6/11/2014-12/11/2014

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General Fandom
Mpreg, Science and you: melannen (tumblr) - "Fandom seems to have collectively decided that, okay, fine, male pregnancy can be a thing if you REALLY WANT IT to be a thing and you throw in some magic or aliens or whatever, but you'd better give him a Caesarean section, because assbabies are just completely beyond the pale."

topic:mpreg, topic:science

Keeping score in the DC vs. Marvel diversity arms race: Gavia Baker-Whitelaw (blog) - "To go by stereotypes, DC is seen to cater to the cliche of the straight, white, male fanboy, whereas Marvel is more successful in attracting new or nontraditional audiences."

topic:comics, topic:movies, fandom:mcu, fandom:dccu, fandom:marvelcomics, fandom:dccomics

What the movies teach us about robots: Chris Osterndorf (blog) - "From the eerie Maria of Fritz Lang's Metropolis, to the adorable Pixar duo of WALL-E and EVE, robots have always captured our attention at the movies, and with the way things are going, chances are they always will."

topic:movies, topic:science

Fangirls in the Crosshairs: Lori Morimoto (blog) - "Terms like "rabid" (recalling all those women apparently trying to tear the clothes from Valentino in a piranha-like feeding frenzy) and "hysterical" (begging for any job) are today so entwined with mass media characterizations of female fandom as to be indistinguishable from them, punctuated by a veritable banquet of frighteningly embodied behaviors – crying, screaming, throbbing, wailing."

topic:fandom, topic:misogyny

Natalie Dormer: "We Don't Have Enough Young, Female Antiheroes": Victoria McNally (blog) - "You know how male characters get to be jerks and terrible people all the time, but a female character acts mean to one person and they're suddenly the worst?"

topic:femalecharacter

Why we don't talk about fan labor: Keidra (blog) - "This time, I was invited to talk about the history of fandom and fan-fiction (along with the delightful Ray Van Fox) which was flattering and a bit hilarious, because I checked shortly after the invite and the last time I wrote anything coming close to fan-fiction was in 2004, which means there are kids who are about to start thinking of junior high, who were born when I last wrote fic."

topic:fandom

"Slash Wife Syndrome": madlori (blog) - "Because of the fic I'm currently writing, I've been spending a lot of time thinking about women in slash fics, more specifically, wives in slash fics. As in, a female character who is married to one half of the author's desired slash pairing. Characters in this position traditionally do not come off too well."

topic:fanfic, topic:femalecharacter, topic:slash

Steampunk and the Heroine's Journey: Part Four: Mary Sheridan (blog) - "For decades, Steampunk authors have shaken up genre fiction norms by bending tropes and character archetypes as often as they have time and space, in order to write whatever tale they wish to tell in whatever way they wish to tell it. "Kickass" Victorian women, for example, long dismissed as a contradiction in terms or considered ridiculous fantasy, now appear as protagonists on a regular basis. At the same time, there is an apparent influx of female authors adding modern feminine and feminist perspectives to Steampunk novels."

topic:femalecharacter, topic:herosjourney, topic:feminism

Specific Fandoms

Batman
The Dark Knight's ROI's: Ben Adams (blog) - "I made this observation to one of my best friends from college, and it got us to thinking: why DOESN'T Bruce Wayne just use his money to accomplish his goals? Couldn't he use his vast wealth to terrify the criminal element, instead of his vast muscles?"

fandom:dccu, fandom:dccomics

Big Hero 6
I Used To Be Excited for Big Hero 6: An Asian-American's Perspective: Sunny Huang (blog) - "Frozen generateda firestorm of controversybefore it was released in mass and niche publications, yet there is little for Big Hero 6, which goes to show just how much Asians and Asian-inspired media are pushed out of the conversation."

fandom:bighero6

Constantine
Show and Tellblazer - Constantine: "The Devil's Vinyl": Jill Pantozzi (blog) - "Comic character Papa Midnite made his debut on last night's Constantine. Find out what other fans have to say about the episode "The Devil's Vinyl.""

fandom:constantine

Constantine and the new breed of TV adaptations: English Scribbler (blog) - "Of late, my television has become infested with what appears to be a demonic curse of lazy greed, conjured up from Hell by an instinctive belief that people only prefer the familiar, the previous, the safe - as if we only ever fall for someone who looks like our ex."

fandom:constantine

Constantine or when the imitators eclipse the original: Cora Buhlert (blog) - "But then it hit me: I had seen and read this story told a thousand times before. Every single element seemed familiar to me, because it was. Not necessarily from the Hellblazer comics themselves, but from the many urban fantasy novels and supernatural noir TV shows inspired by them."

fandom:constantine

Criminal Minds
I tried to watch Criminal Minds today: staranise (DW) - "I first watched Criminal Minds five years ago, when I was a bebe!undergrad. I haven't seen it almost at all for three years or so, and I spent those three years becoming a psychotherapist."

fandom:criminalminds

DC Comics
Batgirl, a Parable for Online Culture: Elizabeth O'Neill (blog) - "Batgirl #35 has a through-line of how vulnerable personal information is, once thrown to the mercy of the interwebs."

fandom:dccomics

The Team Behind the New Batgirl Comic Talk Internet Villains and Gendered Expectations: Sam Maggs (blog) - "We had the chance to sit down with the creative team behind the comic at New York Comic Con, and talk about the reception to their first issue, their new approach to Babs, and where she's going next."

fandom:dccomics

Doctor Who
Is Doctor Who's Missy Reveal Progressive or Patronizing: Sarah Arboleda (blog) - "I'll be honest — I really wasn't expecting Moffat to surprise me in this episode. Instead, there were two proper, spine-tingling, didn't-see-it-coming surprises."

fandom:doctorwho, warning:spoilers

Doctor Who's Unsung MVP: Samuel Anderson: Arturo R. Garcia (blog) - "But we'd like to argue that — somewhat unexpectedly — the show's most valuable player this season was Samuel Anderson's Danny Pink. The character many probably expected to be the show's third wheel turned into its moral compass."

fandom:doctorwho

Dragon Age
Sexism in Dragon Age: The Difference Between Intent and Negligence: Tsunderin (blog) - "Very early this week, a submission on Dragon Age Confessions expressed disappointment with the in-game world of Thedas concerning the state of sexism especially as it applies to the women of the series."

fandom:dragonage, topic:sexism

Magical Mondays: Beyond Good and Evil - Spirits and Demons in Dragon Age: Tsunderin (blog) - "I've always found magic within the Dragon Age universe to be an interesting topic—perhaps strangely so, because the magic itself isn't groundbreaking and neither is the treatment of the universe's mages."

fandom:dragonage

The Flash
Physics Students Say Getting Saved By The Flash Might Injure You More: Victoria McNally (blog) - "A brief paper written by students at the University of Leicester and recently published in the school's Physics Special Topics journal looks at a scene from the trailer of The Flash (specifically, this one below) to see if Barry Allen's heroism actually pays off in the real world where regular physics exists."

fandom:theflash

Hannibal
"Psychiatrists; Somnambulists: The Influence of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari On Brian Fuller's Hannibal: meejaleibling (blog) - "In guiding students through an analysis of Hannibal's first episode Apéritif, I came across one shot which resonated with me particularly because it reminded me of a moment in The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920, dir. Robert Weine). If one shot was a potential reference to Caligari, then what other connections between a contemporary American network drama and a German Expressionist film could there be?"

fandom:hannibal

Harry Potter
Bullying vs. Compassion: Psychology Lessons from Harry Potter: Dr. Janina Scarlet (blog) - "Harry Potter, "the boy who lived," is one of the most famous and influential fictional series, alongside classics like Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. What's especially striking about the Potter series is how accurately author J. K. Rowling illustrates the terrible struggles many of us face; among them, bullying and prejudice, which are arguably the main themes of the series."

fandom:harrypotter

Indiana Jones
Oh, My Pop Culture Religion: Indiana Jones and the Neutered Belief Systems: Lady Saika (blog) - "Upon our most recent rewatch, however, I was struck by the realization that they are just some of a number of movies and franchises in which the narrative of the movie itself proves the existence of a certain religion's God, while at the same time undermining that religion's believers."

fandom:indianajones, topic:religion

Interstellar
The 7 biggest problems with 'Interstellar': Nico Lang (blog) - "Although Interstellar is playing well with the fanboy crowd (who gave it high marks on cinema-dudebro-friendly IMDb, where three of Nolan's movies count in the top 20 user-rated movies), it's proven divisive with critics."

fandom:interstellar

Neil deGrasse Tyson rants about 'Interstellar' plot holes: Gavia Baker-Whitelaw (blog) - "Neil Degrasse Tyson had surprisingly few problems with the science of Interstellar, praising the movie for its depiction of relativity and wormholes. But as a casual viewer, Tyson spotted quite a few plot holes."

fandom:interstellar

Jane the Virgin
But seriously, watch Jane the Virgin: Viv (blog) - "As a result, we're going to highlight a character each week and discuss what we like about them. And for the first week, we're going with the titular character, Jane Villanueva, played by Gina Rodriguez."

fandom:janethevirgin

Legend of Korra
Sexualized Saturdays: Bolin and Eska's Relationship Is Not Funny: cloudnoodle (blog) - "However, Book 2 of Korra contains one plotline that seriously bothers me: the relationship between Bolin and Eska."

fandom:legendofkorra

Leverage
Reading Parker As Asexual: meridian_rose (LJ) - "I didn't think about it too much until after the show was over, being more concerned that Parker's developing relationship with Hardison didn't detract from her overall screen time or characterisation. I need not have worried on that front, and I'll mention their romance again shortly. Afterwards though, I started to think that Parker can be easily read as being on the asexual spectrum."

fandom:leverage, topic:asexuality

Marvel Cinematic Universe
Marvel Mayhem on Assembly of Geeks: Assembly of Geeks (podcast) - "NINE MORE MARVEL MOVIES in the next FIVE YEARS! Marvel recently announced that line-up to the world and the Geek Assembly is meeting this week to make sense of it all!"

fandom:mcu

Captain America TFA Costuming Meta: kk-maker (tumblr) - "No, see, this scene is just amazing. The costume department deserves so many kudos for this, it's unreal, especially given the fact that they pulled off Peggy pretty much flawlessly"

fandom:mcu, topic:costumes

Untitled: morethanprinceofcats (tumblr) - "So, I was talking to somebody today, and took a couple of shots at Avengers. But afterward I was like, "What if she doesn't know I hate Avengers? What if she doesn't know why?" After all, if you try to find my actual Avengers review, it's pretty glowing, because it took me a few months to admit that a film I spent so much time looking forward to was crap."

fandom:mcu

Naruto
'Naruto' fans react to an ending 15 years in the making: Aja Romano (blog) - "Naruto, one of the biggest manga phenomenons in recent memory, has finally come to a close—and as with all the other great Endings, it's controversial."

fandom:naruto, warning:spoilers

Outlander
Can we talk about the rape scenes in 'Outlander' yet?: Kaitlin Soligan (blog) - "The episode, "Both Sides Now," had two back-to-back scenes of attempted rape, showing us "both sides" of what happens when a hit TV show tries to portray sexual violence (hint: one of those sides is terrible)."

fandom:outlander, warning:rape

Person Of Interest
Prophets Analysis and Review: centaurianthropology (tumblr) - "After two weeks of non-big-picture story, we're back into the battle of the AIs with a vengeance. Accompanying that battle is a lot more information about artificial intelligence,"

fandom:personofinterest

Sherlock
Citizen Kane and His Last Vow: mid0nz (blog) - "Citizen Kane is the most famous and most critically acclaimed film in all of cinema history. It's an obviousintertext to His Last Vow."

fandom:bbcsherlock

A Song of Ice and Fire
Chaos Is a Ladder: Chris Kesner (blog) - "On the surface of things, Communism and fantasy literature have little in common. But most astute readers know not to judge a book by its cover."

fandom:asoiaf

Ruminations About the World of Ice & Fire: Stefan (blog) - "Now that The World of Ice & Fire has been published, it vindicates or falsifies many of the theories out there and fills in some (but by no means all) blanks that are left from the books and the novellas that George R. R. Martin published so far. I don't want to go through the book in chronological order, though. Steven Attewell already does that. So what I'll do is elaborate on some points that I found especially noteworthy. However, I will continue Steven's tradition of looking at which of my essays are vindicated by this stuff - or not."

fandom:asoiaf

On the Nature of Westerosi Feudalism (x-posted from Tumblr): Steven Attewell - "So a while back, I got into a bit of a debate with yuyurana andmightyisobel about the nature of Westerosi feudalism, whether serfdom existed in Westeros, and to what extent the smallfolk had/have political agency in their own land."

fandom:asoiaf

Radio Westeros E07 Stannis Baratheon - A Just Man: Radio Westeros (podcast) - "Yolkboy and Lady Gwyn look at Stannis Baratheon with special guest Jeff Hartline, aka BryndenBFish. Analysis of his personality and military abilities, including segments on his
humour and his principal advisers Davos and Melisandre."

fandom:asoiaf

Star Wars
Setting the Table on Star Wars: Nerd Lunch (podcast) - "In episode 153 – "Setting the Table on Star Wars" hosts CT and Pax, returning guest Michael May, and I run through all six Star Wars movies, a couple of Star Wars TV shows, and even a bit of the Star Wars Expanded Universe. We cover stories, characters, places, ships, special effects, and yes, even special editions."

fandom:starwars

DVT Rebel Yell - Breaking Ranks: DVT Rebel Yell (podcast) - "Steve and Teresa are joined by Geek_Kay from Fangirl Blog to discuss the fourth episode proper of season one of Star Wars Rebels – Breaking Ranks."

fandom:starwars