It’s possible to enjoy things, while still recognizing their problems
There seems to be this pervasive notion that being a fan means you’re not allowed to critique the things you love.  I don’t understand… if you love something, wouldn’t you want it to be the best it can be? That includes recognizing things that could be improved upon.
It’s also possible to enjoy something you totally hate.  Like… I loathe Ke$ha, everything she stands for and sings about, but… I secretly dance her to her music sometimes.  It makes me feel dirty*,  but it’s got a good beat for shaking your caboose. Â
* Not in Ke$ha’s “I just crawled out of a dumpster” glam kind of dirty, but the “All the perfumes of Arabia could not wash the stench of this shame off my hands” kind.
I think a lot of consumers of media need to understand this. Maybe it’s from growing up in a feminist family, maybe it’s for other reasons, but developing a critical eye and applying it to just about everything I lay my eyes upon has been part of how I interact with fiction and media for so long, I can’t imagine not doing it. Just blindly drifting along with the ebbing and tides of a fandom is a notion that’s incredibly foreign to me.
