I have problems with ces's post because it pretty much reads me out of fandom (Ronon and Teyla are not other to me because of their appearance. My hair is in dreads like Ronon's and Rachel Luttrell's coloring is very similar to my cousin Thing 1.) so I do not have an uncompromized stance towards it.
But, No, no, no, no== it's TOTALLY AT THE HEART OF WHAT WE DO!! OMG, was I not ironic enough??? Because--YES, it's what we're "supposed" to be embarrassed about, the idea that we make these guys like us, see ourselves in them, blah blah! But Kass--you know me--but if the choice is between the embarrassment of overidentification and the cold cold hell of distance: dude! Distance kills! is a direct quote (http://cesperanza.livejournal.com/163390.html?thread=4080446#t4080446) and it is followed later by this thread where cesperanza insists that people who tell her they don't identify with characters don't know what the word means. (http://cesperanza.livejournal.com/163390.html?thread=4090174#t4090174)
(And as a fan of color who is forcefully confronted with white fans' inability to identify with CoC again and again and again, I actually find it a little threatening, because if the only method to 'get close' is overidentification, white fans are never going to get close to the CoC.
So I am opposed to the theory that identification is the heart of fandom, because it writes me and many of my favorite characters out. If race is a giant barrier to identification, then I'm not identifying properly with the majority BSO's and the CoCs will never be BSO's. Just to admit that I've got a horse in this race besides disliking essentialist statements of correct fannish behavior.)
You said below, I think any statement like fandom is X clearly is excluding large numbers of people, but I never read these statements as seriously saying that not being or liking X makes one not a fan or not deserving of participating and engaging.
I can't do that. I tend to think that there's been enough flamewars and f_w mobbings and metafandom'ing that people should know better than to use absolute statements unless they, you know, mean something absolutely.
So, maybe cesperanza habitually gets more enthusiastic and less careful in her comments than she is in her initial posts, but I don't read her often enough to know that. I can
no subject
But, is a direct quote (http://cesperanza.livejournal.com/163390.html?thread=4080446#t4080446) and it is followed later by this thread where cesperanza insists that people who tell her they don't identify with characters don't know what the word means. (http://cesperanza.livejournal.com/163390.html?thread=4090174#t4090174)
(And as a fan of color who is forcefully confronted with white fans' inability to identify with CoC again and again and again, I actually find it a little threatening, because if the only method to 'get close' is overidentification, white fans are never going to get close to the CoC.
So I am opposed to the theory that identification is the heart of fandom, because it writes me and many of my favorite characters out. If race is a giant barrier to identification, then I'm not identifying properly with the majority BSO's and the CoCs will never be BSO's. Just to admit that I've got a horse in this race besides disliking essentialist statements of correct fannish behavior.)
You said below,
I can't do that. I tend to think that there's been enough flamewars and f_w mobbings and metafandom'ing that people should know better than to use absolute statements unless they, you know, mean something absolutely.
So, maybe cesperanza habitually gets more enthusiastic and less careful in her comments than she is in her initial posts, but I don't read her often enough to know that. I can