Seriously....

[zinnith]

If the only thing you can do is find fault with the show, why watch it in the first place?

 "Hi, I don't like the way the show is progressing. I will now mock it and call the writers stupid."

Newsflash for you, people. You hold no claims whatsoever to Stargate:Atlantis. It doesn't matter how many excellent fanfics you have written or how many fans you have - it is not your story. I bet if someone left comments on your fic telling you how very wrong it is and how you're mangling the characters and how your plots are stupid you'd go through the roof. What makes you think you have the right to do the same thing to the writers of the show? Without those writers and their work, you wouldn't have anything to write fanfiction about in the first place!

I feel like the underlying message is: 'I would do a much better job writing the show than the actual writers'. Well, tough luck. You're not one of those writers. If you want a say in how the show is written, you do what the rest of the world has to do - apply for the job!

Good writers don't write what the fans, what you want them to write. They write what they want to write, and you have the choice to read/watch/listen or not. It's your right to like the result or don't like it. It's not your right to claim that the writers are writing the story wrong. It's their story. It's their ideas, their characters, their plot. Borrowing those ideas and building on them does not give you the right to critizise when the actual, canon on-screen plot doesn't go in the direction you want it to go. You know those bad ff.net wips you also love to mock? The ones where the writer keeps asking what the readers think should happen in the next chapter? Is that what you want the SGA writers to do? I you don't like the show anymore, why don't you just shut up and stop watching it? It's as simple as that!


*steps down from soapbox*


(This is not directed at a specific fan, but rather to a group of fans who have been irritating me a lot lately. You know the type - the ones who take everything that happens on the show personally. Come on, it's just a tv-show! It's supposed to be fun, not life and death!)

(Yes, I'm a little cranky today.)

Comments

[lavvyan.livejournal.com]

Come on, it's just a tv-show! It's supposed to be fun, not life and death!

As someone who recently got into a wank about whether or not SGA has an obligation to stand up for feminist rights, I say: Well done. Also, word.

[zinfic.livejournal.com]

You know, I used to think so. God knows I wank enough about feminism and queer rights in the real world. But then I realised that bringing the same wank to my shows completely took away all the enjoyment I got from watching them, and that's so not the point of entertainment.

[lavvyan.livejournal.com]

I'm not saying those issues aren't important. Just that expecting mainstream television to teach and enlighten us about those issues is less than realistic.

[zinfic.livejournal.com]

I agree completely. Plus, there are about as many different shades of feminism as there are feminists. Even if the show did raise those issues, I bet people would wank about how it was the wrong issues.

[lavvyan.livejournal.com]

Heh. Yup, that is fandom in a nutshell. :D

[tarlanx]

LOL! As someone who was part of that same wankfest...I agree totally. If someone doesn't like the direction taken by the show then stop watching... and have the decency not to try and ruin the fun for everyone else as they slam the door on their way out!

It really is that simple but some people have an overinflated sense of their own worth in fandom and think their hissy fit is going to miraculously change an entire show to suit them *sigh*

[xanthelj.livejournal.com]

Agreed! I know as fans we sometimes all get a little too wrapped up in it (I've been there, done that!) but some of the more in-depth wank seems oddly inappropriate for a show that has never pretended to be more than a fun sci-fi adventure show. The levels of over-earnest analysis and ranting are sometimes almost risible!

[zinfic.livejournal.com]

I know! That's one of the things I like best about SGA - it's not pretentious, it doesn't make itself out to be something more than it is, it doesn't take itself too seriously. If I want social and cultural debate, there are other shows I can watch and books I can read.

[tarlanx]

Yeah, I'm with you on that...the show is entertainment not a documentary or political broadcast!

[zinfic.livejournal.com]

I agree! I can understand people question the way the world looks today. I do it all the time! But to take my gender and queer theories and apply them to the show just makes me frustrated, and that's not a feeling I want to associate with SGA. I watch it for fun and and stress relief, not to stress myself up even more!

[argosy.livejournal.com]

Oh god, I want to say this to people all the time, but I'm not prepared to deal with the wank. The burdens so many people put on SGA. It's Stargate Atlantis, people. It's not meant to be social commentary. (And thank goodness for that?) Also? If you hate everyone, stop watching.

I haven't been in fandom that long. Harry Potter is the only other fandom I've been in, and I never saw the complaining and entitlement taken to the level that I see in SGA so often.

Good soapboxing! :)

[zinfic.livejournal.com]

Oh dear, I hope I'm not starting any more wank. That was not my intention...

The way I see it, it's my right as a reader/watcher of tv-shows to interpret what I see. It's also my opinion that the moment a writer turns her/his story over to the public, it belongs to the public. (Well, not the rights to the story, but the right to form an opinion about the story, if you get what I mean.) It is, however, not my right to claim that my interpretation is the only right one. It's also not my right to assume that the writer's interpretation of the story is the same as mine. I know nothing of what was going on in the writer's head as s/he wrote the story. I can only say what was going on in my head as I read/watched it and that has to stand for me. I can't put those opinions on the writer, because it's my opinions and not the writers'.

Gah, I can't seem to stop ranting today, sorry ;-)

I don't remember that much from the HP-fandom. (I honestly didn't stay there that long because all the shipwars scared me.) But I agree, many SGA fans seem to expect a lot from the show that it it just doesn't have any obligation to provide.

[argosy.livejournal.com]

I hope I'm not starting any more wank.

Oh, don't worry. You're in your own space here. :) I just meant that when I see these people making specific comments, I'd like to answer them with a comment, but it's just not worth it.

But yes, everything you said. :)

[the-cephalopod.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I feel I might have missed something here... but maybe that's a good thing? That said, I agree with every single word. We watch our shows for fun and to escape from RL. Not to mention the fact that without them, fandom would not exist. cep xxx

[zinfic.livejournal.com]

Nothing missed, I think. At least nothing recent. Just stuff that's been building for a while...I try to keep away from the wank but sometimes I just can't help myself and ends up being late to the party ;-)

But I still think fandom is pretty awesome. For every thing I don't like, I can think of at least ten I love.

[wanted-a-pony.livejournal.com]

Umm... are you still cranky? I don't want you to be mad or hit me.
:: winces ::

'Cause I have to say that some of SGA's scripts have been completely idiotic with plot holes you could drive a battlecruiser through, science that an illiterate creationist would be proud of, & all the understanding of character & the show's own history of an autistic amnesiac.

That's why I've watched less than ten SGA episodes (none in season 4). Text is just so much faster & more satisfying than TV, & (at least some) SGA fan writers are superior to the show's. I grant you the fannish grasp of science overall isn't any firmer than TV's, but at least fen generally research their technobabble & try to have their fics read over by people who can point out painful awful shameful mistakes.

I think I was spoiled too early by you & some others here. "Once you've read fanfic you can't stand SciFi's shtick." ;-)

[zinfic.livejournal.com]

No hitting, I promise ;-)

I agree with you that the writing isn't top-quality. There are a lot of things I would've done different if I was a writer on the show. Just look at my episode reactions - I have a lot of opinions. But they're just that, my opinions. I can't blame them on the writers because they're in my head. It's not their job to write the show to suit my needs.

Some of the stuff I write isn't very good either. The difference is that I have the choice of deleting the crap and not showing it to anyone. The writers on the show have to consider money, time restraints, deadlines, what's possible or not to film, etc. etc. If they end up with a bad script, they don't have the time to throw it out and come up with something better.

I guess I'm just trying to look past the things I don't like and concentrate on the things I love - the characters. I just don't see the point of complaining over something I can't change anyway. If an episode hurts my eyes, I can just turn off the TV.

There are times I prefer fanfic over the show too, it depends on what I'm in the mood for. Sometimes I don't have the energy to tackle reading long stories in a language that's not my own. The show is easier for me to digest and I get visual images to help my poor language skills along.

It's everyone's right to like the show or not, but I think it's important to remember that without the show there wouldn't be any fanfiction.

I seem to be babbling instead of cranky today... ;-)