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OOF!
We are finally home from the con. We should have been back about 3 hours ago, but our train stopped just outside of Coventry and didn't start again until 2 hours later. Joy!
Anyhoo, have had a quick skim of the flist and seen very little about Jensen's rather interesting panel session this afternoon.
Indeed, there were interesting questions.
It was very easy to tell when a question made him uncomfortable, because there was facepalming. The more uncomfortable, the more facepalming. All the questions about Dean & the show made him very enthusiastic and excited. Questions like, "what do you think are your best and worst physical features?"* and "if you had to write a personals ad for yourself, what would it say?" resulted in moderate facepalming.
The question, "You said in the panel yesterday that you were very protective of Dean. What do you think of fanfiction?" made him practically crawl behind the chair he was facepalming so much.
I don't even remember his very brief answer about 'fanfiction' because he launched right into "some really imaginative/crazy [can't remember exact wording, but def wasn't positive] fans write something called Wincest..." (cue more facepalming). He did handle it quite well, though he was clearly very uncomfortable.
Of course, about fifteen minutes later, someone else asked a question that was something like: "is there gay subtext between Sam and Dean?" (I didn't quite hear it, just got the gist), which, personally, I think is quite a valid question!! But it was met with another anxious moan from the audience, and Jensen adamantly declaring (and facepalming) that a) THEY'RE BROTHERS! and b) Kripke knows about all the Wincest/gay stuff, and puts in these little 'jokes' to poke fun and show how ridiculous and outrageous that idea is.
(...clearly, that's working out for them.)
Anyway, Jensen said that he and Jared only found out about Wincest BECAUSE KIM MANNERS GAVE SOME TO THEM. I could not love Kim Manners any more, at this point. (I would kill to know what/who's story he gave them!)
I'm not sure how I feel about those questions. Well, I feel fine about the gay subtext question - I think it would be more of a problem if people thought that it was a problem to ask about gay subtext at a convention - given that it's common practice that people were asking about het love interests and dynamics on the show. But it did come at a time in that panel where Wincest was already at the front of everyone's minds.
The fanfiction question is a sticky one. Some fans are adamant that it was incredibly inappropriate, that it's something that's seen but not heard/admitted to (on either side). But the old practices are changing anyway, I think, and I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. Yes, a lot of the practices of passing on etiquette is no longer present, but I think some of the 'rules' have - or should - become obsolete anyway.
The person that asked that question asked it of pretty much every guest at every panel; Alona Tal, upon being asked if she looked at websites/forums/etc, said she reads "everything. EVERYTHING." Nicki Aycox and Brooke Nevin seemed bemused, but relatively positive about support and imagination. Nicki had received fanfic about Meg in the mail from a fan, and had been blown away and utterly impressed by how awesome it was; Brooke suggested fans write episodes of the show themselves. Someone asked Alison Mack a question about the Clark/Lex and she very frankly said that the rescusitation scene in the pilot drew in a huge fanbase because of its homoeroticism - and she didn't seem to think anything was wrong with that. or with saying that.
I don't know. I think it's just as easy to find fanfiction as any fan website these days, and with TV producers becoming more connected with audiences and fans (and definitely seeing the benefit of that!), they're definitely less likely to just turn a blind eye to what the fans are doing and saying. And by 'they' I mean not only the actors (like Alona, who reads all the forums etc), but the producers and creators.
I think for me, my opinion on all of this is formed by my firm belief that fanfiction - including slash - isn't something that should be considered shameful.
I don't think that guests at conventions should be made uncomfortable by inappropriate questions. I think that if they are clearly uncomfortable, then questioners/audience/fans should back off.
But ideally, i'd like a world where asking about fanfiction doesn't make the guest - or the rest of the audience - uncomfortable. I really liked the way Nicki and Brooke dealt with the question; I didn't like the way I'm sure a lot of the audience held their breath and/or muttered to the person sitting next to them and/or shook their heads in disapproval.
I think the fact that the audience let out a big lascivious moan en masse when the girl at Jensen's panel asked about fanfiction only served to support his discomfort.
Basically, I think I want everyone to stop thinking that fanfiction, slash or no, is something to be ashamed of.
Especially with television texts, the boundaries of the characters are so open anyway, I don't think it is something that should invoke a concept of violation of those characters and who portrays them ('Dean' is written by a range of script writers, directed by a number of directors, has input from Jensen, is re-written by comics authors and novelists and whoever wrote the material on the official website...).
Anyway, it's late, and my brain surge upon walking home in the rain has subsided again.
All in all, a good weekend :)
* Answer to best & worse physical features question: Jensen facepalming, looking uncomfortable, then surreptitiously glancing down at his crotch. Then, when the crowd cheered, saying "well, yaknow, and worse would be... bow legs. An awful set of Texas bow legs."
Anyhoo, have had a quick skim of the flist and seen very little about Jensen's rather interesting panel session this afternoon.
Indeed, there were interesting questions.
It was very easy to tell when a question made him uncomfortable, because there was facepalming. The more uncomfortable, the more facepalming. All the questions about Dean & the show made him very enthusiastic and excited. Questions like, "what do you think are your best and worst physical features?"* and "if you had to write a personals ad for yourself, what would it say?" resulted in moderate facepalming.
The question, "You said in the panel yesterday that you were very protective of Dean. What do you think of fanfiction?" made him practically crawl behind the chair he was facepalming so much.
I don't even remember his very brief answer about 'fanfiction' because he launched right into "some really imaginative/crazy [can't remember exact wording, but def wasn't positive] fans write something called Wincest..." (cue more facepalming). He did handle it quite well, though he was clearly very uncomfortable.
Of course, about fifteen minutes later, someone else asked a question that was something like: "is there gay subtext between Sam and Dean?" (I didn't quite hear it, just got the gist), which, personally, I think is quite a valid question!! But it was met with another anxious moan from the audience, and Jensen adamantly declaring (and facepalming) that a) THEY'RE BROTHERS! and b) Kripke knows about all the Wincest/gay stuff, and puts in these little 'jokes' to poke fun and show how ridiculous and outrageous that idea is.
(...clearly, that's working out for them.)
Anyway, Jensen said that he and Jared only found out about Wincest BECAUSE KIM MANNERS GAVE SOME TO THEM. I could not love Kim Manners any more, at this point. (I would kill to know what/who's story he gave them!)
I'm not sure how I feel about those questions. Well, I feel fine about the gay subtext question - I think it would be more of a problem if people thought that it was a problem to ask about gay subtext at a convention - given that it's common practice that people were asking about het love interests and dynamics on the show. But it did come at a time in that panel where Wincest was already at the front of everyone's minds.
The fanfiction question is a sticky one. Some fans are adamant that it was incredibly inappropriate, that it's something that's seen but not heard/admitted to (on either side). But the old practices are changing anyway, I think, and I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. Yes, a lot of the practices of passing on etiquette is no longer present, but I think some of the 'rules' have - or should - become obsolete anyway.
The person that asked that question asked it of pretty much every guest at every panel; Alona Tal, upon being asked if she looked at websites/forums/etc, said she reads "everything. EVERYTHING." Nicki Aycox and Brooke Nevin seemed bemused, but relatively positive about support and imagination. Nicki had received fanfic about Meg in the mail from a fan, and had been blown away and utterly impressed by how awesome it was; Brooke suggested fans write episodes of the show themselves. Someone asked Alison Mack a question about the Clark/Lex and she very frankly said that the rescusitation scene in the pilot drew in a huge fanbase because of its homoeroticism - and she didn't seem to think anything was wrong with that. or with saying that.
I don't know. I think it's just as easy to find fanfiction as any fan website these days, and with TV producers becoming more connected with audiences and fans (and definitely seeing the benefit of that!), they're definitely less likely to just turn a blind eye to what the fans are doing and saying. And by 'they' I mean not only the actors (like Alona, who reads all the forums etc), but the producers and creators.
I think for me, my opinion on all of this is formed by my firm belief that fanfiction - including slash - isn't something that should be considered shameful.
I don't think that guests at conventions should be made uncomfortable by inappropriate questions. I think that if they are clearly uncomfortable, then questioners/audience/fans should back off.
But ideally, i'd like a world where asking about fanfiction doesn't make the guest - or the rest of the audience - uncomfortable. I really liked the way Nicki and Brooke dealt with the question; I didn't like the way I'm sure a lot of the audience held their breath and/or muttered to the person sitting next to them and/or shook their heads in disapproval.
I think the fact that the audience let out a big lascivious moan en masse when the girl at Jensen's panel asked about fanfiction only served to support his discomfort.
Basically, I think I want everyone to stop thinking that fanfiction, slash or no, is something to be ashamed of.
Especially with television texts, the boundaries of the characters are so open anyway, I don't think it is something that should invoke a concept of violation of those characters and who portrays them ('Dean' is written by a range of script writers, directed by a number of directors, has input from Jensen, is re-written by comics authors and novelists and whoever wrote the material on the official website...).
Anyway, it's late, and my brain surge upon walking home in the rain has subsided again.
All in all, a good weekend :)
* Answer to best & worse physical features question: Jensen facepalming, looking uncomfortable, then surreptitiously glancing down at his crotch. Then, when the crowd cheered, saying "well, yaknow, and worse would be... bow legs. An awful set of Texas bow legs."