(no subject)

[pensnest]

There's been some meta around lately about whether the highs and lows of RPF fandom are more or less extreme than the highs and lows of FPF.

It seems to me that Real People can break a fan's heart far more comprehensively than fictional ones.

Comments

[wenchpixie]

Quite, there's no author to blame and no expectation that it'll be explained or fixed.

Horrid.

[pensnest]

Yeah. I mean, anyone could write a story in which one of our fannish idols turned out to be Secretly Evil (not really my kind of story, but could be fun to do), or maybe did something apparently bad which turned out to be the right thing because of X backstory... we can do anything in fanfic.

But here we have real life, and a woman dead. And if it's part of a coherent narrative, then it's definitely not my kind of story—and if it's the totally out-of-character horrible mistake I hoped it was when I first heard the news... a woman is still dead. And actually, I really hope there isn't fanfic about Oscar Pistorius, because sometimes besotted fans get it so very, very wrong.

[ephemera]

Because if it was fiction you would be screaming at the screen / page that it was unrealistic and unbelievable, and writing fic that fixed it, and with reality you just can't do that ...

[pensnest]

Yeah. I mean, this is so utterly astonishing. And then other bits of information start poking up into the scene...

I want my hero back, but even if the circumstances were as close to innocent mistake as they can get—he *killed* someone.

ETA: I also kinda want a fannish community where I can grieve about this, and I don't have one. I suppose the up-side is, no fanfic, because shudder.

[frausorge]

well, fuck.

[pensnest]

That about sums it up.

[mickeym.livejournal.com]

Real people can *definitely* break a fan's heart far more comprehensively than fictional ones. That's one of the reasons I never wanted to be involved in an RPF fandom :-/

I try really hard not to be a 'tin-hat' fan, but I don't always succeed, and then I'm angry with myself, and bitter that They're Not Really In Love, and that just sucks.

I saw that, about the murder, on the news this morning. I didn't really know who either of them were, but it's really sad :(

[pensnest]

At least with a fictional fandom you can always assert that the writers got it wrong, and write fix-it stories. Real people are... real people, and sometimes we see things we don't want to acknowledge.

I was very taken with Oscar Pistorius after seeing him at the recent Olympics and Paralympics. Now - wtf?????

[nopseud]

I saw that on the news this morning, and right away I thought of you.

(Of course, with fictional characters, ultimately you can always hold the writer responsible if something terrible happens. Real people don't get that excuse.)

[pensnest]

Yeah... I mean, a fan can write stories in which one of the beloved characters is deeply sinister and does evil things. Pretty damn hard to handwave away a dead woman, whatever the situation turns out to have been.

Are you going to be at Redemption?

[nopseud]

And however evil characters are in fiction, in source or fanfic, they come with a guaranteed 'no real people were harmed in the making of this story' disclaimer.

Are you going to be at Redemption?

Yes, we are! Unless there's some kind of family catastrophe, of which there is a small but not insignificant possibility. (Mum had her gall bladder removed last week, and things are not going 100% smoothly.) Are you guys going?

[pensnest]

Yes, we'll be there, as will my children (at least, they're registered so I hope they get their acts together and show up). Sadly, I've not persuaded my friend Liz to go - although to be fair, she's having major house work done, a new kitchen/dining room, starting on Monday, and might be rather glad not to be heading to Coventry.

I wonder if there's been a significant personnel change on the Redemption team. Our registration process seemed to be terribly difficult for the person in charge, and the PRs have been rather late. (Also, the first .pdf was mostly blank pages, not tremendously helpful.)

[brandywine28.livejournal.com]

Definitely. The potential for heartbreak is WAY higher in RPF fandoms. When there are writers, directors, other assorted puppetmasters running the show, blame can always be assigned to SOMEONE. Free will ruins everything.

(When I saw him on the news yesterday, I immediately thought of you and your beautiful icons. Ick. How awful.)

[pensnest]

And in a fictional fandom, you'd know that if your favourite character was a Good Guy, there'd be a exculpatory explanation and it would all turn out to be for the best, in the end. Here... even if it turns out that is was a horrible, tragic accident rather than a deliberate act, Reeva Steenkamp is still *dead*.

RPF, where the stakes are higher.

[turps33.livejournal.com]

The whole situation with Oscar is horrible.

Considering bandom is still dealing with the Mikey situation, yeah, I agree, rpf can break a heart easily.

[pensnest]

I am surprised at how very upset I am about it - I didn't realise I was so invested. Hell, I don't even have a *fandom* here - which is probably a mixed blessing: I don't have people to discuss it with and commiserate with, but at least there aren't any who're Doing It Wrong.

[zillahseye.livejournal.com]

After talking with someone who did publicity for a while, I relaxed about RPF. I realized that like 98% of what was released was controlled, spun, or a straight-up lie (they have the ability to edit Tweets instantly and shit, yo). I mean, you can still feel the disappointment, but you don't have to commit to it--any alternate version has an equal chance of being true! *hugs*

[zillahseye.livejournal.com]

...by which I don't mean to trivialize whatever happened in the linked situation, just saying that in most cases, RPF "canon issues" are flexible. I mean, obviously I'm not saying you should shake off horrible violence. :-/ And I'm sorry.