#aldora rambles

So I've been away for a good long while.  I love and miss everyone on here, and the fandoms we share, and the sense of community we have.  I miss the ridiculous fanart and the beautiful fanart, I miss the .gifs and analyses, I miss reading and writing fics, and I miss mutually screaming over obscure trivia with like-minded souls.  I might even dive in again one day!

But a year or two back (whenever it was I went AWOL) I realized tumblr was kind of toxic for me.  I started feeling like a rat pushing the reward/meth button over and over to get a little burst of pleasure, to the exclusion of doing actually rewarding things in meatspace.  It didn't help that at the time, my personal meatspace was less than appealing.  Basically, the way this website works on a fundamental level enables something inside of me that scares me to death.

So I kind of quit cold turkey, and I've been doing really well.  I have a job I enjoy, family and friends I love, and a much better sense of self than a year or two ago.  On the other hand, I feel like I've lost most of my creative juice, which is something I still need to work on.  

But at least once a week I think about Trek, and all my beautiful trekkies our fandom allowed me to "meet" here, and I hope everyone is doing as well as I've been lately.

recognizing that many people, probably most people, outside the ~tumblr fandom bubble~ flat-out don't understand the nuances of gender and sexuality, especially the relevant technical terminology or what can make something sound "problematic" 

recognizing that reflex-attacking them for their ignorance (versus "I'm disappointed X said Y because they must not realize what Y means, can we teach them somehow?") just whips up a bunch of unproductive and premature wank

recognizing that validating intense emotional reactions to the point of near-infallibility on the part of the person expressing them might not always be a good thing

recognizing that just because feelings are powerful and worthy of acknowledgement and consideration doesn't mean they automatically confer the moral or factual high ground to the person expressing them

recognizing that while intent doesn't excuse people of their actions, it should goddamn well affect how you respond to them

If someone steps on your foot by mistake and either apologizes or is totally unaware, you are well within your rights to be hurt, but when you shout them down afterward and say they're a dirty rotten foot-stepper that makes you a jerk

I mean maybe this is the part of me who sympathizes heavily with Vulcans and Stoics (same difference) but I find it difficult to grasp this notion that emotions are beyond rational criticism or examination

Especially after nodding my way through "On Anger."

AKA Real Talk with Seneca

It's like half the time tumblr is trying to say feelings are these vicious, wild beasts that control us and we're just helpless against their onslaught

And if I believed that I probably would have given up on life a long time ago 

I have to think there's a chance that one day, I won't be at the mercy of externals as much as I am now

(and I'm talkin' 'bout externals that affect my physical self not possibly inelegant statements from celebrities I admire)

Not to say controlling your feelings isn't incredibly fucking difficult but what's the alternative to trying?

The alternative is Achilles parading Hector's body around because he lost his fucking marbles over Patroclus

And if you try to control feelings at least there's a (slim) chance you'll end up like Diogenes who didn't give no fucks about nothing thank you very much

Or the Buddha because enlightenment = seeing the true nature of things

Let's be real Siddhartha and Seneca would have paled around and been like "dude you are so RIGHT"

And possibly consoled Marcus Aurelius together because the poor guy was so depressed and existential

....

what was I talking about

oh yeah

feelings =/= virtue

Given that Jensen has the voice of an angel, Misha has some possible (and slightly insane) vocal chops, and Jared can probably carry a tune - although I think he's a reluctant singer - it would surprise me if the idea of a musical episode hasn't crossed TPTB's minds.  Edlund's, at the very least.

If done right, it would be absolutely kickass.  If done wrong, it would be a permanent embarrassment for the show; think the worst normal episode times ten.  And there's not a whole lot of middle ground.  So the show would be taking a huge risk, and to be honest, I'm not convinced it's a risk worth taking.

Regardless, it's fun to think about, and if they did decide to take the plunge, here are three ways I could see it going down:

Like I said, it’s a difficult and subjective thing.  I didn’t mean to accuse the show of queerbaiting (edit: looking back, I feel that I didn't.  I had a paragraph dedicated to the uncertainty of it) - I’m not certain on that myself - but I know people who eloquently and unabashedly have, so I tried to explain why those fans feel the way they do.  Why what the show does sometimes could be interpreted as queerbaiting, depending on how the chips fall one day.  I’m of the mind that it’s not over until it’s over, so we can’t possibly know yet, but… there you have it.

Anyway, there are so many assumptions in your ask I completely disagree with, I’m not sure where to begin.  The fact that you’re equating what the show has done with Dean and Cas to… Sam and Pamela, for one.  I can’t even wrap my head around that, to be honest.  As for “the show going the direction it wants to” (which I snickered at a little because… a TV show is not a balloon set loose on the four winds) I would recommend reading silvenhorror’s stuff about the relationship between fans and creators.  And I feel forced to mention precedent: Mulder and Scully quietly became a couple after years of intense fan speculation (and SPN referenced them in relation to Dean and Cas, by the way, during 8x08.)

Exactly!  That line is what made me step back and think “for chrissakes, give the man some brain food!”  I want him to know there are many fans who, in a oddball sort of way, elevate SPN to the same level as Shakespeare through passionate critical analysis.  I know there must be fans out there who have spent more time arguing for the textual validity of Destiel than they ever spent on their “Merchant of Venice” essay…  and I doubt Misha would be the type to trivialize that.

So, uh... not sure how to answer this, anon.  Not sure I should answer this, because I have little experience addressing socially charged issues of such importance.  I'm sorry if my reblog bothered you, but I'd like to drop some points (a few of them related to the things you brought up elsewhere.  At least, I think it's you.)

A)  I had no idea the actress was brownfaced.  I honestly can't tell if she's wearing makeup to darken her skin, and I can't find an off-the-set photo of her from back then, so how do we know?  Are my eyes just really bad and this sticks out like a sore thumb to everyone else?

B)  She was also an extra in The Paradise Syndrome, which features a FAR more egregious use of brownface due to the ridiculous noble savage stereotypes and the fridging of the "Native American"/alien??? love interest.  And the skin makeup was painfully obvious.  There's a reason I don't reblog that episode.  It's just bad.

C)  Re: the above... all the sci-fi fans I know, and hopefully all the ones who follow me, are acutely aware that TOS has Issues.  The entire show comes with the blanket warning label "product of its times that tried really hard and sometimes failed really hard," (which is more than you can say for its entertainment contemporaries).  The modern fandom spends a huge amount of time re-imagining TOS, except better, for this reason.  

Was it ignorant of them to cast someone non-Indian as Indian?  Of course!  But the show was made in 1966, was at the mercy of a sexist and racist network, and was part of an industry that to this day, treats non-white people horribly.  We're talking about a time period where a major film studio let I.Y. Yunioshi exist.  We're talking a mere two years after the Civil Rights Act passed.  Yet the brief portrayal of Rahda in TOS was positive.

So casting a Jewish woman as an Indian woman in a position of power - she's a lieutenant driving the freakin' Enterprise - with the intention of representing an optimistic future with a diverse crew hardly strikes me as a sin in the grand scheme of Star Trek.  Or in the grand scheme of A:TLA being whitewashed to hell and back in freakin' 2010.  But that's another can o' worms.

And because I'm a pedantic microanalyst nerd, I could also talk about how there are Jewish enclaves in India thousands of years old.  Hypothetically, Radha's character could be an Indian of Jewish ancestry (in keeping with her actress' background).  Or I could talk about how India itself is a conglomeration of many different ethnic groups, so even if that isn't the actress' real skin tone, her appearance is not insultingly non-Indian.  Compare with the Ten Commandments in which no one looks anything vaguely resembling Middle Eastern (where's the "I don't think you really tried at all" star?)

I don't know if this makes sense, but can two people be considered to be in a romantic relationship without any dating/kissing/sex stuff?

OOKKAAAY, it looks like I interpreted your question wrong earlier!  Let me try to figure out the disconnect...