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Pet Peeve #495
Jun. 2nd, 2014 05:34 pm You know one thing that really grinds my gears? People who can't tell the difference between liking something they see in media and condoning it. People who think that liking a nasty or unpopular character automatically means that you would support that character in real life.
And, I recognize that there will always be people for whom the likes of Edward Cullen really are their perfect men. But I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the notion some people seem to have that merely liking a character automatically means that you support/want to have sex with that character, regardless of your actual reasons for liking him or her. The hatedom against Snape from the Harry Potter books seems to be a classic example of this--there seem to be a few people who will always believe the worst of Snape's fans, as though the mere fact that they like him and find him sympathetic means that they support him calling Lily a bad name or picking on Harry. There have even been people who've tried to peg fans of Snape as racist (which admittedly partly had to do with the genuinely bad behavior of a few people who happened to like Snape, but STILL).
But that's simply not how it works. I like lots of characters who do lots of really reprehensible things, but I recognize that their behavior is wrong and don't try to emulate them. Liking Legato Bluesummers from "Trigun" does not make me a mass-murdering cannibal out to destroy humanity. Liking Clair Leonelli from "Heat Guy J" does not make me a mad bomber. Liking Mao from "Code Geass" does not make me a deranged psychopathic manchild who'd cut up her love interest with a chainsaw. Nor would I condone the behavior of any of these characters if I met them in real life. So why should liking Snape make anyone a racist? In all likelihood, there's a goodly amount of people (such as myself) who like characters such as the ones above, probably only because they're not real and their actions have no real-world consequences. Isn't part of the point of fiction escapism? And isn't part of escapism the idea that you can get close to things that horrify you while still remaining perfectly safe?
In addition, there is a difference between merely liking something and liking nothing except that thing (the latter of which I'd argue actually is cause for concern). As much as I love Mao, for example, I'd like to think I'd be freaked out if I met someone who went on about how he was the GREATEST ANIME CHARACTER EVER!! and every other anime character was worthless. In a similar vein, the mere fact that I happen to own a Cannibal Corpse album shouldn't mean anything by itself--but, if I refused to listen to anything that was not Cannibal Corpse, then I could see how my family would be worried.
...Yeah.
And, I recognize that there will always be people for whom the likes of Edward Cullen really are their perfect men. But I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the notion some people seem to have that merely liking a character automatically means that you support/want to have sex with that character, regardless of your actual reasons for liking him or her. The hatedom against Snape from the Harry Potter books seems to be a classic example of this--there seem to be a few people who will always believe the worst of Snape's fans, as though the mere fact that they like him and find him sympathetic means that they support him calling Lily a bad name or picking on Harry. There have even been people who've tried to peg fans of Snape as racist (which admittedly partly had to do with the genuinely bad behavior of a few people who happened to like Snape, but STILL).
But that's simply not how it works. I like lots of characters who do lots of really reprehensible things, but I recognize that their behavior is wrong and don't try to emulate them. Liking Legato Bluesummers from "Trigun" does not make me a mass-murdering cannibal out to destroy humanity. Liking Clair Leonelli from "Heat Guy J" does not make me a mad bomber. Liking Mao from "Code Geass" does not make me a deranged psychopathic manchild who'd cut up her love interest with a chainsaw. Nor would I condone the behavior of any of these characters if I met them in real life. So why should liking Snape make anyone a racist? In all likelihood, there's a goodly amount of people (such as myself) who like characters such as the ones above, probably only because they're not real and their actions have no real-world consequences. Isn't part of the point of fiction escapism? And isn't part of escapism the idea that you can get close to things that horrify you while still remaining perfectly safe?
In addition, there is a difference between merely liking something and liking nothing except that thing (the latter of which I'd argue actually is cause for concern). As much as I love Mao, for example, I'd like to think I'd be freaked out if I met someone who went on about how he was the GREATEST ANIME CHARACTER EVER!! and every other anime character was worthless. In a similar vein, the mere fact that I happen to own a Cannibal Corpse album shouldn't mean anything by itself--but, if I refused to listen to anything that was not Cannibal Corpse, then I could see how my family would be worried.
...Yeah.
