Meta Links (25/07/13 - 31/07/13)
Aug. 1st, 2013 12:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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metanewsNotices
We are now posting to tumblr (metanewsfandom) as well. Will update the FAQ and profile soon.
Also there will be no post on the 21st of August, to give the mods time to sort out our tags. (tumblr posts are currently untagged.)
If you have meta to sumbit or rec, please comment to this post or to the screened Submissions Post. If you'd like to give us blanket permission to link your meta please comment to the Blanket Permissions Post. If you have feedback or questions, check out our FAQ, Contact the Mods, or PM/email. If you'd like to volunteer to link-find or mod, please comment to the Volunteers Post.
General Fandom
Fic is a window into the ~soul.: 12_12_12 (DW) - "I wonder why it's so much easier to obfuscate and be dishonest when you're just writing reaction posts, compared to when you're writing fic. "
The 5 Ugly Lessons Hiding in Every Superhero Movie: David Wong (blog) - "In 2012, superhero movies took No. 1 and No. 2 at the box office, and it will probably happen again in 2013 (in 2014 there are, by my rough count, about 600 superhero movies scheduled). Nothing stops this train. So I know what you're asking: Is the sudden, raging success of this genre a sign of a toxic corruption in the collective soul of our society?"
Why I Didn’t Cosplay (But Now I Do) Tabitha Grace Smith - Docter Her: (blog) - "It was a hard post to write because normally I’m extremely confident. I have a very strong “you don’t like me? That’s fine!” kind of attitude. Except when it came to cosplaying. Yet, the response to the blog post was resounding and supportive. I found out that I wasn’t alone in my fears and I wasn’t alone in being a plus-sized cosplayer. "
You Are Wrong: A Place to Start quinn - ThoughtCrime: (blog) - "Instead, acknowledge that whatever your creative mind is weaving is probably wrong. But also acknowledge that you can’t fix the wrong until something exists."
Free Association on Free Speech quinn - ThoughtCrime: (blog) - "Free speech means you can say what you want. It does not mean your speech is free of consequence, or that it has freedom from critique. To expect such is to advocate an environment that is the opposite of free speech. It is a tyranny where only one side gets to say what they want while everyone deals with the damage it causes. "
Gamechangers: transforming genre conventions into storytelling possibilities Richard Rosenbaum - Overthinking It: (blog) - "We’ve been telling stories for a long time. Thanks largely to technological progress we’ve got a host of new media to play around with than we did thousands of years ago, but we’ve also hit more than a few dead ends, worn out genres or explored them seemingly to exhaustion. But the most innovative storytellers are capable of revitalizing modes of narrative, escaping from entrenched clichés and tropes that have been driven into the ground, taking things to the next plateau and forcing future creators not to settle for mediocrity."
Why LiveJournal still rules in Russia Nastacia Leshchinskaya - Daily Dot: (blog) - "As a real, childhood-in-a-snowsuit Russian, I think the appeal lies in LiveJournal’s no-frills style. It’s remained an unfaltering beacon of the sort of burlap utilitarianism that appeals to a Russian audience. In this case at least, basic is better."
Girls Who Like Girls But Only If They Like Other Girls RiGHT : pocochina (DW) - "So this started out as a quick response to a meme way back when. And then it turned into a ~thing. And then it collected stray thoughts from everywhere. And now it's at least three posts of me being increasingly contrary about the Doing FanFeminism Right consensus."
Specific Fandoms
Adventure Time
Adventure Time’s Amoral Compass Stokes - Overthinking It: (blog) - "Adventure Time hits this particular note so frequently, and so hard, that it would be easy to read the show as a kind of libertarian fable about the law of unintended consequences. Ameliorist, interventionist social policies just end up hurting the very segments of society that they were trying to benefit....But I don’t think the show is really libertarian, deep down. (We see the failure of ameliorist policies, but we don’t see the free market providing a solution to the same set of problems.) Rather, the driving message seems to be that, because trying will only make things worse, we are morally licensed to not try."
Arrow
The Problem Of Felicity Smoak: Jennifer Crusie (blog) - "Sometimes one character can upset a whole story plan. "
DCCU: Man of Steel
Interstellar Extradition, Part II: Ex parte Kal-El Ben Adams - Overthinking It: (blog) - "It seems clear that at least for our purposes, Zod and his spaceship would be treated as if it were a nation, and that Kal-El would be treated as if he were a Kryptonian citizen. So we have a situation not unlike the drama involving Edward Snowden: a nation is requesting the return of one of its citizens from the territory of another nation."
Game of Thrones
Meta Monday: Hospitality: justadram (tumblr) - " Hospitality and guest rights are as old as time immemorial in Westeros and in our world as well. Today’s topic is hospitality in its various forms, the laws that govern it, and what inspires those laws in both Westeros and medieval Europe."
Hunger Games
Why I believe the idea that we see the last of “real Peeta” in Catching Fire is a false concept.: dispatchesfromdistrict7 (tumblr) - "Occasionally I see an interpretation of Peeta Mellark circulate that really bothers me because I feel like it’s an inaccurate characterization. The essence of these posts is this, “The last time we see the real Peeta is in Catching Fire.” This indicates that the Peeta Mellark we see through the rest of the series is a “fake Peeta,” not the one the fans have come to know and love, and potentially never quite as good."
In the Heat of the Night
Trayvon Martin, Virgil Tibbs, And Why ‘In The Heat Of The Night’ Still Matters Alyssa Rosenberg - ThinkProgress: (blog) - "But both are stories about black men who are deemed suspicious in communities where they had every right to be, but where they were not well-known. And Tibbs’ misadventures in Sparta provide a potential answer to Amy’s question that’s not the one a great number of people want to hear: even if Trayvon Martin had found some way to make himself more comforting to George Zimmerman, he still might have ended up dead."
Legend of Korra
Legend of a Strong Female Heroine: Korra’s Journey Lex: (blog) - "As the teenaged Avatar-in-training, Korra’s strength as a bender is inherent to her existence. The scope of her power is showcased in a number of visible instances.... If this were the only side to Korra’s strength, her character would not be particularly distinctive or interesting. Fortunately, the series emphasizes another form of strength, as well."
Kpop
Bad Girl, Good Girl: Gender and Sexuality in Kpop Raizel Liebler - The Learned Fangirl: (blog) - "Overall, the message is — being a bad boy is something that can be excused, being a bad girl break some guy’s heart through being cold (and cheaty), so being a good girl is where it’s at. Because bad girls are just wrong!"
Star Wars
What if Anakin Skywalker Never Turned to the Dark Side?: Ken Miyamoto (blog) - "After reading the initial question, without the details listed, my first and foremost reaction was that Anakin Skywalker NOT turning to the Dark Side would have had drastic consequences in the galaxy far, far, away. "
Teen Wolf/Supernatural
"Hunting Family" Values: a Critical Examination of the Argents & the Winchesters: saathi1013 (DW) - "'[H]unting' – both real and in these fictional 'verses – is a lot more complicated than most people generally seem to grok15. It’s not inextricably tied to dysfunction, but when dysfunctional family dynamics get added to the mix, things get exponentially more complicated."
We are now posting to tumblr (metanewsfandom) as well. Will update the FAQ and profile soon.
Also there will be no post on the 21st of August, to give the mods time to sort out our tags. (tumblr posts are currently untagged.)
If you have meta to sumbit or rec, please comment to this post or to the screened Submissions Post. If you'd like to give us blanket permission to link your meta please comment to the Blanket Permissions Post. If you have feedback or questions, check out our FAQ, Contact the Mods, or PM/email. If you'd like to volunteer to link-find or mod, please comment to the Volunteers Post.
General Fandom
Fic is a window into the ~soul.: 12_12_12 (DW) - "I wonder why it's so much easier to obfuscate and be dishonest when you're just writing reaction posts, compared to when you're writing fic. "
topic: fanfic, topic: writing
The 5 Ugly Lessons Hiding in Every Superhero Movie: David Wong (blog) - "In 2012, superhero movies took No. 1 and No. 2 at the box office, and it will probably happen again in 2013 (in 2014 there are, by my rough count, about 600 superhero movies scheduled). Nothing stops this train. So I know what you're asking: Is the sudden, raging success of this genre a sign of a toxic corruption in the collective soul of our society?"
fandom: MCU, fandom: DCCU
Why I Didn’t Cosplay (But Now I Do) Tabitha Grace Smith - Docter Her: (blog) - "It was a hard post to write because normally I’m extremely confident. I have a very strong “you don’t like me? That’s fine!” kind of attitude. Except when it came to cosplaying. Yet, the response to the blog post was resounding and supportive. I found out that I wasn’t alone in my fears and I wasn’t alone in being a plus-sized cosplayer. "
topic: cosplay
You Are Wrong: A Place to Start quinn - ThoughtCrime: (blog) - "Instead, acknowledge that whatever your creative mind is weaving is probably wrong. But also acknowledge that you can’t fix the wrong until something exists."
topic: writing
Free Association on Free Speech quinn - ThoughtCrime: (blog) - "Free speech means you can say what you want. It does not mean your speech is free of consequence, or that it has freedom from critique. To expect such is to advocate an environment that is the opposite of free speech. It is a tyranny where only one side gets to say what they want while everyone deals with the damage it causes. "
topic: free speech
Gamechangers: transforming genre conventions into storytelling possibilities Richard Rosenbaum - Overthinking It: (blog) - "We’ve been telling stories for a long time. Thanks largely to technological progress we’ve got a host of new media to play around with than we did thousands of years ago, but we’ve also hit more than a few dead ends, worn out genres or explored them seemingly to exhaustion. But the most innovative storytellers are capable of revitalizing modes of narrative, escaping from entrenched clichés and tropes that have been driven into the ground, taking things to the next plateau and forcing future creators not to settle for mediocrity."
topic: writing
Why LiveJournal still rules in Russia Nastacia Leshchinskaya - Daily Dot: (blog) - "As a real, childhood-in-a-snowsuit Russian, I think the appeal lies in LiveJournal’s no-frills style. It’s remained an unfaltering beacon of the sort of burlap utilitarianism that appeals to a Russian audience. In this case at least, basic is better."
topic: livejournal
Girls Who Like Girls But Only If They Like Other Girls RiGHT : pocochina (DW) - "So this started out as a quick response to a meme way back when. And then it turned into a ~thing. And then it collected stray thoughts from everywhere. And now it's at least three posts of me being increasingly contrary about the Doing FanFeminism Right consensus."
topic: feminism, topic: fandom, character: female, topic: character bashing
Specific Fandoms
Adventure Time
Adventure Time’s Amoral Compass Stokes - Overthinking It: (blog) - "Adventure Time hits this particular note so frequently, and so hard, that it would be easy to read the show as a kind of libertarian fable about the law of unintended consequences. Ameliorist, interventionist social policies just end up hurting the very segments of society that they were trying to benefit....But I don’t think the show is really libertarian, deep down. (We see the failure of ameliorist policies, but we don’t see the free market providing a solution to the same set of problems.) Rather, the driving message seems to be that, because trying will only make things worse, we are morally licensed to not try."
fandom: Adventure Time, topic: fairy tales, topic: morality
Arrow
The Problem Of Felicity Smoak: Jennifer Crusie (blog) - "Sometimes one character can upset a whole story plan. "
fandom: Arrow, topic: shipping, character: female, topic: character development
DCCU: Man of Steel
Interstellar Extradition, Part II: Ex parte Kal-El Ben Adams - Overthinking It: (blog) - "It seems clear that at least for our purposes, Zod and his spaceship would be treated as if it were a nation, and that Kal-El would be treated as if he were a Kryptonian citizen. So we have a situation not unlike the drama involving Edward Snowden: a nation is requesting the return of one of its citizens from the territory of another nation."
fandom: DCCU, character: superman, topic: law
Game of Thrones
Meta Monday: Hospitality: justadram (tumblr) - " Hospitality and guest rights are as old as time immemorial in Westeros and in our world as well. Today’s topic is hospitality in its various forms, the laws that govern it, and what inspires those laws in both Westeros and medieval Europe."
fandom: game of thrones
Hunger Games
Why I believe the idea that we see the last of “real Peeta” in Catching Fire is a false concept.: dispatchesfromdistrict7 (tumblr) - "Occasionally I see an interpretation of Peeta Mellark circulate that really bothers me because I feel like it’s an inaccurate characterization. The essence of these posts is this, “The last time we see the real Peeta is in Catching Fire.” This indicates that the Peeta Mellark we see through the rest of the series is a “fake Peeta,” not the one the fans have come to know and love, and potentially never quite as good."
fandom: hunger games
In the Heat of the Night
Trayvon Martin, Virgil Tibbs, And Why ‘In The Heat Of The Night’ Still Matters Alyssa Rosenberg - ThinkProgress: (blog) - "But both are stories about black men who are deemed suspicious in communities where they had every right to be, but where they were not well-known. And Tibbs’ misadventures in Sparta provide a potential answer to Amy’s question that’s not the one a great number of people want to hear: even if Trayvon Martin had found some way to make himself more comforting to George Zimmerman, he still might have ended up dead."
fandom: in the heat of the night, topic: race
Legend of Korra
Legend of a Strong Female Heroine: Korra’s Journey Lex: (blog) - "As the teenaged Avatar-in-training, Korra’s strength as a bender is inherent to her existence. The scope of her power is showcased in a number of visible instances.... If this were the only side to Korra’s strength, her character would not be particularly distinctive or interesting. Fortunately, the series emphasizes another form of strength, as well."
fandom: Legend of Korra, character: Korra
Kpop
Bad Girl, Good Girl: Gender and Sexuality in Kpop Raizel Liebler - The Learned Fangirl: (blog) - "Overall, the message is — being a bad boy is something that can be excused, being a bad girl break some guy’s heart through being cold (and cheaty), so being a good girl is where it’s at. Because bad girls are just wrong!"
fandom: kpop
Star Wars
What if Anakin Skywalker Never Turned to the Dark Side?: Ken Miyamoto (blog) - "After reading the initial question, without the details listed, my first and foremost reaction was that Anakin Skywalker NOT turning to the Dark Side would have had drastic consequences in the galaxy far, far, away. "
fandom: star wars
Teen Wolf/Supernatural
"Hunting Family" Values: a Critical Examination of the Argents & the Winchesters: saathi1013 (DW) - "'[H]unting' – both real and in these fictional 'verses – is a lot more complicated than most people generally seem to grok15. It’s not inextricably tied to dysfunction, but when dysfunctional family dynamics get added to the mix, things get exponentially more complicated."
fandom: teen wolf, fandom: supernatural
