dezzawintz wrote:This might have been covered before (apologies if so) but can anyone explain the negative reactions to the fanfiction segment? Is it a baiting concern?
While I can only speak for myself, it's a question that I've been thinking about a lot (and I mean
a lot), so I'll post my opinion. I'm afraid people are tired of this topic, though, so I apologize in advance (feel free to PM me, though, if you want to talk about it)
Disclaimer: I still haven't watched TATINOF video, I just can't, I start the video and close it almost instantly, I really should try maybe getting drunk beforehand, but I have too much work recently, even on weekend, what is my life
I did watch the fan video from (I think?) Toronto before (which was mostly audio, thankfully), but I did it mostly with my eyes closed and only finished that one because that day I desperately needed to do something to avoid dealing with all the shit irl.
So, I have to start by saying I've been reading fanfiction since I was 13 (I'm in my late 20s now) and since the beginning, I've almost exclusively been reading m/m and f/f pairings. I've written some fanfics in my native language when I was a teenager (m/m and f/f) which I've tried very hard to erase from my memory because of how bad they were (I hope they've since been deleted from the Internet, but I'm afraid to check). I've read (but not necessarily enjoyed) fanfics from all major fandoms with some exception for RPF. My only rule is I don't read RPF about romantic relationship between people that I don't believe are (or could be if it's an AU) in a relationship and I mostly don't read omegaverse because it perpetuates the worst stereotypes (although, I've seen one or two stories that did a good job subverting the trope).
I honestly love fandom culture very much, I appreciate the progressiveness of the community which taught me to accept myself and I will forever be grateful for that (I've been living in France for several years, but originally come from a fairly homophobic country), but nowadays I sometimes feel that fans really are as entitled as some critics suggest, which makes me really sad (there was an interesting article about it on Vox
http://www.vox.com/2016/8/7/11950648/fa ... al-warfare. At the same time, there seems to be a gender dynamic in play, too, what with the horrible objectifying fanboy culture being generally accepted by the society and (sometimes equally horribly objectifying) fangirl culture being ridiculed. I like discussing fandom and reading about it mainstream media when it's done with respect, but I hate when it's only played for laughs, like on Graham Norton show where famous people, usually actors, are asked to read fanfics about themselves (I like his show and him as host, though). I can't deny there's this whole objectifying, the Internet is for porn, aspect of fanfiction, it's not all subverting tropes, promoting diversity and giving voice to side characters (I do read smut and I'm not ashamed of it, imo written or drawn porn is much better that video because there's no issue of consent). But I feel that the mainstream conversation about fanfiction is very one-sided. It all comes down to "Why do straight women enjoy writing and reading about two men fucking?" with answers like "for the same reason straight men watch lesbian porn". Which, of course, may be true for some straight women, but not all fandom members are women, even a smaller percent of us are straight (look up, like, every fandom survey out there), not all fanfiction is about relationship and specifically fucking, and even this whole concept of stories about relationship being somewhat inferior to other kinds of stories because it's for women is really, really problematic.
So, after that long intro, what really bothers me about Dan and Phil including fanfiction in their show is the ridiculing aspect of it and especially their reaction. Even if it's something they've written themselves, they basically made a parody of fanfction about Dand and Phil, according to which the main feature of that fanfiction is sexualising their relationship while putting the characters in different cliché AU scenarios. Which is something that exists, but not all phanfiction is like that. It's like the line in Dan's roast yourself video about people shipping phan because it's cute. Disregarding, you know, the whole history of how they met, them living together for so long, visiting each other's family and no SO. But the thing about the video is that it's not about objective truth, but about Dan's own perception of himself, or the perception of him by a random hater on the Internet, or his perception of the hater's perception... Anyway, I'll allow it, even if I don't appreciate it. The thing with the show is, though, that it's the Internet's perspective on the whole and not their own (if we follow the story). And at the same time, this Internet's perspective was written by Deppy, so I can read into that as well.
Ok, I feel like I'm doing a really bad job explaining it, but what I take from the show is that Deppy as, you know, real people who wrote TATINOF think that the quintessential fanfiction about Dan and Phil is an AU in which they have sex. Which already offends me a little, but whatever. What's even more problematic (sorry, I can't find another word, I've already spent two hours writing this thing) for me is their reaction, sorry, the reaction of the
characters they play in the show. If it had been something like "of course, it's a smutty AU, what else it could have been, knowing our audience" with a wink-wink nudge-nudge "here you go" or "is it what you've been wanting your whole life?" after some PG fanservicy action, that would have been acceptable. Still a little bit problematic because pure fanservice, but acceptable. But it wouldn't have worked for the script which needs the segment to end on something offensive/they "can't take". They could have put something in there that could objectively be viewed as a squick, like daddy kink, or anything really from a truly amazing number of shock fics about them (which was the case with the skin fic in Tumblr tag video), or repeat what Dan did in that old video of his about fanfiction (you know, "my favorite pokemon is goldeen?!" one). What they did instead frankly amounts to and that's what my problem is with. Is it real Deppy's reaction to fanfiction? Seems strange, because previously they didn't have such problems with it. Is it Dan-and-Phil-as-characters' reaction? Why is it different from real Deppy's reaction? Or is it specifically about roleplaying it for their audience? WHY PUTTING IT IN THERE THEN?
Sorry, I just don't understand. What is their point? That's why I wanted something, anything, about it in the documentary, instead they completely -ed it and all we got is a platonic bus tour (with the emphasis on "beds and stuff" in the opening sequence, so I suppose
they know). I object to this kind of deal!
Ok, I'll stop now, because I feel like I've written much more than anyone has ever wanted to read about this topic, and kudos to you if you did. Feel free to respond if you disagree, because I'd really like to see something good in this segment, get over my cringe and enjoy the show. Just don't tell me, please, that they didn't think about this, they are obsessive control-freaks
ETA: edited because typos
" and from the reaction of the fans, they love it. They love that wow they are actually going there oh my god look they are backing out and stopping there haha I wonder what the rest is like part of the dynamic. Even the way Dan stares at the camera at innuendo or whatever; it's a nod to the people who want to grab at it but stops right there because it's also funny.