The Monster at the End of This Book
Once again, I'd like to thank my f-list, while I see a couple of posts mentioning things, you all are still made of love and win!
My reaction to this episode is made of lollipops and candy canes. My fandom fangirls me back. Kripke loves us like family - cause you can't mock something like that until you've spent too many holidays with it. And this is why he's better than Chris Carter or Joss Whedon to me - I always got the sense from them that if I didn't worship them, I wasn't welcome.
I've seen a couple of people who think the uneasy feeling will fall along the BroYay vs BroNo lines (TWOP terms for Wincest vs Non Wincest). I don't think it will. I think the embarrassment squick factor is going to fall on the lines of those who post on TWOP vs those who have a happy bubble on LJ.
If you have a happy bubble on LJ - then I'm guessing last night cut a little too close to home - and that while you laughed, you were mostly made uneasy.
And I think it's because they did NOT use LJ humor. They used TWOP's brand of humor and they used it well. It was a dead on snark impersonation. And as satire, it knew its subject as well as it did with Monster Movie.
For those that do not post on Television Without Pity or have never really heard of it. The website was built on the motto: Spare the snark, spoil the network. Kripke's been quoted as lurking on the boards as early as Season 1. The message boards on the website are designed to mock shows.
If you love a show, you are welcome. If you love to hate a show, you're encouraged. The general rule of thumb is "Don't be boring."
The website Dean pulls up is the same color scheme as TWOP and simpatico is a very vocal love-to-hate poster on it. Barnes is the name of the forum moderator. (The forum refers to the character on the show as Show!Barnes.) This was the fandom set up and chosen to take the piss out of.
He was feeding us back our own medicine - Spare the snark, ruin the fandom.
On TWOP, it's been taken in the spirit it was given. If you can't take being snarked on, it's not the message board for you. We've been nit picking the mytharc line, but the teasing hasn't been attacked. How can we? Throughout TWOP - not just the SPN forum - hypocrisy is the fastest way to get a show on fandom's bad side. So when dished some of our own medicine, we're not going to rant about it.
Like I said - Kripke and the other writers knew exactly what they were doing - they deliberately made sure TWOP was identified as much as a CW show could identify a website run by Bravo. And then they snarked.
So if that vaguely squicky feeling has been worrying you - rest assured. It wasn't your section of fandom they were snarking on. It was just family being mercilessly teasing with one another.
So comment! Tell me I'm completely wrong. Do you post on TWOP and find the snark squicky?
ETA: I've seen comments wondering if it's just our fandom. Nope.
TWoP's been called out on national tv twice. West Wing did it with much less love. My Name Is Earl was even more meta than Krikpe - they had a sock puppet on the forum that got outed in an episode. I'll google the links when I get a chance tonight. TWoP has a wiki. One posters experience with the whole West Wing battle. And an essay on why TWoP should not be the end all be all voice of fandom.
ETA2: I did not mean to imply that you cannot enjoy the joke if you do not post on TWoP. I meant to ask if you did enjoy the joke - do you also have the "we snark because we love" sense of humor? A very, very long winded approach perhaps - but I wanted you to understand why - to me - the two are synonymous.
I would also like to clarify that I am speaking about the spirit of the website as a whole - and not the extreme Dean!Girl vs Sam!Girl posting that apparently got users banned in February.
ETA2B: I think it's an interesting point so I'm going to make it a second question - regardless of how you viewed the joke - assuming I am right and it was meant as satire - do you think it was appropriate to put in such a specific in-joke into the episode?
As a commenter pointed out. It's one thing to tease your cousin Susan that she sucks. It's different than pulling your friend Gary in and saying so she can hear you - "Hey, that Susan really sucks."
You'd have to explain the joke to Gary.
Then there's THIS scenario - which is basically telling Gary that Susan sucks when there's another girl named Susan in the room. Referring to them as online fans - Dean!Girls and Sam!Girls - does this. It widens the scope.
My reaction to this episode is made of lollipops and candy canes. My fandom fangirls me back. Kripke loves us like family - cause you can't mock something like that until you've spent too many holidays with it. And this is why he's better than Chris Carter or Joss Whedon to me - I always got the sense from them that if I didn't worship them, I wasn't welcome.
I've seen a couple of people who think the uneasy feeling will fall along the BroYay vs BroNo lines (TWOP terms for Wincest vs Non Wincest). I don't think it will. I think the embarrassment squick factor is going to fall on the lines of those who post on TWOP vs those who have a happy bubble on LJ.
If you have a happy bubble on LJ - then I'm guessing last night cut a little too close to home - and that while you laughed, you were mostly made uneasy.
And I think it's because they did NOT use LJ humor. They used TWOP's brand of humor and they used it well. It was a dead on snark impersonation. And as satire, it knew its subject as well as it did with Monster Movie.
For those that do not post on Television Without Pity or have never really heard of it. The website was built on the motto: Spare the snark, spoil the network. Kripke's been quoted as lurking on the boards as early as Season 1. The message boards on the website are designed to mock shows.
If you love a show, you are welcome. If you love to hate a show, you're encouraged. The general rule of thumb is "Don't be boring."
The website Dean pulls up is the same color scheme as TWOP and simpatico is a very vocal love-to-hate poster on it. Barnes is the name of the forum moderator. (The forum refers to the character on the show as Show!Barnes.) This was the fandom set up and chosen to take the piss out of.
He was feeding us back our own medicine - Spare the snark, ruin the fandom.
On TWOP, it's been taken in the spirit it was given. If you can't take being snarked on, it's not the message board for you. We've been nit picking the mytharc line, but the teasing hasn't been attacked. How can we? Throughout TWOP - not just the SPN forum - hypocrisy is the fastest way to get a show on fandom's bad side. So when dished some of our own medicine, we're not going to rant about it.
Like I said - Kripke and the other writers knew exactly what they were doing - they deliberately made sure TWOP was identified as much as a CW show could identify a website run by Bravo. And then they snarked.
So if that vaguely squicky feeling has been worrying you - rest assured. It wasn't your section of fandom they were snarking on. It was just family being mercilessly teasing with one another.
So comment! Tell me I'm completely wrong. Do you post on TWOP and find the snark squicky?
ETA: I've seen comments wondering if it's just our fandom. Nope.
TWoP's been called out on national tv twice. West Wing did it with much less love. My Name Is Earl was even more meta than Krikpe - they had a sock puppet on the forum that got outed in an episode. I'll google the links when I get a chance tonight. TWoP has a wiki. One posters experience with the whole West Wing battle. And an essay on why TWoP should not be the end all be all voice of fandom.
ETA2: I did not mean to imply that you cannot enjoy the joke if you do not post on TWoP. I meant to ask if you did enjoy the joke - do you also have the "we snark because we love" sense of humor? A very, very long winded approach perhaps - but I wanted you to understand why - to me - the two are synonymous.
I would also like to clarify that I am speaking about the spirit of the website as a whole - and not the extreme Dean!Girl vs Sam!Girl posting that apparently got users banned in February.
ETA2B: I think it's an interesting point so I'm going to make it a second question - regardless of how you viewed the joke - assuming I am right and it was meant as satire - do you think it was appropriate to put in such a specific in-joke into the episode?
As a commenter pointed out. It's one thing to tease your cousin Susan that she sucks. It's different than pulling your friend Gary in and saying so she can hear you - "Hey, that Susan really sucks."
You'd have to explain the joke to Gary.
Then there's THIS scenario - which is basically telling Gary that Susan sucks when there's another girl named Susan in the room. Referring to them as online fans - Dean!Girls and Sam!Girls - does this. It widens the scope.