it's getting harder to navigate fandom

[simplyn2deep]

I don't mind change. I know it's necessary for growth, but there's some places I don't want change...or if it has to happen, it's not jarring and unfolds slowly.

That's not happening now with fandom. Maybe others see that it is, or that it isn't happening fast enough. I don't know. I'm just not seeing "stuff" and what I am seeing is like a big shock that I maybe should have seen built up over the last 4 years.

I miss the people I used to talk to about the show, but our opinions are so vastly different now that it's hard to find that common ground to talk on any more - that we would both have to "give up" a lot to get back there. Then there are people who have the same opinion as me, but holy crap! they're at the extreme and the constant complaining and I wonder why you still watch the show if you so obviously don't enjoy it anymore? Change has to happen. Who wants to watch a show that's the same over and over again?

and I can't seem to finish this as I've typed and deleted this 4 times. This is my incomplete thought of an entry. Posting now before I decide to delete again (which I still might do).

Comments

[tkeylasunset.livejournal.com]

Oh BB. I feel the exact same way. I'm afraid to offer an opinion, even on my own journal, because the haters come out of the woodwork.

I'm with you when you say the constant complaining and I wonder why you still watch the show if you so obviously don't enjoy it anymore? No show is perfect. Every show has its faults. Why can't it be enjoyed for what it is rather than hated for its supposed "failings"? I really don't get it.

I have decided that part of the problem is the relative anonymity of the internet. The fact that we don't show our "real" faces means we can say almost anything and not be responsible. In the ancient times - pre internet - there were still haters but they didn't have public platforms to hold forth on the "sins" of the shows they watch.

It's also partially because hate posts generate far more traffic than "God I love this show and let me tell you why" posts. It's a sad truth of the way we live - haters gain attention.

I will squeal about the show with you any time and anywhere! Just know you aren't alone!

XOXOXOXO

[azziria.livejournal.com]

I miss talking about the show too, but all the complaining, arguing and hating have really tarnished the fandom experience for me. Plus I'm having a bit of a tough time in RL (work stuff) at the moment, and so I need my leisure time stuff to be fun, happy escapism. Add to all that the fact that all the kerfuffle over certain characters had started to affect how I was viewing the show, and it's seemed prudent for me to back off from fandom (and especially Twitter) in order to try and enjoy the show for what it is, not coloured by the opinions of others.

[sheafrotherdon.livejournal.com]

I think a lot of people stick with the show despite feeling it's past its prime because they see the potential in what's there. People still love the characters, people still love the character moments, and the world in which H50 exists is still fodder for some really excellent fanworks.

I watch because I still find Steve and Danny compelling, and still have things I'd like them to do / see / discover. But that coexists with feeling downright betrayed by the writers of late, who don't (in my mind) seem to have anything invested in consistency of character. I never watched for the crime of the week, and increasingly the crime of the week has pushed out the other elements.

I think complaints are often an expression of love. If people didn't still love some part of the show they wouldn't bother complaining at all.

[mcgarrett.livejournal.com]

I honestly like things about the series, but so much of what is going on right now is just not something I like at all. More than anything, I want the days when it was Ohana back. I want more McDanno and all, but it's gone so McRoll and I've only seen 1 episode of the season. The drama in the fanbase makes me want to catch up less and less as it goes on. It's like a disease that spreads and kills you from the inside. My distaste stems from the fanbase and how every which thing I see is either "You can't have this opinion. It's horrible." or "This show is dead to me. Why do I even watch it? Oh right, Alex and Scott." It's sad how such a wonderful show has gotten to this point for me, but for my own sanity, I've had to detach myself from this fandom as to not get so touchy with every which statement I see...

[t-verano.livejournal.com]

I guess I'm pretty quiet, but I'm crazy about Steve and Danny and Team and plan to remain so. Maybe I'm lucky because I didn't see season 1 and had nowhere to go but up in season 2 and beyond, or maybe I feel this way because I'm used to being in fandoms where the show writers really don't have much of a clue most of the time, and the key thing to care about is *always* the characters, never the plot. And I cherish the fact that good fanfic writers can take a show's inconsistencies and episodes-you-didn't-want and spin fic around them that turns them into gold.

Personally, I've found things to enjoy in almost every episode since I started watching, at the beginning of season 2, and I've enjoyed the story arcs and characters just fine. I would've made a lot of different choices if the reins were in my hands, sure -- but there have been many stellar Steve-and-Danny moments, and some excellent angst (which I love SO MUCH), and there's been movement in the series from the fractured-team feel of early season 2, gradually growing back together again as the characters went through stuff.

Yeah, PLenkov plays to the crowd and gets gimmicky and I'm not crazy about that, but the actors are so solid and make the characters so real, even when they don't get tons of time and/or well-handled plot arcs, that I'm willing to deal with Lenkov's oddities fairly cheerfully.

I have sort of a motto I've been trying to follow of late, which I know is simplistic and can't apply to the evil and awful things in life, but still has a lot of merit to me. It's from an Avengers fic, Thor saying, "It is better to like things than to not like things, is it not?" The glass half full, definitely. That's my H50 motto, and unless they get rid of Alex and Scott, I don't plan on changing it...

[heffermonkey.livejournal.com]

I've stepped right back in being involved with the H50 fandom because of the complaint department, and I pretty much did that from S2 onwards. Like you say, WHY do you watch the show, if all you are going to do is pick it apart and complain the whole time? Just turn off, find something new you actually do like.

It's why I don't get hugely involved with twitter, or skip a lot of 'tweets' there because my god it's just ridiculous. Yes, have an opinion, but the hate just gets too drastic for me. I find myself rallying up the defences and wanting to wrap the show up in cotton wool to protect it from the barrage. I've never like fandom wars, especially when it's aimed at characters/actors - just no need at all for it.