Opinions, please...

[serai]

.
Hhhhokay, so...

I'd like the opinion of anybody still reading this journal who is in fandom. Yeah, so like, all of you. I've just had a puzzling situation come up, and I'd like your input because...well, because I really think this is just...oy.

A little background first. (Just a little, I promise, so you get the lay of the land.) Of late, I was dipping my toe into a new fandom, and found a rather nice blog that posted nice stuff and the folks there seemed to have fun commenting. I commented and had some fun, and got to contribute some bits I know about filmmaking and Hollywood and such, from my time being involved there.

Now, the character our guy is playing these days - Steve McGarrett - is a crazy-ass Navy SEAL who is now a cop, and does kinda asshole rogue things because HE'S RIGHT GODDAMIT AND THE REST OF YOU DON'T KNOW SHIT. (Though he is charming about it.) In the second season, he found out his supposedly dead mother is not only alive, but had been a CIA agent for decades and can kick ass almost better than he can. So for four years he's been obsessively dogging her heels and even put her life in danger because he can't let go of his mommy issues.

Ripe for fun, right? I mean, COME ON.

So a couple of days ago, I included this in a comment:


On another note, a little funny for the McGarrett mavens here: I was watching “Last Week Tonight” on Sunday with a friend, and a bit came on where the show thanked the horses that *didn’t* win the Triple Crown. It was a bit of silly with a bunch of pics of horses with increasingly ridiculous names. When it got to the fifth one – a beautiful big brown thoroughbred – the name came up on the screen:

OEDIPAL STEVE

My friend kept asking me why I was laughing so hard, but you know, if you explain something like that, all the funny goes right out of it.


Now, notice that I deliberately left that joke open. I didn't define exactly what was funny about that name, because I found it funny on more than one level, and as I said there, explaining something like this in essence kills it. Plus you all know I'm a big believer in letting the reader figure some things out. Thus my wording.

So tell me, my f-list, if this was one of your fandoms, how would you react to what I wrote? What would you think, and what might you answer back? This is not a test - I just would really like to know, because frankly, my head is more than a little desky right now.

I'll ETA later to let you all know what reaction I DID get. For now, I'd like to hear your thoughts...


ETA: Added a note about my post to clarify.

Comments

[twothreefour.livejournal.com]

if your fandom f-list is full of teen/twentysomethings they probably pulled out their SJW OUTRAGE BINGO card to see how they were supposed to react.

[serai1.livejournal.com]

Ahaha, sadly no. Not teenies, I mean. From what I can see, this bunch are old enough to know better. And yes, outrage. I'd gotten so used to randy snorfling (and how's THAT for a drummer name? but I digress), both here and in Keanuland, that I was expecting reactions along the line of OMG THAT'S ROTLARIOUS or "ahaha, he can't stop running after her" or other such snarking and silliness. Because the joke was FUCKING SILLY. Oh dear, no. Sheesh.

Honestly, the sense of humor is what kept me a part of our little corner of LOTR for so long. I couldn't have dealt with all the asshattery if it hadn't for that.

[yeuxdebleu.livejournal.com]

Well, I watch both "Last Week Tonight" and "Hawaii Five-0" so I get it. If anyone reading it at that blog didn't get it, to me the logical thing to do is ask what you meant.

[serai1.livejournal.com]

Yes! That is what I would do! "What's that supposed to mean?" or something along those lines. Or if I didn't get it, I'd ignore it. Yes!

But alas, that is not what happened.

[yeuxdebleu.livejournal.com]

But alas, that is not what happened.

What did happen?

[serai1.livejournal.com]

A loud aria on the theme of HOW DARE YOU OMG with supporting choruses. It was baffling. This is apparently the kind of fandom where the prevailing ethos is Being Mother Hens. Not my kind of fandom at all. SHEESH.

[oxer12.livejournal.com]

I'm in the H50 fandom, and I would have laughed my ass off at your comment, and probably high-fived you. 'Cause it's funny. And true! :D

[serai1.livejournal.com]

Ah, well you see, you're not in that fandom. We're in a rather freewheeling corner of LOTR fandom (or were, as I'm not really sure it exists anymore), so I've gotten used to our snarking and silliness. But AoL's fandom is Very Serious Indeed. No Snark Allowed, you know.

[serai1.livejournal.com]

Wait, you're an H50 fan, or you're actually in the fandom? Meaning active? Because I've been told this morning that it's pretty much this way across the board with those fangirls. Nobody wants anything that even slightly smacks of irony or criticism. It's one of those Guardian Angel fandoms, you know.

Christ, if these girls knew what we got up to in the Keanu fandom, they'd faint dead away at the thought of any of...THAT...getting near their Big Bad Bear.

Sorry for the edits.

[oxer12.livejournal.com]

I'm actively in the H50 fandom (and a huge McDanno shipper), but not really in the AoL fandom on its own. Was it the Alex fangirls who were getting all butthurt at your comment?

The other show fans that I know wouldn't have gotten pissy at what you said. :)

I thought your comment was hilarious!

[serai1.livejournal.com]

Yep. Apparently it's very much a Guardian Angel fandom, something I find too twee for me. A mother hen, I ain't, thanks very much. Grown men can take care of themselves.

I fell out laughing when I saw that. It was such a perfect encapsulation of the guy's arc over the last couple of years. I find him arrogant and obnoxious myself, and it is a tad disheartening to realize that everything Alex has done that I like happened years ago. Thus the whole thing has something of a limited run for me. Plus I've never liked procedurals, so there's that. Oy.

[mews1945.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't watch Hawaii 5-0, but after reading your synopsis, I think it's funny, but I don't get offended or upset by things like that. It's my opinion that some folks in fandom are going around with a big chip on their shoulders and just looking for a reason to get outraged.

[serai1.livejournal.com]

What's amusing to me is how much fans reveal about themselves when they come barreling in with the outrage.

[ghyste.livejournal.com]

I'm not into the show but if I were I'd probably have sniggered. Sadly whilst fandom has always had a few people who got offended at humour and snark, these days the performative outrage culture seems to have made it the rule rather than the exception :(

[serai1.livejournal.com]

It has gotten tiresome, hasn't it? Honestly, I think the disadvantages to the internet are outweighing the advantages more every day.

[biting-moopie.livejournal.com]

If I don't understand a comment, I either ignore it or ask what the person meant (depending on the situation and my mood at the time).

I don't know anything about Hawaii Five-0, but what you describe here sounds quite reasonable and funny. It's not like you said the guy actually wanted to have sex with his mother!

What also tends to happen is that people take their cue from the first couple of responses. Then the dogpiling begins.

I'm sorry that happened and hope you have better experiences in another group!

[serai1.livejournal.com]

It's not like you said the guy actually wanted to have sex with his mother!

Ah, but that is PRECISELY what the mod over there barreled in shrieking at me. I'M SO OFFENDED THAT YOU WOULD SAY HE WANTED TO HAVE SEX WITH HIS MOTHER. I was all, WTF? It's a fucking JOKE, woman.

Prudes, sheesh.