Torchwood after the SDCC panel
Jul. 29th, 2009 11:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eumeliaDuring the San Diego Comic Con Torchwood Panel (available in seven parts) lots of things came up.
It was interesting to hear the Panellists' (Russel T. Davies, John Barrowman, Euros Lynn and Julie Gardner) opinions on the characters and the epic itself, it's always nice to hear creator and performer insights into characters. What a lovely touchy-squishy medium.
A few *squeeee* worthy moments were this kiss, that actually happened elsewhere but, c'mon, you gotta see it!
OMG! Those three men are freakin' huge!
Tennant and Barrowman are so cute.
The biggest fangrrl in the hall is Barrowman. I love it :D
In addition, during the panel, one of the questions pertained to John Barrowman's costumes and his clothing in the parts that he plays. In his answer he mentioned that one of his dreams would be to play Captain America!
My jaw dropped.
Never has there ever been a better actor to play Captain America.
Ever.
Seriously, look at those jaw lines.
Perfect match!
And moving on to some of the more serious content in conjunction of Fandom reaction of the past two weeks.
RTD's response to what would be considered the internet fan response and it really put things in perspective for me.
Personally, I don't care what RTD thinks about the fans, fandom or even his own creation.
He has a vision, as Julie Gardner said, and it their jobs as storytellers to execute those visions to the best of their ability, in the way that matches how they see character, plot and world they built (and consequently destroyed).
As fans, we feel propitiatory towards the characters. We love them, we know them, we read how others love them and think about them.
Those are interpretations.
That is meta.
That is how the characters, story, world relates to us, the readers, the viewers and that is no less important than those who created them, with one big difference.
We do not get a say in how the vision plays out.
We do not get a say in what should have happened.
Nor should we.
Art is not a democracy.
Art is a tricky piece of the modern market.
We are not the Patrons of Yonder Years (or the real Art Patrons and Matrons of today), the majority of us do not have enough money to be that.
We spend our money on the stuff that we like, enjoy and then create a community around that.
It's fun, I dunno who I'd be if it weren't for other obsessive geeks like me.
We are lucky that the creators chose to take more feedback from us than ratings. That kind of closeness should not be taken lightly or derided.
Not too long ago, Neil Gaiman wrote a post in his blog about entitlement issues regarding writer George R.R. Martin's accessibility to his fans:
He goes on and this is of course applicable to any writer, musician, actor and any other artist who chooses to interact with the people who consume the work.
We do not get a say. They, the people who provide us with entertainment, are not under any obligation to make feel all squishy inside and make our self-worth issues the centre of their universe.
That's my opinion as a fan who has interacted with the people who created things I love.
I'm feeling very bitter towards fandom who makes the likes of me look bad and actually have this bullshit be a part of the way we are perceived.
That is all.
It was interesting to hear the Panellists' (Russel T. Davies, John Barrowman, Euros Lynn and Julie Gardner) opinions on the characters and the epic itself, it's always nice to hear creator and performer insights into characters. What a lovely touchy-squishy medium.
A few *squeeee* worthy moments were this kiss, that actually happened elsewhere but, c'mon, you gotta see it!
OMG! Those three men are freakin' huge!
Tennant and Barrowman are so cute.
The biggest fangrrl in the hall is Barrowman. I love it :D
In addition, during the panel, one of the questions pertained to John Barrowman's costumes and his clothing in the parts that he plays. In his answer he mentioned that one of his dreams would be to play Captain America!
My jaw dropped.
Never has there ever been a better actor to play Captain America.
Ever.
Seriously, look at those jaw lines.
Perfect match!
And moving on to some of the more serious content in conjunction of Fandom reaction of the past two weeks.
RTD's response to what would be considered the internet fan response and it really put things in perspective for me.
Personally, I don't care what RTD thinks about the fans, fandom or even his own creation.
He has a vision, as Julie Gardner said, and it their jobs as storytellers to execute those visions to the best of their ability, in the way that matches how they see character, plot and world they built (and consequently destroyed).
As fans, we feel propitiatory towards the characters. We love them, we know them, we read how others love them and think about them.
Those are interpretations.
That is meta.
That is how the characters, story, world relates to us, the readers, the viewers and that is no less important than those who created them, with one big difference.
We do not get a say in how the vision plays out.
We do not get a say in what should have happened.
Nor should we.
Art is not a democracy.
Art is a tricky piece of the modern market.
We are not the Patrons of Yonder Years (or the real Art Patrons and Matrons of today), the majority of us do not have enough money to be that.
We spend our money on the stuff that we like, enjoy and then create a community around that.
It's fun, I dunno who I'd be if it weren't for other obsessive geeks like me.
We are lucky that the creators chose to take more feedback from us than ratings. That kind of closeness should not be taken lightly or derided.
Not too long ago, Neil Gaiman wrote a post in his blog about entitlement issues regarding writer George R.R. Martin's accessibility to his fans:
George R.R. Martin is not your bitch.
This is a useful thing to know, perhaps a useful thing to point out when you find yourself thinking that possibly George is, indeed, your bitch, and should be out there typing what you want to read right now.
People are not machines. Writers and artists aren't machines.
You're complaining about George doing other things than writing the books you want to read as if your buying the first book in the series was a contract with him: that you would pay over your ten dollars, and George for his part would spend every waking hour until the series was done, writing the rest of the books for you.
No such contract existed. You were paying your ten dollars for the book you were reading, and I assume that you enjoyed it because you want to know what happens next.
He goes on and this is of course applicable to any writer, musician, actor and any other artist who chooses to interact with the people who consume the work.
We do not get a say. They, the people who provide us with entertainment, are not under any obligation to make feel all squishy inside and make our self-worth issues the centre of their universe.
That's my opinion as a fan who has interacted with the people who created things I love.
I'm feeling very bitter towards fandom who makes the likes of me look bad and actually have this bullshit be a part of the way we are perceived.
That is all.
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no subject
Date: 2009-07-31 08:24 am (UTC)Yes, well, that's kind of a given.
My problem isn't that fans are angry, it's that fans get off believing they (we) have a say in any of the above. That we should expect the writers and creators to write for our benefit. They don't and I don't think that that's a bad thing.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-31 09:29 am (UTC)Yes, well, that's kind of a given.
You'd be surprised at how many people think it isn't. I've seen more posts in the last few days telling people that they have no right to an opinion and if they didn't like Children of Earth they are immature fanbrats and need to grow up and get a life, than I've seen attacks on the writers.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-31 09:32 am (UTC)