meta/rant
This post is because I'm baffled at the way fandom acts - mostly towards Ryan Ross.
First, let's remember back when Panic was first getting recognized as a mainstream band. They had very pretty members, and most will argue that the prettiest of all was Ryan Ross, the tiny, emo-esque guitarist/lyricist. Onstage he wore his infamous, intricate rosevest, slim-fit pants, and did beautifully detailed designs on his face in expensive makeup. He didn't speak at all onstage, (although neither did Brendon, except for introducing the band/songs) just sang his backup vocals quietly and kept to his side of the stage. Offstage, as we all now know, Ryan had it kind of rough. He was actually depressed, not happy with the way his life was going at times. His band was a huge success, but a ton of the weight rested on his shoulders - the words he wrote, the music he wrote. He was expected to create a sophopmore album that could live up to the name of their debut, and with that album going platinum, that's a lot of pressure.
Between then and now, however, things have changed. Now, Ryan wears the same thing onstage that he wears offstage - ridiculous floral pattern buttondown shirts, trousers maybe a bit too big for him. He's noticably happier, all the time. He and his band, as a collaborative effort, are writing songs that they are all happy with. Songs that don't get as much radio time as Fever material, but that the entire band loves and is proud of.
And yet...in fandom, I consistently see negative comments about Ryan (and Keltie, which I'll get to in a bit,) and hardly ever any negative comments about other members of the band.
It seems that fandom is very, very misogynistic towards Ryan Ross. I should also probably clarify that when I say "fandom," I mean the younger fanbase - the comments you'd see on patd. I'm quite aware there are TONS of fans who act/feel NOTHING like this, but in the teenage fanbase, this is mostly the kind of thing I've been observing.
Now it's kind of a bold statement to say that fandom acts misogynistic, and also kind of a weird statement. Because, well...the majority of the fans are girls. It seems a little contradictory. Plus, Ryan isn't even a girl! But to fandom, that seems to be how they want him. Ryan was most popular back when his hair was straightened and he wore skin tight jeans and eyeliner. Androdgyny was/is very popular, and Ryan always has messed with gender boudaries and society's ideas of "normal". So, his fashion era in which he looked most womanly was the era that fandom misses the most. An interesting thing about this is that it's not a sexuality thing. These girls don't want Ryan to look like a girl because they're attracted to other girls. If that were the case, it might make a bit more sense.
Along with wanting Ryan's more feminine look back, fandom also seems to want him to stop talking. In a few recent entries on patd, I saw two very different types of comments towards Ryan. In one entry, there were pictures of the band's new header on Myspace, polaroids of each of the boys. It seems that Ryan's was the most popular - many people called him cute and adorable, tiny and precious, etc etc. Keep in mind, this is a polaroid, that cannot speak or sing. The other two entries were teasers for the Live In Chicago DVD. The first I looked at was just a live performance of Nine in the Afternoon - practically every single comment was criticizing Ryan's singing. Now, perhaps I'm (very) biased, but I like Ryan's voice. I also only watched the video once, as a terrible quality Photobucket video, since I can't see Youtube videos, but when I watched/listened, I didn't hear anything terribly off about him. I could be wrong about this! But really, every comment? The very first few said things like "i wish ryan never opened his mouth".
The other post with a teaser from the DVD featured Ryan "dancing" with Eric, their keyboardist for that tour. Most of the comments weren't anything interesting, but one particularly caught my eye, stating that they "almost feel bad how Ryan ruins his own song by singing it" and "dancing, like singing, not ryan's strong point". Really? It seems mean and unnecessary, and also a little over-analytical to say such things about a very short clip meant to promote a band's merchandise.
While I read through recent posts, I also backtracked in patd's entries to around June 2006, when Ryan was at the peak of his "popularity" with fandom. Many of the entries at that time were people posting reviews of their Summer Tour show. As many of you may know or remember, the Lucent Dossier troupe toured with Panic for these shows. There was a scripted lapdance, many dancers were scantily clad at different points during the shows, and even ripped their clothes off of each other for a number. The idea for these dance numbers (and not to mention the semi-misogynistic lyrics of some of the songs, such as But It's Better If You Do,) came from Panic. Either way, though, the dancers were, for the most part, left alone by fandom. Their profession is to dance for the gigs they are hired for, and this one happened to be a few sexy scenes - they didn't get much grief for it. Which leads me into my next point...
Keltie Colleen. I'm sure you've heard of her. She is an accredited professional dancer that is very big in her industry right now, yet our fandom (again, younger fans) can't seem to stop giving her trouble for her art. Which is strange, since, as I just mentioned, the dancers who did very sexually suggestive, sometimes homoerotic scenes, got hardly any trouble from us, while Keltie is mostly widely known as being a Radio City Rockette, who performs family-friendly shows. Something she constantly gets bashed about is her Stuff Magazine pictures/videos (which she was not topless in, for clarification). Keltie herself has explained this in a blog on her Myspace for her DVD, From Agents To Auditions. Still, in comparison to the routines the Lucent dancers performed? Even Keltie's "scandalous" Stuff video seems a bit tame.
A parallel between Ryan and Keltie bashing in this fandom seems to be the fact that they speak their minds. Because Keltie has a blog of her own and consistently shows her unhappiness with the majority of fandom, you all hate her. Like fans that want Ryan to shut up, I've heard several times that if Keltie just kept her mouth shut, people would like her more. Seriously? Is that why so many people in this fandom are fans of Haley and Cassie, because they keep to themselves? Because it's easy to forget they exist? It's a bit disgusting.
On that note, I would like you all to take a minute and think of what would happen amidst the younger Panic fans if Keltie were to post seemingly post-coital pictures of her and Ryan. Black and white, obviously in a bed, kissing? Can you imagine the chaos that would result from that?
...Now think back a few years to when Haley posted pictures exactly like that of her and Spencer, and fandom's major reaction was "OMG <3333" instead of disgust. I cannot seem to wrap my mind around all the Keltie hate. A strange difference between her and Ryan is that while fandom would Ryan rather go back to looking pretty and being depressed, they'd rather see Keltie disappear off the face of the planet. I'm guessing a "logical" reason for this would be the fact that younger fans are totally bent on seeing Brendon and Ryan together, legitimately.
Which opens up more doors for me to rant about.
First off, Ryan and Keltie are in a relationship. As she said herself, we don't know their definition of a relationship, and we probably never will. He loves her in his own way, and she loves him back. This is not news to anyone. Sure, it's a possibility that they're "faking," but why put so much effort into it? If Ryan was honestly using Keltie as a beard, I think he would've gotten rid of her long ago. Also, Ryan Ross has no major connections to the dance world that are helping Keltie. She attended prestigious dance schools and has made a name for herself all by herself. Ryan didn't help her become a Rockette, Ryan didn't help her make her DVD a success, and Ryan didn't help her get her face on one of the biggest magazines in the dance industry - Keltie did it all, without his help. He does not feed off of her success, and she does not feed off of his success - a major factor in their relationship (as far as I have gathered) is independence. They can live without each other, but they're in love.
Second, and this is very important - we do not know what happens in Brendon and Ryan's lives together. There are things we know for sure, such as their obvious friendship and love for each other. This love is most likely very platonic, you guys. PLATONIC, meaning no sex. You can have a very nice, healthy relationship with a person without complicating things through physical pleasure. I don't know if Ryan and Brendon have ever had sex before, I don't know if they've kissed, but for me, it's fun to pretend. However, I am very aware of the difference between this pretending and reality. I said this to April yesterday, but it's kind of like I've created my own fun alternate universe to play around in. I know the things I think are probably very untrue, but it seems like the rest of fandom are positive that we are being lied to. While that's also possible, it's also kind of unlikely.
Lastly, if Ryan or Brendon (or Spencer or Jon) is actually gay or bisexual, please don't expect a formal announcement until after the band is long gone. I would imagine that if this were the case, the boys have probably talked about it or realized that an announcement about a sexual preference would cause unwanted attention to come to the band. That's all the press would care about - Panic already deal with petty things like that enough, honestly. Magazines would rather talk about their missing exclamation point and make dry, sarcastic Beatles references than talk to Panic about the things they should be talking about - the music itself. Imagine if Ryan and Brendon did come out as gay, as a couple. While I'm sure some of the fans would enjoy reading about it again and again, the band would get frustrated and unhappy. ...Then again, what does this fandom care? It's not about what the band wants, it's about what we want.
In conclusion: I am still baffled by fandom. Feel free to share your ideas, thoughts, objections, observations...anything.