Seriously....
Mar. 16th, 2008 11:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zinnithIf 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.)
"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.)
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(no subject)
Date: 2008-03-17 09:39 am (UTC)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... ;-)