Report GradientInfinity's Profile

Hi.
I am a long-time Inuyasha fan, and also a hopefully soon (...or, not soon) e-book serial writer. One of my favorite things to do is to analyze/dissect characters, character relationships, and situations in fiction. If something isn't directly stated, then I strongly believe it. is. up. to. interpretation, more than usual. When it comes to my history as a fan, of Inuyasha, and of anything, I have made mistakes, and I deeply, deeply regret them and have tried to do better since then and in the future. I strongly believe fanworks are important, as they are not only a compliment to the person and/or people who created the original work, but it can show how diverse and inclusive the fan and fandom is, or the complete opposite; the fan and/or fandom being extremely exclusive. They are generally made out of love for the characters, character relationships...etc and in general the original work, and I just find that extremely nice and should be allowed to flourish.

I deeply, strongly, without any sort of doubt believe that fandom is for EVERYONE. Generally this should be implied and practiced by all fans of all works, but it is just something I do not see and have not always experienced. Life outside of fandom is still rigid enough (with very obvious inequalities of certain groups), fandom does not need to contribute. Fandom needs to be a place where the rest of society can learn from, and I know that sounds a bit odd, but one reason, outside of loving the original work, people seem to gravitate towards fandom is because they feel like and if they are in a marginalized group or groups, they are excluded in various and multiple ways from the dominant society.

In relation to that, I believe in the validity in all interpretations by all fans, as long as there is no bashing of any kind. While I do believe in creator intent (I write stories, so I understand the importance of this, and even if I didn't), that is not always given, so when it is not, and there are times where it is very evident, the fan has every right to not be interrogated by others for their interpretation. I don't believe this is a thing up for debate. Why? How is someone interpreting that Inuyasha likes cats hurting anyone? It's not. Someone interpreting that Gwen Dawson is demisexual is not hurting anyone, and is just as valid as someone interpreting her as heterosexual, and those who interpret her as that do NOT need to be interrogated, harassed, and made to feel like the ways they interpret her as lesser and "not a real fan" because "this and this is sooooo obvious". No. That needs to stop, and stop completely. These days the term, "canon" is treated like "this is what everyone believes so it is so!" or "this is all totally obvious, so it is fact" when things are not that simple. People are harassed, dehumanized, and just generally treated like garbage for not being "canon compliant", when the things that are believed to be "canon" are completely subjective (note: I am not saying things like Inuyasha has a sword that is called Tessaiga, and Tessaiga has various attacks type of thing. I'm referring to things that are left ambiguous, character thoughts, feelings, and statements, relationships, just to be more clear.). People are not "in denial" if they don't subscribe to a popular/common interpretation of a character, character relationship, and/or situation in fiction. As long as there is no bashing of other fans, characters, character relationships, and marginalized groups by a person, then there is no reason to attempt to convince them to interpret things differently. This might sound petty so some people, but it is very important.


(What I have written is not an invitation for interrogation, just to be clear.)