#oh sister#you always make me feel better#they should put you in church and make you take confessions#warrior nun thoughts#warrior nun#warrior nun saved#on that confession note#bless me sister for i have sinned#ive been up late reading fanfics for the past 3 nights#but i also have shitty neighbours that make it tough for me to go to bed on time
( @ghostofcatscradle )
Don't worry, you don't need any Hail Mary's or Lord's Prayers as penitence -- just maybe some ear plugs that allow you to block your shitty neighbours' noise so that you can get some shut-eye, amen!
"If magic is a way of talking about power, then the fannish approach to fandom has an aspect of yearning."
Notes on an article Laurie Penny wrote about fan culture, politics and the Potterverse for the British Library's Fantasy Exhibit titled "The Room of Requirement". They recently published it on their Substack.
Read it here.
The real magic is in the fandom, which is driven by the instinct to share, find a community and collective reality-making.
We sometimes watch bad episodes of good shows because they're our show and we support them like football fans back their teams whether they're winning or losing.
Fandom thrives when shows are incomplete, when fanfics can fill in the narrative gaps left behind. (Penny writes about how this is why there is little fanfic for Succession even though it's a very good show, because it's too complete. Note: I can't comment on this because I found the show unbearably boring and quit after Episode 1.)
"Sharing a made-up world you love is, very often, practically easier than sharing the real one, and the more that human beings living in the acute crisis phase of late-stage capitalism become more isolated, alienated and exhausted, the more it feels like the canon of our common social reality is disputed, the more important fandom becomes."
Later, Penny goes on to describe the Wizarding World as a sort of Mary Sue England, where goodies and baddies get their dues and there are no structural problems, only individual failings. In other words, it's easier to talk about fandom because fictional worlds are more stable and predictable than the real world. (Sadly, there is no real world canon, no consensus on our lived reality.)
As the world changed and the kids who loved Harry Potter grew up, they realised that the creator of Harry Potter had adopted beliefs that seemed at odds with themes fans held dear to their hearts. So they left.
"And what I’ve observed is glorious and heart-breaking: a core fandom that built itself around a series of stories about tolerance, friendship, fighting for what they believe is right and using power responsibly taking those lessons seriously enough that when the time came, it simply rejected its creator and walked away."
Penny also defines fandom by the urge to share, not just critical appreciation and how fans experience a collective grief when the sharing is done. That "the pain of losing it now is the price of loving it then". Because, as long as there is love, there will be grief, right?
NGL but reading all this made me think of Warrior Nun, like a lot. About how our favourite show is about becoming. Is about second chances, free will and the nature of divinity.
Of course, there are huge differences between a world created by one person and one that's created by a whole team of writers, performers and directors.
We've all seen what happens to AAA games that forget to honour their overarching theme and inadvertently manage to disrespect legions of fans, so much so they end up being named Worst Company in America for 2 years straight.
If a decade of good worldbuilding can be ruined in 15 minutes because a company as big as EA failed to understand their No. 1 cash cow on such a fundamental level...
What more, the little gay show that could? The one that never received zero promotional funding from Netflix and the one that made the WN team resort to shooting Avatrice scenes in secret?
Wherever things go for WN, it's clear that as long as the fans are around, WN will be here. After all, WN is a perfect example of a wonderful show that still has many gaps left to be filled in. There's still so much to say and so much to explore.
...and this is my Warrior Nun side-blog.
Here's some of my unhinged WN-related offerings.
📝 Like Breath Into Our Lungs - as known as The Scent Fic because it features an Ava who is obsessed with Beatrice's scent. In fact, it's what tips her infatuation over into obsession. OR what if Halo Bearers also have an excellent sense of smell and what if scents can communicate feelings. Read it on AO3.
📝 Avatrice Fanfiction Bingo - Part I & Part II
🖼️ Screenshots of Beatrice and Ava's phones
🖼️ Lilith gets a hangry Camila food by warping
📝 The Sword Stance - Months after Ava’s return, Beatrice has an intense dream about her grandma that eventually leads to them meeting up with her brother. Read it on AO3.
If you enjoyed any of this, feel free to tip me at my ko-fi. Undead folks gotta pay bills too!
