Season 8 and the fandom (my thoughts)

[sombrefan]

I think best in lists. I've long lost the ability to construct paragraphs of more than two sentences. Also I prefer to do analysis of the fandom's reaction to the storyline and other events. So without further ado, here's where I think the fandom excelled and where it fell down in dealing with Season 8.

Liked

1) New blood bringing new thoughts. And they were good.
2) The birth of the fourth age of the online fandom.
3) Those who stuck to their guns and refused to discuss the comic. Had more of the anti-camp taken this approach then a Season 9 may not have been so inevitable.
4) Buffy being discussed in earnest on new platforms like Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, mobile apps etc.
5) Heat of the moment essays on why the season did or didn't work.

Disliked

1) The ugly stench of homophobia during the early stages of the Season. "Buffy loves the cock" was perhaps the most polite slur used.
2) In certain quarters it was deemed acceptable to personally attack Scott Allie and Georges Jeanty. When Allie's ability as a father was called into question, you did wonder how low some fans could sink.
3) Old fans versus new fans rivalry.
4) The extreme elements in the two main shipping factions indulging in gloating when it looked like things were going their way and then lashing out in anger when it didn't. For a fandom that professed itself to be over this kind of behaviour, it was depressing to see a return to the crap that occurred when the show was on the air.
5) The real danger of the largest faction in the fandom experiencing a schism. Thanks to cooler heads, the split in the Spike fandom was prevented but it may merely have been postponed till Season 9.
6) Actual real debate being prevented or interupted by cries of "I AM RIGHTER THAN YOU" and fans taking pot-shots at those fans they didn't like.
7) Those who claimed to know the thoughts of the fandom. "Most people love the comic", "A large number despise it". Well give me a list of 2000 fans who think either way and why they do so, and then I'll take your claims seriously.

Comments

[menomegirl.livejournal.com]

Ha; good list. I like it.

[simonf.livejournal.com]

Cheers :).

[angearia.livejournal.com]

Very interesting.

I'd like to think I've done more in the good column than the bad...

Those who stuck to their guns and refused to discuss the comic. Had more of the anti-camp taken this approach then a Season 9 may not have been so inevitable.

This confused me. What do you mean about the antis not talking about it somehow making Season 9 less likely?

[simonf.livejournal.com]

By talking about Season 8, the antis were effectively recognising and taking it seriously. Even though there was mockery and criticism, Season 8 was validated because people were discussing it. Had it been delibrately ignored by many more, it may have sent a message to Dark Horse that fans didn't want to have anything to do with the comics. That's my take on it, others may disagree.

[angearia.livejournal.com]

I dunno. I think there have been A LOT of people who enjoy Season 8 who've been scared off discussing it by all the antis. I've run across that quite a bit on LJ.

[simonf.livejournal.com]

Well that's true, hence what I said about actual discussion being prevented by shouty shouty people.

[angearia.livejournal.com]

Maybe we missed out on a wonderful golden age of intellectual discussion. :p

What we got seems pretty inevitable to me.

[simonf.livejournal.com]

It was like this when the show was on the air. A lot of good thoughts got overshadowed by people freaking out. Give it another 4 or 5 years and we'll get some great discussion going on.

[thespikeofit.livejournal.com]

I sincerely believe that Dark Horse could give a damn if no one discussed the comics, so long as they sold that would be reason enough to continue. So unless you think people 'bad mouthing' the comics caused them to sell better than they would have done otherwise then I don't really see the connection you're trying to make.

[simonf.livejournal.com]

Less discussion means less interest. Less interest ultimately means less sales.

[thespikeofit.livejournal.com]

Considering the relatively small online fandom compared to the numbers who buy the comics I'm not convinced that online discussion has much relation to driving sales.

[simonf.livejournal.com]

The online fandom still gets a lot of lurkers looking in. From my point of view at Whedonesque, our Season 8 issue threads are the most widely read threads by far. If the more casusal fans weren't seeing the dedicated fans actively discussing Season 8 then that's going to have an impact.

And also if more and more of your favourite BNFs were saying "well that's it, I'm not talking about the season every again" then that would have a knock-on effect.

But it's all conjecture. Be interesting to see how fans tackle next season.

[thespikeofit.livejournal.com]

I actually meant to ask when you mentioned this before with the Whedonesque threads are you talking about just most views (ie including repeat views which happens a lot when people are involved in a lot of backforth) or most people (ignoring how often they view)?

My guess is that season 9 is going to have to promise on-going Joss involvement to keep people coming back to it, if they have Joss stepping back due to his other committments I think they'll take quite a hit.

[simonf.livejournal.com]

It's the most views. Posters refreshing the page will generate views but most of it will come from lurkers trying to find out the storyline and seeing what posters thought of it.

[moscow-watcher.livejournal.com]

Less discussion means less interest.

Not sure.

For example, Batman comics currently top the charts

http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/18918.html

but I couldn't find a forum dedicated to them. While Slayaliven is dedicated to Buffy comics exclusively, and there are very lively discussions on BuffyForums, BuffyBoards and Whedonesque.

I think it's the nature orf Buffy fandom. I can enjoy many films and TV shows, but I never felt compelled to talk about them.

[(Anonymous)]

Hi Simon, I post on Whedonesque and follow your LJ (don't mean to sound stalkerish) but I was wondering if you have an opinion on Season 8. Not a shipping opinion or one about the writers/pencilers (is that an actual word), but one about the plot and character arcs. I'd be really interested in hearing your thoughts.

luv4whedon

Really??

[jo (from livejournal.com)]

As a fan of Buffy since s2 aired on BBC2, I only recently came to the fandom on the internet and i am so surprised that some people behave in these negative ways. I'm really appalled that some people make things so personal (attacking Scott and Georges). i also would like to think that I have behaved in more positive ways. i have a good group of Whedon friends on twitter an genuinely feel we have really thorough and open discussions.