#fandom problem 14524

[damnfandomproblems]

Fandom Problem #14,524:

I feel like this is a Me Thing, but this demand that a character be just like you, the reader, in order to enjoy a piece of media is just so bizarre. I have never once, even as a child, needed a character to look like me or act like me. In fact, I enjoyed stories where the characters are completely different from me. I have to deal with me every day, 24/7. Sometimes, I just want to read another person's story, you know?

Oh, before anyone says anything about me being white, hi Australian Aboriginal woman here. I hate how I have to reveal that. I also know that I will get the usual excuses that it's because I didn't have enough characters to identify with growing up so I had no choice but to identify with the white cis male character. That might be the case. There might be something mentally or psychology wrong with me. I don't know. But I truly don't need a character to be like me in order to enjoy them as a person or character.

In fact, I enjoy writing about characters who are wildly different from me!

I just think other fans will enjoy themselves more if they just accept that there are characters (and people!) who will not match them in the way they want, but it's ok to just empathize with them, regardless.

[damnfandomproblems]

Response thread for Fandom Problem #14,524:

(Currently 3 replies)

Reply 1 - Anon

I also just think it's important for people to realize that just because a character isn't physically like you - or isn't from the same country or is a different gender or a different sexuality or even a different religion - it doesn't make it impossible for you to empathize with them or relate to their struggles. I mean at the end of the day we're all human beings, we all feel the same things and share those feelings in our stories, even if our experiences are different. I never had a single character from my culture to look up to growing up and yet I never once lamented that fact or wondered why that was. It was only later that I found out the less than flattering reasons for why my people weren't represented or often represented in a negative light, but that doesn't stop me from being able to relate to the emotions that characters are shown to feel, whether they're white or black or what have you. This is why I get bad vibes from people who headcanon everything about themselves onto their favorite characters; to me it just feels like that person lacks empathy for anyone different to themselves (which is usually evidenced by how they react to people with different headcanons to them, especially if they try to justify it with morality).

Reply 2 - Anon

Fandom really went downhill when everyone started assuming that all fiction should be, and is, as close to a 1:1 representation of its viewers or creators as possible. Everyone is self-insertion, and must be self-insertion. "You are what you eat", except this time, with fictional dolls. It seems like such a shitty way to engage with media. In that regard, it's no wonder people are so anal retentive about "consuming morally pure media" now. It makes me wonder what the eventual breaking point and crash will look like, and if it will be dispersed among individuals, or more of a collective cringe. I was hoping there would be one a few years ago with "feelings yakuza", but here we are.

Reply 3 - Anon

Is it just me, or did things start getting worse when folks started saying "yumeshipper" instead of "selfshipper"? I don't think the terminology itself is to blame, it's just a little weird that the term happened to pop up around the same time that I started seeing more people complaining about toxic people in the community, and I absolutely cannot come up with any logical explanation on why.