i got such a request now, i would ignore it because it was rudely written and honestly kind of bonkers. i’d happily add a tag for something i may have missed, or even something i’d never considered before, but there’s no reason a person can’t make that request politely.

this situation isn’t about purity discourse proper (the commenter didn’t tell me not to write the fic, and it had nothing to do with morality), but it’s the earliest example i can think of where the process of policing had occurred: a person of influence on tumblr affected their follower’s thinking, and that follower felt entitled to command another writer to conform to that ideology.

i could be completely wrong about making these connections. maybe that commenter truly believed bottom!cas was a legitimate widespread trauma. they did not say the fic was triggering to them, but that it might be to some other people, in the same way purity police say “think of the CHILDREN” when in fact they don’t give a fuck about children at all.

after destiel i moved to stucky, which was, at the time, a juggernaut ship where anyone could write anything. this was also the time when the term “cinnamon roll” became incredibly popular, circa 2015. it was a fun and seemingly innocuous meme, but it positioned the ideas of “purity” and “wholesomeness” in sharp relief, and cemented these ideas by beginning to give it a distinct vocabulary. “trash” was pitched as its opposite. stucky is where i first came into contact with “antis.” in destiel, there had been ship wars, sure, but it was of a different flavor than antis. destiel vs wincest wasn’t about morality in 2014. it was about everything but.

in stucky in 2015, however, the disk horse was running rampant. the MCU had a sub-section of fandom called HTP (hydra trash party) in which steve and/or bucky have dubious or nonconsensual relations with various or many members of hydra. this is the first time i remember being aware of morality becoming a cornerstone of shipping. HTP was loathed by purity police. by the time i wrote a stucky bdsm au, i’d accumulated multiple nasty anons, rude comments from entitled readers, and other nonsense that all said the same thing: your filth is not welcome here in our space of purity. go away.

but the release of the force awakens is what really turned the tide. TFA offered three major ships: stormpilot (as it was called at the time, now finnpoe), reylo, and kylux. the fandom that developed around the sequels was firmly divided. franzeska wrote an amazing meta about this phenomenon which gives some insight into the seeds of purity policing. in short, stormpilot should have been the primary pairing of the sequels, but instead many of the badwrong writers from other fandoms (and HTP specifically, which was how i entered the fandom) flocked to the blank slate of kylux.

it took a long time for the ship to gain traction. a friend told me that kylux had started with angry star wars racists who hated that there was diversity in the sequel trilogy. and i told them no, i was there, there were twelve of us and a cornchip, and all we cared about was the dirty/darkly comedic potential of these two ridiculous villain characters in one of the biggest franchises of all time. it wasn’t that complicated. i don’t mean to dismiss the discussion of race in fandom; i think it’s important to acknowledge that racism, as franzeska describes far better than i can, plays a huge part in fandom, particularly in star wars, and it’s an important and ongoing discussion to be having, especially given what kelly marie tran has gone through, and how it affected (presumably) rose tico’s extremely limited presence in TROS.

the early fics of kylux weren’t particularly taboo. they were post-TFA hurt/comfort mostly, then slowly the bdsm and power dynamics crept in. those of us who wanted to get away from purity discourse had finally found a new home. for a while. 2016 was the golden era of kylux. we were all very happy.

i remember talking to a friend about how there were certain things i couldn’t write in certain ships. being from ye olden days of fandom, she was appalled by this idea, and told me i could write anything for any ship i wanted, wasn’t that was the whole point of transformative works? and i agreed! but i tried to explain, if you post badwrong for a fandom of purity police, you’re going to, at best, get dogpiled in your comments/inbox. at worse they will find you, call your employer, and try to ruin your life. people will tell you to kill yourself. they’ll report your tumblr and try to get your blog shut down. there are real-life, harrowing consequences to writing taboo fic, and many who write fic as a hobby don’t have the emotional energy to field these risks.

around this time, discord became popular, which offered a private space for badwrong writers to congregate. i had started grad school and didn’t have much time to write fic. metoo was happening. tromp got elected. kylux was slowly turning mainstream so a lot of us turned our attention to gradence in fantastic beasts. some went on to hannibal and other fandoms that hadn’t yet caught the attention of purity police (but it was, as it is now, just a matter of time). kylux, i feel, was specifically decimated by a single fan creator, who was like a police chief. they would get wind of someone writing underage or noncon and write a call-out post about them, and that writer/artist would get pitchforked. a few times, my comments or posts got screencapped, and posts were written urging people to stop reading my works because of how heinously immoral i was. this happened to several of my friends too.

the great tumblr tittyban of 2017 happened, which only added fuel to the fire and further legitimized the purity movement. i shifted hesitantly to the 100 fandom, which seemed small in comparison to supernatural, marvel, and star wars. i thought it was a chill place. i was wrong; it was just as toxic as other fandoms. but i also didn’t care anymore, and i appreciated that i was mostly left alone. more importantly, i found a lot of support from other people who were as tired of the purity as i was, and @the100kinkmeme was reborn.

the state of things is pretty abysmal. there are some really amazing writers out there writing under multiple sock accounts, keeping their fandom identities shattered so as not to call attention to themselves. as much as i understand why writers do that, and i respect that decision, i also think it’s sad. it deprives readers the chance to read that author’s other works. it limits the sense of community and our ability to make friends. it fractures the future of the genre.

what’s most important to acknowledge is that none of this is happening solely in fandom. i went to a writers’ conference where 2 of 3 panels were about the history of moral policing and censorship in art. it is worth noting that of the 40-ish visiting writers on faculty, only one (1) was a woman of color (jaimaica kincaid). naturally, older rich white people who have spent their life in the arts are all about death of the author, separation of art and artist. they’re on the total opposite side of purity police, and they won’t acknowledge at all that racism and sexism are a problem in the creative world. they don’t have any nuance on the discussion, or modern perspectives in light of metoo or popular culture.

this went on longer than i anticipated. i neglected to mention YFIP (your fave is problematic) an old blog that started the idea of call-out culture by pulling receipts on celebrities, and how call-out culture led to cancel culture, which also aided in the purity disk horse. i think a lot can be said about how some of this stuff is genuinely good (metoo and holding men accountable for their bullshit) while also being profoundly toxic (punishing criminals via mob mentality, ruining their careers and livelihoods through social media, rather than giving them their due process in court. i understand it -- the judicial system is built by the hands of the very predators we seek to condemn, but still. the jury of the internet is never a fair trial).

if you want to read more, my tag is tsatp (the sacred and the profane). i’m sure i’ve left out a lot, but i can only speak to my experience. i think it would be good if people would share their experience dealing with purity policing, too, so we might get a cohesive timeline in place. feel free to reblog and add your story.

#tsatp #my fic #Anonymous

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olderthannetfic · 5 years

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Vidding absolutely counts as a fandom, and Escapade is key to the history of vidding.

Notice how the terminology shifts over the course of Escapade: The first year, it’s ‘songtapes’ being shown, then ‘songvid’ or ‘song video’ predominates for much of the 90s, and then we move on to ‘vidding’ and ‘vids’.

The vidshow moves from being more of a curated presentation of old favorites to having a lot of premieres. It goes from just one night to two, then back to one. Vidshow panels where you just watch vids for a whole panel slot come and go. In 1998, vid review starts up: This is a Sunday morning panel for in-depth critique of the vids shown the previous night and is a famously contentious part of the con. And then there was this:

2002, Friday, 6pm - VividCon Discussion (Come discuss the proposed VividCon, tentative time/location, August/Chicago.)

Yep. Escapade was where Vividcon was born!

By 2008, people were talking about how vidding had moved on from Escapade. In 2011 a vidshow retrospective was added to try to counter the lack of vidding-centric programming. There was a big resurgence for a few years, including such hard-hitting topics as:

2016 - Vidding Aesthetics (”Why is there so much show audio in this vid?", "Why didn't that cut hit on the beat?", "What do you mean 'Cheesy?' She's Celine Dion!" and other immortal questions of vidding aesthetics. If you've ever watched a vid, we want your opinions.)

Why yes, it was my panel. Why do you ask?

There were rounds of warnings wank, caused by Oz vids and by that time Absolute Destiny sent a vid of a violent coming of age film.

Check out this 1994 panel description from Fanlore:

"[The technology in fandom panel] included several things that people can now do in-home that they couldn't do five years ago: cutting and splicing songs on Macintosh computers (to remove inappropriate choruses, verses, or the word "girl"); the soon-to-be-easier ability to select different people from different clips and combine them onto a new background (also for songtapes); printing vhs video frames directly to computer screens, printers and/or color copiers (for fun); and zines and/or libraries on disk. Most of the new technology possibilities were followed by comments that the actual work we can do is illegal [...]. Which comments were followed by the statements that seventeen years ago, writing and publishing a slash fanzine was illegal.... [...] a few people [...], talked to me at different times throughout the con about getting accounts or modems [...]”

This is interesting not just technologically but aesthetically. Is the word ‘girl’ bad in a slashvid? Different communities have disagreed.

Conversations about digital vidding and digital vs. VCR really heated up around 2001, much later than you might expect if you’re coming out of an AMV background. While most of Youtube vids on Sony Vegas--a Windows-only program--at Escapade, Mac has been the norm.

The topics that have remained big are vidding aesthetics, including things like how to make an effective pimp vid, discussions of hosting options and where the community is hanging out now, and how-tos for people who want to get into vidding.

(And before anyone asks, the answer is that you should download DaVinci Resolve because it’s free and cross-platform. And you should encode with h.264 because it’s widely compatible.)

The 2020 vidding panels are:

Vidding 101: The Vid Bunny Farm So you’ve had an idea, and it’s gnawing on your leg? Or maybe you have too many vid ideas and can’t choose? Or you want to make a vid but don’t know where to even start? Aspiring fan vidders, unsure-vidders-to-be, and experienced vidders welcome alike to share vid bunnies, brainstorm together, and talk about the processes of conceptualizing a vid.

Vidding Genres Then & Now We’ve come a long way from “living room vids” vs ‚”con vids‚” or have we? Let’s talk about evolving fanvid genres, from ship vids to AU vids to multivids, from character vids to fake trailers, from genre-bending vids to long form vids to cosplay music videos, and more. Let’s talk about all the genres of fan videos floating around YouTube, Billibilli, AO3 and beyond, and also consider if the old school genre terms still apply.

Escapade has had many, many vidding panels. So many that even I feel the need for a readmore. I’ve pulled out the meta ones and left off some single-fandom vidshows and whatnot. Sorry for the wonky formatting, but Tumblr, in its infinite wisdom, seems to have removed the horizontal rule feature.

1991 - "Classic" songtapes were shown at 9:00 on Friday.

1994 - Song Video Roundtable (Bring works in progress or finished works you're having difficulty with for a quick jump-start. Open to anyone who enjoys videos as well as the people who make them.)

1994 - Songvid Editing (Authors get edited and usually have to do at least one rewrite of a story. Artists have erasers. What stops songvid makers from doing drafts and re-edits of their work? Let's talk about editing style (what cuts to use for best emphasis) and technique (how to physically do the inserts.)) [Notice how much of an issue editing is. These are VCR vids, edited in order, so insert edits are a gigantic pain.]

1995 - Techno Vids—Media Cannibals, (What's available with the new computer hardware and software? Can have Bodie & Doyle screwing on screen if we apply the right touches. Should we? How and when?) [Yes. Sweatily. Always.]

1995 - Video Workshop (video makers & watchers discuss the art.)

1996 - Music Video Critique and Workshop (Roundtable critique of videos, how to tell/recognize story, POV, rhythm. Also, tricks of the trade.)

1997 - Music Choice for Song Vidding (Finding the right song for the fandom is almost as great a challenge as finding the right clips for the song. Discussing what to look for in music choice.)

1997 - Songvid Critique (An exploration of different elements of media vids, with an emphasis on aesthetics. We'll look at segments of different songs to see how the images were used in conjunction with the varied rhythms of the music, and to enhance the mood.)

1998 - Media Cannibals Self-Indulgence Hour (Stunned to look back on vidding effort, MC plans to show -- and talk about -- some of their best and worst vids, pointing out some happy accidents and some annoying f*ckups. This is a great panel for people who want to learn about vid-making, the work that goes into them, and what to look for when watching them.)

1998 - Con Vids vs Living Room Vids (What are the elements that make a music vid accessible to a large crown, or more appropriate to an intimate setting?)

1998 - Music Video Show Review (Selected vids from Saturday's show will be replayed and discussed for their aesthetic, technical and musical choices. Open to all, for feedback and fun.) [Perhaps the start of the Sunday vidshow critique, which was also such a feature of Vividcon?]

1999 - Songvid Aesthetics (An exploration of theme, color, mood, and rhythm. Choosing clips to relate to the music and convey your message to the viewer.)

1999 - Sunday Morning Vid Review (Selected vids from Saturday's show will be replayed and discussed for the aesthetic, technical and musical choices. Open to all, for feedback and fun.)

2000 - Vidding Basics (Or "you want to learn how to make a music vid, huh?"—Carol and Stacy will take a group of novice vidders from the basics of what you need on your VCR, to all your hardware set ups, thru the selection of music, to actually doing some hands-on putting a dip (or two) into a music vid. So if you're interested in music videos and you want to try your hand at making one... you know what panel you need to go to.)

2000 - Songvid Appreciation 101 (Remember Art Appreciation? "Why is this painting good?" Well, we're doing the same for vids, using examples from the ESCAPADE Video Show. Let's take advantage of the fact that we've all just seen these vids, and use them to illustrate how to do cool things in a vid. We'll look at clever POV changes, appropriate choice of music to theme, skillful uses of musical changes within a vid, storytelling techniques, changes of mood, cutting on the beat vs. cutting on the lyric line, the different approaches to serious and humorous vids, or single fandom vs. multiple fandom vids, and more.)

2001 - Vidding Workshop (2 hours) (This workshop will cover: a comparison between digital and analog vidding; a how-to for analog vidding; a how-to for digital vidding; and a discussion of the artistic side of vidding, including song and clip choices, and techniques to avoid.)

2001 - Impact of Computer Tools on Vidding (Vidding used to be push-and-pause between 2 vers, and a LOT of patience. Now with I-movie and Final Cut and Macintosh G4's, the technological leap is here and it isn't going anywhere. Are vids better for the technology available to them?)

2001 - Songvid Appreciation (2 hours) (Comments and feedback on vids you saw last night, Escapade style.)

2002 - Art Manipulation Using Photoshop (A how-to overview, with demonstrations in Photoshop, and more detailed techniques for creating photo manipulations, web graphics, and zine graphics. Depending on interest, creation of vid titles and overlay vid graphics may be included.)

2002 - Digital Vidding (An overview of the digital vidding process, including some advice on the hardware and software you need to get started. Learn the basics of editing with Premiere and similar programs, and get an overview of some of the fun options you have when using a computer to vid.)

2002 - Vidding Workshop: Art After Craft (What is the Art of Vidding?)

2002 - Vid Revision (The art and craft of revising vids—how you get from a song in your heart and a bunch of clips on your hard drive to the final product. We'll show multiple versions of a few vids, critique them, and talk about what improves a vid. No technical knowledge needed; come whether you make vids or just like watching them.)

2002 - Vids: Pro vs Fan Editing (A long time fan vidder and a professional editor discuss techniques.)

2002 - Sunday Morning Vid Review

2002 - VividCon Discussion (Come discuss the proposed VividCon, tentative time/location, August/Chicago.) [VVC started 6 months later, in August 2002, and ran until 2018]

2003 - How to Vid on the Computer (A brief intra vidding on computers. It will touch on hardware requirements, software options, and basic concepts of non-linear editing and what makes for a good vid, and, time and tech permitting, it may also include a demonstration of some of the editing basics. There will be handouts.)

2003 - Vid Show Review (A discussion (and literal re-viewing in some cases) of some of the vids from the Saturday night show.)

2003 - Also Premiering Vid Show (The "Also Premiering..." vid show is for vids premiered in the last year that aren't going to be shown in the Friday or Saturday shows. This will be an informal setting and we'll go by participant preference — if folks want to see a vid a second time, or want some time to chat about it, or if a vidder wants some feedback on it, we can decide to do that on-the-fly. If you'd like to show any vids in this show, just bring them to the show itself. There are no hard-and-fast limits on number of vids; we'll just go with what shows up and take turns until we run out of time. Afterwards, consider going out to lunch with other participants to talk about the vids!)

2004 - I want to vid! (But I don't know how) (Introduction to vidding hardware, software and maybe some concepts if we have the time.)

2004 - Made On a Mac: The MacFen Symposium (So you're a slasher and a Mac user. Come and share your tips and tricks for HTML coding, photo editing, website management and vidding on a Mac, Share the programs that have and haven't worked for you and hear some helpful tips from the front lines.)

2004 - Vidding: Creating Mood (Why do rapid cuts of short clips create tension? What does a wipe *feel* iike? A vidder's toolbox Includes more and more options, but how do we know what emotional effect each technical effect will produce? Leave the music at the door; this one's about the visuals.)

2004 - Editing Techniques and Vidding (How can you edit together clips from widely different episodes and movies into a seamless whole? A familiarity with concepts in filmmaking can help you achieve the results you're aiming for. A look at some of the common rules of continuity editing and how they relate to vids.)

2004 - The changing face of vids (How has increasingly cheap technology, wider highspeed access and the new flood of vidders changed vidding? What should we rejoice about and what should we worry about? How do we help make it a winning situation for all?)

2004 - Vid Review (A retrospective on the Saturday night show.)

2005 - Vidding: Let the Lyrics Help You (How to look at lyrics to add depth and structure to your vid. or why top 40 songs usually make you do all the work.)

2005 - Vid Review (A Sunday morning tradition at Escapade, and a chance to discuss those great vids.) [See how it’s a “tradition” by this time.]

2006 - The Changing Vid Audience (The move to digital vidding, the availability of vid source and software, and the expectation of online distribution have all radically affected audience desires and expectations. What do audiences want from vids now? Vidders, share your historical perspectives. Vid fans, this is your chance to tell vidders what you want.)

2006 - Defining the Character Study Vid (We love character study vids, so how do you go about making a good one? What's the difference between a vid about a character, a vid about a universe, and a vid about seeing the universe through the eyes of a character?)

2006 - Marketing Your Vid (How can you stand out among the swelling ranks of vidders? What's the best way to present yourself, and to draw attention to your work? We'll focus on knowing your audience, timing your release, pimp communities, etc.)

2006 - Vid Review (Like Ebert and Roper, but much better looking.)

2007 - Ulead Media Studio Pro 8 and Why It's Better Than the Rest (A compare and contrast of the semi-professional video editing software programs with a strong emphasis on Ulead Media Studio Pro 8. If you are new to vidding, or interested in upgrading your video editing software, this panel should help you make an informed choice.)

2007 - Mac Workshop (The ins and outs of vidding on a Mac.)

2007 - Vid Show Review (Take apart what worked and what was missing from selected vids in the Saturday show. Audience participation at its finest.)

2008 - Ulead Video Editing Introduction (Intro to Ulead Video Studio/Media Studio Pro for those who are interested in vidding but don't have a clue as to where to start. or wouldn't mind a refresher course.)

2008 - Vid Review (Last night was for watching, today is for analyzing. What worked, what didn't, and why?)

2009 - Fannish Aesthetics: Extrapolation v. Subversion (How do we as writers (and especially as vidders) interact with the source material? Is that relationship evolving? What can we say about where we've been and where we're headed?)

2009 - Vid Review (Last night was for watching, today is for analyzing. What worked, what didn't, and why?)

2010 - 2010: A Vidding Odyssey (Current trends in vidding, including what's changed and what's remaind the same when it comes to slash, vidding in particular. We will show some examples of "classic" slash as well as some of the newer develpoments in constructed reality.)

2010 - Vid Review

2011 - Escapade Songvid Retrospective (A trip back to the days of yesteryear, when vids were made on VCRs and Escapade was the place for vids and vid programming. Compiled by Kandy Fong, this show will survey vids from a variety of vidders and shows, covering Escapade 1992-2001 in a fun, informal environment.)

2011 - Decoding Vid Meaning (How do you read a vid? Clip choice, lyrics, structure, symbols or the tone of the music— vids offer plenty of clues, and we decipher them as we see fit. Come watch a vid (or two!) and discuss how we get meaning from what we see and hear to develop a deeper understand of what's going on in the vid. Multiple viewings are required!)

2011 - Vid Review (Flash all the way back to Saturday night to dissect our favorite (or not) vids from the show.)

2011 - The Vidding Explosion (1985-1990) (Who taught whom. The growth of storytelling, technique, and sophistication. Includes vid show and presentation.)

2012 - Vidwatching 101 (Vids have their own language and their own framework for discussion. It can be tough to translate vids into words, but if we have the same language, vid discussion can be wonderfully rewarding for both vidder and viewer. This panel is a primer to get us all on the same page.)

2012 - The State of Vidding Fandom (Ten years of VividCon and roughly the same years vids have been distributed online, let's talk about the state of vidding and the community of vidders. Is there one? Where is it? How do vidders fit in with fandom at large? What are the different options for watching/releasing vids, and how do they stack up for vidders and viewers? If you love vids, join us—whether you vid or not.)

2012 - Festivids Review (Festivids is a fannish vid exchange inspired by the Yuletide fic exchange. This will be a vid review-style panel where we show clips from some of this year's highlight vids and talk about the challenge.)

2012 - MVD Vid Retrospective Show (Sometimes the oldies really are the goodies. Mary Van Duesen has made songvids since the 1980s, working in a range of fandoms. She has also remastered many old vids, and they look better now than they ever did. Come see some old favorites, or find some new ones.)

2012 - Vid Show Review

2012 - Nearly New Vids (So many wonderful vids were submitted for the Escapade show that we couldn’t fit them all in the early show. Here’s your chance to see the rest in the daylight hours (replay of the late-show vids).

2013 - Mac Vidders Roundtable (What’s the best way to vid on a Mac? Our vidding options have changed a lot in the last few years, and it’s been a while since we had a roundtable to discuss and compare our tips, tricks, and processes. This panel is for all of the above.)

2013 - The Art of the Pimp Vid (What makes a pimp vid so addictive one hit will get you hooked? Let’s talk vids for people outside of your fandom. Plot arc vids, character vids, pairing vids: How do you grab a new audience hard and never let them go? Hey there, little fangirl, the first taste is free!)

2013 - The Bestivids of Festivids (This year’s Festivids featured everything from incest testtube babies to care bear Avengers to a surprisingly large amount of kickass femslash. Let’s watch and discuss some favorites from Festivids 2012.)

2013 - So You Want To Be A Vidder (Nobody vidding your OTP anymore? Sad that vidders haven’t discovered your new favorite show? Why not vid it yourself? Come learn the very basics, from choosing programs in your price range to dos and don’ts if you’re planning to submit to cons.)

2013 - How Do Vids Work? (Let's talk about the techniques (not just the feelings!) that make a slash vid work. What makes for a vid that we watch over and over and that sticks with us long- term? We'll talk about these things with reference to a couple of specific vids, see what strategies, commonalities, and differences we can identify, and then open up discussion to additional favorites from the audience.)

2013 - Vidding Aesthetics (Vidders and vid watchers: let’s talk vidding aesthetics. How have styles changed over time? What makes a good vid and what’s just a matter of personal taste? What do you want to BURN WITH FIRE? Let’s get this cage match... err... discussion going.)

2013 - Vid Review (Flash all the way back to Saturday night to dissect our favorite vids (or not) vids from the show.)

2014 - Vidding 101 (Never edited before? Haven't made a vid since the VCR went the way of the dodo? Come learn how to turn those vidbunnies into reality!)

2014 - Vids for the Viewer (We often discuss writing from the perspective of a reader, but vidding from the perspective of vid-watchers not so much. Let's talk about how to read a vid, different vidding aesthetics and how accessible or popular they are with viewers vs. vidders, and impostor syndrome in vid review.)

2014 - Vid Review (Flash all the way back to Saturday night to dissect our favorite (or not) vids from the show.)

2015 - Best of Festivids. From the slashy to the merely sublime, what tickled our fancy in this year’s Festivids?

2015 - The Perfect Slash Vid. What makes the perfect slash vid? Is it the song choice? The point of view? The abs? (Okay, you got me: it’s the abs.)

2015 - So You Wanna Be A Vidder. Bring your laptop or at least a pen and paper and find out how to get started in vidding.

2015 - Vid Review: Flash all the way back to Saturday night to dissect our favorite (or not) vids from the show.

2016 - The State of *Vidding Fandom. Sunday, Noon, San Diego 2. What's going on in vidding fandom today? Where are people hosting and posting? What's next?

2016 - Vid Review. Flash all the way back to Saturday night to dissect our favorite (or not) vids from the show.

2017 - Vidding 101 - Have you dreamed of making a vid but just aren’t sure where to start? We’ll go step by step, talk finding your source(s), choosing music, finding your way with non overwhelming tech-tools, brainstorming ideas, finding collaborators, and learning by doing. Already a vidder? Come and help new vidders find their way, find new collaborators, and make new ideas happen.

2017 - Let’s Collab! New Forms of Collective Fan Creativity , Newport Changing technologies mean that we collaborate with each other in ever-evolving ways when we create fic and vids. What are the possibilities for collaborating beyond geographic boundaries with digital technologies? How are you collaborating with fellow writers and vidders these days? Are you interested in finding new collaborators and new ways to connect? And are these new forms of collaboration creating new forms of creative fan work?

2017 - Vid Review, Marina del Rey On Saturday night, we watched the vid show. On Sunday morning, we talk about it. Join Rache to discuss the good, the better, and the great of the show, including techniques and all of the reasons Charlotte doesn’t vid anymore and never will again.

2018 - Noon (Vids from the Vault, Part One Kandy Fong Newport A curated retrospective of vids from early Escapades.

2018 - Fanvid Feels (What vids do you return to again and again because they just make you *feel* things, thrill you, or fill you with joy, or even sadness? Maybe a vid introduced you to a pairing, or a fandom, or perhaps you love it even though you’re not really that into the source? Let’s look at some of our/your favorite vids and think about what makes them tick. Come with vids you want to talk about in mind, or just come to watch and talk about vids that make us feel stuff.)

2018 - Vid Review (Flash all the way back to Saturday night to dissect our favorite (or not) vids from the show.)

2019 - 3-Minute Pimp Vid (Forget telling: Show us your canon with a vid or clip! (3-5 minutes each.))

2019 - Lend Me Your Ears: Vids and Music (Have you ever discovered a song or musician because of a fanvid? Do you have thoughts on what music works and doesn't with fan vids? Let's talk about all the ways in which different types of music can work in vids, and look at some vids that work with music in awesome or surprising ways. Plus maybe there will be a little singing along...)

2019 - AO3 But For Fanart and Fanvids (AO3 has been great for fic, we need safe harbors for art and vids too. Let's talk about it!)

2019 - Pitch a Vid Bunny, Find a Vid Beta (Have an idea for a fanvid you'd love to see happen? Come with concept, song, source ideas, characters--share your bunnies, find some cheerleaders, brainstorm together. For newbie & experienced vidders alike, all welcome!)

2019 - Vid Review (Rehash the Saturday night vid show with a room full of fans.)

#escapade 2020 #escapade con #fandom history #vidding #vividcon

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saturnselkies · 5 years

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The Lost is comprised of many kinds of people. Some ancient stars from before [Narucnici] fell, others Tyrians who found their way into their group. [Mist Beings] are the most common among them. It is said they were once part of the [Twilight Oath] before the faction began to corrupt itself. Remains of the people who still clung to the belief that one day they’d find the home they lost.

Mysterious wandering souls that have been cross-travelling the Mists for an eternity. Claim to come from the original Tyria that shattered eons ago. They have a tradition of binding dying entities to mist-powered armors to give them another chance at life. And a new propose in death. Each armor has their own user—a guide to heal these entities.

These armor fighters are called “Pathfinders”, as they use their talents to find reliable paths within the Mists for the Lost. Once fully regenerated the Lost hold a ceremony to welcome back the armor-bound people into life once again. Even after this, usually Pathfinder and former armor stay forever linked.

Their one deity, a primordial by the name of [the Starcaller], joined forces with [Commander Penelope] after almost dying protecting the former. Every Pathfinder receives a name when bound to their armors, generally two words that describe their union. Penelope’s assigned name was Starbinder, but there other known Pathfinders. [Ransuri Bloodseer], [Ashirat Seasapphire], and [Belacanto Crystalwitch] are some of them.

They constructed a network to keep information flowing through the Mists, it became inactive after the Temple of the Lost was destroyed. Before [Rosetta Jardim] joined the Twilight Oath, she created androids powered by Mist magic, an early concept for the Pathfinder armors. These androids would document the changes in the Mists, as well as, the Tyrian worlds. The last running android is [Augur of the Lost.]

The Lost know more than they appear to lead on, afraid of crushing more people by tangling themselves into the web of fate the Tyrian worlds weave. The Twilight Oath find them cowards, the Tyrians have little understanding of them, and even Narucnici distanced herself.

A history of rift and desolation, they keep themselves believing, to one day find where they truly belong.

⭐️My fanlore tag

#guild wars 2 #gw2 #Ransuri Bloodseer #Charr (♢)#mist touched #Ashirat Seasapphire #Largos (♢)#Augur of the Lost #Android (♢)#fanlore #my writing #the lost

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sheithdirectory · 6 years

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The Sheith Directory (Mobile Version)

❤️🖤 Direct Sheith: Events ❤️🖤

Big Bangs:

Sheith Big Bang ★ Big Bang with minimum 10k for writers and at least 1 artwork for artists. First ran from Winter 2016 to Summer 2017. Second round from February to August 2018.

Sheith Reverse Bang ★ Reverse Bang with 10k word minimum for writers and at least 3 artworks for artists. First ran from Fall 2017 to July 2018.

Sheith Prompt Bang ★ Big Bang in which writers and artists will be matched based on criteria of interests, and given a set of prompts to choose and create a work for. Run from August 2018 to April 2019.

Event Weeks:

Sheith Week ★ Sheith-centered week that ran on Twitter from August 21st to the 27th, 2016. Included SFW and NSFW (prompts)

Sheith Week Unlimited ★ Sheith-centered Week that ran from January 27th to February 2nd (prompts). Second round March 18-24 (prompts).

Sheith Positivity Week ★ Sheith-centered weeks. Sheith Summer Week ran from July 24-July 30th in 2017 (prompts).

Sheith Quote Week ★ Sheith-centered Week featuring relevant quotes as prompts. Ran on December 17th to 23rd 2017 (prompts, explanation of quotes.)

Sheith Participation Week ★ A week where all Sheith fans can participate such as sharing headcanons, favorite fics, and so forth. First run May 2018. (prompts)

Sheith Anniversary Week ★ A week celebrating the ship’s name with prompts. First run from May 28 to June 3rd, 2018. Hosted by SheithNetwork.

Sheith Summer Week ★ A Sheith-centered week for summer-themed fanworks. First run July 15-July 21, 2018. (Prompts)

Event Months:

Sheith Month ★ A full month celebrating the relationship of Sheith, with a prompt or two for each day of the month. First ran on August 2017. Second round July 2018.

Exchanges:

Sheithlentines ★ Valentine’s Day Exchange. Posting of gifts from 14th to the 24th.

Sheith Flower Exchange ★ Exchange centered around the language of flowers. First ran during Spring 2017. Second round from March to July 2018.

Sheith Birthday ★ Celebrating Keith’s birthday; run on VLD Exchange during the Fall Season 2017. Postings on October 23rd. AO3 Collection.

Sheith Halloween ★ Sheith Halloween gift exchange. Run on VLD Exchange during the Fall Season. Postings were between October 24 to the 31st. AO3 Collection.

Sheith Secret Santa ★ Winter holiday exchange. 2016 round hosted here.

Kink Memes:

Sheith Kink Meme ★ Hosted on Dreamwidth. NSFW.

Sheith Kink Meme on AO3 ★ Hosted on AO3. NSFW.

Zines:

Silver & Gold ★ Sheith zine that ran during Spring 2017 by Amegafuru.

Guiding Light ★ Sheith zine that ran during early months of 2018 by Amegafuru.

Infinite: Sheith Zine ★ Charity zine that ran during Summer 2017.

Between Two Points ★Collaborative zine between writers and artists that ran during Fall 2017.

Stargazing: Sheith AU Zine ★ Twitter-run zine being run during Winter 2017-2018.

Hanakotoba ★ Sheith zine centered on the language of flowers. Profits to benefit charity: water. Being run during Winter 2017-2018.

Lightning Strikes ★ Numerous Sheith zines on sale 2018.

Sunkissed ★ A Sheith zine by Owlette. On sale during Spring 2018.

As Many Times/When You’re Away Zine ★ A Sheith zine by rou-tan-tan (and guest artists and writer)

Heartlines ★ Sheith wedding-themed zine. Preorders to open on June 23 2018.

This And Every Other Universe: Sheith Edition ★ Sheith-centric zine happening summer 2018 on the theme of whatever universes the creators enjoy. Preorders opening June 16, 2018.

Miscellaneous:

Sheith Prompt Party ★ Give a prompt. Take a prompt. Create fanworks based on your prompt. Run from May 2018 to October 2018.

Sheith-a-Palooza ★ Prompt fest. First run from August 2017 to October 2017. Hosted by SheithParty on Dreamwidth.

❤️🖤 Direct Sheith: Resources & Other Sites ❤️🖤

Shirogane Network ★ Shiro-centric network

Kogane Network ★ Keith-centric network (gen and ships)

Sheith Network ★ Sheith-centric network (gen and ships)

Fuck Yeah Sheith ★ Sheith-centric blog

Fuck Yeah Shirogane ★ Shiro-centric blog (gen)

Fuck Yeah Kagone ★ Keith-centric blog (gen)

Positively Shiro ★ Shiro-centric blog (gen and ships)

Positively Keith ★ Keith-centric blog (gen and ships)

Pics of Sheith ★ Screencaps of Sheith from the series.

a Sheith Every Day ★ Sheith Pics every Day for your Twitter timeline.

Songs That Are Sheith ★ Sheith-centric blog of songs that are Sheith.

Wreath of Sheith ★ Sheith-centric blog; part of the Shance Support Squad, Klancin’ Around network!

Sheith Fic Ideas ★ Sheith fic ideas looking for a good home.

Sheith Fiction Catalogue ★ Blog dedicated to categorizing Sheith fics into a A-Z library based on genres and tropes.

Sheith Fanfics ★ Blog dedicated to fanfic recommendations.

SheithParty ★ Sheith Community on Dreamwidth

Sheith Tag ★ on AO3

AO3Feed_KeithShiro ★ AO3 feed on Tumblr

Sheith Tag ★ on Tumblr

The-Sheith-Tag ★ Tumblr blog that reblogs all relevant content from Sheith Tumblr tag.

Shiro-x-Keith ★ Sheith community on DeviantArt

Sheith Community ★ Sheith community on AminoApps

Sheith Network ★ Sheith-centric message board!

Sheith Fanlore Article ★ Sheith page on Fanlore, preserving our history.

❤️🖤 Indirect Sheith ❤️🖤

Bangs:

Keith Baby Bang ★ Keith-centric bang, with works posting beginning on Keith's birthday. Sheith welcome. Running from May 2018 to October 2018.

Alt Shiro Big Bang ★ Big Bang focusing on all alternate versions of Shiro (such as Kuro, Kuron, Sven, Ryou.) Sheith welcome. Running from July 2018 to January 2019.

Event Weeks:

Shiro Ship Week ★ Shiro-centric event week focusing on all ships. Sheith welcome. 2018 week runs from June 24 to June 30th. (prompts)

Desert Keith Week ★ Event week focusing on Keith's time in the desert. Sheith welcome. 2018 running from July 2 to July 8th. (prompts)

Exchanges:

Shiro Birthday Exchange ★ Shiro-centric exchange centered around character’s birthday. Sheith and all Shaladin ships allowed. First ran from January to February 2018.

Voltron Secret Santa ★ Fandom-wide winter exchange that runs annually from September to December. Sheith welcome.

Shaladin Secret Santa ★ Winter exchange for all ships with Shiro. First ran in winter 2018.

Shklance Summer Exchange ★ Summer exchange for the ships of Shklane, Sheith, Shance, and Klance. First run between May to July 2018.

VLD Ship Exchange ★ Exchange that encourages ship exploration. Create a work for a ship you haven’t explored or shipped before. Sheith welcome. First ran in 2018.

Monstertron Exchange ★ For works involving horror and monsters. Sheith welcome. First ran in summer of 2018, from May to August.

AO3 Gift Exchanges ★ This is a special section for all AO3 gift exchanges where you can nominate, request, offer, and create fanworks for Sheith. Each AO3 exchange has its own exchange focus and rules, eligibility requirements, minimums, and other information so do please go to the DW community link provided to familiarize yourself with any exchange you’re interested in. I will only provide a brief summary here. These exchanges are all multifandom, meaning you will need to request/offer multiple fandoms (the numbers vary by exchange rules.)

Chocolate Box ★ Can request Sheith as ship. Theme is Valentine’s Day. Short minimums for fic (300 words) and art (sketch.) Runs from December to February of every year.

Worldbuilding Exchange ★ Can nominate/request Sheith as characters but may request ship in your letter/optional details. Focus of the exchange is worldbuilding such as Galaxy Garrison, History of the Blade of Marmora, or Mechanics of Shiro’s Galra Arm. Runs from January to March every year.

Age Gap Exchange ★ Can nominate/request Sheith as a ship. Focus of the exchange is for all pairings with an age difference. Runs from January to March.

Unusual Bearings ★ Can nominate/request Sheith as a ship. Focus of the exchange is on any pregnancy fanworks that is not cis man impregnating cis woman. (Mpreg of cis man, trans man, nb man are all allowed, as are oviposition, tentacles, and so forth.) Runs from January to May.

Space Swap ★ Can nominate/request Sheith as a ship. Focus of the exchange is on space canons. Runs from February to April.

Smut Swap ★ Can nominate/request Sheith as a ship. Focus of the exchange is on smutty fanworks. Must be of age to participate. Runs from February to April.

Fandom 5k ★ Can nominate/request Sheith as a ship. Focus is to give your recipient a fanfic of at least 5,000 words. Runs from March to June.

Multifandom Drabble ★ Drabbles (100 words.) You request by fandoms but can request ships in your optional details. Runs from June to July.

Nonconathon ★ Nominate scenarios as “A noncons B” or “A noncons B & C” or “A makes B noncon C,” and so forth. Focus of the exchange is on noncon/rape fanworks for any darkfic needs. Runs from May to July.

AU Exchange ★ Can nominate/request Sheith as a ship in any AU setting of choice, from Bee AU or “what if it was Keith who went on the Kerberos mission.” Focus of the exchange is all on AUs. Runs from June to September.

Darkest Night ★ May request single character or pairings. Focus of the exchange is on dark subjects. Runs from July to October.

Trick or Treat ★ Can nominate/request them as character but may request ship in your letter/optional details. Short minimums for fic (300 words) and art (sketch). Focus of the exchange is Halloween: may ask for Tricks (dark work) or Treats (fluff works.) Runs from September to October.

Multifandom Tropefest ★ Can request them as ship. The focus of the exchange are tropes, trope variations, and trope subversions (such as: soulmates, hanahaki, hurt/comfort, and so forth.) Fics must be at least 2,000 words long, and art must be at least a clean lineart illustration on unlined paper. Beginning in August and reveals are Thanksgiving weekend.

#sheith

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femslashrevolution · 8 years

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Femslash History and Me

This post is part of Femslash Revolution’s I Am Femslash series, sharing voices of F/F creators from all walks of life. The views represented within are those of the author only.

I’d already been in femslash fandom for years before I thought about learning more about femslash history.

I started out in fandom with a het ship - Star Trek: Voyager’s Janeway and Chakotay - and I only really discovered femslash because of Minerva McGonagall. I was obsessed with her, and I was determined to find fic that featured her prominently. So much of what I discovered was femslash, and not only that, it was good femslash. The stories being told were full of rich, complex relationships between women, and incredibly encouraging to me, in my early twenties and not yet out as queer even to myself.

After that I found Doctor Who femslash - a magical playground of possibilities where half the fun was getting two women to actually meet - and then I looped back around to my roots and relaunched into Star Trek fandom, this time fully aware of the scope for connections between women in its detailed and sprawling universe.

So I’d been in femslash fandom, mostly in those three fandoms but dabbling all over the place in corners both large and small, for maybe a decade when a friend said: “So, I know that slash fandom began with Kirk/Spock, but how did femslash fandom get started?”

And I had to admit that I was stumped.

I confessed to my friend that I didn’t have a clue, that I knew almost nothing about the history of femslash beyond a handful of things about Xena fandom and my own hazy memories. I realised that I’ absorbed a lot of dudeslash knowledge by fannish osmosis, but that hadn’t happened in the same way with femslash. On the way home that afternoon I decided that I was going to find out everything I could.

Information was out there, but it was hard to find, scattered across the internet, not gathered in any one place. I opened about a million tabs, following dead links and googling names and titles. I started putting some of what I’d found into the Femslash article on Fanlore. I asked around, got fannish acquaintances to share their own memories. My wife effortlessly reeled off a list of about twenty popular femslash pairings from the late 1990s and early 2000s. A friend of a friend on Twitter shared a huge archive of old femslash vids. There was so much to learn and discover.

Since then I’ve been doing research on this topic whenever I get a chance, and here are a few things I’ve found out:

The first extant femslash fic that we can date for definite, which has recognisable characters and which is undeniably classable as femslash, is a Star Trek fic called Kismet, published in 1977. It’s a Chapel/Uhura story that explores their feelings about carrying on a hidden relationship.

The first modern-day fandom to be dominated by a femslash pairing was Cagney and Lacey, a (wonderful!) show about two women cops that ran from 1981-1988. The show had a large, enthusiastic and creative following among women, particularly queer women, many of whom shipped Cagney and Lacey.

Plenty of fandoms had femslash contingents before the femslash explosion that was the Xena fandom - not just Star Trek but Blake’s 7, The X-Files, Forever Knight and Babylon 5.

The Xena fandom and its concept that Xena and Gabrielle would remain soulmates through multiple reincarnations played a huge role in popularising the setting-change AUs that are ubiquitous in fandom today.

Femslash vidding probably got started sometime in the late 1990s - the arrival of digital vidding coincided with the ascent of a few key femslash pairings to create an explosion of vidding creativity in femslash circles.

Femslash, as a community and as a body of fannish literature and art, is growing, thriving, and more popular and varied now than it’s ever been.

Maybe all of this was common knowledge and I just managed to miss out, but I don’t think so. I was part of a panel on the history of femslash at a convention last summer and the room was full, the mood excited. People asked a lot of questions. I know there are some folks who knew a lot of this already, but there are also people like me who are eager to learn.

I’m still trying to figure out ways to find more information about the early days of femslash - details are especially sparse when you get back to the 1970s and 1980s. Someday I’d like to have the time and the resources to really delve into investigating it, but for now I’m trying to increase my knowledge in smaller ways. I find what zines I can, I read the work of fannish historians, and I’ve just started a collaborative femslash timeline in Google Docs that anyone can contribute to. Whatever your place in the femslash community, you’re welcome to come and share your memories of fandoms and pairings both big and small!

About the Author:

These days I write mostly Star Trek femslash and femgen, which can be found on my AO3 here. My Femslash Timeline Google Doc is here.

#cosmic llin #I Am Femslash #Femslash February 2017 #Femslash February #Type: Meta #submission

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