Let me present you with a quick primer on interpretation, fandom, and manners.
| Open Letter | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Let me present you with a quick primer on interpretation, fandom, and manners. |
| From: | 'Nea Dodson |
| Addressed To: | Beauty and the Beast fans |
| Date(s): | October 1989 |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom: | Beauty and the Beast (TV) |
| Topic: | |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Let me present you with a quick primer on interpretation, fandom, and manners. is a 1989 Beauty and the Beast (TV) open letter by 'Nea Dodson.
It was published in Once Upon a Time... Is Now #15 in October of that year.
Some Topics Discussed
- the poor behavior of Beauty and the Beast (TV) fans regarding their interactions with the show's TPTB
- rumors regarding the casting changes and characterizations of existing characters in the third season of the show
- being a good fan, gratefulness
- who "owns" a show
The Letter
To all of you out there who want to petition the B&B production office into producing only what YOU want to see and spread the most depressing rumors I have ever heard in my life, let me present you with a quick primer on interpretation, fandom, and manners.
Where do I get off on laying down the law? Let me present my credentials: ten plus years in active media fandom, and the fact that I have not let the recent announcements drain me of every ounce of common sense.
First of all, you rumor-mongers. A quickie course in interpretation. In order to piece together what is REALLY happening when all you have to go on are scattered and uncomplimentary reports (in all senses of the word.)
Consider your source. Is it reliable? If not, why do you have a reason to believe that it is telling the truth now? (C'mon, people, "The Globe"??? I'm amazed that you'll even admit to reading it!)
Consider what EXACTLY is being said. No interpreting right now. Does it really say, in black and white, "Catherine Chandler will die horribly"? Or does it actually say "Catherine Chandler's roll will be reduced"? Or does it simply insinuate "there are some surprising changes coming up"? Believe me, there is a vast and major difference between these three statements, and the latter two do NOT mean that the former is true!!
Consider how often you have heard the exact same rumor. If one person tells you CC is going to bite the big one, and the next person tells you that CC won't be in all the episodes, and the third one says Linda Hamilton has gone into labor and missed the first three days of shooting, once again, this does NOT all add up to say that the first rumor is true. See above. Personally, I don't believe something until I hear it 3 times from 3 separate unimpeachable sources.
And while I'm on the subject of unimpeachable sources, consider how many people have passed on "The Word of Koslow" between his mouth and your ear. If your zine-editor heard from his best friend, who has a snitch in California, who's source is Ron Perlman's makeup artist's cousin, then I wouldn't lay money on what you hear. Ever play "Whisper Down the Alley"?
When you look at this flap logically, there is almost nothing to substantiate the worst of the rumors we've heard.
So, for all you people who have been accepting what you hear as "The Gospel of Witt-Thomas," and letter-writing to try to make then change their minds, I have one thing to say. STOP IT!!! Even if everything we've heard is true, STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!!!
Why? Because I have a newsflash for you. We don't own B&B. We never did. We were attracted to the vision Koslow had, and now we want to tell the original artist that he's not good enough for his own creation anymore. Wrong, wrong, WRONG!!
A similar flap happened at the start of the filming of "Return of the Jedi". A rumor started that all the humans in the movie were going to die. So all the fanclubs of the various stars started letter campaigns — rude, nasty letter campaigns — to force George Lucas to end the movie the way they wanted it to end. Never mind that he had done such a wonderful job so far. Never mind that he had written the first two without the fans' help, and done such a good job that he had revolutionized the face of modern media science fiction. All of a sudden, with one rumor, he went from a gifted artist to a dangerous idiot who could not be trusted to write the end to his own story. Real complimentary there, people. What a wonderful image to give of fandom.
...Now, I'm sure that at this point in my tirade, there are a few mud-spattered by innocent souls saying plaintively "But I didn't do that! I just politely asked Koslow to tell us what was going on or expressed opinion that I personally didn't like one particular episode. Is that such a crime?"
No, it's not. But before all you people I'm really addressing hide behind the same excuse, let me explain the difference. Manners. You know, that silly set of rule your mother tried to beat into you?
Everyone has a right to ask a polite question, like "Mr. Koslow, will you please tell me truth so I can slap duct tape over the person who keeps saying you've betrayed us all?" Note the use of the word "please" and the non threatening tone of the general statement. This isn't: "You SOB!! How could you do this to your own dream, you dimwit! I demand that you don't kill Catherine!!!"
Everybody also has a right to their own INTELLIGENT, INFORMED opinion. I put those two adjectives in capitols because without them, an opinion means nothing. Everybody has a right to express their own opinion, if they outline why they feel the way they do. Therefore, a letter of comment like "The Outsiders Sucks Rocks! It stinks! Why did you waste celluloid on that filth!!" is not an opinion. It is abuse, plain and simple. A letter like "I didn't like the outsiders because I personally prefer stories that center on the romance, and I didn't understand why Vincent had such a hard time dealing with the intruders in a violent fashion when he did not have the qualms about turning the Tong into kibble 'n' bits in the first season." is a true letter of comment. See the difference? It wasn't rude. It wasn't threatening. And it explained why the writer felt the way she did. When she had no other reason than personal taste, she said so without apology. Sometimes you just like or dislike things for purely personal reasons, and that is not a crime. Assuming that your personal opinion is inherently better than anyone else's personal opinion is.
Now, this letter is probably not reaching all the people it needs to reach, and it is getting sent to some people who are innocent. If you haven't been part of this insanity, congratulations. However, as someone once put it, 'if the shoe fits, kick yourself with it.'