Can't Stop the Squee

[browngirl]

This is, among other things, a GIP (it is still gratuitous even if not only about this icon, which made me cry so much I had to have it). Ain't it shiny? monkeycrackmary rules, as ever, from orbit..

I tend to be heavily invested in my sense of wonder, both in the world that is and in fictional worlds. I try to keep my eyes open for the niftinesses of life, from stars to clouds to eyelashes, and I think a lot about the construction of the fantasy worlds I mentally inhabit, both my own and other people's. I had more to say on that before I was interrupted. Anyway.

Squee's been a little hard to come by in my life recently. A great many things have mired me in mundanity, and some days I feel like I lurch from task to task with no time for actual thought. And when I've had time for fandom, well, I've found some people being pretty cranky about things I like and do, in pretty definitive-sounding final-judgement no-conciliation-possible ways. A friend of mine mused recently if her fannish interests wouldn't've shifted without adverse interactions with fellow fen. For my part, I know mine have. (There's a side post here about standards, etc. My personal belief, aka how the world would work if I ran it, is that standards are meant for encouragement, not for discouragement, for helping people improve, not excluding them. But I digress.)

But people can only be themselves, and I can only be me.There is so much in the world to rejoice in, not least Serenity, which blew my socks off, and Firefly, which I've been joyously watching with Tigerlily. I feel a little like a fairweather friend, because I only saw three or so episodes of its first run, so I was never part of the devoted fandom keeping the light alive for three years. But here I am now. Firefly's lit up my heart.

And the comics fandom... current canon is often painful, but large bits of it are awesome, and the *fandom* is a splendid, splendid place to be a reader and a writer and a fan. I had more to say on that, but I got interrupted by a kid who ended up discussing DC vs Marvel with me. Did I mention things to squee about?

Both fandoms have reminded me of what I think got a little clouded for me in the hobbit fandom. This isn't about who's a bad writer or using terms incorrectly or is elitist or is a jerk. It's not about factions and who decided they don't like whom. It's about coming together to share our fascination and wonder and joy at the amazing things people can create, be that professionals or we fanartists and fanwriters. Life is too short, and there's so much to admire and delight in, to create and see and do. It's useless to let crankiness, pettiness, and spite distract us from ways to be happy and things that deserve appreciation.

This is all a spectacularly longwinded way of saying I changed my userinfo a bit, and I'm looking about the Serenity fandom. My heart is always with the hobbits, and I've made such friends in this fandom, but it's with superheroes and spaceships, too.

After all, when we set our minds and hands and hearts to what we will, no power in the 'verse can stop us.

Comments

[aprilkat.livejournal.com]

One thing I love about you is your wonder about wonder, so to speak.

I agree with you about sharing the joy instead of judging each other.

But there are still MANY lovely people in the LOTR fandom, so please don't ever leave us entirely, please? Our lives would be so much grayer without that flash of Ruby, ya know?