Neutral
| Synonyms: | |
| See also: | anti-larrie, larrie |
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In the context of One Direction fandom, a neutral is a fan or blog that doesn't express an opinion on whether Larry Is Real.
There has been some variation in how the term has been defined: it can refer to fans who don't have an opinion on whether Larry is real, or don't care[1], or are undecided, but in practice it often seems to be used as an all-purpose descriptor for non-larries who are not anti-larries. Because the term "anti-larrie" has somewhat different connotations for different parts of fandom, "neutral" is also necessarily somewhat ambiguous.
Sometimes "neutral" is used by larries to mean they are "not as invested" in whether Larry is real.[2]
Post-1D hiatus anti-larries on tumblr were using the term to refer to update accounts and other general resource-type blogs that took a neutral stance (or pretended to) by avoiding all mention of Larry:
The thing that bugs me most about business direction is Cris keeps saying its a neutral blog and she isn't honest that it's run by a big larrie. It's so clearly not neutral, the only people who believe the Azoffs are taking over 1D are the larries.anon comment to lrambling, 2016[3]
"neutral" tumblr update accounts especially need to be held responsible for this. they reblog these posts, or make them themselves. they need to be bombarded that reblogging or linking to these blogs is not okay. i follow one update account for each boy, and i see larry posts daily. i message the blogs, but they never respond. if mass unfollowings needs to happen, if they need to be added to larrie sympathizer lists and blocked to realize they are detrimental to fandom life, then so be it.anon comment to maythestylebewithyou, 2017[4]
On Twitter, where public larrie and non-larrie accounts tend to intermingle, the term has been increasingly used by fans to label themselves and others. For example, in January 2022 the "gain" account 1DGAlNS asked fans to reply with "whether you're a larrie, anti or neutral", and users replied with all three labels.[5]
The term is also used on Reddit.[6]
References
- ^ a neutral is someone who isn’t necessarily convinced that larry were or are a thing but often also don’t care too much., Archived version, tweet by HLTheories, 10 August 2022.
- ^ by all definitions i am a larrie but i am not as invested so i just say i'm neutral, Archived version, tweet by vldwncvstr, 23 March 2021.
- ^ anon ask answered by lrambling, Archived version, 9 June 2016. (Accessed 22 January 2023.)
- ^ anon ask sent to maythestylebewithyou, reblogged by back-to-louis, 23 June 2017. (Accessed 22 January 2023.)
- ^ tweet by 1DGAlNS, Archived version, 5 January 2022. (Accessed 22 January 2023.)
- ^ thoughts abt antisvslarries trending? , are you anti , larrie or neutral?, Archived version, reddit post by oBvIoUsLy_28, r/OneDirection subreddit, 10 March 2021.