Links roundup for 24 August 2012

[otw_staff]

Here's a roundup of issues in fandoms that might be of interest to fans:

• One persistent problem fans have experienced revolves around their representation -- either in media stories on fans, or within the canons that they're fans of. Alyssa Rosenberg wrote about the latter, saying Hollywood decision makers think "it’s easier to sell white men as brawling gods than black men as hugely technologically advanced leaders of foreign nations", which leads some stories to cross media formats while others don't. In the meantime William Shatner hopes to defend fan practices to the media with his new documentary. "'These people who come to Comic-Con and dress up - all across the country, the rest of the population who doesn't understand are scoffing at them.'" But fans have their reasons. "'For a kid who is pathologically shy, dressing a cat up in a uniform -- [suddenly] he could speak. 'Captain Dave,' who is dying from Lou Gehrig's disease, lives through 'Star Trek.''" The media, or at least Variety continues to beg to differ.
( Read more... )

Links roundup for 24 August 2012

[otw-staff.livejournal.com]

Here's a roundup of issues in fandoms that might be of interest to fans:

• One persistent problem fans have experienced revolves around their representation -- either in media stories on fans, or within the canons that they're fans of. Alyssa Rosenberg wrote about the latter, saying Hollywood decision makers think "it’s easier to sell white men as brawling gods than black men as hugely technologically advanced leaders of foreign nations", which leads some stories to cross media formats while others don't. In the meantime William Shatner hopes to defend fan practices to the media with his new documentary. "'These people who come to Comic-Con and dress up - all across the country, the rest of the population who doesn't understand are scoffing at them.'" But fans have their reasons. "'For a kid who is pathologically shy, dressing a cat up in a uniform -- [suddenly] he could speak. 'Captain Dave,' who is dying from Lou Gehrig's disease, lives through 'Star Trek.''" The media, or at least Variety continues to beg to differ.
( Read more... )