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Hello, people grappling with yet another accusation of a beloved creator who is known to be personally shitty being shitty.
I can offer you some wisdom.
I can offer you some wisdom.
See...
And, I don't talk about this frequently...
But, I grew up in a household that LOVED Woody Allen films.
And, I don't talk about this frequently...
But, I grew up in a household that LOVED Woody Allen films.
Like, when my peers were watching Nickelodeon or whatever people with cable watched, I was wearing out a VHS recording of a Woody Allen movie marathon we taped of PBS.
I had entire lines of dialogue memorized.
I had entire lines of dialogue memorized.
When, in my early teens, UPN aired a made for tv movie about Allen's relationship with Soon-Yi Previn, my mom turned it off and I snuck upstairs to watch it on the black and white TV in my room.
Still, Allen's movies were so important to my sense of humor and family's inside jokes that I just tried to ignore it until I was in my late 20s and, while in bed with a stomach bug, fell down a rabbit hole reading about Dylan Farrow's abuse.
So, you're grappling, having stanned the work of a shitty creator for years.
Welcome.
Let's get into the fiddly-bits.
Welcome.
Let's get into the fiddly-bits.
I just want to get this one out of the way: People can be awful regardless of their political affiliation and you can't use political leanings with which you agree as shorthand for being a good dude. Sorry.
"I love this fandom. Does that mean I'm a bad person now?"
Well, if you ignore the accusations and go on pretending you didn't read them, if you go a step further and attack the accused... then, yeah.
If you're only now accepting that accusations against the creator, you're a bit late to the party, but move forward as you should have a few years ago.
Express that the creator shouldn't continue to be hired to protect people they work with, don't boost their work or consume new work.
If you continue to watch their older shows, you'll probably develop a newly critical eye for contextualizing characters and plotlines. It's a valuable skill.
If you want to continue to engage in the fandom without putting money into the creator's pocket, there's fanfic and RPG homebrews.
(Jesus, a Woody Allen ttrpg would be godawful).
(Jesus, a Woody Allen ttrpg would be godawful).
If you're a creator who has been influenced by them, DO BETTER, both in your work, your life, and your community.
Here's the other thing: It gets easier.
You'll find other media to fill that hole...
You'll find other media to fill that hole...
But, this is the important part, it'll also get easier to reject shitty creators, toxic fandoms, problematic works the more you do it.
It might be an underused muscle now, but (metaphorically) killing your heroes is valuable both in relationship to people, imaginary worlds, social media personality, political history, and so much more.
Practice knocking over pedestals.
It'll serve you well.
It'll serve you well.
