Category Popular Culture

Apr 6 2015

Do You Ever Get Tired

Of all the false positivity posts that are more than abundant on social media sites? Ever verbally denounce or scoff at someone’s ridiculous post about how  life can be awesome if you just relax and breathe and think good thoughts?
Well I do. And if you don’t that’s fine too but if do you probably won’t want to read this post. Perhaps you should go elsewhere. No really. Just go. You’re still here? Well okay then, enjoy. Or not.

All animosity aside there are days when the crap I see posted on Facebook makes me want to throw things. I mean really. You’ve got posts that proclaim that “everything is energy” to shocking videos of some rather socially challenged Wal-Mart shoppers to non-profits wanting you to sign petitions to prevent animal abuse or deforestation, to the latest cutesy cat video to some guy crashing a plane killing everyone on board.
And yet in the same downward scroll of your news feed someone else is telling you how simple it is to raise your energetic vibration so that your positive state can heal the world and everyone around you.

Um what? Have you seen what I just read? Violations of human rights, animal cruelty in China, crazy people shopping at Wal-Mart, a random but failed arson attempt in my home town, and you expect me to believe that by just being positive I can change all that?
Who are you people and what are you smoking?

I agree that everyone has the ability to affect positive change to some degree regardless of where they are in life or where they are in the world. But.
Based on daily news and daily atrocities committed in the world, a few handfuls of people practicing positive change is not enough for what ails the human population today. And posts proclaiming otherwise make me question your sanity, especially if you’re also going to “teach me how in 3 easy steps,” for the “one time low payment of  $300.”

So even though you’re saying I can affect change, you’re going to make a profit off the secret to how I can do that?  Isn’t that part of the problem though? Or am I just missing the point of positive change on that I should profit from the solution to how I personally can affect positive change?

Wow. If that’s the case then perhaps those who promote this bs are nothing more than profiteers who are no more adding beneficial contributions to humanity than the people who have or will ever contribute nothing.

How about this for inspiring positive change in your world: Don’t read fantastical posts on Facebook, stop surfing social media sites, turn off your computer and put your phone on silent.
Go outside for a walk in nature, volunteer at your favorite non-profit, host a block party, adopt an endangered animal (through financial contributions), recycle, don’t pollute, meet your friends and family for dinner, better yet invite them over for a backyard bbq, go out for dinner with your family once a month, spend time with all the people you care about regularly (that means at least once a month), and lastly do work that you enjoy for a company or business that does not go against your morals and ethics.

Easy right? Best of all, free and no Facebook required.

http://www.cwtv.com/shows/supernatural/halt-and-catch-fire/?play=1abc4f3e-bd60-4e85-b1cf-b3347422a309
Feb 12 2015

Supernatural and Fan Fiction

So what makes a television show like Supernatural popular? What creates a fandom, a following and/or dedicated sites run by fans for any form of popular culture? Fan fiction always springs from fans (stating the obvious here), but it makes me wonder why. What inspires anyone to write fiction based on an established popular fiction that already exists with its’ own canonical history. It’s not as though these writers are likely to get noticed or gain popularity or even make a living from it. Writing is hard and writing takes time but one caveat regarding fan fiction is that for good writing to work, you have to be passionate about your subject. Which obviously is in big supply if you’re already a fan of your subject matter. As a fan, passion is what drives you to watch every episode (TV), see every movie your object of interest has a role in, or play every game your favorite character appears in. That’s passion, but writing fan fiction goes beyond simple fandom. It takes time, work, effort, dedication and likely a lot of research as well, which in my opinion seems just a little bit obsessive.

I don’t have anything against writers of fan fiction, far from it. What I do have against fan fiction is when fans take the next bizarre step that veers way off the beaten track of established canon for any work of fiction. When Supernatural aired it’s 200th episdode, Fan Fiction, they covered some fan fiction that’s not canon and, in my humble opinion should never be explored or even written down. Part of this non-canonical fan fiction was mentioned in a previous episode of Supernatural, during Season 4, Episode 18 The Monster at the End of this Book, when Sam and Dean discovered a series of books called Supernatural, that somehow chronologues their lives. Dean mentions that he is “full frontal” in one book and on the fan website that Sam has found, the following conversation occcurs:

Dean: There are “Sam girls” and “Dean girls” and – what’s a “slash fan”?
Sam: As in… Sam-slash-Dean. Together.
Dean: Like, together together?
Sam: Yeah.
Dean: They do know we’re brothers, right?
Sam: Doesn’t seem to matter.
Dean: Oh, come on. That… That’s just sick. (he shuts the laptop in disgust)

I have to agree with Dean’s assessment on this one. Some things should just never be explored or expressed. It is a work of fiction people. Now as if that wasn’t going too far already, apparently fans have taken this non-canon fandom to an all new level of just plain wrong. As mentioned in the episode Fan Fiction, the second act of the play that (thankfully) is never shown, Dean is told that the second act explores the “subtext” of the relationships between Sam, Dean and Castiel, which is elaborated on by the director when she says that you can’t spell subtext without s-e-x.

Now I understand that fantasy s-e-x is something nearly everyone likes to explore, but in my opinion taking existing fictional characters that have no business engaging in sex with each other is just plain wrong. I don’t care how attractive, sexy or “hot” a fantasy might be, there are just some things that are best kept to yourself. I’m not against any form of sexual preference of any kind, but taking fictional characters that have no business becoming romantic interests to one another, (especially when canon has already firmly established that the basis of their relationship is the strong family bond the main characters have for each other), no one (and I don’t care who you are unless you’re the original creator of the work), has any business creating connections that don’t exist.

Fan fiction writers and other types of fans can be downright scary when you dare to dip your toe into a world of http://sizzlingsuperstars.com/misha-collins-an-american-actor-and-director/fandom you have only looked at from the outside. I’m a fan, but I’m not scary about it. A few weeks ago, I caught a tweet request from Misha Collins that I happened to be in the right place and time to respond to but within minutes of posting my @ reply, was slammed by an uber fan who felt it necessary to point out my error… which, by the way was not an error, but knowing what I know of uber fans felt it best to let it slide. I mean seriously people, it’s not as though Misha was going to respond to either of us Twitter fans so who really cares who got there first? It’s nice to think that a celebrity you admire will like what you have to say but realistically, if I was the one with over a million followers I would not ever make it a habit to respond to individual messages from people I don’t know. More than likely I would live to regret that one time of reaching out to a fan tweet only to have my Twitter account crash as a result (or some other equally unpleasant repercussion).

Bottom line, if you want to write fan fiction don’t let anything stop you. But if you do, think long and hard about writing anything that isn’t canon. If characters are related by blood, they shouldn’t be sleeping together, period. If established characters are not in any way romantically involved and are never intended to be, don’t create fictional romantic connections where they don’t exist and never will. In my honest opinion that’s just crapping all over someone else’s hard work involving character development and plot lines and in the words of my man Dean, “that’s just sick.” (And wrong).

Join me next time when I explore what truly makes Supernatural so “super.”

Feb 4 2015

Television and Supernatural: Who Decides?

Supernatural-Season-10-Episode-200-Series-FinaleSo the popular tv show Supernatural recently surpassed its 200th episode. In the world of television, this mark is something that writers, actors and producers can only dream about.
To put this in perspective, in today’s fragmented television landscape the only other show to reach this mark in the past decade is The Simpsons. In the science fiction landscape, The X Files reached 201 episodes and Dr. Who has surpassed this and is currently in it’s 8th season with over 800 episodes to date.

That being said, there are a few things that bother me. For one, for a show that has reached a milestone like this, why is it not bigger news or for that matter why is it still struggling to reach a mainstream audience? Is science fiction/horror just not that interesting? As a gamer I find that very hard to believe. The most popular video games involve a lot of  nudity, graphic violence, foul language and at times apocalyptic monsters. How is this different from a television show that has some of these basic elements but never crosses the line into adult or restricted ESRB ratings? Is it because it delves into religious beliefs, both christian and pagan? Does it just not reach the geographical areas that are against philosophical comments/discussions regarding beliefs?

If any of these are part of the issue, then I would have to ask why? Why in today’s day and age is this still an issue? Does The CW (the company that produces this show), have investors or owners that prohibit its distribution to areas that don’t focus test approval of the show’s content? Makes you wonder who’s guiding or deciding who gets to see this show or any other show for that matter, and who decides where it gets broadcast.

As an aside, Supernatural used to air in Canada on the popular Space channel and I was an avid fan, until one day a few years ago it just up and disappeared from the listings. No announcements, no explanations, just gone. Which is a real pain in the ass considering that the entire show has always been filmed and produced in Vancouver, BC, Canada. So why was it dropped from Canadian television? Seems very wrong that a show produced here in Canada is not offered to Canadian viewers before being aired in the United States.

Who decides these things and how is it that no one seems to care?