Bring the love not the Spike hate

[shipperx]

Can someone explain to me the sudden influx of 'let's analyze Spike fans' essays? What has suddenly caused a new wave of 'teh ev0l rappist lover' crap? I just ran across the third mention of such a post today!

This isn't some 'waah! They're hating on my fandom' thing. Well, okay, maybe a little, but I got over being tetchy about being a Spike fan a very long time ago. It's just... isn't it sort of weird for so many of this particular type of essay to pop up today? What started this wave of 'Oh, the dimwitted, delusional Spike lovers and their inability to accept Spike's unredeemable, unheroic nature? Those Spuffies are destroying our children!" (As opposed to the time when we destroyed all of television. Hee!)

So what's up? Spike is evil and liking him corrupts young girls, is anti-feminist, and purely hormonal. Uh-huh. Yeah. Yawn. (Or as kellyhk and nirvana_1 would remind me, ' Arf! Fucking, Arf!' [ because that shit will never stop being funny and never fails to place things in perfect perspective.] ) I'm simply curious. I wouldn't even know about these essays other than having seen a few posts mentioning them (and having one of the fic/meta rec groups that I'm on rec a "let's analyze Spike fans" essay.)

I mean, guys, seriously, the show is over. It has been over for quite some time now. Nothing is going to change by beating this poor dead horse. Different fans saw the whole mess very, very differently. Fan factions didn't agree. Fan factions don't agree. Fan factions will never agree and... why fight it? Why feel the need to endlessly come up with scenarios for "aren't the Spike fans deluded/nuts/neurotic/whatever?"

The story is over. It ended where it did. We deal with it however we like. All that's left is fanfic, fandom, a few comics, and some craptastic tie-in novels. And the fantastic thing about fanfic is that there's room for everyone. Bangels don't have to like what Spuffies like. Bangels can have their corner of fandom and all the fanfic they want. Xander fans who hate Spike don't have to read about Spike (unless they're Spander fans, in which case they can read as much about Spike as they wish). Fanfactions should be able to co-exist, even if it means keeping a discrete distance from one another. Why poke the other fandoms with sticks?

Read what you love and love it. Leave what you hate alone. And, really, publicly psychoanalyzing other fanfactions (years after the fact no less) just because they don't agree with your viewpoint is kind of tacky.

No one's minds are going to be changed at this late date. Positions became intractable quite some time ago. The debates are tired. The bashing is boring. And the whole "but Spike is teh evol! He is! He is!" is fruitless. If your Spike is evil, go find evil Spike fanfic, kill him off in fanfic. Show why he’s a no good, rotten scoundrel who should be shunned, mocked, or utterly ignored. Fanfic is plentiful and free. Why feel the need to say that some other fandom shouldn't be allowed to have their views as well?

Tolerance. It's a good thing.

Oh well, I know people arguing the unredeemability of Spike and the neuroses and idiocy of his fans most probably are not reading my LJ anyway (And yay for that.) I just felt a momentary need to vent with "get the hell over it!" Hate Spike if you must, but it's really irritating to continue bashing fanfactions for existing. People see things differently. That's life. That's what happens with most stories and most characters. Not everyone will agree. If that can't be accepted, then I think there are greater problems than Spike lovers.

BTW, again I ask, what brought this on? It seems very out of the blue to me. Did Seeing Red just air on FX or something? Is this collateral damage from the Rescue Me’ fiasco? I don't get it.

Oh well, screw it. I'm still on a writercon high and full of multi-fandom love. Grown-ups realize that we all don't have to love the exact same things. Not only is that okay, it makes things interesting (and provides lots and lots of fic).

Lalala! Going back to writing Spike-loving fic now.

Comments

[elsaf]

Afterlife aired on FX this morning. I guess that might make people start thinking about Spike fandom, but who knows. Maybe it's just the full moon (or something).

[herself_nyc]

I wondered the same thing. I thought we'd buried that thoroughly flogged dead horse a couple of years back.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Can fandoms get PMS do you think?

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Poor thing. Maybe we should cremate it and find it a nice shiny urn.

[alwaysjbj.livejournal.com]

I don't know which particular post you ran across but there are some Spuffies out there that seem to think Spike character assasination is the sport of the month. *sigh*

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Really?

Glad I've been doing a bunch of other things lately then.

You know me, always big with the Spike love.

[fishsanwitt]

They're idiots?

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

I'll bring the matches.

[kcarolj65.livejournal.com]

Tolerance. It's a good thing.

Amen, sister!

[mlgm.livejournal.com]

Writercon jealousy, perhaps? While I know that everyone is welcome at Writercon, it was organized by Spike fans and is the core crowd. Maybe Bangels are feeling a bit threatened?

[paratti.livejournal.com]

Word.

[mistraltoes.livejournal.com]

That would be my guess, too.

[spikeylover.livejournal.com]

I would prefer that we could get along, myself.. (see icon)

[boschette.livejournal.com]

A hearty AMEN to everything you said!

If loving Spike makes me corrupt, anti-feminist, and hormonal, then ... okay. I can live with that. :)

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

and marshmellows.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I think they're quite defensive.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I had wondered about that. I mean, Spuffy presence was very, very, very obvious and Bangel was rather...well... invisible (I'm sure it existed, but you wouldn't know it from being there). Other than Spuffy, the vocal fandoms appeared to be slashers (which is hardly a surprise) and Xander fans (most of which seemed to be gen and slashers), so all in all it was a very friendly mix of people with no open "Spike must die! He's a rappist serial killer!" animosity.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I'm not denying it as a possibility. I could easily see how any Bangels present would have felt marginalized.

Still, bitching "Spike is ev0l! and Spike fans are insane!" isn't actually going to change anything, so I'm wondering what's the point.

Oh well.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

In lieu of that, I'd accept just politely ignoring one another and allowing that various ships have a right to exist (without their being the downfall of Western culture.)

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

But it doesn't, and I'll happily live with that too :)

[morgantree.livejournal.com]

Huzzah!

Just want to add that the fact that these folks can't get over their need to bash Spike and/or Spike lovers -- all these years later! -- just goes to show you what an incredibly complex and compelling character he really is.

[laurashalo.livejournal.com]

Thank heavens someone has decided to resurrect these issues and point out our obvious mental incapacity. It's been far too long since I was reminded of how evil Spike is and how wrong it is to love that character. And I must think of the children. The day's looking up already. :)

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Of course it is. What with us being doomed to hell, everything is up.

I like my evil with those little marshmellows. 'Tis yummy. :)

[shapinglight]

Have nothing to say but this icon, which I think sums it up nicely.

[timeofchange.livejournal.com]

Wordy Mcword.

Also, so great to finally meet you. I'm sorry we didn't get time to do more than say hello at Writercon. I wanted to squee and fangirl you. So, here's a virtual slobbery fangirl smooch!

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

It was great to meet you too. Fangirl hug right back.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Isn't it, though?

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I figure they're being upset just means that he's so important it's killing them.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Pretty much.

I tend to take a perverse look on it, and the more they bitch about him the more I think they're threatened by him.