Anonymous sent
Do you ever think you'll stop drawing fanart? No offense it just seems like the kind of thing you're supposed to grow out of. I'm just curious what your plans/goals are since it isn't exactly an art form that people take seriously.
Ah, fanart. Also known as the art that girls make.
Sad, immature girls no one takes seriously. Girls who are taught that it’s shameful to be excited or passionate about anything, that it’s pathetic to gush about what attracts them, that it’s wrong to be a geek, that they should feel embarrassed about having a crush, that they’re not allowed to gaze or stare or wish or desire. Girls who need to grow out of it.
That’s the art you mean, right?
Because in my experience, when grown men make it, nobody calls it fanart. They just call it art. And everyone takes it very seriously.
It’s interesting though — the culture of shame surrounding adult women and fandom. Even within fandom it’s heavily internalized: unsurprisingly, mind, given that fandom is largely comprised by young girls and, unfortunately, our culture runs on ensuring young girls internalize *all* messages no matter how toxic. But here’s another way of thinking about it.
Sports is a fandom. It requires zealous attention to “seasons,” knowledge of details considered obscure to those not involved in that fandom, unbelievable amounts of merchandise, and even “fanfic” in the form of fantasy teams. But this is a masculine-coded fandom. And as such, it’s encouraged - built into our economy! Have you *seen* Dish network’s “ultimate fan” advertisements, which literally base selling of a product around the normalization of all consuming (male) obsession? Or the very existence of sports bars, built around the link between fans and community enjoyment and analysis. Sport fandom is so ingrained in our culture that major events are treated like holidays (my gym closes for the Super Bowl) — and can you imagine being laughed at for admitting you didn’t know the difference between Supernatural and The X Files the way you might if you admit you don’t know the rules of football vs baseball, or basketball?
"Fandom" is not childish but we live in a culture that commodified women’s time in such away that their hobbies have to be "frivolous," because "mature" women’s interests are supposed to be caretaking, via marriage, children, and the lives of those within an imagined (generally nuclear) family unit: things that allow others to continue their own special interests, while leaving women without a space of their own.
So think about what you’re actually saying when you call someone “too old” for fandom. Because you’re suggesting they are “too old” for a consuming hobby, and I challenge you to answer — what do you think they should be doing instead?
The gendering of fantoms is fascinating. Just think about how sports fandom permeates our culture, with their cosplay and swag, then come at me and tell me discussing/critiquing/podcasting about media is weird.
This reminds me of that time I had a troll pestering me for a few days trying to tell me that my life was sad because I spent my time “examining [Doctor Who episodes] in excruciating detail.” Because when a guy examines a TV show and writes about it, it’s a proper episode review, but when a girl does it, she’s just a crazy fangirl on Tumblr.
And yet, when people (admittedly, usually men) spend years of their lives studying the works of the Venerable Bede, Thoreau, Milton, Steinbeck, they are scholars, as are women who do the same with Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Hildegarde von Bingen, Elizabeth I, Catherine the Great, Edith Wharton, Edna S.t Vincent Millay, though with Millay noses are lifted, with all of the women the issues of childbirth and childbirth are raised. Were they good mothers; were they bad ones. Were they good homemakers? No wonder Woolf’s single most famous work is “A Room of One’s Own.” The men who “let” their wives have room to create are given brownie points; the women who are forced to create time for there husbands’ muses while scrabble to put the bills aren’t much considered, are they, unless they’re congratulated on being so fortunate as to be enthroned by the knee of greatness. How many “unimportant” careers that might have grown into important ones were left by the side of the road, do you suppose, discarded so a man’s far more important one was given space in which to flourish?
#Gintama
“The dead don’t talk and they don’t eat dango. So I made a one-sided promise. I won’t forget this debt. Your wife doesn’t have that much longer to live, but I’m going to protect her in your stead.”
- me: are there any spirits listening
- ouija: yes are you alone
- me: yes
- ouija: haha nice whats up :P
- me: trying to contact my dead grandmother
- ouija: cool cool so what would u be doing if i was alive right now lol
me: are there any spirits listening ouija: yes are you alone me: yes ouija: haha nice whats up :P me: trying to contact my dead grandmother ouija: cool cool so what would u be doing if i was alive right now lol
How to deal with annoying guys. 〜 kA!To.
Oh yeah, there’s something I need to talk to you about. Hey hey hey hey hey. Kaito.
Colin Wong
San Francisco, CA
Yashica Mat 124G | Fujifilm X100
Tell us about Urban Hiking in San Francisco. Where does it take you and what sorts of places do you see?
I really enjoy hiking in general and although there are a lot of great places to hike in the Bay Area, there aren’t too many big hikes in San Francisco. Urban hiking would be the next closest thing. San Francisco is built on hills so many places require a hike to get to.
I used to wander aimlessly before/after class or work, but not much anymore. Still, San Francisco is a city full of character so you can see quite a bit within a few blocks. Things or places I tend to look out for are simple everyday things that we pass by but pay little attention to.
Tumblr: @hellocwong
Instagram: @hellocwong
"how are you doing at college?"
"how is that job hunting going?"
"have you got anything planned for the future?"
Do you ever think about the height difference between yourself and a fictional character and what it would look like if you stood next to them
Spoiler alert: adulthood is 96% of you going “well, I hope this is how it works and I’ll keep doing it till someone yells at me”
