On Castus
You’re right, of course, on the first point.
I did tag this because I did want people to see it, because despite following (on various blogs of mine) several people who are actively in the Castus Crew, I hadn’t seen anyone discussing these things. And you’re probably completely right that there are discussions that are going on that I’m not aware of. I didn’t check through all of the Castus tag history, I just made this post based on what I have seen, as far as the general feelings for the character.
And the majority of what I’ve seen has just ignored this issue, and I thought it was worth discussing. So yes, I tagged it because I felt it needed to be discussed. And I think, if you’ve seen any of the other posts I’ve made, re: wildlittledog and gaygreekgladiator specifically, you’d see that I did not make this post as an attack on the fandom, either Castus fandom or fandom as a whole.
As far as glorification is concerned though, the verb to glorify, in it’s actual definition, is to “Reveal or make clearer the glory of (God) by one’s actions.” So you’re right, no one’s actually glorifying the character, but they’re certainly praising him, which is a synonym. Now, I’ve seen reasons why he could be praised, for sure, thanks to this discussion that I’ve been having as a result of this post, so there is that. And of course, there’s also the fact that the word ‘fan’ means: ”A person who has a strong interest in or admiration for a particular sport, art or entertainment form, or famous person.”
The admiration is right there in the definition.
And I have been more than willing to talk about other characters. Castus came to my mind, because all of the hate I’ve seen from Castus has been pretty nasty stuff. But pretty much all of the hate I’ve seen expressed towards Castus has been because of him trying to interfere with Nagron. Which I think is, while not an invalid reason to dislike someone, certainly not something that can be relatable.
The reason I brought up the harassment is because seriously? No one likes being harassed. No one. Because that’s the definition of it. It’s unwanted. But what I’m saying, and what I went on to say, is that too largely, as a culture, we just brush past that. Whether you’re a victim or not, we tend to (as a culture) ignore the discomfort we feel with sexual harassment.
Of course none of this is a blanket statement. I never said ALL Castus fans are this way. I never said ALL people do this. Heck, I never said ALL of the Castus hate I’ve seen has been from the perspective of saving the Nagron ship. But in general, these are the vast majority of my observations.
[snipped my earlier response for length]
Putting something up for discussion is generally a good thing, especially in the Spartacus fandom, I have seen great exchanges of opinions and view points.
But by putting something in a tag, it’s implied that people who track this tag (read: who are interested in this character), will read this. (Disclaimer: The tag and term Castus Crew were created mainly because a lot of people couldn’t bother with digging through the hate in the #castus tag anymore.)
If you say you haven’t seen people discussing this, then you were simply not looking. Simple as that. And it’s completely different to approach this as you did, or to simply ask if this discourse has been there before. You say you didn’t attack Castus fandom, but you made a long post, implying that people who like Castus literally have never thought about these things. That’s just not true, and quite frankly, a bit disrespectful, EVEN if that wasn’t your intention. “Intent is not magic” is a handy phrase to remember.
I will not respond to your dictionary quotes, because they literally mean nothing in any argument or discussion. Fandom, as well as the term “fan”, are things that cannot be explained via a dictionary, as many other things. Those are things that living breathing people do and are, and also academic fields. The dictionary definition you just gave, is completely worthless, because it doesn’t factor in the complexity of the term. If you’re interested in this kind of stuff, and would like to get a better understanding, I would recommend Henry Jenkins’s “Textual Poachers” and Lisa Lewis’s “The Adoring Audience” as first reads. Maybe knowing more about fans and fandom could give you better insight as of why your negation of the possibility of critical reception is so baffling to some of us. Some of us are passionate fans (and have been for years), some of us concentrate their academic research on fan culture, some of us have observed fandom from another point of view, be it active or not.
And please, please, stop saying “we”, I’m asking you this from a very personal point of view now, I get your linguistical intent behind it, but especially when it comes to things like rape culture and sexual harassment, it is just right on the edge of actually hurting people. Might not be your intent, but again - intent isn’t magic. Trust me, from all the people who are in this, there is literally no one you have to explain rape culture to, I know this for a fact.
All we’re trying to tell you is that your observations are severely lacking, because we have evidence for the contrary.
