Meta links + Merlin rec

[merelyn]

I feel like I haven’t been around much lately. I’ve been feeling a little…quiet, I guess, and I've gotten wrapped up in reading a lot more meta/RL stuff than fic, which is unusual for me.

(What have I been following?

--The latest round of femslash meta

--The Great Elizabeth Bear Race/Cultural Appropriation Imbroglio

--A more RL discussion of where we should locate fertility treatments in the Reproductive Rights debate vis a vis the Octuplet woman

--Most recently: solar_cat’s response to that by-now-probably-infamous post by thingswithwings on fandom migration and problematic texts with a side of Merlin!hate.)

Lots of heavy, thinky stuff, and it does make one appreciate how, whatever else you can say above fandom and livejournal, it’s not always all about the porn and the wank. (But only on alternate Thursdays.)


On a slightly happier note, Gwen/Morgana!

in omne tempus by giddygeek (Gwen/Morgana, R)

This piece is short but packs a hell of a punch. giddygeek manages to say quite an awful lot about women, sex and power in Camelot. It's gorgeous and a little sad but no less awesome for it.

Comments

[nicolasechs.livejournal.com]

I'm in the same boat, in that I feel a little disconnected from fandom right now, mostly because I don't have the same time as I did over break to spend on LJ.

And thanks for the links to solar_cat's entry. I'd missed that. And of course, for the Gwen/Morgana love. <3!

[merelyn.livejournal.com]

Disconnected is exactly the word I'm looking for. I can definitely feel myself slipping into low-energy lurker mode. Maybe once I'm less of a sleep-deprived zombie it'll turn around. :)

I liked solar_cat's post- she was a lot more clear in her breakdown of the misogyny allegations than I could ever be, and I definitely agreed with most of it.

And yay Gwen/Morgana! Why oh why don't I have an icon for them yet? *g*

[neptuneskisses.livejournal.com]

Hi! *waves*

I'm kind of popping in and out of things too, as I've got soooo much work to do *weeps*. I've been steering clear of the whole thingswithwings debate because I know from past experience that heated fandom discussions/wank tend to just get me upset! Plus I have to deal with so much debate in my working life I only have energy for the happy/shiny stuff when I log onto LJ! But I'm glad there's been some great responses to her post. Yay for cool intelligent posters!

And thanks for the fabulous rec! What a wonderful slightly scary (actually make that very scary) Morgana she creates! I love the whole twisted power thing.

[merelyn.livejournal.com]

Hi! *waves back* I feel like I haven't seen you in forever. :)

Yeah, wank definitely tends to ruin the shiny, which is why I mostly don't pay attention when I can help it.

And wasn't Morgana awesomely terrifying in that? It gave me shivers.

[krazykipper.livejournal.com]

solar_cat's entry there is antirely awesome.

And she's right. We're not morons. (I take a fair amount of offence to that), and my opinion, is that I'm not sure how good I think Merlin is. But I love it. After everything else in life it covers the three basics that I like from my TV - it's fun, it's pretty and you don't have to have your brain switched on to watch it.

And plus it's really really gay.

Why is that a bad thing? When it comes down to it, it's just a TV show, however highbrow or supposedly thought-inducing it is.

[merelyn.livejournal.com]

Yes! Girl deserves a fandom gold star for it. :)

I don't necessarily disagree with the questions that thingswithwings was raising, but her *tone* was just so condescending and aggrieved that it rubbed me entirely the wrong way. I'm certainly not saying you should be completely oblivious to the problematic issues in a show, but Merlin? Is shiny happy gay fluff and I don't have to apologize for liking it just because Nimueh is evil or whatever.

[krazykipper.livejournal.com]

Yeah, plus, I like Nimueh because she is hot, and I'm shallow. Why is that wrong? Doesn't mean that we're condoning misogyny because if someone was like that in RL we'd smack them down for it.

It bothers me I think because of the implication that people pick up their life lessons from TV. As if Merlin will effect our real life choices? (Beyond - do I spend Valentine's at home watching my brother cook spaghetti carbonara for his gf, or spend it in a pub in London with Merlin fangirls.) It's like when people blame TV for violence. GIVE US SOME CREDIT, or something.

Unless after Merlin we think it's ok to get swords and go out beheading people who are "different"?

[merelyn.livejournal.com]

Also, Nimueh has awesome shoes in the finale. /even more shallow

I think there’s certainly a time and a place for serious critical analysis about the media we fangirls watch and whether it does have a subtle insidious impact on the way women view themselves. If a show is repeatedly and blatantly suffering from Women In Refrigerators Syndrome, and yet fandom is too focused on the pretty boys and the gay to notice? Sure that’s a problem. Merlin isn’t perfect, but it’s hardly such an extreme case.

Obviously people have different ideas of what is problematic and what isn’t. But come on, like you said, give us a little credit for being able to make that determination ourselves without you showing us the light. While it’s totally okay for thingswithwings to say, “look I just personally don’t connect with the show and what’s more I found it misogynist” I didn’t appreciate the judgy and butt-hurt tone. It’s why her post came off like a lament over everyone leaving for the The Next Big Fandom- with a side of serious meta in there to cover up the complaining.

(Edited to fix bad lj tag.)

[sophieisgod.livejournal.com]

Ach, I loved that fic. HARDCORE MORGANA IS HARDCORE. Would you happen to have any other Gwen/Morgana recs at all? I'm probably looking in the wrong places, but I've barely managed to find anything of them that I've really enjoyed (my del.icio.us has 166 Arthur/Merlin bookmarks and, like, 4 Gwen/Morgana. THIS SEEMS SOMEWHAT UNBALANCED).

WHOO META! I shall go and get stuck into that now. I do remember that thingswithwings post, though - a lot of what she was saying was fair enough, but man alive her tone did not help her case.

[merelyn.livejournal.com]

Damn, I wish I better Gwen/Morgana stuff. nicolasechs has a good recs post here (http://nicolasechs.livejournal.com/8476.html)- there might be some things you haven't read?

And yes, I agree, the post could have opened up a great dialogue, but the judgy tone just turned me off from the start.