Exclusive Insanity

So, there seems to be some kind of movement with published authors on the 'net - not an actual organized anything, but Diana Gabaldon posted something on the subject and now it seems that George R.R. Martin has done the same.

The topic in question is fanfiction, and I believe the main point of the argument is that it is immoral to be writing fanfiction. There's some question of the legality - fanfic has always been on the borderline of legality - but I think this is really a question of morality.

herongale did an excellent post on the subject here, which I think anyone interested in the topic should read. She also posted it as a response to GRRM and was blithely ignored, it seems. I was skimming some of the comments and it kind of struck me how little the original posters were willing to really listen to what those who disagreed with them had to say.

( But I will post what I have to say anyway )

EDIT: Thanks to gossymer, I found another great rant on the subject. Go read it. It's excellent.

EDIT THE SECOND: Two more links: here and here.

I was browsing around on some anime review sites today and I came across a commenter who quite rudely disagreed with a review of Kodomo no Omocha, and as much as said right out that shoujo series are crap. The reason shoujo series are crap? Because they don't get as big a budget as shounen series, and because shounen series are more popular. I'm not sure which is the cause and which is the effect in his argument, because he kept changing his position. Sometimes it was 'because shoujo series are crap, they don't get a big budget and aren't as popular with fans'. Other times it was 'shoujo series are crap because they don't get a big budget, and the fact that they aren't popular is proof that they suck'. Attempts to tell this guy that budget and popularity don't necessarily make a good anime series were ignored as the poor sucker kept turning his argument around and re-wording it as if hoping it'd somehow make sense if he did this often enough. He also said that because it took longer for shoujo series to be licensed, this also meant that they were crap.

I think we can extract something from this mess of an argument. Putting aside Kodomo no Omocha, let's look at shoujo series for a second. It's kind of true: a shoujo series, even if it's popular with its demographic, will often take a while to get licensed (if it ever does), while a popular shounen series will often get snatched up right away. I don't think this is necessarily a case of 'shounen = better than shoujo'. Shounen has as much crap as shoujo, and a series one person thinks is garbage might be another person's favorite. Deciding on a 'good' anime series is pretty subjective.

Personally, I think it's just what sells over here. Female fanbases may be increasing in size, but what appeals to female anime fans in Japan isn't necessarily what appeals to female anime fans here. A lot more of us are more interested in Fullmetal Alchemist or Naruto than Vampire Knight or Peach Girl. A popular shoujo series can still turn heads (look at Fruits Basket, for example), but the elements of shounen appeal to a wider range over here - and possibly over there as well. The willingness to cross this so-called 'gender barrier' (shounen vs shoujo) is one-sided. Girls do want to see kickass fights, badass characters and crude humor. However, not many guys want to see beautiful vampires and tense emotional dilemnas (and if they do, they are scared to death of admitting it). Quite often they won't even glance at a series twice if it's the slightest bit 'girly', even if it's a work of genius. It's "unmanly", or something. Hence why shounen tends to sell better. Not because Hunter X Hunter is a better anime series than Princess Tutu.

It's not. Trust me.

One of my friends posted a link to this wank recently, and I'm not sure what exactly I'm thinking about it. Yes, the guy is a nutjob with the typical "if you don't like what I like, you're retarded" mentality. But he did make the post in his own journal rather than on a public forum the way most fandom clowns do. It's easy to justify spamming and posting mocking responses to someone when they make a post in some place public, because the assumption is that if you post in a public community, you are inviting discussion.

Can you justify spamming someone in their own journal when he or she has not posted their rant somewhere that would invite public discussion? I suppose it would be easy to say "well, he/she didn't make the post private, so why not?" But this person has not harmed you in any way with their craziness. They have not lashed out at you on a public forum or community. They are ranting, yes, but in their own space. You are the ones lashing out at this person, rather than the other way around. And doesn't that make you the bad person?

Any thoughts?

My DVDs arrived in the mail yesterday. Which DVDs, you ask? The entire series of Gundam Wing, including Endless Waltz in both OAV and movie form, with both English dub and Japanese with English Subtitle versions.

And how much did this set me back? Would you believe... fifty dollars?

I'm ecstatic. And yes, friends with the postal system again, after two weeks of cursing them.

It's kind of amazing that I made it up to 25K with NaNo. Heh. But that's okay.

In other news... V. I wrote it. Just this morning. I don't know what compelled me to finally get on it - maybe it's just happiness because you're home for a while and because I'm pleased with the world in general, but I wrote it.

For the uninformed, please note that I feel very accomplished upon writing this little piece of discussion, because it's been swimming around in my head for a while and I wondered if maybe I was going crazy. But V and I did talk about it last night, and so here it is in its rough form... Not really a structured essay, but I think it's not too bad. I'll probably post this on the fma_fan ML but I wanted to run it by people who like me before I brave the hoard. I'd appreciate comments, criticism, notes about structural or grammatical errors, and any sort of discussion, although I think I'm most likely to receive strange looks instead.

I don't care. I wrote this. So hah.

( Elricest: Inherently Wrong? )