Thoughts on Meta and Seasons

[otw_staff]

Thoughts on Meta and Seasons

Inside: Musings on what we watch, what we care about enough to obsess on, and a blatant call for ideas - your links to meta writers, please!


Next week is the unofficial start of summer where I live - a time when my favorite medium is all over the place. Many TV shows are ending (some ’til fall and some forever), mid-season series about to begin. And of course the whole industry is all over the place, too; streaming services drop shows to us ten or thirteen or twenty-three at a time. Some we pick up and put right back down, others make our hearts or our brains sing and we binge watch, maybe, because…wow.

Will there even be a ‘season’ anymore, soon? I’m thinking not so much - but happily I think there *will* always be some new show or other that catches my heart and imagination and makes me want to dig a deeper into the little world it creates. For a while I had started to wonder - show after show came and went and left me with not much beyond ‘meh’ for a reaction. Then Netflix served up S1 of “Halt and Catch Fire.”

I only found it last month and loved it so much I couldn’t stop watching, except for the occasional scene so full of ‘ouch’ that I almost wanted to fast forward. For me that’s a sign I’m done for; when a show is so over the top angsty, painful good that I can barely watch. Yeah, sensitive type. It’s also made me think about searching for a meta writer who is hooked on it, too.

I don’t write meta, but I’ve come to appreciate those who do: People who get a show so thoroughly - its theme, tone, mythology - that they can pick it apart for us and help us see it in new ways.

Reading meta, searching for spoilers or at least hints to what’s next - they’ve made me realize that there are really kind of three kinds of viewers. The ones who watch at a very surface level - who wouldn’t recognize subtext or a ship if it ran them over but who enjoy it just fine anyway. To paraphrase a Tumblr post, what’s that like, to be them? To watch for an hour, move on, and not think about it ’til next week? Tier two is viewer who sees what the show did there - but is also fine confining their interests to the hour that they watch it, with maybe an article on it catching their eye here and there.

Then, there’s the expert - the person who doesn’t see a show, they see a chess game. They not only anticipate the twist, they can explain why it happened and what the implications are for the road ahead. They’re the ones who write meta, and a big thank you to them for their time and patience and that insider perspective, am I right?

What are your definitions of meta? For what fandoms or canon types have you read some great thoughts and analysis? Maybe they're in the form of fan studies articles, analyzing fandom itself or some practice fans engage in?

Do you have a favorite meta writer? Several? If so I’d love to hear about them and get some links. Share in the comments - and if you’re a resident expert on a fandom, please don’t be shy about saying so!

Meta Definition on Fanlore

Meta tag structure on AO3

Metafandom

On symposia: LiveJournal and the shape of fannish discourse by Rebecca Lucy Busker
 

Comments

Meta is magnificent

[alessnox]

Hello,
I agree that fandom meta is a large part of what makes the fan culture work. I am in the Sherlock fandom, and there is SO MUCH meta in this fandom that it is amazing. Mostly this has to do with the fact that the show is released three episodes at a time, then there is no new content for 1.5 - three years!!! This gives us lots and lots of time to discuss the few pieces of data that we do have.

Most of the meta is posted on sites like tumblr and live journal and only a few of the more detailed fan theories have made it onto AO3.

I am planning on making an collection of my favorite meta posts sometime soon, because some of these meta are truly exceptional. They go from commentary on the costume and set design, to family background of characters, drug use, medicinal procedures, historical relevance, and even conspiracy theories.

I'll leave you with a few recs now.

1. We didn’t start the fire, or we didn’t invent Johnlock by welovethebeekeeper
(http://welovethebeekeeper.tumblr.com/post/101663992618/we-didnt-start-the-fire-or-we-didnt-invent)
This meta talks about how the modern slash pairing of Holmes / Watson is based in the canon text, and how there have always been people who have interpreted these two as a couple.

2. Let's play murder by cookieswillcrumble

In this meta, the canon shooting of Sherlock Holmes in the BBC series Sherlock is analyzed from a medical perspective explaining exactly where he was hit. What his likelyhood of surviving would be, and speculating on why he was shot.

3. The Ficthropology Podcast by earis, Lukoni, Measured_Words, Nary
In this podcast, they explore academic works on writing and their relevance to fanfic. Here is one that compares modern fandom with the conventional romance reader fandom.
Ficthropology Episode 6: Janice Radway - Reading the Romance: Women, Patriarchy, and Popular Literature (http://archiveofourown.org/works/1574774)

Have a great read.
Aless

Re: Meta is magnificent

[otw_staff]

Thank you so much for the reccs! I can see why Sherlock would be perfect for meta-writing. It does an amazing job of sticking to the story-telling rule of "don't give them four, give them two plus two..."

And yes, I've noticed that too - occasionally I'll see meta for a particular show I love on AO3, but no nearly so often as on Tumblr or LJ. Not sure why- the fans do congregate around a franchise on AO3. Maybe the feedback just isn't there as much, though.

Thanks again for the info!

[sevilemar]

I love meta, so much. I've written some meta of which I am quite proud, but mostly for myself and the few who still read my journal. There is a lot of quality Hannibal meta on tumblr; one of my favourite pieces is The Hot Darkness of Hannibal Lecter's Mind. It analyzes a lot of things I've been thinking about, too, and makes connections between seasons, which I like very much.