hiya girlie pop, it's the curious Andrew Garfield - remus situation girl here
I just wanted to give a quick word (it's not quick and definitely not only a word) because I'm intrigued by your reply, I hope that's okay :)
I see what you mean, I never lived things that way and I have been in this fandom for a long time but we all have different experiences and it's important to share
I think when the fandom emerged it was extremely centered around wolfstar and the actors who portrayed them, so the original fancasts and headcanons were aligned with that. I could be wrong but I think that when jkr started to take racist and homophobe positions, people started to read her books differently and noted the issues. that's also, I think, when people started to really take control over the characters, as a counter move too in my opinion, and so then only the headcanons and fancasts evolved.
I have personally never really encountered or interacted with people fetishising wolfstar or hating on lily for example, but I know that they exist becaus I've heard of them
I know fandom wars and toxic behaviour are super annoying, and I'm being careful with what I'm saying because I know that I don't see a lot of it, and so I might not see the worst of it, but I fear that sometimes interpretation takes over and makes things worse. for example, I don't personally see fancasting a white actor as a move that rejects poc (there could be situations in which it happened). people tend to project things close to their references, and that is also what allowed the fandom to evolve and to be introduced to neurodivergence, diversity, queer characters. ofc there are different ways to talk about your opinion and ways to interact with other people's, I'm not excusing ignorant or racist people here
I'd rather a white person fancasting a white actor for their own representation of the character while interacting and getting interested in other people's fancasts, rather than someone like jkr who includes a black character only to name him kingsley shacklebot , you know what I mean ?
I was surprised that you wrote that about Remus, because he's one of the only characters I have not ever heard alternative ethnic headcanon for. I heard people talk about James as Indian, arab or Hispanic all the time (100% approve of them all, please inject me the premium package all in one), Sirius and regulus as Asian sometimes, ofc Mary and Dorcas as black, the rosier twins as black too (though I personally have been completely hypnotized by capser Von Bülow as Evan, and he's white, but I also keep seeing absolutely stunning fanart of him and panda as black). and so yeah I was intrigued about Remus, because on my dashboard he's always either likeafuneral fanart or tasm Peter Parker haha, maybe my dashboard has been biased over time
that's getting really long I'm sorry bro
I read the comments under your post and I agree completely with that, but I think it's also part of the magic of the fandom to be able to pick things you like and rejects what you don't represent in your mind, yk ? like, from the og fancasts, I used to see Dane deehan as Peter and then I read people talk about the fatphobia and the symbolic around Peter's character and it made me realize stuff and my vision of him change
I really think that I understand what you meant, but yeah your post kinda surprised me,.because, in a way, you're also kinda imposing your vision of Remus, or maybe just judging the way people see him, and it sounds counterproductive to me, especially regarding what you say about there being no canon and being free to picture and headcanon freely. that's not intented to be mean or whatever, I really hope we can exchange about that without anyone feeling accused of something or hurt or judged
feel free to post this if it is important to you !
I was curious after reading your post and I wanted to get back to you after you replied, because it seems we have different experiences of the fandom, and I hope that nothing that I wrote will be taken as an accusation or an insult or whatever. it's a bit late here too haha, so I might not make sense either
and feel free to delete if it seems to you like I'm a complete racist idiot lol
man I'm really drowning you here, sorry <3
really liked reading what you had to say, I love getting into people's mind (said with an evil grin)
I think im inlove with you actually
ok this is gonna be a really shotty reply #SORRY
I do think I imposed my views on Remus but its been grinding my gears for like, ever.
In my personal experience I have had people dumbify his character, fetishize him, and turn him into a shy twinky bottom.
I think when you do that to a character it's really clear where they lay in a fandom, ya know?
I'm a very judgy person so I 100% get what you mean when you say that—
I do think it is perfectly okay to have some characters as white and headcanon them as white, but I also see when people hc a character as white, they don't CARE about the character. They care about the ships, and the explicit stuff they could write which is odd to me at times given that the marauders are, well, teenagers.
My personal problem with most of the white fancasts is that, people that agree with them are typically white straight women who just wanna see wolfstar bang. That's why I brought up all the diversity I think should exist, the neurodivergence that I think should and could be brought up in characters, and the overall just.. adding on to characters more then we could, ya know???
One of my biggest problems in this fandom is how people use "no canon!" to feminize certain characters, and ignore anything but how they would be in bed, and how many things they could write that are explicit.
And I have never ONCE seen that be done to a black character in this fandom, ONLY THE WHITE PEOPLE. The people in the fandom typically IGNORE the people of colour because they "aren't interesting".
The only person that does get attention is Evan when he's headcanoned as black, and I find it really interesting that it's a man and not a woman. And I hope you can really think about that as a whole.
As for the fetishized wolfstar stuff, and I am NOT trying to be mean, it is impossible to not see them being fetizhied on a daily. If you interact with wolfstar at all, you will see it, and it's just a matter of time until you realize, "Hey.. that's kind of weird...", I think alot of people don't realize it's being fetishized because they have normalized it, or other queer people like me have been forced to just normalize it in our community because if we didn't, less people would like us.
And I'm sorry if this stuff doesn't make sense, I'm reading ur reply and writing at the same time 😭😭😭
The fandom emerged and stayed obsessed with wolfstar and I think it's why we don't acknowledge some things anymore, because they just count as "normal".
That also goes for when people hc the characters as their white or og fancasts, they are seen as "normal" and / or "not to be questioned," which I think is bs.
And I have more to this but I'm really sleepy and I would love to continue talking about it and I'm really appreciative how you came about it so thank you. 🐇🐇🐇
