Help & Discussion: your own opinions in your shrines

[chibichan]

Hello, fellow shrine-makers! :D I’m posting here today because I have a question that I want to ask and discuss with all of you, but first a little history on how this question came to my mind.

A friend of mine has recently introduced me to the Scott Pilgrim comic/graphic novel/book/whatever-you-want-to-call-it series, obviously thinking that I

Comments

[aleniakalain]

I don't think you should worry about your opinion filtering in if there are enough things about the series that you enjoy. Having a mixed opinion's pretty normal and considering that usually shrines only show the positive opinions (which is pretty natural considering that ones usually like something before deciding to make a shrine about it XD), I wouldn't mind having one with a bit of criticism. It would be a great chance to make a comparision between what you like and what you don't like about the series if you're up to it

[ashe]

what is a good shrine or a bad shrine ... there are no set rules. Do what you like! Having your opinion shine through in a shrine is can really make it yours! :D If you don't like something about the series, feel free to discuss that as well if you feel like you want to share. There's a difference between bashing and critique, so if you want to criticize something you can do all you like! In fact that makes a site all the more interesting. Nothing in this world is perfect, so there's bound to be flaws :) there's no series I like 100%, there's always something that frustrates me .... so it's totally cool to not like something entirely and shrine it. oooof course it's nice if you like it at least a LITTLE heh, but that doesn't seem to be a problem for anyone. :D

[yeerk]

I approach my shrines like this: I make a list of topics that should be discussed concerning the character I'm shrining. All characters have important aspects that make them who they are, be it experiences, important relationships, or personality traits. I then ask myself questions for each of those topics. Reiko gave birth to a baby boy, but was she a true mother in the traditional sense of the word? With the heavy responsibilities of being a prince of Figaro, and caring about his brother and Kingdom, was Sabin really ever free, even though he won the coin toss and chose his freedom? Lulu was clearly annoyed by Tidus at the beginning of the game; what made her accept him toward the end

[daysees]

I look at shrines/fansites as a form of art and self-expression. I think that looking out for not "bashing" a character and causing tension in the fanbase is a great idea, but it shouldn't stop you from making something that you want to do. I think something that would help you in creating this shrine would be to determine what exactly draws you to the series and what you want to say about it. For me, I usually make an outline of what I want to talk about or include and I keep in mind what my general focus is. Is my shrine going to be purely informational? Is it going to be only my thoughts? Or a combination of the two? It's your site so you can choose what you want, or don't want, to talk about. You could pick only positive things to say but still keep your opinions. Or you could make it purely informational and keep your opinions out of it. It really depends on what you want to do

[dubiousdisc]

Being critical about what you like is excellent, and this post is making me think of how sad it is that fandom as a whole tends to be too much about mindless gushing after things and that it has come to the point where you can be legitimately afraid of the acritical fans which will defend their pet interest to death or accuse you of not being a true fan or something on those lines just for liking something while still being aware of its flaws

[icysnowdrop]

Fan sites may be personal and subjective, but they don't always have to be opinionated. I've made some before as an infobase, and being neutral/informative isn't a detracting quality as a lot of people may imply.

[dubiousdisc]

Well, I was talking like that assuming she was talking about a shrine and not an infobase. Even considering purely informative sites, my point would be that I think that, by making a fansite, you should be adding something to what already exists on the internet, which might include opinions. I'm not even necessarily talking about sitting down and purposefully writing pages explaining why you think certain things. Maybe they would just show through even when writing an informative page, according to your writing style and how you decide to tackle the subject. Not saying that her site would suck were she to be neutral about it, but that if she'd like to just write it in her style, and this style were to include some criticism, and she were to force herself to keep it neutral just to avoid the possibility of fans going after her with a pitchfork, then it wouldn't be fun anymore, right?