Sophisticated Adult or Fangirl? Both, both is good

Trying to be a well behaved, sophisticated, responsible grown up, but the fangirl that lives inside me has problems with that...

[euclase]

Do you ever think you'll stop drawing fanart? No offense it just seems like the kind of thing you're supposed to grow out of. I'm just curious what your plans/goals are since it isn't exactly an art form that people take seriously.

Ah, fanart. Also known as the art that girls make.

Sad, immature girls no one takes seriously. Girls who are taught that it’s shameful to be excited or passionate about anything, that it’s pathetic to gush about what attracts them, that it’s wrong to be a geek, that they should feel embarrassed about having a crush, that they’re not allowed to gaze or stare or wish or desire. Girls who need to grow out of it.

That’s the art you mean, right?

Because in my experience, when grown men make it, nobody calls it fanart. They just call it art. And everyone takes it very seriously.

It’s interesting though — the culture of shame surrounding adult women and fandom. Even within fandom it’s heavily internalized: unsurprisingly, mind, given that fandom is largely comprised by young girls and, unfortunately, our culture runs on ensuring young girls internalize *all* messages no matter how toxic. But here’s another way of thinking about it.

Sports is a fandom. It requires zealous attention to “seasons,” knowledge of details considered obscure to those not involved in that fandom, unbelievable amounts of merchandise, and even “fanfic” in the form of fantasy teams. But this is a masculine-coded fandom. And as such, it’s encouraged - built into our economy! Have you *seen* Dish network’s “ultimate fan” advertisements, which literally base selling of a product around the normalization of all consuming (male) obsession? Or the very existence of sports bars, built around the link between fans and community enjoyment and analysis. Sport fandom is so ingrained in our culture that major events are treated like holidays (my gym closes for the Super Bowl) — and can you imagine being laughed at for admitting you didn’t know the difference between Supernatural and The X Files the way you might if you admit you don’t know the rules of football vs baseball, or basketball?

“Fandom” is not childish but we live in a culture that commodified women’s time in such away that their hobbies have to be “frivolous,” because “mature” women’s interests are supposed to be marriage, family, and overall care taking: things that allow others to continue their own special interests, while leaving women without a space of their own.

So think about what you’re actually saying when you call someone “too old” for fandom. Because you’re suggesting they are “too old” for a consuming hobby, and I challenge you to answer — what do you think they should be doing instead?

[talesfromthemek]

#I love the fact I’m ‘weird’ for writing fic but some guy painting a team logo on his beer belly is normal

[destielhiseyesopened]

[x] [x]

[takaraphoenix]

This whole modern approach is also seriously undermining just how important fanfiction is - from a historical standpoint.

The concept of fanfiction formed and forged the earliest stages of literature in Europe. Because the majority of authors in France, Germany and Great Britain looked at that funky little Celtic dude Arthur and thought “hey, he’s neat. I wanna write about him”.

The entire concept of a book outside of religious purposes was born out of fanfiction in my country.

There is no “first canon” for Arthur where he came as the prince of Camelot, with his sidekicks Lancelot and Merlin and his endgame love interest Gwen.

Arthur was some random hunter when he started out.

Someone’s fanfiction made him a prince.

Someone else’s fanfiction gave him a round table.

Someone else’s fanfiction gave him Merlin at his side.

Someone else’s fanfiction gave him Morgana, gave him Gwen, gave him his swords.

And, to this day, we still write Arthurian fanfiction. Literally last year there was a movie adaptation that is, by all intends and purposes, fanfiction, because it wasn’t even close to a literal adaptation of the source material (The Kid Who Would Be King). Heck, BBC’s Merlin, itself an Arthurian fanfiction, remains one of the biggest fandoms that people today write for on AO3.

You were a joke in the middle ages if you tried to write your own stuff. Who’s interested in your stuff? You were only a respected author if you wrote fanfiction. The most famous medieval German authors are famous because they wrote fanfiction about some knightly OCs they created who served on Arthur’s court. That is the literary legacy of the middle ages. Arthurian fanfiction.

Yet somewhere along the way, this concept of “I find x story/element cool and want to elaborate on it more, shift the focus onto an aspect of this original source material” has gotten this “eh, it’s fanfiction” connotation and lost respect.

Even though this very concept is still being used - even outside of the actual medium of fanfiction - and it is still being used for the very same purpose it was used for in medieval times. Original movies often don’t get as much recognition as adaptations of existing source material that the audience is familiar with. People see a movie about a character they’re familiar with and seem more inclined to buy a ticket to see the 10th new interpretation of Batman or Superman or Snow White. How are these new interpretations of familiar source material that usually add to the lore, reinterpret characterizations and dynamics, any different from fanfiction?

But heaven forbid we call The Dark Knight Nolan’s Batman fanfiction. No, fanfiction is that silly thing that we can’t take seriously, but that new Joker movie, that however is high-end art.

[stufflizleelikes]

SO IMPORTANT

[kyraneko]

This. Fanfiction is variations on an existing theme, simultaneously making use of and satisfying people’s existing love for a story that they’re happy to consume more of, and cultivating the synergy between an existing story/mythos and a new author who, in interacting with characters they’d never have created themselves, creates something that neither they nor any of the story’s previous tellers could have made all by themselves.

Fanfiction is the new whole being greater than the sum of its parts, and fanfiction is the story being made limitless, retelling by retelling, and it is wonderful.

[amuseoffyre]

It’s also worth noting that Batman himself only came into being because of The Scarlet Pimpernel, a series of books about an extravagantly rich foppish playboy by day, daring hero in disguise by night (I mean, loosely. He also fopped by night and heroed by day, but you get my drift). Written by a woman no less.

Batman is a transformative work with a modernised crime-fighting SP but also borrowing strongly from earlier comic books, and yet it is seen as definitive.

[zara2148]

Coming back here to say that I think the derision for fanart also has some of its roots in our capitalist hellscape.

It’s the age old “If thing not make you money, why you care about thing?” that’s so prevalent in the system. Of course some people do make money with their fanart, but I think that is still part of the scorn. 

It’s supposed to be something you do not just for fun, but for practice, people like this think. Once you’re good at it, you can drop it and make money by focusing on your OCs and original work!

[yespolkadotkitty]

**smashes reblog**

[tuxedoelf]

Couldn’t agree more. Fan art and fic are absolutely valid. We really need to stop putting an age limit on fun as well!

Funnily enough, my Mum sent me this just today. It was in the front of the Doctor Who book she’d just purchased. (My Mum’s in her 70btw… tell her she’s too old for fandom, I dare you…)

[theheroofheroes]

Fandom, fanart, and fanfiction is for everyone.  No, it isn’t something you “have” to grow out of.  If it brings you joy, then who cares?

[stargirl-judooz]

Always reblog

[blackseapearl-deactivated202209]

I WANT TO PRINT THIS WHOLE THREAD OUT AND HANG IT ON MY WALL, GIVE COPIES TO ALL MY FRIENDS AND THEIR DAUGHTERS, THIS POST IS *THAT * IMPORTANT.

[oh-for-fic-sake]

I just really dont get the whole idea that females have to give up things/hobbies they enjoy as they get older,but males dont. For example

Its acceptable for adult men to play with drones/get hyped over rugby and foot ball/ play video games/enjoy superhero movies ect ect even the saying ‘boy and their toys’ are all widely accepted.

Yet an adult female can be shamed for doing pretty much the same thing ie enjoying fandoms /having intrests and hobbies?

It just mad! Like i have to stop being happy because I’m ageing? Like what? By the time your thirty your just not allowed to enjoy stuff anymore? Fuck that shit!

[thegreencarousel]

I am an aspiring illustrator and I have done work for magazines, card games and publishing and I got all of those first gigs from the fanart in my portfolio. Art directors don’t care if your portfolio is full of original pieces or fanart, all they care is that you have art that fits what they’re looking for. And chances are most art directors don’t even know if what you’ve drawn is fanart anyway, and most ADs I’ve met are actually interested in fanart pieces they recognise because they’re also a fan of the IP it came from so it can be a point of interest in starting a conversation. Just do what you love ❤️

[silmaspens]

Elven Fashion Week

Nandor elves- wear rich and vibrant earth tones, complimented with a silvers and turquoise. Nandor clothing is sturdy and easy to move in, but ornamentation is not sacrificed for functionality. Their hair is almost always a shade of brown and is worn either very long and braided or styled short and manageable.

Avari elves- don’t see the light all that much and both their collective complexion and clothing traditions reflect that. Like the Nandor they prefer long braided hair or short and sleek styles. They prefer the darkest clothing of all the branches of elves, which they accent with deep blues, rich purples and sometimes irredescent hues. They never wear anything shiny or flashy, but they are fond of embroidery as long as it’s subtle.

Teleri elves (Sindar & Falmari)- are almost the same people aesthetic wise. Clothing, adornment and hair styling are all practically the same save color schemes. Sindar adore darker blues and greens, while the Falmari are into pastel, or lighter colors, namely sea foam green and teal. Falmari elves absorb themselves in pearls, shells and corals, while their cousins the Sindar prefer silver and precious gems. All Teleri elves have varying shades of blue eyes. Silver hair is common in the Falmari while Black hair is more common in the Sindar.

Vanyar- long golden hair, amber eyes and sun kissed skin are the main features of this branch of elves. Each vanyar has a fondness/devotion to a specific Vala which they model their personal clothing after. Embroidered golden feathers or jeweled vines for Manwe or Yvanna, a radiating headdress for Varda or flowing robes that dance and shimmer like fire for Aule.

Noldor- unless they are busy crafting, their hair is worn free, very long and unstyled. Almost all of the Noldor have green eyes and black hair, with red hair being very rare (they are the only group that has redheads). Noldor will wear all the colors on the spectrum in a variety of styles. They have the most ornate clothing of all the elves, and are famous for their intricate embroidery and stunning jewelry which is always worn with tremendous pride.

[quotemadness]

“When I first met you, that’s what I remember. I looked up at the sky and thought, I’m going to love this person because even the sky looks different.”

— Margaret Stohl

[veryfunnymemes]

[i-cant-make-a-good-name]

[dandy-boi-ftm]

The best part is the fact that out of the two of them Martha Stewart was the one who went to prison.

[shadowkat678]

Wait…what?

[2fngrsin]

Wiiiiild. He did commit murder (in self defense - no judging) and America‘s Best Housewife was sent to jail because of insider trading, securities fraud, obstruction of justice and conspiracy. This is wiiiiiild 😄😄😄

[skrytch]

[brunhiddensmusings]

also he has every right to make fun of kanye west considering snoop has had a successful career for about two decades including his own cookbook and appearing in movies whereas kanye is a flat earther who had to crowdfund another album because he ran out of money despite kim kardashian being with him, not having the money to produce another album should be the metric when you know you can tell a musician has failed somewhere in either money management or actually being a musician rather then a famous trainwreck

[sunshine-tattoo]

snoop dogg is a good man who loves cooking, nature, and supporting the dreams of young children in poverty. kanye west helped get trump elected.

[brunhiddensmusings]

seriously though check out his cookbook its beautiful

and filled with lgiht humor, legit cooking, and charming life stories

[nevercure]

Whenever I think about snoop I remember that episode of cribs where he lived in an unusually modest house compared to everyone else on that show, spent the entire time with his young daughter hugging onto his leg and dragging her around as he walked. He even talked about how he didn’t want his kids to be musicians and that he just wants them to have a chance at a normal life / he doesn’t wish music career drama on anyone

The dude is mega down to earth for having a networth of 135 million dollars and staying relevant for longer than some of the top charting musicians have been alive

[brunhiddensmusings]

he says he keeps a supply of poptarts in the house for his nieces/nephews and grandkids but admits theyre really for him and then goes on to discuss what selection of condiments your fridge should have to jazz up leftover takeout hes one of the most thoroughly human humans ive ever known of

[laquilasse]

Part 2/2 of my lotr marathon sketchdump! Happy new year everyone

Please don’t repost! Instagram / Twitter : Laquilasse

[the-honey-dukes2]

It has been 19 years, but I’m still sad they they completely cut out Glorfindel and Tom Bombadil from The Fellowship of the Ring Movie!

[sanjidysphoria]

smaug: do you think flattery will keep you alive?

bilbo: no but... may i just add... you are HUGE... like wow... you are really big

smaug, self-conscious, remembering ancalagon the black: you know what actually, go on

[lesbiansforboromir]

Anyway…. yall remember when even Legolas was paralysed in fear before the Balrog but our Boromir just gave it a big TOOT of his horn right in it’s face to stun it so they could all scarper and that worked??? Yall remember right? Balrogs? Feanor/Ecthelion/Fingon killing balrogs? Those dread heavy demons of the ancient world? No prob mate just gotta give it a good old TOOT said Boromir to Legolas, fucking steadfast jewel indeed, I could not stan harder 

[cad-faoi-maeglin]

It's official lads, straight from Appendix B, Sauron slept his way to the top!

[bella-alva-lovat]

That's that and the rest doesn't even matter

[cad-faoi-maeglin]

What rest? This is of course the only meaning!

[space-hobbits]

you can really tell the type of daddy issues someone in the Tolkien fandom has (if they have them) by whether they prefer thranduil or elrond.... 👀👀

[thoughtfulgardenerpirate]

Op where's the essay?

[first-son-of-finwe]

Yes please elaborate 😶

[toastedbuckwheat]

Celebrimbor getting a makeover 

It probably went something like this:

Narvi: ‘Alright lad, I got you invited to that feast but we ought to fix your looks’

Celebrimbor, a very classy Elf lord when out of the forge: ‘My looks…?’

Narvi: ‘Your hair. Not braided enough, absolutely non-elegant! We need to make it look presentable so that it makes up for the lack of beard… Oh and you’ll need a different circlet, your usual one is not appropriate’

Celebrimbor: ‘What’s wrong with my circlet?!’

Narvi: ‘GOT NO GEMSTONES ON IT!! And how dare you not be wearing your entire vault of jewellery all at once?! So DISRESPECTFUL! No class, no grace. I swear, Middle-Earth would be a better place if the Elves learned how to dress.’

(’Hot for an Elf’ / ‘You’d be hot if you had a beard’ are like, peak compliments an Elf can legally receive from a dwarf. Tyelpe is well chuffed!)

[arofili]

this is not an original headcanon but: i think feanor bound his spirit to the silmarils. and when he first started showing them of he probably called them like “the work of his spirit” or something like that and assumed everyone knew what that meant but most people just thought he was just very proud of them.

which is why when the valar asked him to break them to relight the trees he was like “wtf no” because he knows that would destroy him, and assumes they know that too, but they don’t actually get it and probably wouldn’t have asked if they did.

and it’s why the oath is so serious and important, because feanor and his sons are well aware that feanor’s fea is bound up in the silmarils and they Need To Get Them Back in order for feanor to be whole.

this is part of why nerdanel left, because she was used to sharing her whole spirit with feanor’s whole spirit but feanor’s spirit is fragmented now and their relationship and intimacy just isn’t the same anymore; he cares more about his jewels than he does about her and even if she knows why she can’t take that.

it’s why feanor is so angry about the swanships being compared to the silmarils, because obviously the swanships are not as valuable as the silmarils. they can build more ships! the ships do not contain part of their souls! the silmarils DO!

it’s why feanor spontaneously combusts upon his death; yeah he’s the “spirit of fire” but because his spirit has been fragmented he has less control over his hroa than he used to, and he was so unstable at his death that he couldn’t die a normal way.

fingolfin and most of the noldor are furious that feanor would risk so much and abandon them, but to feanor if he isn’t 100% sure if he can trust people with his very soul why on earth would he bring them along? and an irrational decision like burning the ships is partially because feanor’s literally Not Completely There because the silmarils have been stolen.

feanor can’t leave mandos because his spirit isn’t fully intact. it’s not (just) a punishment, he literally cannot leave until the silmarils are reclaimed and the oath fulfilled.

the silmarils burn melkor because they are feanor and feanor hates melkor so much; they burn maedhros and maglor because at that point the spirit inside them is so damaged - and their own spirits are so damaged by three kinslayings - that feanor’s fea doesn’t recognize them. maybe each silmaril has a distinct temperament, and the kindest one was taken by beren and luthien, so feanor’s hope and passion is what lights the star of earendil, while his anger and despair is what is left for m&m.

idk i just think there’s a lot of potential in this concept that goes untapped, we usually focus on “this is why he’s still in mandos” when really it can be so much more than that!

[anneboleynqueen]

[quotemadness]

“Having a low opinion of yourself is not modesty. It’s self-destruction.”

— Bobby Sommer (via quotemadness)

[giggleshrug]

no bro

you really don’t

[cihuanaba-deactivated20161013]

not at fucking

all

[santasirena-deactivated20130829]

stop

[historiaantiqua]

It appears absolutely no one realizes this character (assuming this story takes places during the time in which it was filmed) grew up during The Troubles of Northern Ireland.

You don’t if he’s Northern Irish. You don’t know if he’s Catholic. You don’t know if he grew up watching his people get murdered by Loyalist Protestants and British soldiers who carried heavy racial prejudice against Irish Catholics (hellooo, Bloody Sunday anyone?), who had for centuries been characterized as barbaric, racially inferior, lowly people who needed to be wiped out or converted. Attacks by the IRA, and therefore retaliation by the British, didn’t completely cease until 1998, I believe? This film came out in 2002.

You don’t know if he was an Irishman who grew up in England. Bomb attacks carried out by the IRA in England kindled misplaced aggression toward innocent Irish civilians living among the English population and Irish people were verbally and physically attacked and their businesses targeted. Perhaps similar to how ordinary Muslims bear the brunt of aggression after attacks by Muslim extremists…

You can still find yourself threatened and demeaned if you’re a Catholic in Northern Ireland or if you’re a Protestant in Ireland and some older dude in a pub in a smaller town straight up asks you if you’re Catholic or not and you’re afraid what’ll happen if you don’t lie about who you are.

You can still hear casual racism toward Irish people in everyday life and in publicly broadcast media in the UK.

You can still see and hear “Kill All Irish” and other pretty heavy anti-Irish sentiment among Loyalists in Northern Ireland who don’t consider themselves Irish at all.

Just because it now appears that the island of Ireland has been allowed to move on from war and their appearance and culture generally allows them to blend into and reap the benefits of the White European demographic doesn’t mean that this character does not have the background suitable to fully empathize with her. Maybe he does, maybe he doesn’t, we just don’t know his story.

But I guess you’ve never been demeaned as a Paddy or a Taig so you wouldn’t understand what it feels like, would you?

[aquaticrecords]

don’t worry dude it’s tumblr the mentality here is basically “if you’re lighter than a coconut you’re not allowed to have any feelings and your life is automatically perfect but that’s not racist at all bc your skin is lighter than someone else’s and that means it’s ok”

[draculah]

^^^^^^^^

not enough upward pointies in the world

[girlwithgoldeyes]

plot twist: being Irish actually sucks, seriously

[stridersister]

I normally don’t comment on posts like these but the ignorance of this makes me so fucking angry because absolutely no one in the world seems to give a shit about the Irish because we all just seem to be so happy and drunk all the time. Because they’re white, right? So obviously they have no idea what hardship means.

[slowspinningredemption]

*bursts in* *breathes heavily* Did someone mention the Northern Irish Troubles

First of all, pretty much yes to everything about Ireland up there. Growing up in Northern Ireland, I saw the violence from all sides - my father is a British Protestant and my mother is a Catholic, so I basically couldn’t win because according to one side I was a dirty taig and according to the other I was a filthy hun. Luckily I managed to make friends with a mix of both Catholics and Protestants who all thought this attitude was just as stupid as I did, but between all of us, we saw our fair share of sectarian violence, and the Catholics, without a doubt, got it worse.

Irish Catholics were robbed of their country by Protestant invaders centuries ago. They fought and fought and eventually got the Irish Free State (now the Republic of Ireland), however, thanks to the deliberate plantation of Protestants to eradicate the Catholic majority in the North, it was left under British rule. Since then, Catholics have been murdered, arrested, terrorised, tortured and driven out of their houses just for being Irish Catholics. 

I moved from Northern Ireland in 2010 and to the day I left, the violence was not over. I couldn’t wear certain colours in certain areas because I would be beaten. I had fake names depending on where I was stopped, as attackers can determine what religion you are from your name alone (and this is a trick I learned, too, for defence). I can recite my rights if I’m arrested because if I was stopped in certain areas I could be, on the assumption I could be Catholic. I know the subtle sectarian geography of the city of Belfast because if I cross the road in the wrong place I’m in enemy territory. I have been chased by a group of forty people, throwing fireworks at me, because they assumed I was a Catholic. Police were parked on nearby streets and didn’t acknowledge the commotion. My friends and I walk past graffiti screamed “Kill All Taigs”. A fifteen year old boy who lived half an hour from me was beaten to death by a group of adults for being Catholic. For fifty years, people have been detained without trial, tortured, beaten and wrongly imprisoned just for being Catholic, because apparently, being Catholic means you must be in the IRA. 

Even now, I can’t escape it. I have a noticeable Northern Irish accent, which is stronger when I’m around people from there and is noticeable as a strong accent whenever I’m not in the country. At airports, I’m always the one stopped and frisked if they hear my accent. At ferry ports, it’s alway my car (which has Northern Irish registration plates) that’s “randomly selected” for a search. All of this just happened to me, a person who got off lightly.

If you think that Irish people haven’t faced oppression and abuse, you’re wrong. If you think that Northern Ireland is past its troubles, you’re wrong. It sickens me that this happens only a few hundred miles away from England and no one acknowledges it exists, because hey, they’re just some terrorist Catholics, right?

[satsekhem]

Contrary to popular belief, racism isn’t America centric. Just ask the Serbians and Croatians.

[younger-than-the-soul]

REBLOGGING FOR THE LAST ONE JFC THANK YOU.

[ineptshieldmaid]

Hell, ask Rwanda. Plot twist: ethnic genocide involving no white people at all!

[amuseoffyre]

Ask China about Japan. Ask Tibet about China. Ask Kuwait about Iraq. Ask Ukraine about Russia.

Xenophobia is not just the purview of white people. Any other can be an enemy. They can be the same colour. They can share a religion. They can live right next door right up until the moment the blade or gun or bomb is in your hand.

[baixueagain]

By the way, the woman who wrote and directed Bend it like Beckham? She’s a Brit of Indian descent. I’m fairly sure she knows what it’s like to be from an oppressed ethnic group in the UK, so when she writes a line about Asian and Irish people being treated similarly in British society, you better believe she knows what she’s talking about first hand.

Because newsflash, American forms of racism and ethnic prejudice are not universal.

[blooooom]

there’s a misconception that grief only happens when we lose people. this is not true. we can grieve circumstances, relationships, missed opportunities. in fact, sometimes when you find yourself plagued with waves of emotion from sadness to melancholy you may be grieving yourself. the version of yourself that you might have been if things had been different, or if only you had said something, or if someone had stood up for you.

[lunacyiero]

anyone else ever daydream for 6 hours straight and then after ur just like nah let’s scrap that and do it all again but slightly to the left

[astudyingreer]

my brain: *out of breath* Was that good?!

Me in a beret, taking a long draft from a cigarette and leaning back in my director’s chair: once again, from the top, this time with feeling