“Smarm” came up in some tags to my last post, because I mentioned it, and it was pointed out that “smarm” is different from gen h/c fic. And I do agree with that. But I have complicated feelings about “smarm”. And honestly, I do miss it.
“Smarm” essentially had a lot of the same problems that I have with slash hurt/comfort. It’s generally exclusively focused on two characters, generally the same characters prioritized in slash fanfic. And I mean, a lot of times it was, as my friend put it “slash written at Catholic school”.
(As a lapsed Catholic, I fight the urge to disclaim that. The girls I knew who went to Catholic School were wild. There’s a reason that Grease’s ChaCha DiGregorio went to St. Bernadette’s.)
But anyway, I do remember being utterly boggled when some of my favorite smarm writers went on an anti-slash rant in the late 90s/early 00s, when their versions of the characters were basically two tequila shots away from amateur prostate exams. It was absurd!
So, I can completely understand why some folks dislike “smarm” as a genre, or find it homophobic, even.
That said. Sometimes, SOMETIMES, it is possible to have an incredibly close, same-sex relationship that is neither sexual nor romantic. And there’s a part of me that still gets really annoyed when people say that the ONLY reason these characters would go to the lengths that they do for one another is because they’re fucking. Or they want to fuck.
As an aromantic asexual person, the idea that someone can only be self-sacrificing or love so deeply because they want or are in a romantic or sexual relationship is just incredibly alienating. Even dehumanizing.
And maybe because of that, “smarm” has always been a genre that deeply spoke to me, separate and distinct from slash. Not better, not more “socially appropriate”, just different. And while, granted, these characters were generally straight rather than ace (very few people had any idea what asexuality was back then, at least in fandom),it still felt like a genre that actually had room for people like me.
Not to be a disgruntled ace on main, but I really do miss the prevalence of gen hurt/comfort, or “smarm” fics that I remember from fandoms in the 90s and 00s.
This is not meant to be an attack on slash fic. I’ve loved slash fanfiction since I was young enough to lie about my age to get into the good mailing lists and archives. It’s great! I remember the days when slash fanfic was still in the minority, and folks would pearl clutch at the thought that people would dare to imagine these popular characters as gay (or bi). I’m so glad that the past couple of decades have moved away from that.
But honestly? Romance isn’t everything. Sex isn’t everything. And I feel like so much of slash hurt/comfort is so focused on the primary pairing that it ignores that these characters have complex and interesting relationships with more characters than just the one that they’re fucking.
For all that we love “found family” stories, it really does feel sometimes like comfort has become an exclusively romantic/sexual thing. And I can’t help but feel like we’ve lost something there.
I honestly think that the ugliest thing about fandom is the way that we intentionally ignore that there are real people involved in every side of this messy interaction. Including the creative side.
This is not a pro- vs. anti- thing, because honestly, I’ve seen very bad behavior on both sides,
I remember reading a lovely fanfic series, in a fandom I love, and with takes on the characters I actually agree with (rare in a huge fandom!), and I stumbled onto the author’s notes of one of the fics where they talk about some fandom incident where a creator apparently “forced” an actor to read slash fanfic, (the AUTHOR’s words, not mine!) and how the backlash was clearly some kind of anti-porn/sexuality crusade. This particular fic was a rejection of that idea, or some such nonsense.
And I remember boggling at this. I don’t know how you can look at a story where someone goes up to a complete stranger, even one who happens to play a role that you love, and shoves porn in their face and decide that anyone upset is the bad guy in this scenario.
Would YOU like it if some random person came up to YOU and said: “I thought you were hot, here’s some porn about characters who have nothing to do with you but happen to have your face!”
This is a JOB to actors. Maybe it’s a labor of love. Maybe they’re just collecting a pay check. They don’t have to reciprocate your love. They don’t have to ship your ships. And they SHOULD have the right to not engage with graphic sexual material in a public place!
I don’t know what the real story is behind this particular fan encounter. I suppose I could google it if I wanted. I’m just basing this response on the AUTHOR’s version of events. And said author, in my opinion, had a really fucking bad take.
This came back to mind after reading some of the Supernatural fandom’s responses to Misha Collins coming out. As though it doesn’t matter that an actor is being open with his sexuality, possibly risking professional consequences (which still happen. Consider how many out actors you know about. Consider the number of roles that you saw them in prior to coming out vs. afterward. Consider the TYPE of roles that they played before and after.) As though it won’t matter to his many young queer fans who may draw strength from him.
No, see, DESTIEL didn’t happen. Misha QUEER-BAITED them. So it’s perfectly fine to belittle what was probably a really big decision by this real life individual.
(Also, hi, very few actors are influential enough to determine whether or not a pairing happens. They may or may not support a ship themselves, and try to interact with fandom on that level, but they don’t make the final call. THEY are not the ones doing the queer-baiting!)
Actors are real people. They are not ken dolls that you can bang together for your amusement. And while it is absolutely cool to make all the fanfic and fanart that you like, you do NOT have to shove it in their face until or unless THEY want to engage with it and with you.
Do what you like, but leave real people alone.
Oh my god.
Apparently the poor guy has publicly stated that he misspoke and is actually straight. Fair enough.
I honestly think that the ugliest thing about fandom is the way that we intentionally ignore that there are real people involved in every side of this messy interaction. Including the creative side.
This is not a pro- vs. anti- thing, because honestly, I’ve seen very bad behavior on both sides,
I remember reading a lovely fanfic series, in a fandom I love, and with takes on the characters I actually agree with (rare in a huge fandom!), and I stumbled onto the author’s notes of one of the fics where they talk about some fandom incident where a creator apparently “forced” an actor to read slash fanfic, (the AUTHOR’s words, not mine!) and how the backlash was clearly some kind of anti-porn/sexuality crusade. This particular fic was a rejection of that idea, or some such nonsense.
And I remember boggling at this. I don’t know how you can look at a story where someone goes up to a complete stranger, even one who happens to play a role that you love, and shoves porn in their face and decide that anyone upset is the bad guy in this scenario.
Would YOU like it if some random person came up to YOU and said: “I thought you were hot, here’s some porn about characters who have nothing to do with you but happen to have your face!”
This is a JOB to actors. Maybe it’s a labor of love. Maybe they’re just collecting a pay check. They don’t have to reciprocate your love. They don’t have to ship your ships. And they SHOULD have the right to not engage with graphic sexual material in a public place!
I don’t know what the real story is behind this particular fan encounter. I suppose I could google it if I wanted. I’m just basing this response on the AUTHOR’s version of events. And said author, in my opinion, had a really fucking bad take.
This came back to mind after reading some of the Supernatural fandom’s responses to Misha Collins coming out. As though it doesn’t matter that an actor is being open with his sexuality, possibly risking professional consequences (which still happen. Consider how many out actors you know about. Consider the number of roles that you saw them in prior to coming out vs. afterward. Consider the TYPE of roles that they played before and after.) As though it won’t matter to his many young queer fans who may draw strength from him.
No, see, DESTIEL didn’t happen. Misha QUEER-BAITED them. So it’s perfectly fine to belittle what was probably a really big decision by this real life individual.
(Also, hi, very few actors are influential enough to determine whether or not a pairing happens. They may or may not support a ship themselves, and try to interact with fandom on that level, but they don’t make the final call. THEY are not the ones doing the queer-baiting!)
Actors are real people. They are not ken dolls that you can bang together for your amusement. And while it is absolutely cool to make all the fanfic and fanart that you like, you do NOT have to shove it in their face until or unless THEY want to engage with it and with you.
It is 2022, and somehow I’m still getting Avatar: the Last Airbender shipping nonsense on my dashboard.
It is 2022, and there are still people arguing adamantly and passionately about the comparative morality of a sixteen year old and a twelve year old and how this is completely representative as to which of them should end up with the fourteen year old girl at some point when they reach adulthood.
It is 2022, FOURTEEN YEARS after A:TLA ended. That is longer than Aang has been alive. That is Katara’s whole lifespan. Zuko would be two fucking years old. And people are still obsessed over the implicit sex lives of children.
Honestly, I don’t care who you ship. I don’t care if you take Korra as canon or not. But I will always think it’s really fucking bizarre when people will bend over backward to attack a literal twelve year old, and insist that his alleged immaturity, selfishness, and lack of ability to be a good partner (because, hello, he is TWELVE), is some kind of reflection of who he’ll be as an adult. As opposed to being TWELVE YEARS OLD.
I genuinely believe sometimes that shipping can warp the fannish brain, and Avatar: the Last Airbender is my exhibit A.
It’s so absurd. Taking Korra out of the equation, just looking at Avatar itself, we’re at least five to ten years before romance, sex, or marriage is likely on the table. That’s a long fucking time. People change and grow and relationships change and grow. Anything could happen. Any pairing is perfectly plausible. Heck, they could even decide to marry someone they meet *gasp* AS AN ADULT. You never know!
The fictional twelve year old isn’t your enemy. He’s only as much of an obstacle to your pairing as you want him to be.
And maybe we don’t need to be obsessing quite so hard about the sex lives of child characters?*
(* I know, I know, that part is like asking the Earth not to be round. Alas.)
The never ending trend of people reposting fanart then not giving credit/links or doing it in a manner where you can’t easily access a link or just saying “credit goes to X” is why many artists in fandom give up and stop sharing their work.
characters who continuously tell themselves they’re okay and even start to believe it until someone says their name very gently and asks if they’re alright, at which point the facade crumbles completely
So for those who might have missed it, yesterday there was a bit of a kerfluffle on Twitter involving David. Several people–food service workers and fans–reported seeing David in Cardiff, which may or may not be related to the filming of the Doctor Who60th anniversary special. One person in particular who tweeted about spotting David was a fan named Christine, who wrote the below tweet, which was then QTed by Georgia:
Almost immediately, fans on Twitter jumped all over it and accused this woman of lying. Without any hesitation or critical thinking of any kind, people in the DW fandom subjected her to vicious harassment and bullying and death threats (why?!), all because of being singled out by Georgia:
There are three distinct possibilities here that absolutely no one seemed to remotely consider before attacking this woman for no reason: 1) That she was just simply mistaken and not maliciously engaging in fabrication; 2) That this woman was actually telling the truth; or 3) That Georgia was the one lying, to create an alibi/cover for David.
Why and how some fans find it inconceivable that Georgia could be the one lying is beyond me, especially when it is entirely within the realm of possibility that he was filming in Cardiff and it was meant to be a secret. If that is the case and Georgia was trying to avoid confirming his presence in Cardiff, I completely understand. But this could have been handled radicallydifferently, and she did not need to draw attention to this woman’s tweet.
Why not post a screenshot with the name blurred out, or vague tweet something like “Apparently David is manifesting copies of himself in other places. Bit odd, because he just picked up the kids this afternoon…”? Or why not ignore the tweet altogether? Instead, whether she meant to or not, Georgia made this fan out to be a liar and set her up for abuse from the fandom, and that is unacceptable.
By all accounts, there is nothing that suggests this woman was a crazed stan or a confabulist, but what she was (and hopefully still is, despite all this) is a fan of David Tennant. David does not have a presence on social media, but is represented by Georgia, who does. So this woman would be hard-pressed not to believe that Georgia speaks for David in this case, and as a fan, I can think of few things that would be more upsetting than to think someone you admire is making fun of you and sanctioning others to do the same.
I have seen this happen in other fandoms before, which is why it was so frustrating to see it happen again yesterday. When someone who has power and a platform uses both to single out someone who has neither, this is exactly the result, and at best, it’s distasteful, but at worst, it (understandably) drives people out of fandoms for good.
I have no doubt Georgia has dealt with her share of crazy fans of David’s in the past, but it’s for that very reason (and all of the reasons above) that I believe she should’ve known better…
Listen, I will be the first one to jump on Georgia’s case when she does some wack shit–I mean, did she really need to respond to this person’s tweet, no– but I think the tone in Georgia’s tweet isn’t as pointed as y’all are making it out to be. If David really is apart of the 60th anniversary special for Doctor Who, no one is allowed to say anything about it until it’s announced, obviously. This could have just been Georgia’s (somewhat poorly executed) way of throwing suspicion off of David because the cast hasn’t been announced yet and I know they try really hard to keep stuff from leaking.
I think the people to blame here are the fans because everyone sees an inch and thinks they have the credit to take a mile instead. There was no need to be so hateful to that woman, regardless of what Georgia said. I don’t really think there was a problem with the way Georgia worded the tweet, but that’s just me. And like I said, I’d be the first one on her case if she did something out of line but honestly, I think the fans are the ones that need to step back and analyze their own behavior and answer to why they thought they could gaslight and be hateful to her when they weren’t with this woman and saw what she saw.
It’s just wild to me watching this unfold because we all know the anniversary is coming up, we all know there’s a really good chance David is going to be apart of it, we all know that information isn’t allowed to shared until it’s been made public; this is day one stuff. I’m like brand new to Doctor Who and even I know that. I know that not everyone is a fan of Doctor Who and so maybe the fans that were jumping down her throat didn’t know what was going on but I mean, the rumors have been circulating for a while about David’s appearance in the special, so unless you’re living under a rock, there’s no way fans haven’t heard it, even if they don’t watch Doctor Who.
So, yeah, the whole thing could have been avoided had Georgia just not said anything (Or even better really, if the woman had not said anything but I understand she was excited and she deserves to share her excitement) but I think the real question we need to ask is why is everyone being so fucking hateful and gaslighting this woman? We’re putting all the attention on Georgia’s tweet when what we really need to be focusing on is why we’re letting “fans” treat other fans like this… Anyways, that’s me ✌
I think we’re basically saying the same thing, and I agree wholeheartedly with what you’ve written here.
My reason for putting the attention on Georgia’s tweet is that her tweeting that was the whole catalyst for what followed. The reason fans felt like they could be so hateful and gaslight-y to this woman is because Georgia contradicted her, and played into the assumption fans were already naturally making, which is, “Georgia is David’s wife, she knows more about him than some Internet rando, therefore Internet rando is lying.” Many of these fans would have attacked this woman anyway (which, as you said, is a huge problem all by itself and absolutely does need to be addressed), but Georgia’s QT empowered these people further because it made them believe the person they look up to is on their side.
From what I have seen (with this being the latest instance), Georgia has passively let the fans think that on multiple occasions, because she does not say anything to the contrary. This is also something I have seen in other fandoms, where the celebrity (or celebrity-adjacent) person lets the fans do their dirty work for them. Georgia didn’t need to make her tweet sound pointed because the fans were all-too-happy to say the unspoken part out loud.
Again, do I think the fans need to be called out for their abusive and nasty behavior and told how unacceptable it is? Absolutely. Do I think these fans would have done this without Georgia saying anything? Probably. But the opportunity for them to do it would’ve been dramatically decreased if Georgia hadn’t drawn attention to that tweet in the first place.
I hope once it’s confirmed that he WAS in Cardiff this fan tells everyone “I told you so” and the bullies can FOAD
It’s not even the bullies that bother me so much as the fact that Georgia set the stage for this. Fans are going to do what fans are going to do, so I don’t blame them as much (although of course people are responsible for their own actions). But Georgia knowswhat fans are like, and she still chose to single this woman out. She subsequently left her tweet up despite the bullying that was happening, and didn’t write any sort of follow-up tweet after seeing the fallout that ensued. (Neil did exactly that a few days ago after a tweet he wrote was taken the wrong way and fans started bullying the person he had responded to, so it is something Georgia could have easily done.)
In any case, it was at least nice to see that some people commenting on Twitter had a problem with this and did see through Georgia and were calling her out on her poor form in handling the situation. I’m with you in hoping that this fan is eventually proven correct, though. and my fingers are crossed. Only time will tell…
So for those who might have missed it, yesterday there was a bit of a kerfluffle on Twitter involving David. Several people–food service workers and fans–reported seeing David in Cardiff, which may or may not be related to the filming of the Doctor Who60th anniversary special. One person in particular who tweeted about spotting David was a fan named Christine, who wrote the below tweet, which was then QTed by Georgia:
Almost immediately, fans on Twitter jumped all over it and accused this woman of lying. Without any hesitation or critical thinking of any kind, people in the DW fandom subjected her to vicious harassment and bullying and death threats (why?!), all because of being singled out by Georgia:
There are three distinct possibilities here that absolutely no one seemed to remotely consider before attacking this woman for no reason: 1) That she was just simply mistaken and not maliciously engaging in fabrication; 2) That this woman was actually telling the truth; or 3) That Georgia was the one lying, to create an alibi/cover for David.
Why and how some fans find it inconceivable that Georgia could be the one lying is beyond me, especially when it is entirely within the realm of possibility that he was filming in Cardiff and it was meant to be a secret. If that is the case and Georgia was trying to avoid confirming his presence in Cardiff, I completely understand. But this could have been handled radicallydifferently, and she did not need to draw attention to this woman’s tweet.
Why not post a screenshot with the name blurred out, or vague tweet something like “Apparently David is manifesting copies of himself in other places. Bit odd, because he just picked up the kids this afternoon…”? Or why not ignore the tweet altogether? Instead, whether she meant to or not, Georgia made this fan out to be a liar and set her up for abuse from the fandom, and that is unacceptable.
By all accounts, there is nothing that suggests this woman was a crazed stan or a confabulist, but what she was (and hopefully still is, despite all this) is a fan of David Tennant. David does not have a presence on social media, but is represented by Georgia, who does. So this woman would be hard-pressed not to believe that Georgia speaks for David in this case, and as a fan, I can think of few things that would be more upsetting than to think someone you admire is making fun of you and sanctioning others to do the same.
I have seen this happen in other fandoms before, which is why it was so frustrating to see it happen again yesterday. When someone who has power and a platform uses both to single out someone who has neither, this is exactly the result, and at best, it’s distasteful, but at worst, it (understandably) drives people out of fandoms for good.
I have no doubt Georgia has dealt with her share of crazy fans of David’s in the past, but it’s for that very reason (and all of the reasons above) that I believe she should’ve known better…
I’d say at the very least it’s probably an assholeish thing to do? By all means think it, say it elsewhere on your blog but the artist likely sees those tags. I’d leave it at ‘nice art’ personally, it’d annoy me if someone did it to me.
Yeah, the more I think about it - the more I’m realizing “nah, that’s an asshole thing - don’t say that.”
I do think it’s a different thing to say ‘do I ship this now? I think I do’ or ‘ok now this i can get behind’ or ‘i really like what you’ve done with x’ or something to that effect. That’d be pretty cool, and would make the artist fell pretty chuffed I’d say, since there are many different interpretations of a ship and some are better than others. Most people in fandom are aware of this I think.
However tags like ‘pretty art… but i hate this ship its so toxic’ (which I have seen people tag art before) is just… Why would someone do that? Their followers probably know/infer that if they don’t reblog the ship much. Take a chill pill and either don’t reblog the art or bite your tongue, peeps.
not to be a bitch but when i, someone who will be 23 this year, post about wanting more lesbians in media i don’t want to be told to watch children’s cartoons
I am the impressionable idiot woman everyone’s always moralsposting about on here with regard to the contagious nature of heinous and villainous acts in fiction because whenever I read about fraud I’m like fuck I need to do financial crime so bad. I want to do chicanery so bad
