LW isn't sure about punishment for son's inappropriate illustration
Mar. 5th, 2026 08:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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agonyauntDear Care and Feeding,
Two weeks ago my wife and I received a call from the school our 10-year-old son, “Josh” attends. Apparently, Josh was angry with his teacher, “Mrs. Smith,” after he was kept in from recess for playing with his phone during class. So he drew a picture.
The drawing was of his teacher in a compromising position with a dog. It circulated among the students, one of whom ultimately ratted him out. We had to attend a conference with Mrs. Smith and the principal, and Josh ended up with a week’s suspension. He’s been grounded for the next month, but his best friend’s birthday falls during that time period. My wife thinks he should be made to skip the party. I think that’s excessive and punishes not only Josh, but his friend as well and we’ve been at odds over it since. I don’t think making an exception will diminish the lesson we are trying to teach Josh about his behavior. Thoughts?
—Doodle Debacle
( Read more... )
Two weeks ago my wife and I received a call from the school our 10-year-old son, “Josh” attends. Apparently, Josh was angry with his teacher, “Mrs. Smith,” after he was kept in from recess for playing with his phone during class. So he drew a picture.
The drawing was of his teacher in a compromising position with a dog. It circulated among the students, one of whom ultimately ratted him out. We had to attend a conference with Mrs. Smith and the principal, and Josh ended up with a week’s suspension. He’s been grounded for the next month, but his best friend’s birthday falls during that time period. My wife thinks he should be made to skip the party. I think that’s excessive and punishes not only Josh, but his friend as well and we’ve been at odds over it since. I don’t think making an exception will diminish the lesson we are trying to teach Josh about his behavior. Thoughts?
—Doodle Debacle
( Read more... )
My Hugo Nominees for Best Novel; 2 Purrcies
Mar. 5th, 2026 09:38 pmmecurtinTail vs cat, the never-ending battle! Purrcy was fast and fierce, but that darn tail keeps being faster!
Purrcy was being extremely round, so I had to check if he was also being warm and soft. Answer: he was. He was a bit doubtful at being checked out, though, he'd rather just be round.
Here is my list of Hugo Nominees for Best Novel, alphabetical by author. Those of you who nominate, do you think there's an social stigma against publicly listing your nominees? With pitches?
The Witch Roads, Kate Elliott. Standing in for the Witch Roads Duology. Elliott has become one of my favorite writers because she so resolutely undercuts "[story] status is hereditary", a trope of the majority of fantasy novels that looks worse every week, as I see what nepo kids do in the real world.
The Witch Roads is Elen, a Deputy Courier in the Imperial-China-esque Tranquil Empire who gets caught up in the machinations of princes and demons, when all she wants to do is keep her head down, walk her circuit carrying mail, talking to people, keeping an eye out for deadly Spore infestations and stopping them before they spread, and seeing her beloved nephew Kem on his way in life.
Kem is trans, and though his coming-out struggles are part of his character development (he's just 18, finding identity is complicated) it's neither The Most Traumatic Thing Ever nor is it glossed over as nothing in particular.
One reason I love Elliott is that she often writes from the POV of non-elites who don't think elites (princes, emperors, billionaires, etc.) are that great, and she maintains it, she doesn't fall into the "except for this one" trap. This is *so* rare, even writers who are making a determined, conscious effort to avoid what Pratchett described as our "major design flaw, [the] tendency to bend at the knees" will still fall into it -- e.g. by having crucial non-elite characters we've identified with turn out to be close family members of the leading elite (royalty, rich people, etc.). Which the writers do to add family drama to the mix, but which also falls back into the old, OLD trap of "only the families of the elites count as Real People".
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, Stephen Graham Jones. It's structured as a mostly-epistolary story, with an outer 1st-person narration by Etsy Beaucarne, a present-day white woman Communications Prof who's transcribing letters and diary entries written by her ancestor Arthur Beaucarne in 1912. Many of the diary entries transcribe a set of interviews with a Piegan Blackfoot Indian vampire, Good Stab. (Yes, I saw what Jones did there, with interviewing a vampire. I'm sure he meant to do it.) Some of the horror is vampire-related horror, but a fair bit is historical horror, especially related to the Marias Massacre.
For me, a wimp about horror, the epistolary form & the interview within it gave me enough insulation that I could read without being overwhelmed. (The lack of insulation is why visual horror is pretty much always a no-go for me, it gets too far into my brain & won't get out.) I think Jones used this structure to ease the (presumptive) white reader, though tougher than me, into the Indian POV. First we have the present-day white POV, then a blatantly racist, foolish past white POV we can easily treat as an unreliable narrator**, which makes the reader work to figure out what really happened with Good Stab, as we get his story filtered through Arthur. And because we the readers have to do so much work to piece the story together, it acts as an enthymeme: a story or argument that's more persuasive because the audience has connected some of the dots themselves.
I started to write more, but deleted it because so much of the pleasure of a book like this comes from connecting the dots yourself, from following the author's clues to get a picture of their world- (& monster-) building. If I was forced to pick *one* book for Best Novel or at least Book of the Year, this would be it. It won't be the one I re-read the most, but it's the most significant. The fact that it could be part of a matched set with "Sinners" can't be coincidence.
Saltcrop, Yume Kitasei. Post-this-apocalypse story of three sisters. Nora, the eldest, is the idealist who left a decade ago for a big-city education, trying to learn about crop diseases that plague their world, for which the only solution seems to be genetically-engineered resistant varieties from corporations. Carmen is the one with social skills, who takes care of the horrible grandmother they live with. Skipper is the boat-builder and sailor, skilled with her hands but not with people. They all get POVs, they all have problems, they all love each other fiercely even though they're pretty terrible at saying it.
The story begins when Carmen and Skipper get a message saying Nora is in trouble, not doing well after all. They have to work together to go after her, first to the city, then following her across an icy ocean and beyond. They're struggling to take of each other, but also, especially Nora, to build a better world, to use knowledge and community to push back against the corporations and the mess they've made of things. One of the VERY few novels I've read recently that reflects the current moment of crisis AND what actually works to struggle against it: not violent rebellion, not targeted assassination, but community, solidarity, caring for *everyone*.
Death of the Author, Nnedi Okorafor. A meta-book about writing, story-telling, who's-the-author, who's-the-audience, being Nigerian and American, and disability. I also googled "jollof rice near me", because it made me hungry for home cooking from a cuisine I've never tasted.
The Isle in the Silver Sea, Tasha Suri. I'm glad people who read ARCs recced this one, otherwise I would have skipped it as looking too much like a conventional romantasy, if f/f. Instead it's a book about the stories the English tell and re-tell, who gets to tell them, how they shape imaginations and are shaped in turn. It's about *all* the Matters of Britain: Arthurian, Shakespearean, Dickensian, Imperial, and more.
Purrcy was being extremely round, so I had to check if he was also being warm and soft. Answer: he was. He was a bit doubtful at being checked out, though, he'd rather just be round.
Here is my list of Hugo Nominees for Best Novel, alphabetical by author. Those of you who nominate, do you think there's an social stigma against publicly listing your nominees? With pitches?
The Witch Roads, Kate Elliott. Standing in for the Witch Roads Duology. Elliott has become one of my favorite writers because she so resolutely undercuts "[story] status is hereditary", a trope of the majority of fantasy novels that looks worse every week, as I see what nepo kids do in the real world.
The Witch Roads is Elen, a Deputy Courier in the Imperial-China-esque Tranquil Empire who gets caught up in the machinations of princes and demons, when all she wants to do is keep her head down, walk her circuit carrying mail, talking to people, keeping an eye out for deadly Spore infestations and stopping them before they spread, and seeing her beloved nephew Kem on his way in life.
Kem is trans, and though his coming-out struggles are part of his character development (he's just 18, finding identity is complicated) it's neither The Most Traumatic Thing Ever nor is it glossed over as nothing in particular.
One reason I love Elliott is that she often writes from the POV of non-elites who don't think elites (princes, emperors, billionaires, etc.) are that great, and she maintains it, she doesn't fall into the "except for this one" trap. This is *so* rare, even writers who are making a determined, conscious effort to avoid what Pratchett described as our "major design flaw, [the] tendency to bend at the knees" will still fall into it -- e.g. by having crucial non-elite characters we've identified with turn out to be close family members of the leading elite (royalty, rich people, etc.). Which the writers do to add family drama to the mix, but which also falls back into the old, OLD trap of "only the families of the elites count as Real People".
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, Stephen Graham Jones. It's structured as a mostly-epistolary story, with an outer 1st-person narration by Etsy Beaucarne, a present-day white woman Communications Prof who's transcribing letters and diary entries written by her ancestor Arthur Beaucarne in 1912. Many of the diary entries transcribe a set of interviews with a Piegan Blackfoot Indian vampire, Good Stab. (Yes, I saw what Jones did there, with interviewing a vampire. I'm sure he meant to do it.) Some of the horror is vampire-related horror, but a fair bit is historical horror, especially related to the Marias Massacre.
For me, a wimp about horror, the epistolary form & the interview within it gave me enough insulation that I could read without being overwhelmed. (The lack of insulation is why visual horror is pretty much always a no-go for me, it gets too far into my brain & won't get out.) I think Jones used this structure to ease the (presumptive) white reader, though tougher than me, into the Indian POV. First we have the present-day white POV, then a blatantly racist, foolish past white POV we can easily treat as an unreliable narrator**, which makes the reader work to figure out what really happened with Good Stab, as we get his story filtered through Arthur. And because we the readers have to do so much work to piece the story together, it acts as an enthymeme: a story or argument that's more persuasive because the audience has connected some of the dots themselves.
I started to write more, but deleted it because so much of the pleasure of a book like this comes from connecting the dots yourself, from following the author's clues to get a picture of their world- (& monster-) building. If I was forced to pick *one* book for Best Novel or at least Book of the Year, this would be it. It won't be the one I re-read the most, but it's the most significant. The fact that it could be part of a matched set with "Sinners" can't be coincidence.
Saltcrop, Yume Kitasei. Post-this-apocalypse story of three sisters. Nora, the eldest, is the idealist who left a decade ago for a big-city education, trying to learn about crop diseases that plague their world, for which the only solution seems to be genetically-engineered resistant varieties from corporations. Carmen is the one with social skills, who takes care of the horrible grandmother they live with. Skipper is the boat-builder and sailor, skilled with her hands but not with people. They all get POVs, they all have problems, they all love each other fiercely even though they're pretty terrible at saying it.
The story begins when Carmen and Skipper get a message saying Nora is in trouble, not doing well after all. They have to work together to go after her, first to the city, then following her across an icy ocean and beyond. They're struggling to take of each other, but also, especially Nora, to build a better world, to use knowledge and community to push back against the corporations and the mess they've made of things. One of the VERY few novels I've read recently that reflects the current moment of crisis AND what actually works to struggle against it: not violent rebellion, not targeted assassination, but community, solidarity, caring for *everyone*.
Death of the Author, Nnedi Okorafor. A meta-book about writing, story-telling, who's-the-author, who's-the-audience, being Nigerian and American, and disability. I also googled "jollof rice near me", because it made me hungry for home cooking from a cuisine I've never tasted.
The Isle in the Silver Sea, Tasha Suri. I'm glad people who read ARCs recced this one, otherwise I would have skipped it as looking too much like a conventional romantasy, if f/f. Instead it's a book about the stories the English tell and re-tell, who gets to tell them, how they shape imaginations and are shaped in turn. It's about *all* the Matters of Britain: Arthurian, Shakespearean, Dickensian, Imperial, and more.
When I'm falling I'm at peace
Mar. 5th, 2026 05:55 pmmusesfoolWork has been intensely busy these past few days, and tomorrow I have to go into the office because Assistant J is getting a pin for being with the organization for 5 years (even though it's more like six and a half at this point, but no one wants to hear my rant about how anniversaries work again), and I never get much done when I'm in, so we'll see what happens. I do have to take all my tax paperwork and scan it for my accountant. This is much later than usual, eep.
*
Shrinking: Dereks Don't Die
( spoiler )
*
Lost Recipes was a really good read "about the legal and logistical barriers arrayed against people trying to archive rap media." to quote the email from Defector that included the link. It made me think about how despite its many, many issues (about which I have heard no news of progress at all, btw), the OTW is doing that work for this section of media fandom, and how important that work is (and how no one else was gonna do it). There's already so much that's gone, and that impacts how our stories get contextualized and passed on (thinking of all the thinkpieces on Heated Rivalry that only reference yaoi and animanga fandom and not Western media fandom, for example) and whatever place in the larger history of media and fandom this corner of it might have. Idk. I do recommend reading that post though, even if you're not a rap fan.
*
*
Shrinking: Dereks Don't Die
( spoiler )
*
Lost Recipes was a really good read "about the legal and logistical barriers arrayed against people trying to archive rap media." to quote the email from Defector that included the link. It made me think about how despite its many, many issues (about which I have heard no news of progress at all, btw), the OTW is doing that work for this section of media fandom, and how important that work is (and how no one else was gonna do it). There's already so much that's gone, and that impacts how our stories get contextualized and passed on (thinking of all the thinkpieces on Heated Rivalry that only reference yaoi and animanga fandom and not Western media fandom, for example) and whatever place in the larger history of media and fandom this corner of it might have. Idk. I do recommend reading that post though, even if you're not a rap fan.
*
that poem Sonya wrote about Ny in 2022
Mar. 4th, 2026 11:33 pmride_4everMost of you -- or perhaps all of you -- will understand why I am currently fixated on the last three lines of the Sonya Taaffe poem "The House Snakes: For Nyani Martin":
...our earth will always shake,
our restless scales unfurling to enfold
your arms of wine-dark honey as you come home.
The full poem appears in issue 44 of "Uncanny: A Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy".
...our earth will always shake,
our restless scales unfurling to enfold
your arms of wine-dark honey as you come home.
The full poem appears in issue 44 of "Uncanny: A Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy".
Purimgifts reveal
Mar. 4th, 2026 09:34 pmkassI wrote a trio of Stardew ficlets for PeacePangolin for purimgifts. (And the images I shared along with them are simple re-colorings of in-game images; I am chagrined now to see the kinds of beautiful things people created, and I will need to level up before next year!) Anyway: here's what I wrote.
1. Sam (373 words) by Kass
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sam/Sebastian (Stardew Valley)
Characters: Sam (Stardew Valley)
Additional Tags: Collection: Purimgifts Day 1
Summary:
2. Sebastian (443 words) by Kass
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sam/Sebastian (Stardew Valley)
Characters: Sebastian
Additional Tags: Purimgifts day 2
Summary:
3. Abigail (401 words) by Kass
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sam/Sebastian (Stardew Valley)
Characters: Abigail (Stardew Valley)
Additional Tags: Collection: Purimgifts Day 3
purimgifts. (And the images I shared along with them are simple re-colorings of in-game images; I am chagrined now to see the kinds of beautiful things people created, and I will need to level up before next year!) Anyway: here's what I wrote.1. Sam (373 words) by Kass
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sam/Sebastian (Stardew Valley)
Characters: Sam (Stardew Valley)
Additional Tags: Collection: Purimgifts Day 1
Summary:
He can’t remember a time before he knew Sebastian.
2. Sebastian (443 words) by Kass
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sam/Sebastian (Stardew Valley)
Characters: Sebastian
Additional Tags: Purimgifts day 2
Summary:
Nevermind I’m going to delete all of this and start over.
3. Abigail (401 words) by Kass
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sam/Sebastian (Stardew Valley)
Characters: Abigail (Stardew Valley)
Additional Tags: Collection: Purimgifts Day 3
One final Purim rec
Mar. 4th, 2026 01:29 pmkassMy final purimgifts fic and collage are Lady Astronaut ones again -- absolutely lovely. Thank you so much, Mystery Author! You have brightened my Purim a ton.
2329 Days (329 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Lady Astronaut Series - Mary Robinette Kowal
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Elma York, Nathaniel York, Jean-Paul Lebourgeois, Estevan Terrazas
Additional Tags: Canon Jewish Character, Canon Compliant, Collection: Purimgifts Day 3, Outer Space
Summary:
purimgifts fic and collage are Lady Astronaut ones again -- absolutely lovely. Thank you so much, Mystery Author! You have brightened my Purim a ton.2329 Days (329 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Lady Astronaut Series - Mary Robinette Kowal
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Elma York, Nathaniel York, Jean-Paul Lebourgeois, Estevan Terrazas
Additional Tags: Canon Jewish Character, Canon Compliant, Collection: Purimgifts Day 3, Outer Space
Summary:
A moment of prayer for when Elma sees the stars
In Memoriam: tragic, shocking news about minoanmiss
Mar. 3rd, 2026 08:55 pmride_4everVia a post from goss: tragic, shocking news about minoanmiss AKA Rubynye on AO3.
My icon says "sad" but this is way beyond that. I am utterly shocked and crushed.minoanmiss and I met once at a con and I hoped to meet up again...and now never will. We communicated regularly on DW and often sent each other postal mail...and now never will again.
May her memory be a blessing...and an inspiration.
goss: tragic, shocking news about minoanmiss AKA Rubynye on AO3.My icon says "sad" but this is way beyond that. I am utterly shocked and crushed.
minoanmiss and I met once at a con and I hoped to meet up again...and now never will. We communicated regularly on DW and often sent each other postal mail...and now never will again. May her memory be a blessing...and an inspiration.
Another fabulous Purimgifts gift!
Mar. 3rd, 2026 09:13 pmkassOnce again my mystery creator has given me a gorgeous basket of mishloach manot, this time featuring fic and art for The Diplomat.
First Impressions (709 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Diplomat (US TV 2023)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Kate Wyler, Hal Wyler, Frances Munning, Pensey, Eidra Park
Additional Tags: Collection: Purimgifts Day 2, First Meetings, Canon Compliant
Summary:
First Impressions (709 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Diplomat (US TV 2023)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Kate Wyler, Hal Wyler, Frances Munning, Pensey, Eidra Park
Additional Tags: Collection: Purimgifts Day 2, First Meetings, Canon Compliant
Summary:
Pensey, Mrs. Munning, & Eidra meet Kate for the first time
Swedish newspaper article
Mar. 3rd, 2026 01:08 pmpar_avion posting in viddinghttps://www.dn.se/kultur/fan-edits-har-blivit-filmbranschens-nya-maktfaktor/
”Fan edits” har blivit filmbranschens nya maktfaktor
Thanks to naye for posting on bluesky! Translation via google translate.
“Fan edits” have become the film industry’s new power factor
– Fan edits are created out of genuine commitment, rather than a commercial purpose, and then they can certainly be perceived as more credible than traditional trailers, says Lovisa Jönsson from the PR agency Jung.
In July 2025, the anonymous TikTok account Areq posts a video collage of scenes from the boxing movie “Creed.” In the clip, punches are thrown wildly to the beat of the music, while blood and sweat spurt.
The clip has over 215 million views at the time of writing. Less than a week after it was posted on the platform, the number of viewers of the film increased by 29 percent on Amazon Prime, according to data from Luminate.
Areq is an example of a growing group of TikTok creators, often fans, who make so-called video collages, or “fan edits,” of series and films for fun. The phenomenon has its origins in fan fiction, where fans use characters and settings from existing works to write a new story.
Several film studios have recognized the explosive power of fan logic and have now started to hire fans to drive their marketing efforts.
The film studio Lionsgate has recruited a dozen or so fans to make TikTok clips under the film studio’s banner. The company’s TikTok page now has around a hundred clips from films like “Twilight” and “Divergent.” All of them are bursting with references and Generation Z jokes that only a die-hard fan can understand.
In an interview with Variety, Lionsgate's head of international marketing, Briana McElroy, says that fan edits are a "love letter from fans" and that it is free marketing.
- If we are going to have a conversation with fans online, we have to speak their language, she tells Variety.
Streaming giants such as Netflix, Hulu and Paramount+ also publish clips on their Tiktok channels with clear inspiration from fan logic.
Fan-edited video collages from the ice hockey drama "Heated Rivalry" have been streaming on social media since the series was released in late 2025. The clips have reached both existing fans and attracted new viewers.
Some of the fan community's most viewed clips are edited by fan Melanie, 25. In one of the clips, countless sex scenes and hockey matches flicker past in one minute and thirty seconds. That clip has received over four million views.
When DN reaches her, she wants to remain anonymous, she wants to protect her privacy on the internet but is happy to talk about the phenomenon. Since she was 17, she has spent countless hours editing such videos, about everything from One Direction to Harry Potter and Marvel.
– Fan edits are their own art form. It is a way for a fan to tell a story or describe how they themselves interpret a series through their own lens. It is noticeable in the way they edit, in what order they place the clips or which song they use, she says.
Unlike a traditional trailer that is directed and tailored by a film company with the aim of reaching as large an audience as possible and generating revenue, fan edits lack a financial drive and are born out of pure desire and love for a series or film.
– It is created out of genuine commitment, rather than a commercial purpose, and then they can certainly be perceived as more credible than traditional trailers, especially for Generation Z, says Lovisa Jönsson from the PR agency Jung.
She points out that fan-produced content is spread organically on platforms like Tiktok and that it can reach target groups that do not usually watch traditional trailers. This provides a large distribution at a low cost.
– When marketing arouses emotions and is perceived as authentic and genuine, it tends to be more effective. It is a quick way to spread content and can create hype that makes more people feel that they “have to see” a certain film or series, says Lovisa Jönsson.
It is not only within the world of film that fan logic is being valued. For example, the artist Miley Cyrus hired superfan Olivia Rudensky to be responsible for her digital marketing and fan contact. Rudensky was recruited because she ran one of the star’s largest fan accounts, according to Forbes.
In the book “Blank Space”, the American author W David Marx describes how fans have shaped the popular cultural landscape. According to him, they have been crucial in consolidating the position of international artists. He writes that: “At a time when the media landscape has become increasingly fragmented, fans have contributed to strengthening the cultural power around a few top artists.”
Fan-produced video collages set their first milestone in 1975 when Kandy Fong made a slideshow featuring the space officer Spock from the science fiction series “Star Trek”. The slideshow was set to music with the Spock actor’s interpretation of “Both sides now”. At the time, it was shown at various fan conventions, but since then they have been exhibited at museums in both Queens and Vancouver.
When YouTube became established, fans began publishing video collages there. As Instagram and Tiktok consolidated their role, fans have instead moved their creations there and through the spread of algorithms, some of them reach a huge audience.
Sweden is no exception. Here, fans of reality series such as “The Traitors”, “The Game” and “Paradise Hotel” have made their own compilations, where they highlight certain participants, among other things. Among other things, there are several collages about the “Best in Test” program host David Sundin, with carefully selected clips from the competition program, set to music by Arctic Monkeys’ “505”.
During the new film adaptation of “Doktor Glas”, the production launched a Tiktok account. Some of the content is clearly modeled after how fans usually edit their fan clips. Lovisa Jönsson at the PR agency Jung, however, believes that there is a risk when production companies follow the fan logic.
– When companies start to commercialize fan edits and use them in strategic marketing, authenticity can be lost, which is the very basis for the impact. To succeed, they must continue to be created on the fans’ terms, she says.
”Fan edits” har blivit filmbranschens nya maktfaktor
Thanks to naye for posting on bluesky! Translation via google translate.
“Fan edits” have become the film industry’s new power factor
– Fan edits are created out of genuine commitment, rather than a commercial purpose, and then they can certainly be perceived as more credible than traditional trailers, says Lovisa Jönsson from the PR agency Jung.
In July 2025, the anonymous TikTok account Areq posts a video collage of scenes from the boxing movie “Creed.” In the clip, punches are thrown wildly to the beat of the music, while blood and sweat spurt.
The clip has over 215 million views at the time of writing. Less than a week after it was posted on the platform, the number of viewers of the film increased by 29 percent on Amazon Prime, according to data from Luminate.
Areq is an example of a growing group of TikTok creators, often fans, who make so-called video collages, or “fan edits,” of series and films for fun. The phenomenon has its origins in fan fiction, where fans use characters and settings from existing works to write a new story.
Several film studios have recognized the explosive power of fan logic and have now started to hire fans to drive their marketing efforts.
The film studio Lionsgate has recruited a dozen or so fans to make TikTok clips under the film studio’s banner. The company’s TikTok page now has around a hundred clips from films like “Twilight” and “Divergent.” All of them are bursting with references and Generation Z jokes that only a die-hard fan can understand.
In an interview with Variety, Lionsgate's head of international marketing, Briana McElroy, says that fan edits are a "love letter from fans" and that it is free marketing.
- If we are going to have a conversation with fans online, we have to speak their language, she tells Variety.
Streaming giants such as Netflix, Hulu and Paramount+ also publish clips on their Tiktok channels with clear inspiration from fan logic.
Fan-edited video collages from the ice hockey drama "Heated Rivalry" have been streaming on social media since the series was released in late 2025. The clips have reached both existing fans and attracted new viewers.
Some of the fan community's most viewed clips are edited by fan Melanie, 25. In one of the clips, countless sex scenes and hockey matches flicker past in one minute and thirty seconds. That clip has received over four million views.
When DN reaches her, she wants to remain anonymous, she wants to protect her privacy on the internet but is happy to talk about the phenomenon. Since she was 17, she has spent countless hours editing such videos, about everything from One Direction to Harry Potter and Marvel.
– Fan edits are their own art form. It is a way for a fan to tell a story or describe how they themselves interpret a series through their own lens. It is noticeable in the way they edit, in what order they place the clips or which song they use, she says.
Unlike a traditional trailer that is directed and tailored by a film company with the aim of reaching as large an audience as possible and generating revenue, fan edits lack a financial drive and are born out of pure desire and love for a series or film.
– It is created out of genuine commitment, rather than a commercial purpose, and then they can certainly be perceived as more credible than traditional trailers, especially for Generation Z, says Lovisa Jönsson from the PR agency Jung.
She points out that fan-produced content is spread organically on platforms like Tiktok and that it can reach target groups that do not usually watch traditional trailers. This provides a large distribution at a low cost.
– When marketing arouses emotions and is perceived as authentic and genuine, it tends to be more effective. It is a quick way to spread content and can create hype that makes more people feel that they “have to see” a certain film or series, says Lovisa Jönsson.
It is not only within the world of film that fan logic is being valued. For example, the artist Miley Cyrus hired superfan Olivia Rudensky to be responsible for her digital marketing and fan contact. Rudensky was recruited because she ran one of the star’s largest fan accounts, according to Forbes.
In the book “Blank Space”, the American author W David Marx describes how fans have shaped the popular cultural landscape. According to him, they have been crucial in consolidating the position of international artists. He writes that: “At a time when the media landscape has become increasingly fragmented, fans have contributed to strengthening the cultural power around a few top artists.”
Fan-produced video collages set their first milestone in 1975 when Kandy Fong made a slideshow featuring the space officer Spock from the science fiction series “Star Trek”. The slideshow was set to music with the Spock actor’s interpretation of “Both sides now”. At the time, it was shown at various fan conventions, but since then they have been exhibited at museums in both Queens and Vancouver.
When YouTube became established, fans began publishing video collages there. As Instagram and Tiktok consolidated their role, fans have instead moved their creations there and through the spread of algorithms, some of them reach a huge audience.
Sweden is no exception. Here, fans of reality series such as “The Traitors”, “The Game” and “Paradise Hotel” have made their own compilations, where they highlight certain participants, among other things. Among other things, there are several collages about the “Best in Test” program host David Sundin, with carefully selected clips from the competition program, set to music by Arctic Monkeys’ “505”.
During the new film adaptation of “Doktor Glas”, the production launched a Tiktok account. Some of the content is clearly modeled after how fans usually edit their fan clips. Lovisa Jönsson at the PR agency Jung, however, believes that there is a risk when production companies follow the fan logic.
– When companies start to commercialize fan edits and use them in strategic marketing, authenticity can be lost, which is the very basis for the impact. To succeed, they must continue to be created on the fans’ terms, she says.
Two recent fics (War of Faith, The Rebel)
Mar. 3rd, 2026 10:17 pmgrayswandir posting in c_entAddendum (~8,800)
Fandom: 追风者 | War of Faith (TV)
Pairing: Shen Tunan/Wei Ruolai
Rated: T / No Archive Warnings
Tags: Post-Canon, Hurt/Comfort, Getting Together, Angst, Pining, Guilt, Loss, Headaches & Migraines
Summary: In December of 1936, Shen Tunan and Wei Ruolai meet again in Shanghai, reunited as allies. They've both been waiting for this chance, but after the way their paths have diverged, facing the memories of his own past is no longer easy for Shen Tunan.
Ways to Fall (~3,800)
Fandom: 叛逆者 | The Rebel (TV 2021)
Pairing: Chen Moqun/Lin Nansheng
Rated: T / No Archive Warnings
Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Missing Scene, UST, Headache, Massage
Summary: Not quite unscathed after the explosion at the bookstore, Chen Moqun lets Lin Nansheng a little closer than expected — at least for a while.
Fandom: 追风者 | War of Faith (TV)
Pairing: Shen Tunan/Wei Ruolai
Rated: T / No Archive Warnings
Tags: Post-Canon, Hurt/Comfort, Getting Together, Angst, Pining, Guilt, Loss, Headaches & Migraines
Summary: In December of 1936, Shen Tunan and Wei Ruolai meet again in Shanghai, reunited as allies. They've both been waiting for this chance, but after the way their paths have diverged, facing the memories of his own past is no longer easy for Shen Tunan.
Ways to Fall (~3,800)
Fandom: 叛逆者 | The Rebel (TV 2021)
Pairing: Chen Moqun/Lin Nansheng
Rated: T / No Archive Warnings
Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Missing Scene, UST, Headache, Massage
Summary: Not quite unscathed after the explosion at the bookstore, Chen Moqun lets Lin Nansheng a little closer than expected — at least for a while.
For me!
Mar. 3rd, 2026 08:09 amkassHappy Purim, and happy purimgifts!
I got the most glorious fic (and image collage) -- this feels like it could be an outtake from the actual books, and that's high praise.
Hamentaschen (438 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Lady Astronaut Series - Mary Robinette Kowal
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Elma York/Nathaniel York
Characters: Elma York, Nathaniel York
Additional Tags: Canon Jewish Character, Baking, Food as a Metaphor for Love, Canon Compliant, Collection: Purimgifts Day 1
Summary:
purimgifts!I got the most glorious fic (and image collage) -- this feels like it could be an outtake from the actual books, and that's high praise.
Hamentaschen (438 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Lady Astronaut Series - Mary Robinette Kowal
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Elma York/Nathaniel York
Characters: Elma York, Nathaniel York
Additional Tags: Canon Jewish Character, Baking, Food as a Metaphor for Love, Canon Compliant, Collection: Purimgifts Day 1
Summary:
Elma makes Hamentaschen for the first time after the meteor.
vid. iwtv/tvl | god loves you, but not enough to save you
Mar. 2nd, 2026 08:47 pmkaiyote posting in viddingtitle. god loves you, but not enough to save you
fandom. iwtv/tvl
character. lestat de lioncourt
song. "sun bleached flies" by ethel cain
what i wouldn't give to be in church this sunday; listening to the choir, so heartfelt, all singing: "god loves you, but not enough to save you." lestat character study vidlet. (spoilers for s3 trailers/promos.)
dw | youtube
fandom. iwtv/tvl
character. lestat de lioncourt
song. "sun bleached flies" by ethel cain
what i wouldn't give to be in church this sunday; listening to the choir, so heartfelt, all singing: "god loves you, but not enough to save you." lestat character study vidlet. (spoilers for s3 trailers/promos.)
dw | youtube
AO3 Woes
Mar. 2nd, 2026 08:15 pmsettiaiPlease come back soon, AO3. I know it's not even been a full two days yet since the site started having issues, but I've missed you. Don't make me have to delve into the horrors that is FF.net in order to get my fanfiction fix.
(Honestly, I'm mostly amused that it's been working fine when I haven't been online but the moment that I had a free minute to try to pull up a fic, that's when it's gone down. There have been several times now where I've checked the status and it was just updated minutes earlier.)
(Honestly, I'm mostly amused that it's been working fine when I haven't been online but the moment that I had a free minute to try to pull up a fic, that's when it's gone down. There have been several times now where I've checked the status and it was just updated minutes earlier.)
she won't catch me or break my fall
Mar. 2nd, 2026 02:48 pmmusesfoolI really enjoyed this season of Bridgerton despite being mostly indifferent to Benedict as a character. Yerin Ha as Sophie was everything - I really hope this launches her into a long, bright career. ( spoilers )
In other fannish news, I saw some folks on bsky discussing who the best lightsaber duelist is in Star Wars, and since I didn't really know the people being quoted, I took myself to tumblr to post about it. I also texted my eldest nephew, who is the biggest Anakin and Obi-Wan fan I know (which, given some of the fangirls I know, is saying something) and his knee-jerk response was Anakin*. Which is the wrong answer, so we argued back and forth a bit, and he came around to my way of thinking that it has to be Obi-Wan, even though we never see him go up against Palpatine or Mace Windu (who may have beaten Palpatine if not for Anakin).
I did see people saying Ahsoka, because she survives Maul, Vader, and very briefly, Palpatine, but as much as I love her, she survives and escapes. She doesn't win. The list of Obi-Wan's duels is extensive and no one ever even lays a blade on him that I recall (though he doesn't beat Dooku, which was an argument my nephew made, and Anakin eventually does) until he puts up his saber and lets Vader kill him. Like, is Obi-Wan destroyed emotionally and psychologically by dueling with Anakin? One hundred percent! But he still wins until not winning is the best way to win in the long-term.
*I think you can make a case for him when he's Vader, but even then, Obi-Wan beats him on Mustafar and he only wins on the Death Star because Obi-Wan lets him. In the OWK show, he maybe sets Obi-Wan on fire a little but Obi-Wan takes no real damage in any of their fights until the Death Star.
*
In other fannish news, I saw some folks on bsky discussing who the best lightsaber duelist is in Star Wars, and since I didn't really know the people being quoted, I took myself to tumblr to post about it. I also texted my eldest nephew, who is the biggest Anakin and Obi-Wan fan I know (which, given some of the fangirls I know, is saying something) and his knee-jerk response was Anakin*. Which is the wrong answer, so we argued back and forth a bit, and he came around to my way of thinking that it has to be Obi-Wan, even though we never see him go up against Palpatine or Mace Windu (who may have beaten Palpatine if not for Anakin).
I did see people saying Ahsoka, because she survives Maul, Vader, and very briefly, Palpatine, but as much as I love her, she survives and escapes. She doesn't win. The list of Obi-Wan's duels is extensive and no one ever even lays a blade on him that I recall (though he doesn't beat Dooku, which was an argument my nephew made, and Anakin eventually does) until he puts up his saber and lets Vader kill him. Like, is Obi-Wan destroyed emotionally and psychologically by dueling with Anakin? One hundred percent! But he still wins until not winning is the best way to win in the long-term.
*I think you can make a case for him when he's Vader, but even then, Obi-Wan beats him on Mustafar and he only wins on the Death Star because Obi-Wan lets him. In the OWK show, he maybe sets Obi-Wan on fire a little but Obi-Wan takes no real damage in any of their fights until the Death Star.
*
Fandom Trumps Hate auctions open tomorrow!
Mar. 2nd, 2026 07:54 pmsunshine304 posting in theuntamed_mdzsfandomtrumpshate officially opened for browsing a few days ago! You can find all the amazing offerings at fth2026offerings. They even made a handy guide for using the tags to quickly find what you're looking for.There are 76 offerings for MDZS/The Untamed, from fanfic over podfic to fanart and so on. You can find them all here.
And the Fan Craft Bazaar also opened! You can find all the cool things at
fth2026craftbazaar ! I'll not be offering fic or something like that this year. But I am offering a 📗 fanbinding for The Untamed/MDZS!
Perhaps someone is interested. But even if not, check out all the other cool things people are offering!
2594 / Fic - The Pitt
Mar. 1st, 2026 03:41 pmsiriaNot Up For Discussion
The Pitt | Parker, Gen | ~1500 words | Episode fic for 2.08. Thanks tosheafrotherdon for betaing.
(Also on AO3)
( There was a fine line between 'shit show' and 'farce.' As far as Parker was concerned, the deposition crossed it about half an hour in. )
The Pitt | Parker, Gen | ~1500 words | Episode fic for 2.08. Thanks to
sheafrotherdon for betaing. (Also on AO3)
( There was a fine line between 'shit show' and 'farce.' As far as Parker was concerned, the deposition crossed it about half an hour in. )