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Queer Discourse: Canon Rep - Fandom Reaction
🕑 Added 2020-09-18 17:33:43 +0000 UTC
Aw shit. Here we go again.
You'd think after commenting on Discourse, Fandom Reactionary stuff, and the like a few months in a row, that I would eventually run out of things to tackle, that I would move on to greener, more positive pastures! Welp, seems like all of you want me to keep hammering on the Discourse, according to the polls, soooo, you know how the deal goes at this point.
Fandom has always been a contentious place. For all the good things that can, and DO come out of it, which are the majority, don't get me wrong- The vocal, toxic side has been growing over the years into the mass of Discourse that it's become now. I am using Homestuck as an example, as always, since it's my primary source of knowledge on the matter, but this applies to the concept of Fandom at large. We all know horror stories from Twitter, we've seen the bandwagonning, we've all been recommended those three-hour-long videos of why the thing we like is bad.
And, I have talked about this quite extensively in other Essays of mine! The state of the Fandom, trying to be more positive, giving other people, and authors, more credit... But, certain specific... Takes I have seen around, felt like they deserved more elaboration, a deeper look into them. Yes, my friend, we're delving deep into the Junescourse, and revisiting my talks on Roxy and Jade, specially, although not exclusively.
So let's get into the meat of the essay, and stop adding so much fluff, shall we? ;p
... Man, I really wonder if non-Homestucks read my essays and get super confused some times.
Bad Representation
So, I don't exactly hide the fact I'm trans, and pan. This girl is queer as fuck, and so that means I am keenly intertwined with the queer side of the Homestuck Fandom. I mean, my name is Roxy, I've always loved the read of Roxy Lalonde as a trans woman, and took her name for a reason! The headcanon was popular around my circles, and I really vibed with it! Of course, along came the Epilogues, in which Roxy is dfab, with one Timeline having them become comfortable with Motherhood, and in the other, deciding to take a more 'fuck gender' approach. Thus rendering my Headcanon, after which I named myself, invalid. Right?
Well... No. That's really reductive, but we'll get there in a bit.
The Homestuck Epilogues came out with a lot of controversial little changes and details, a change of tone, a really harsh story. But we're not here to talk about those, I've gone into them before. Today I focus on the Epilogues' queer content, and not even trying to defend it specifically. As one of the most popular trans headcanons had its antithesis showcased in post-canon, as other characters were confirmed to be cis, as relationships began to rise and fall, many were quick to assume the worst. Throw accusations of homophobia and transmisogyny, insults. Bad Representation.
What do people mean by Bad Representation exactly?
I am reminded of every Disney movie lately, the promotion of "Disney's First LGBT+ Couple" every single time, and the downfall when the movie comes out and like, two women appear in a blurry wide-shot, kissing for a split second. Using queer content to draw in talk, to try and exalt themselves among the community, without actually offering anything meaningful. Bait, meant to profit off of the community, without actually showing any sort of real representation. "Dumbledore is Gay", fellow kids. Bad representation is, at its core, a publicity stunt without any substance. A hollow promise.
Bad Representation can also refer, however, to certain authors trying, and failing, to include characters in support of the community. Cis, straight guys in particular, mishandling queer characters in their work, and simply not understanding the basis of what is being part of the community. This is less egregious, though- Despite being mishandled, it at least shows the intention to do good, and in particular if they listen to feedback and work with the community, it can lead to something quite good.
And if Andrew Hussie was the only person behind the Epilogues and Homestuck^2, I could see this argument being made. Cis, straight guy, not understanding how to deal with queer characters and fucking up at best, or using the bad handling of such characters as publicity at worst, that would be Bad Representation indeed.
That is where we start to run into a few problems with the argument, though.
The Creators
It's easy to simply read a dark story like the Homestuck Epilogues, with contentious content, and assume the worst. You leave with bad, volatile feelings towards the content, towards the author, and it's easy to twist it. "Hussie fucked up". This is ignoring the fact Hussie is not, in fact, the one in control.
Currently, Homestuck is being made by a team of majoritarily queer authors and artists. Yes, this includes the Epilogues as well. Two more authors are credited alongside Hussie as the main contributors to the Epilogues, but it has been confirmed since they are not, in fact, the sole creators of it either. Aysha has at least written one entire chapter, and given feedback that changed Gamzee's death scene to be less fucked up. This was a communal project, of a bunch of queer creators and fans of the content, in order to convey something. Something that was dark and contentious, yes. But I have seen the argument used before. Accusations at Hussie for fucking up LGBT+ content. Blaming the team for intentionally fucking up the representation.
And that is when we run into a big issue with the arguments of calling this Bad Representation and lashing out against the creators.
Let's go back to the Roxy Example, shall we? Roxy Lalonde, commonly headcanoned trans woman, is presented as a non-binary trans dude in the Epilogues and HS^2 Meat Timeline, and hinted to still being some lingering feelings in the Candy Timeline. This is an interesting twist of events, yes. You know what it isn't however? An attack on trans women.
To consider Epilogues Roxy to be an attack on trans women, not only is the assumption of ill will and intent to harm from the entire Team necessary, it actively erases the projected experiences and relationship the authors themselves have with the character. It is okay to prefer to read Roxy as a trans woman. It's okay to project on that facet of the character. But to push the idea this was intentionally done to screw with the fans of Roxy, is transphobic. It is imposing, in a very entitled manner, your read over another queer fan's, marking yours as the only 'valid' one, and assuming ill will from them as the ONLY reason why they would present the character differently than you.
Does this predicament sound familiar by any chance, by the way? Let's talk about June Egbert.
June Egbert, was confirmed canonically! I bet you knew that already if you're reading about Homestuck stuff and Gender stuff. A while back, thanks to a wish-granting Toblerone, June was confirmed by Hussie to be a thing, and the HS^2 updates have actually been slowly working towards having Meat Egbert trans their gender. And slowly there has been an increasing number of very militant people lashing out against depictions of John, as an assumption of ill will and transphobia on those who like John- Despite many of these people actually clinging to trans guy John headcanons, liking a different take than the one presented in post-canon content.
It all comes down to the same, doesn't it? Roxy as a trans woman was a popular headcanon in the community! To consider her otherwise is transphobic! June has been canonically confirmed! To consider her otherwise is transphobic! The representation of trans characters in the Homestuck Epilogues and HS^2 was bad and transphobic!
Let's go back a little bit and calm down, shall we?
The Fandom Reaction
Once more, this entire essay is going in-depth about things I've already talked about in the past, and I don't want to be too repetitive. I want to be brief and concise. This reaction stems, ultimately, from a desire to do good, and a fear of being hurt. But nuance in these situations is very necessary. It's not simply a matter of being quick to assume something and apologizing afterwards- This reactionary assumption of ill will has pit the community against itself, and has left trans individuals being accused of being transphobic, creators harassed and doxxed... It needs to be addressed.
Homestuck is a shamelessly queer story at this point. Despite the fact it started in the hands of a white cis guy's from the edgy 2009's, Hussie worked to actually try and throw a bone to the queer part of the Fandom as time went on and actually understand the struggles they went through, and then gave the keys of canon away to a group of Queer Creators that have made it even more explicitly so. And in a way, that is the issue here, isn't it? HS^2's representation doesn't rely on characters being shown to be part of the community for the sake of throwing a bone to the fans. It's about the creators themselves projecting their experiences and reads of these characters. Homestuck is a very flexible setting, and so much is left up to the readers, and so in 'solidifying' a few of these headcanons, in a scenario where bad and dark things happen, people get immensely defensive. They feel the content is bad, and so there's doubt cast upon every facet of it.
And I am going to reiterate. This is a very close-minded and harmful point of view. The consideration that the only way Canon would make Trans Guy Roxy a thing is because the authors want to hurt trans women, is erasure of these people's experiences and relation to Roxy, their read of them as a character, and just as hurtful as this 'implied' ill intent is. And just the same, the consideration that anyone who would NOT draw June from now on and say John instead of June, despite the fact she hasn't even APPEARED in-canon despite the hints to this development, is stupid. It is performative. It's only purpose is to exalt one's OWN headcanons as the 'correct' ones and step on others. It is entitlement, coated in a layer of "You are being offensive and bad towards me", without a shred of nuance or consideration that they are doing exactly the same at best, and being the only ones doing bad at worst.
And this goes for other pieces of Media as well! Once more I use Homestuck as an example, but this entitlement runs beyond the confines of my hyperfixation's Fandom. Steven Universe is a series made by non-binary woman Rebecca Sugar, and the Gems' gender embodies this part of herself. I've seen people be militantly angry at how 'clingy and unhealthy' Ruby and Sapphire are, despite the fact their relationship is based off of Sugar's own.
It is very popular and, honestly, very easy, when you disagree with something, to delve deep and find an interpretation that makes its entire content seem like an inhospitable wasteland of bullshit. It's unhealthy and fucked up. Death of the Author doesn't mean that you have the right to take the worst possible meaning of some content in order to be mad and militant. Death of the Author means that you can interpret things in ways unintended by the Author, but you can't extract the Author's explicit meaning and projection from a work, and then use this completely divergent take to accuse the Author of being an evil bigot.
And in Homestuck's case, you can't ignore the queer team behind the current content, and simply use Hussie as a scapegoat because you don't like things.
We've reached the point, where queer authors have taken the advice of 'Oh if you don't like it, why don't you just make your own, huh?' to heart, and have created things, and keep creating things, and will continue to create things that become more and more mainstream as time goes on. But this also means that representation doesn't have to be bare-bones anymore. Things can be more explicit, and as creators don't have to beg for scraps, they can create more complex and nuanced stories and characters. And this means that they will use their own experiences to shape things, and it means that queer creators will have bad things happen to their queer characters, because the point will no longer be to simply 'have' them exist in small capacity they possibly can. The point now becomes showcasing the many different things, points of view, ways of being, of the community.
There is no correct way to be part of the LGBT+ community. Everyone has their own different experiences. I have a pretty positive experience with my gender. I am not bottom dysphoric, and while my parents aren't the most supportive, they aren't kicking me out for being trans. If I wrote about a sex-positive trans woman, I wouldn't be fetishizing her, and I wouldn't be intending to make bottom dysphoric trans women feel bad, or making sex-repulsed individuals uncomfortable. But I would be writing from my own experience, my own points of view, and trying to reach primarily people who relate to that character the same way I do.
This means that queer content is not going to be for the entire queer community. And that is fine. To assume every piece of queer media needs to conform to certain standards and appeal to the 'mainstream' part of the community can be exclusionary and deny individuals their own voices with their experience. Making things for certain people doesn't mean I want to fuck over the people who don't fit into this category.
We're not fighting each other. We're together in the community for a reason. Why the fuck should anyone care if X person prefers John to June? They're a fictional character, who hasn't even transitioned in the already dubiously canonical post-canon. To not 'deadname' a fictional character, you're insulting a trans man who relates to this character in a similar way to you, but simply from another vantage point, another experience. Why the fuck should anyone care whether someone prefers trans woman Roxy to non-binary trans guy Roxy? They're a fictional character with a compelling narrative, that can be read in different ways, and neither is powerful and important enough to justify stubbornly clinging to it to the point of denying others of this positive relation to them.
I care way more about the real individuals telling stories, and the real people behind the screen, than some characters. And I say this, as a woman who named herself after a fictional character. And I say this, as a woman who kins a fictional character, and feels a close tie to the way she presents herself in canonical content to others. Some people are so concerned about clinging to something as a 'good' ideal of queer content, that deviations, still queer and meaningful to other people in the same community, are twisted into 'attacks' and 'bad'. What the fuck?
What drives people to preferring elevating fictional characters to a sacred and untouchable standard, while they tell people from their same community to die? What drives someone to have so little empathy for someone of the same community, that they would rather accuse them of being a bigot for having a different headcanon, than be happy they have found comfort in a headcanon in the exact same way they themselves project onto that character, no matter how differently?
This is not nagging about Discourse existing. This is not me, a fan, tired of seeing negativity about the content. This is a queer woman fucking tired of seeing people attacking each other, in the same community, over fictional characters, because they have divergent takes on them.
If you want representation to exist, you have to accept that queer creators may not have your same experiences, and may want to showcase themes and things in their work that you don't like. This doesn't mean the representation is bad or wrong, and this doesn't mean that disliking their work means there's no virtue in the actual representation they convey.
If you want representation to exist, you have to accept that no two people's experiences are going to be the same, and by assuming any deviation from YOUR experience is offensive and an attack on people who do share your experience, makes you no better than the 'bigotry' you speak against.
If you want representation to exist, you have to accept there will be representation not meant for you, and if you're unable to be happy for the people this representation actually helps and makes feel better, if you're bitter and aggressive towards these people because this is not your representation, you're not fighting back against bigotry and bad representation, you are erasing and excluding people, and being entitled and bitchy.
I focus on gender and orientation because they're the two things I have the most experience with, but this goes beyond the confines of the Queer Community. Everyone. Has different experiences. Everyone has different things they've gone through, and different ways of reacting to situations.
I know there's a lot of actually bad things happening. It's stressful, it's tiring. It's easy to fall into aggressiveness and keep everything that doesn't directly cater to us away. But let's all take a deep breath, and think about what we're doing. We're all different. And that is good. Divergent takes on our same identities, diverging takes on characters we relate to. These differences should be exalted. Not shunned. This is what makes us Human. The beauty of interpretation, of seeing things differently! So long as we keep a respect for each other, we should be wanting to understand these different ways of being, not pushing them away under a guise of It Being Bad.
We're better than this.
Whoever you are, having read this far? Your take on characters is valid. Your experiences are yours, and yours only. No one should take any of this away from you. And in the same way? You shouldn't take it away from anyone else.
Embrace the differences. Embrace the uniqueness. Learn about your siblings, about the different ways they parse their own existences.
Live, let live. Be happy, be happy that others are happy.
And as always.
Take care all of you. <3
