An attempt to investigate and explain fandoms and headcannons thorough Orientalism
Recently I started reading Orientalism (in short - a book on how the West saw and created the narrative of the Orient more than 100 years ago) and suddenly had a bit of a realisation. The author, Edward W. Said, mentioned how an important aspect of Orientalism was the fact that firstly, it fascinated the westerners because they already felt a certain (superior) way about that territory due to their history with it and the colonial past related to it, and secondly, the Orient was incapable of resisting being fantasised and thought about.
Anyways, I think I saw a link between this and what I and many other people do on the Internet with fandom characters and celebrities (which by the way isn’t as common as we think outside of websites like this). I must also add that my points of reference for this text are (ironically) my own fandoms and communities and what I see and do in them. This post will likely reach no one, but even if that won’t be the case, take all of this with a grain of salt as I am also very biased in my data sources.
I believe that just as with the western ideas of Orientalism there are 3 important factors that enable us to photoshop pictures of grown men and add glitter and bowties to their hair (not that it’s not cute and funny of course)
1. Personal Creative Empowerment
There already exists a certain attitude towards what we call “headcannons” - we know everyone has them! However, what we forget is that it wasn’t always likely the case. Unlike 100 years ago anyone today is at complete liberty to create any art, fiction or similar, at their own pace and in their own places. We feel empowered and capable of creating and publishing any art and any stories, and we always take a moment to imagine something in situations where someone from 100 years ago (or pre internet) wouldn’t have taken the time to. AO3, fanfiction.net, Tumblr - all of these places house many small creators, who upload silly art, romantic and cute stories, write these “POWs” and interact with other fans about their chosen fandoms. This removes the elitism from these communities and makes everyone who visits such websites think “hey… I can create and upload my silly tv-show art too! just like [this creator] and [that creator]!”. It is a very positive and empowering concept, and it creates a much less limited environment that allows us to share content and amplify the made-up and non-existent narratives we create for our own comfort and amusement.
2. Honest Internal Fascination
Our fantastical and sometimes concerning thoughts and ideas about characters, people and fandoms all relate to things we find inherently fascinating ourselves. Whether it be a WW2 era movie, or a fantasy game, or a documentary, we always talk about, draw and write about things (and aspects of things) we ourselves are connected to beforehand. We find a character who we feel personally connected to in some way, an idea which resonates with us on a deeper level, or a general concept of being someone else somewhere else and being able to do things we cannot do right now.
3. Power(less)fullness and Entitlement
Most importantly, we feel entitled to produce these pieces of content and “yap” about these things because neither the made up non-existent movie characters, nor the very much real but distant actors and personalities can not resist or in any way inhibit (stop or resist) our creative eruptions. They are powerless and helpless against our metaphorical imaginative offence, and find no way to express their own thoughts on the matter, making us feel even more entitled and empowered than we previously would have been. It also notably enables us to twist and shape these characters ideas or people into whatever we want - give them any traits they originally didn’t possess or assume their behaviour in situations. The terms “yassification” and “babygirl” come to mind, often made to relate to characters who didn’t show any such behaviour in the actual piece of media. The oversimplification of motives and traits also stems from this empowerment, allowing us to make anyone into anyone, just for our own psychological comfort and amusement.
Now indeed, just as with Orientalism, the most evident reason behind our actions is also true and honest fascination and interest (sometimes even love) - we don’t have a monetary or political motive behind our actions (in some cases however this isn’t necessarily true), we are simply drawn to these things due to our very real emotions and feelings. However I do believe that without the aforementioned 3 factors there would be much less “fangirling”, Tumblr posts about characters, and discord servers discussing how literal war officers from a popular movie would behave in an aqua park (real example).
I want to finish this by saying that I personally find nothing bad in this behaviour - indeed I display it myself (look at my posts and you’ll get it). I do however find it infinitely interesting.
andulkaphoto
germansingergirl
dededos
snowghoul
janainaart
yousharknotpass
jbbartram-illu
2087
titsay
