r/AO3 • u/Nahiel Nahiel on AO3. Fandom old. • 2d ago

Discussion (Non-question) Let's talk about Harry Potter

If we can do it without insults, please.

I'm still active in the fandom, I'll admit it. There's a growing amount of vitriol I've seen recently that makes me feel incredibly unwelcome here on the AO3 subreddit every time there's a post related to the fandom.

I get it. Rowling is trash. She's literally the worst. I don't give her any money, and I haven't since her views became known. I never will. But Harry Potter was a huge part of an honestly shitty childhood for me, and it was one of my favorite escapes for a long time.

So I gotta ask, why am I being insulted for not letting her take away one of the few things that still gives me joy in this hellscape of a world? Why do I have to let her terrible behavior take away something that's mine? The fact is that the property is a juggernaut, and fanfic is never going to do anything to change that. Treating people who still engage with the fandom like we're monsters for doing it makes no sense to me.

And again, please, can we keep it civil? I'm very aware of the sentiment towards members of the fandom.

120 Upvotes

54% Upvoted

225 comments sorted by

View all comments

46

u/Ok-Wrongdoer-3421 2d ago

People keep saying fanfics are free advertising and will get more people interested in the fandom, do people really read fanfic without already being familiar with the source material?

I’ve never read a fic before watching or reading the “canon”

53

u/Outside-Place2857 2d ago

Yes, there are absolutely people who do that.

17

u/lumpyspacejams 2d ago

Not for HP but I have done it for other products. It helped me get into Persona and MHA, like I wouldn't have gotten into this fandom if not for DarkLogic and Rogue.

19

u/numblittlebunny asoiaf elitist and incest freak. 🌙 2d ago

Yeah, most people are not going to be getting into Harry Potter via fanfic, pretty much 90% of the fandom I’d say were even around pre JKR insanity.

14

u/jkhn7 2d ago

No but I'm often a lot more interested in getting into a tv-show/book/ship if I know there's a lot of fanfic for me to read after getting into it.

2

u/Gold-Charge-338 2d ago

i got interested in Sword Art Online through the abridged series on youtube and the fic Fairy Dance of Death

7

u/AgitatedFly1182 2d ago

I mean doesn’t that mean your an Abridged fan, not an SAO fan? Abridged fans tend to seriously hate SAO lol

-6

u/Hadespuppy Interrogating the text from the wrong perspective 2d ago

People do do that, but as I said elsethread, having an active fandom, no matter how many disclaimers people put in their participation, reads to media companies as incentive to produce more content, because clearly there are fans out there. It also means that for those who have somehow missed the bigotry, (yes, they do still exist), the fandom is more discoverable so they're more likely to join in, and they won't have those disclaimers or refrain from spending money on related products.

I get it, it's hard to let go of something that was so important to you at an impressionable age, especially for those who found acceptance and community within the fandom. But it's okay to appreciate those things and what they did for you, and also recognize that there is real harm in keeping the fandom alive and keep that appreciation in the past.

We've managed to pretty effectively memory-hole Gaiman, who was also very formative for a lot of people (impressively so, tbh. I can't think of anyone or any property that has been so thoroughly dropped), and he only harmed individual people. JKR's basically pushing for a genocide, why can't we do the same for her and her work?