The Opportunity Cost of Fandom
Nov. 28th, 2016 03:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingAs I've been reading over my writing logs from the past eight days, the opportunity cost of my participation in fandom has become apparent. I'm tired just about all the time and I get relatively little "real" work done because I'm devoting so much of my energy to writing fic and meta and making stupid drawings. There are only so many hours in the day, and at any given point I can either be doing [work:paid] or I can be doing [fandom:unpaid], with very little room for downtime if I attempt to do both.
This is why, when people (mostly academics, bless their hearts) talk about how utopian it is for fans not to receive money for their labor, I always want to roll my eyes and ask why it's always female fans (especially minority female fans) whose unpaid labor is being championed. Men have historically had a number of avenues through which they have been able to turn their fannish interests into a career, but women should not be compensated, because fuck capitalism, amirite. Absolutely, let's have men (especially straight white men) produce the mainstream culture that feeds the dominant ideology while women relegate their work to the margins of their lives as they struggle to make ends meet! That is so radical and edgy! How very bold and daring, to suggest that women's work should remain firmly ensconced within shadow economies!
NOT THAT I'M BITTER OR ANYTHING.
In any case, I desperately want not to feel like I'm slowly dying every second that I'm awake, so I should probably try to figure out a way to get money for the work that brings me joy.
I'm considering quitting Tumblr for a bit, and by "quitting" I actually mean "not doing anything except reblogging cute art with cute tags once or twice a day." I subscribe to most of the artists I follow on Feedly, so doing this wouldn't really require much interaction with Tumblr at all. Also, Final Fantasy XV is coming out tomorrow (HAHAHA FINALLY THANK YOU JESUS), so there's that to take into account as well... In the meantime, I think it would be nice to devote this blog to Final Fantasy, because there's no shame creating a safe haven filled with gorgeous monsters and beautiful men and transcendent warrior princesses when the real world is so godawful.
This is why, when people (mostly academics, bless their hearts) talk about how utopian it is for fans not to receive money for their labor, I always want to roll my eyes and ask why it's always female fans (especially minority female fans) whose unpaid labor is being championed. Men have historically had a number of avenues through which they have been able to turn their fannish interests into a career, but women should not be compensated, because fuck capitalism, amirite. Absolutely, let's have men (especially straight white men) produce the mainstream culture that feeds the dominant ideology while women relegate their work to the margins of their lives as they struggle to make ends meet! That is so radical and edgy! How very bold and daring, to suggest that women's work should remain firmly ensconced within shadow economies!
NOT THAT I'M BITTER OR ANYTHING.
In any case, I desperately want not to feel like I'm slowly dying every second that I'm awake, so I should probably try to figure out a way to get money for the work that brings me joy.
I'm considering quitting Tumblr for a bit, and by "quitting" I actually mean "not doing anything except reblogging cute art with cute tags once or twice a day." I subscribe to most of the artists I follow on Feedly, so doing this wouldn't really require much interaction with Tumblr at all. Also, Final Fantasy XV is coming out tomorrow (HAHAHA FINALLY THANK YOU JESUS), so there's that to take into account as well... In the meantime, I think it would be nice to devote this blog to Final Fantasy, because there's no shame creating a safe haven filled with gorgeous monsters and beautiful men and transcendent warrior princesses when the real world is so godawful.
no subject
Date: 2016-11-29 11:24 pm (UTC)I'd long resigned myself to not playing FFXV until, like, well into next year, but I just got a second job, so acquiring a PS4 might actually be reasonable by, like, January. Hmm.
(I've had mixed feelings about the game since real information about it started coming out, but. Final Fantasy.
I'm so weak.)
no subject
Date: 2016-12-01 02:21 am (UTC)because there's no shame creating a safe haven filled with gorgeous monsters and beautiful men and transcendent warrior princesses when the real world is so godawful.
this. I want this. Yes please.