Art will never be perfect. It can’t be. It’s good to question and criticize, but there’s a limit. Mostly what I see is fandoms morphing into religious congregations, each espousing their canonical view of the “True” version. And these attacks and vitriol are inquisitions. 1/8 https://twitter.com/batlethbabe/status/1348320615758000130

When fans start treating franchises like religion, they fall into the trap of looking for the thing they love to validate them. Personal identity becomes tied to the franchise and its ideals, and if that property tells stories that challenge their identity you get pushback. 2/8

A challenge to the property, or a shift in focus becomes a personal attack, because their sense of self identity is being called into question. And that can be traumatic, especially if that individual solely identifies as part of some franchise. Gatekeeping stems from this. 3/8

And that’s where the toxic fandom menace comes into play. Many self identify with a franchise that historically centers “certain” people. When that focus shifts it can feel like erasure. You see this happening right now in U.S. right-wing extremism. 4/8

All this is to say, when fans (on either side of an issue) get a critique or a negative review, or a positive review of something they feel erased in you get more aggressive and abusive behaviors. And you forget it’s all make believe storytelling anyway. 5/8

And the storytelling is what matters. What do the imperfect writers of imperfect people of an imperfect show want me to think about today? The canon, the fanfic, predicting... it’s fun, but it’s not what matters. The characters and their journey matters. 6/8

And if the main character is someone you can’t make yourself empathize with? You might want to start there. Why is it ok to ask everyone to see themselves in a cishet yt male, but you recoil at having to do that for a woman, BIPOC, lgbtq+, or god forbid all of the above! 7/8

And you know that’s what it is because any genuine criticism is entered into the discourse. Complaints that are masking the truth about no longer feeling adequately represented or centered are really easy to pick out and debunk. So that’s what I see happening, maybe I’m wrong 8/8

And maybe I’m about to lose the few followers I do have.