on fan critiques and "hate"-fanning

Happened to see on a few different places on my flist that old classic conflict between squee-fans and "hate"-fans - fans who love something and focus their fanning on what they love (whether or not they acknowledge its flaws) vs fans who are annoyed/frustrated/outraged by something but keep watching and discussing it anyway. While no one really questions squee-fans, "hate"-fandom can be baffling for those who prefer to simply ignore the things they don't like.

Having been down the hate-fandom road before, I think the reason hate-fans stick with it is very similar to the reasons anyone sticks with squee-fanning: because it's an enjoyable, creative, social activity. Hate-fans fan together, share their outrage, write the stories they want to read, in general bond over their irritation.

( more ramblings... )

This rant brought to you by Linkara and his hilarious, insightful screeds against bad comics - I love me some delicious comicbook fanboy rage (especially when it comes with a good dose of feminism and highly amusing narration)!