In a message dated 2/23/01 7:45:45 AM Eastern Standard Time, ragan@sdc.org writes:
<< littles@lycos.co.uk wrote:
But there's another sort of thread hijacking which neither of you
mentioned,
which is when somebody comes on the serious thread and makes a point, but does it in a silly way, say calling Blake "my sweet baboo" or calling Servalan "She who must be obeyed." Which IMO trivialises the the character, the argument and the poster's point, all at the same time.
Can that properly be called "thread hijacking," though? I mean, I can see where it would annoy you, but it seems to me that that comes down to less a matter of list etiquette as a simple matter of some people not liking other people's style or tone. Which, IMHO, is a very different matter. >>
Perfectly put. And a very, very old issue of taste in media fandom.
I remember that way back in the early 1980's, there seemed to be some kind of almost universal consensus among B7 fanzine editors that B7 fanfic *must* be every bit as grim in tone as some of the most grim moments of the series. Blacker, if possible. There was a lot of utterly terrific storytelling out there, but the vast majority of it was grim.
I finally reached a flashpoint, and the first Bizarro 7 story was written in reaction. When I submitted it to Regina Gottesman for her zine, she dolefully declared that it had 'too much levity' for a B7 fanfic. It violated the dignity of the show, somehow. Naturally, Annie and I promptly went forth and created the entire Bizarro 7 universe in retaliation, where *everything* was levity and anything that ever appeared in the series was fair game for satire. Dignity was forbidden.
The series itself had its delightfully humorous episodes and moments. I don't hear anyone complaining about these, ruining the tone of the show.
Leah