#oh fans

[ellistheelephant]

J-Oli the weed sock puppet having a good time in Dublin! x

[dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram]

WeLoveYouLiam is trending on twitter. I thought it would be some cute fun fan love but instead it’s fans comparing before and after pics of Liam saying how scared they are for him and worried because of all the hate and he’s too thin etc

I have had a quick look at that anon - and it’s super fucked up.

The idea that posting pictures of people’s bodies and commenting on how they’ve changed in a way you think is worse is an act of love is an abomination.  The idea that comments about his physicality are useful or supportive is nonsense.

Whatever is going on with Liam knowing that people are closing examining his appearance is almost certainly going to make things worse.

Fans are going to fan and twitter is going to twitter - but I wish they’d sto pretending this was love.

[avatar-dacia]

Here, we have a self-proclaimed fandom reactionary...pleading with the rest of the fandom reactionaries to go counter to their very raison d’etre.  So close to self-awareness, and yet so far.

[ellistheelephant]

Still thinking about Louis going to the barricade and fans being oh-so-gentle with him. One of the things that I find so interesting about this moment is that the predominant view of young female fanbases is that they are an uncontrollable crazy mob. And Louis has certainly had lots of experiences in his life that could reinforce that view, but it really seems it hasn’t for him. He trusts that he can remind his fans to be gentle with his broken arm, and that they will honor that trust and actually be careful. What gets me is that it’s true, fans DID listen to him, they WERE gentle and chill in a situation that is pretty intense. As someone in the fandom it can be easy sometimes to see all the negative sides of fandom. But sometimes young women need to be told they are alright, actually they are brilliant.

I’m still so fascinated by the relationship between Louis and fans. I think there’s a lot going on between fans intensely identifying with him, largely being queer women, thinking he’s gay, and Louis emphasizing the connection he has with fans. It’s all a very potent mix.

[dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram]

I’m reading people’s takes and wondering if we saw the same video.. I felt uncomfortable most of the time and couldn’t finish it. I love the pictures and gifs people are making and I enjoy the aesthetics but as a video it seemed pretty repetitive, boring and unnecessary to me. The last thing it screamed to me is women empowerment and lesbian party.

I’ve said several times that it’s important that people trust their own reactions.  And I think that’s as true of people who found joy in the video as people who hated it.  There’s all sorts of reasons why this video might bring people joy, particularly in times like these.  I want to emphasise that there’s space between reaction and takes.  It’s not the reactions I’m objecting to, it’s the takes.

I refuse to believe that anyone is making a good faith argument that this video is empowering.  I assume that anyone who pretends to make that argument is solely doing so for stan reasons and the only possible response is to ignore them.

People do seem to be making the lesbian party argument in good faith and I will remain baffled. I do think it’s worth demanding lesbian content that isn’t controlled by men and doesn’t centre them.  But in the meantime I’ll try not to begrudge people their joy, if they’ll at least acknowledge the role men play in this video.

[dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram]

Hey Ralph! I feel like you always have intelligent things to say, so I’m wondering what you make of Liam’s sudden interest in revisionist history, as it applies to One D and Cheryl and all of the rest of it. I feel like he’s spiraling? For lack of better ways to articulate it? If that even makes sense? I worry about him a lot.

Hi anon,

I don’t see this as a revisionist history.  He doesn’t have a good sense of time and nobody ever tells the whole truth, but I’m not even sure what people see as being so contradictory.

I do worry a lot about Liam.  And I didn’t come out of this interview think he was in a good place or believing him when he said he was happy.  But that wasn’t because he was talking about his experiences. When he was talking about what he’d struggled with in the past he seemed self-aware and articulate - that was the most hopeful part of the interview for me. 

[avatar-dacia]

It costs $0.00 not to tag your bitter ‘shipper hate.  

And, furthermore?  We’re already aware that a few fans with strong opinions present themselves as supreme arbiters of romance writing quality.  That does not, however, actually qualify them as such.