The Rec Center #232
Hi folks! After last week’s shorter newsletter (which included links to various BLM-related fundraisers, you can check it out here), today’s is extra long thanks to the volume of smart, interesting fandom journalism published this week. We have separate sections for K-pop/BLM coverage, responses to J.K. Rowling, and the relationship between cops and pop culture, along with multifandom fic recs and our usual selection of Tumblr/Twitter/blog links. We hope you’re all hanging in there! — Gav
new stuff: k-pop and blm
Yes, we sure have a lot of new stuff this week! It all fell into three rough themes, so we split them into groups for easier navigation. First up, the mainstream media’s current favorite fandom story, K-pop stans mobilizing to jam police tools and swarm racist hashtags. Most mainstream coverage has fallen short contextualizing K-pop activism *and* discussing the anti-Blackness in K-pop spaces, both of which are vital to understanding this story.
“How K-pop fans became celebrated online vigilantes” by Abby Ohlheiser at the MIT Technology Review
Every single mainstream outlet covered this story in the past few weeks, but if you managed to miss all of it, this piece is a good starting point.
“On Korean artists using their platforms to say Black Lives Matter” by Stitch
Stitch’s writing is invaluable if you’re looking to educate yourself on many aspects of fandom racism, but this piece is mostly about K-pop artists themselves and their failures to adequately respond to Black Lives Matter.
“The Traumatic Black female experience in K-pop fandoms” at South Sonder
This was actually first published a few months ago, but it’s been updated recently. Content warnings for screenshots of violently racist language and threats towards Black K-pop fans.
new stuff: cops and pop culture
As people around the world are protesting racist police brutality, there are corresponding conversations going on about depictions of cops in entertainment media, and the ties between real-life police and their pop-culture counterparts. These pieces aren’t super fandom-oriented, but we suspect that a lot of Rec Center readers are interested in this topic right now.
“The Punisher’s logo can’t be turned into a symbol for Black Lives matter or real world justice” by Charles Pulliam-Moore at io9
The Punisher logo has been co-opted by American cops and far-right vigilante groups, becoming inextricably linked with police brutality. In response, one of the Punisher’s original creators just launched a campaign to rebrand the logo in support of Black Lives Matter, with mixed results. He raised a lot of money and earned some positive press, but this post explains why the campaign’s ultimate goal—rehabilitating the Punisher’s image—is a lost cause, and probably not what anyone should be focusing on now anyway.
“Cops are always the main characters” by Kathryn VanArendonk at Vulture
“The overwhelming mountain of cop shows amounts to a decades-long cultural education in who deserves attention, and whose perspective counts most. In stories of American crime, TV teaches us that cops are the characters we should care about.”
new stuff: hp, jkr, and trans fans
And finally, with impeccable timing, JKR chose this moment to officially establish her previously-mostly-hinted-at transphobic stances, at length, on Twitter and in a blog post that you really don’t need to read if you haven’t already. There have been a lot of personal essays from trans/nb/genderfluid HP fans in the past few days, but here are a few of our favorites.
“Harry Potter Saved My Life. J.K. Rowling Is Now Endangering Trans People Like Me” by Kacen Callender at them.
“I understand that books can save lives, as they have saved mine. I also understand that, when a powerful children’s author like J. K. Rowling spouts the same sort of hateful rhetoric that already kills so many, she is directly influencing the lives of children and young readers who might have once looked up to her and found safety in her work.”
“Harry Potter’s Magic Fades When His Creator Tweets” by Mallory Yu at NPR
“Discovering the queer community and queer culture felt, to me, a lot like Harry felt walking into Diagon Alley for the first time: A riot of color and noise and wonder. Finally, a place I belonged. Finally, magic.”
“Harry Potter and the Author Who Failed Us” by Aja Romano at Vox
“A few months before Order of the Phoenix was published in 2003, I participated in a letter-writing project for Rowling….it feels unbelievably hollow to look back now and realize that while I’d entrusted so much of myself to the author, she had been plotting on some tiny level to erase me.”
tumblr & beyond
Avatar: The Legend of Korra pride month fanart by domirine
Fan Studies North America has put together a great list of resources—mostly but not entirely academic writing—about race and racism in fandom.
why artists & writers reblog their work multiple times.
we admire the amount of research that went into this Avengers/pandemic conspiracy theory debunk.
An amusing Shatner-Nimoy anecdote about the origins of the Vulcan Nerve Pinch in Star Trek: TOS.
some interesting commentary about an underrecognized element of Shuri’s role in Black Panther.
NASA has a list of useful space terminology for sci-fi writers
fanfiction
A few days ago on Twitter I put out my semi-regular request for help building up our bank of fic that centers characters of color, particularly Black characters, so I’m putting it here as well. We’d also love more fic that centers trans/nb/genderfluid characters, and other queer identities/experiences that don’t get as much attention in fic! Any trope, any theme, please send in your faves. This list, like last week, is a multi-fandom grab bag; thanks so much to everyone who sent in a rec. — Elizabeth
“run, run, fast as you--” by orphan_account. 105K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Welcome to Night Vale; Ship: Carlos/Cecil
Recced by: Hart D
Backstory: Exciting story about how and why Carlos the Scientist came to Night Vale, and how he and Cecil helped a young girl. Carlos is asexual in this fic. He is Hispanic (canon) and Cecil is Black (his appearance & ethnicity are undefined in canon).
Rec: Several original concepts, good writing style, very good plot.
Content warnings: Sexual assault in Carlos’s past—he is running from an abuser—and violence
“Welcome Silence” by grim_lupine. 1.6K words, rated Gen.
Fandom: Tamora Pierce - Emelan “Circle of Magic” series; Ship: Gen; past Rizuka fa Dalach/Daja Kisubo
Recced by: JaneBuzJane
Backstory: Daja copes with the fallout of a past relationship with the help of housemate Briar.
Rec: This fic underscores Daja as she, with the help of friends, moves through the healing process from a past relationship. Excellent introspection and character study.
Content warnings: N/A
“Radio Silence” Mardia. 20K words, rated Explicit.
Fandom: Rivers of London; Ship: Peter Grant/Thomas Nightingale
Recced by: baking soda
Backstory: Set in modern London, Rivers of London is about Peter Grant, the first apprentice wizard since World War 2, and Thomas Nightingale, a wizard who has stopped aging. Together they fight crime!
Rec: This is a wonderful take on a getting together fic that captures the intimacy and love between Peter and Thomas, and does so while realistically representing the real-life messiness and pain of losing a parent and being a caretaker. The emotional complexity and realism makes this fic so good, and it makes me feel raw but also tender and comforted in the best way.
Content warning: Off-screen parental death
“I miss it when your heart’s not around (please slow down)” by sdwolfpup. 59K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Z Nation; Ship: Murphy/Roberta Warren
Recced by: Flash
Backstory: Set after the Newmerica election, this story focuses on Warren dealing with what’s happened to her as well as Murphy figuring out how to Do Better.
Rec: This is a beautifully written story that tackles things that the show didn’t/didn’t have time to.
Content warnings: N/A
“The Shoemaker” by Fleete. 23K words, rated Explicit.
Fandoms: BBC Merlin and Arthurian legend; Ship: Freya/Gwen
Recced by: Hart D
Backstory: Freya PoV (white cis f) and her love interest is Gwen, Black & nonbinary.
Rec: Original fantasy plot incorporating several concepts from Arthurian legend.
Content warnings: N/A
“Wisely, I Say I am a Bachelor” by Mithrigil. 23K words, rated Mature.
Fandom: Hunger Games; Ship: Finnick Odair/Cinna
Recced by: anon
Backstory: Canon compliant prequel fic from Cinna’s POV imagining if Finnick and Cinna formed an unlikely relationship before the events of The Hunger Games.
Rec: It’s a rare pair that somehow manages to be canon compliant, and the characterization is great.
Content warnings: Finnick is a coerced into sex work in canon—that is relevant here
“wouldn’t it be nice” by acetheticallyy (patrickcorbins). 61K words, rated Teen.
Fandom: The Magnus Archives; Ship: Martin Blackwood/Jonathan Simms
Recced by: anon
Backstory: No Eldritch monsters, just a super cute college AU. Martin meets a very disheveled boy at the library and falls in love instantly.
Rec: I finally understood the tag “friends to idiots to lovers” thanks to this fic. It’s funny and heartwarming; I couldn’t stop reading.
Content warnings: N/A
FINAL THOUGHT
If you missed last week’s newsletter, we included a thread of Black-led and -focused orgs to donate to. If you have Twitter and you’d like to add to the list, please reply to the original tweet!
I’d especially like to highlight House of GG, who are fundraising to build a house for Black trans folks in the South(ern U.S., for our non-American readers). A lot of Black-led trans orgs have been in the spotlight since a certain author’s transphobic Twitter meltdown this past weekend, but it seems like this one hasn’t gotten as much attention. I’m acutely aware of how many people are out of work right now, but if even a fraction of our readers gave $5-10, our contributions would really add up.
And finally, perhaps a resource for people who *are* out of work right now and can’t contribute monetarily (and maybe can’t protest physically, either): Fandom Trumps Hate, a fanworks charity auction we’ve highlighted here for the past few years, is offering guidance to anyone who wants to coordinate their own fanworks charity auction right now. — Elizabeth
Have a favorite one-off rec? Please send it our way! We’ll use it in a future list. Other fanworks—comics, vids, zines, etc—are strongly encouraged as well. And if you have any interest in doing an entire rec list, explainer, or ship manifesto, please get in touch! elizabethandgav at gmail dot com.
If you liked this, please share it with your friends! https://thereccenter.substack.com/. And find us on social media: Gav (twitter/tumblr) & Elizabeth (twitter/tumblr)