RatCreature (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ratcreature) wrote2006-07-11 10:16 pm
ratcreature) wrote2006-07-11 10:16 pm
does fandom make you like some characters more?
I've been curious how common it is that fandom makes us come to like characters we initially didn't really care for just based on the source.
I don't become involved in a fandom, and in particular with reading fanfic, before I have seen or read a lot of the source (usually all that is available for book and tv series, though comics canon is usually too vast for that). Mostly because I want to form my own impressions first, and only then I start looking for fanfic and discussions, though noticing that a fandom is popular on my f-list and among authors I like will certainly make me more likely to check it out. And quite often there's characters I don't like much initially, but fandom changes my mind, though my favorite character usually doesn't shift. I think it's because I know that I'm influenced fairly easily that it's important to me to at least start from the source on my own.
A good example for what I mean is Draco in HP. After reading the first five books I didn't care for Draco at all, that is I didn't just find him obnoxious but also rather uninteresting. In HBP Draco seemed less flat to me (and I don't think that was all because when reading HBP I've already been in HP fandom for some time), but it was mostly through contact with tons of Draco fans and fanfic that I started to see potential in Draco, though he still isn't one of my favorites. In a similar vein fandom made me actually like Snape, which I really didn't in the books, though unlike Draco I at least never found him boring. But after copious exposure to Snape fans he's actually become my second favorite character, unlikely as that seems. I certainly wouldn't have thought that possible after just the books. (I still haven't seen the HP movies, so apart from seeing some screencaps, those don't factor into my view of HP at all.)
Another example is Rodney McKay in SGA. I mean, during my marathon watching of SGA season one Rodney already slowly grew on me on his own merits, and I found him less aggravating as time went on, so it wasn't all fandom, but it wasn't until I got involved in SGA fandom, of which a huge percentage seems to have a massive crush on Rodney, that I started to really like the character.
So do you have any examples of fandom making you turn around in your views of a character and like someone whom you didn't care for in the source?
I don't become involved in a fandom, and in particular with reading fanfic, before I have seen or read a lot of the source (usually all that is available for book and tv series, though comics canon is usually too vast for that). Mostly because I want to form my own impressions first, and only then I start looking for fanfic and discussions, though noticing that a fandom is popular on my f-list and among authors I like will certainly make me more likely to check it out. And quite often there's characters I don't like much initially, but fandom changes my mind, though my favorite character usually doesn't shift. I think it's because I know that I'm influenced fairly easily that it's important to me to at least start from the source on my own.
A good example for what I mean is Draco in HP. After reading the first five books I didn't care for Draco at all, that is I didn't just find him obnoxious but also rather uninteresting. In HBP Draco seemed less flat to me (and I don't think that was all because when reading HBP I've already been in HP fandom for some time), but it was mostly through contact with tons of Draco fans and fanfic that I started to see potential in Draco, though he still isn't one of my favorites. In a similar vein fandom made me actually like Snape, which I really didn't in the books, though unlike Draco I at least never found him boring. But after copious exposure to Snape fans he's actually become my second favorite character, unlikely as that seems. I certainly wouldn't have thought that possible after just the books. (I still haven't seen the HP movies, so apart from seeing some screencaps, those don't factor into my view of HP at all.)
Another example is Rodney McKay in SGA. I mean, during my marathon watching of SGA season one Rodney already slowly grew on me on his own merits, and I found him less aggravating as time went on, so it wasn't all fandom, but it wasn't until I got involved in SGA fandom, of which a huge percentage seems to have a massive crush on Rodney, that I started to really like the character.
So do you have any examples of fandom making you turn around in your views of a character and like someone whom you didn't care for in the source?
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