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Frankenstein's meme: Your newest fandom.
Jun. 20th, 2021 09:24 amSixteenth verse, same as the first: Star Trek.
There's something very nice, actually, about realising that I can come back to fandoms of old and find them full of new people and new ideas. And also see that the people who were wrong on mailing lists in 2000 are now being wrong on Tumblr.
I really like being in a fandom with a long history. We just recorded an episode of Antimatter Pod looking at the first three stories in the Talking Stick/Circle series by Macedon and Peg Robinson, and I spent a few hours going through Usenet archives as research. It was very cool to be able to find conversations -- sometimes fragmentary -- that took place in 1995. Even though some people were Very Very Wrong and it's hard to have an argument with a digital ghost.
(Also, then I had to go and give r/startrek a metaphorical hug, because even though it is terrible and full of stupid people, at least blatant racism and homophobia are unacceptable there. rec.arts.startrek.misc was a moderated space, sure, but the mods only stepped in if slurs were being used. On the other hand, it's useful to see that there WAS pushback against a female captain, and a lot of "I'm not racist, but..." about a Black man playing a Vulcan, and also a lot of "You people have a woman in charge, so what else do you want? Gay characters? How would THAT serve the plot?" The myth that Trek fandom has always been accepting and smart is just that.)
( The rest of the questions )
There's something very nice, actually, about realising that I can come back to fandoms of old and find them full of new people and new ideas. And also see that the people who were wrong on mailing lists in 2000 are now being wrong on Tumblr.
I really like being in a fandom with a long history. We just recorded an episode of Antimatter Pod looking at the first three stories in the Talking Stick/Circle series by Macedon and Peg Robinson, and I spent a few hours going through Usenet archives as research. It was very cool to be able to find conversations -- sometimes fragmentary -- that took place in 1995. Even though some people were Very Very Wrong and it's hard to have an argument with a digital ghost.
(Also, then I had to go and give r/startrek a metaphorical hug, because even though it is terrible and full of stupid people, at least blatant racism and homophobia are unacceptable there. rec.arts.startrek.misc was a moderated space, sure, but the mods only stepped in if slurs were being used. On the other hand, it's useful to see that there WAS pushback against a female captain, and a lot of "I'm not racist, but..." about a Black man playing a Vulcan, and also a lot of "You people have a woman in charge, so what else do you want? Gay characters? How would THAT serve the plot?" The myth that Trek fandom has always been accepting and smart is just that.)
( The rest of the questions )
