BW’s Daily Video: The Problem With Headcanon

Note: There is swearing.

Catch more of Just Some Guy on YouTube

Before anyone in my comments go on about his name for the LGBT+ community, he has mentioned being gay or bisexual himself in previous videos. The problem is one group of activists trying to take complete control of the theme. I’m not gay. However, I am shy, socially awkward, overly imaginative, carry a short fuse, and nobody I know thinks about or discusses stories the way I do, which was another reason for starting this site. I know what it’s like be on the outside even in my own house (where I’m inside), and while I haven’t seen Luca (though it is on the Finally Watched list) these people are basically telling me that I can’t see my life in this literal fish out of water story because it’s about their life story. From what I can tell it’s a general experience of being the outsider learning about life. Do I not get to see elements of my experience in these characters? That’s what the author JSG is reading from is saying.

That’s also my problem with the extreme arm of the fanshipping community. Gay or straight, they will force their romance of choice onto characters and demand it be official even if that isn’t what the creators are going for. What’s worse is when the relationship is toxic. I’m looking at you Rey/Kylo Ren shippers, and not even the ones who were so into their ship that they insisted the ACTORS needed to be together despite Adam Driver having a wife and child. Do you know what acting is? Watch another Adam Driver or Daisy Ridley movie and tell me (looks up IMDB and picks a random character) Flip Zimmerman should be with (does it again) Hannah Kennedy.

This is why I refer to this not as “death of the author” but “murder of the author”. It’s one thing to not get from a work what the author intended. It’s a different thing to insist you’re right, the author is wrong, and nobody else gets to connect to this story or these characters, or that they aren’t what the author says because you need a one-to-one comparison rather than parallel experiences. Everybody is different and while some stories speak to a specific experience (although those can also inspire parallel experiences…which you would think would be a good thing if you’re looking for sympathy for your cause and experiences) others are more open so we can see our life through theirs and thus better connect to the character even if our specific experiences aren’t there. (I’ve never been a fish person. No judgement if you are.) It’s about accepting others who are different, no matter what that difference is unless it involves mass murder as a hobby or something, and about accepting yourself and what sets you apart from other people as well as where we’re all the same. I know that last part is unlikely in the compartmentalizing labeling going on in today’s sociopolitical climate but “made for you” doesn’t have to be exactly you. That would be boring.