Fandom and Viewer Issues: "Fan" Is Short for "Fanatic"

[Minneapple]

Lana and everyone affiliated with the show teasing the SwanQueen stuff will learn their lesson soon enough. Trust me. When SwanQueen doesn't happen and the fans lose their collective mind over it, guess who they'll turn their anger toward.

 

Does anyone remember when fandom was like..."the first rule of fandom is, YOU DON'T TALK ABOUT FANDOM"? Because damn. I miss those days.

[Rumsy4]

It most definitely looks like she pandering to her fans, and trying to keep both the OQ and SQ fans happy. Unlike many of the main cast, Lana is not big outside of the ONCE fandom, as far as I know. She knows her loyal fanbase will follow her everywhere as long as they're happy. If SQ doesn't become canon (you never know at this point--maybe the death threats will finally convince A&E to make it canon), the crazy "fans" won't blame Lana. They will eviscerate JMo and Adam. 

Edited October 29, 2014 by Rumsy4

[Souris]

Yep, it's never going to backfire on Lana. She's Teflon to her fans. But IMO it's definitely devolved into straight-up queerbaiting with this ep and its promotion. (OK, that pun wasn't intentional, but I'm going to leave it.) And it's also pandering to and rewarding the bullying SQ fans, so that sucks. And it's never going to pacify them, because they're so demanding. There are a lot of levels to be disappointed about here.

[Serena]

Lana and everyone affiliated with the show teasing the SwanQueen stuff will learn their lesson soon enough. Trust me. When SwanQueen doesn't happen and the fans lose their collective mind over it, guess who they'll turn their anger toward.

I actually think Rumsy4 is right. No way they blame Lana. Lana will be seen as their brave fellow shipper who supported the ship even against her own horrifically homophobic bosses and collegues. Everyone else will be blamed. Even ABC, who will be somehow be seen as the one "stopping" SQ from happening (I've seen it a few times... ABC being against queer couples... which I don't see at all).

Edited October 29, 2014 by Serena

[Alex]

It most definitely looks like she pandering to her fans, and trying to keep both the OQ and SQ fans happy. Unlike many of the main cast, Lana is not big outside of the ONCE fandom, as far as I know. She knows her loyal fanbase will follow her everywhere as long as they're happy. If SQ doesn't become canon (you never know at this point--maybe the death threats will finally convince A&E to make it canon), the crazy "fans" won't blame Lana. They will eviscerate JMo and Adam. 

 

This was what I was wondering about, the reason behind and why Lana needs to do that. Does she really need all the SQ fans because otherwise she has no fans? So, thanks Rumsy for the answer. 

[InsertWordHere]

I've posted about this before, but this idea that ABC is against queer couples is unbelievable to me. Ellen (the character) came out on an ABC show. Grey's is on ABC. Modern Family is on ABC. Erika Kane's daughter was gay on ABC. Disney World has had gay pride days for years now. I realize a lot more could be done for queer representation in the media, including on ABC, but it is far from being a gay-phobic network. That said, perhaps it's better that they blame the largely faceless ABC corporation over folks like JMo, who is just doing her job, and the writers, who I don't believe ever intended Swan Queen.

Edited October 29, 2014 by InsertWordHere

[Minneapple]

Okay. If you guys say so. I'd like to see their reaction if she tweeted stuff supportive of Outlaw Queen though.

 

I think it's a bit bizarre to ship a couple where you're in love with one of the characters but can't stand the other. (GOD THAT GIVES ME BAD DAWSON'S FLASHBACKS.)

 

ETA -- yeah, Disney is a VERY gay-friendly company. Surprisingly? I don't know. But ABC and ABCFamily shows have a lot of gay characters and they treat them like (gasp!) actual characters, not just plot devices. 

Edited October 29, 2014 by Minneapple

[Serena]

Okay. If you guys say so. I'd like to see their reaction if she tweeted stuff supportive of Outlaw Queen though.

She tweets pro-OQ stuff all the time. She's all "Robin and Regina are True Love! Trust!" all the time. I don't know why she gets no backlash from it, when JMo can't even acknowledge that Emma and Hook may have met once or twice without being called a rape supported. I think it's selective amnesia.

[regularlyleaded]

I don't pretend to know what's going through any of the actress' heads and I really don't want to pass judgment on something when all that we know is from watching this play out in public. But I find this problematic because it's so very clear that while Lana Parrilla gets an overwhelming amount of love from the fandumb, Jennifer Morrison get's a truly obscene amount of hate, some of it very hurtful, and I don't see Parrilla sticking up for JMo in this. Instead, Lana is apparently chumming the waters, intentionally or not.
 
The way I look at this is as if I and my colleague are working on a project and when we get feedback from the clients one of us just gets a ton of hate because some feature was missing from the software (even though it was never part of the original spec and is not slated to be) and the other gets nothing but love letters and praises. If I'm the one getting the adulation and I'm aware of my colleague being unfairly lambasted, I'm gonna stick up for my colleague; politely, but nonetheless I would feel compelled to say something to the haters. So I think that's what really bugs me about this. Perhaps Lana and Jennifer don't talk about fandumb issues all that often, and maybe they just aren't on set at the same time that much (so far this season they haven't shared all that much screen time). But still, it's hard to fathom Lana doesn't see that JMo gets all this hate and all Lana's doing is fueling a hate frenzy that Morrison will be on the receiving end of eventually. 
 
I don't know. Maybe Lana is being smart by not getting involved in that hater party that Jennifer gets, but I find that's not a nice attitude to have when someone you know is getting a lot of undeserved hate and you could have some sway over the "haters" but you choose not to say anything. Again, I'm not judging I just find Lana's attitude from what I've seen so far disconcerting.

[Serena]

Especially since Sean McGuire just a few days ago very firmly but politely told his fans to stop sending shit to the actress who plays Marian. And you can bet the people sending Marian hate are 100% OQ fans, which is 99% of Sean's fanbase. And he's not even a regular, so his position in even more precarious than Lana's. But he nonetheless did it. I don't know if a word from Lana would do anything to stem the hate, but it sure would be nice.

[Rumsy4]

I've gotten the impression that Lana dislikes Emma's character and what she stands for in the Show. She pushed and pushed to make the Regina/Henry relationship as important as the one between Emma/Henry, because apparently, Emma protecting Henry from an abusive situation was anti-adoption and a biological mother "taking the child away" from its adopted mother. In interviews, she never has flattering things to say about Emma. She's lost all perspective when it comes to the character she plays and sees everything through Regina's lens. But I still think her worst comments were about Graham, and that was in S1. So, I guess she internalized Regina's PoV right from the start or something. 

 

ETA: Re: Marian. The poor actress has had many people tweeting her that they want Marian to die. And I saw a tweet of Lana's circulating that agreed with a fan saying she wanted Marian to die. So, there you go.

Edited October 29, 2014 by Rumsy4

[Serena]

ETA: Re: Marian. The poor actress has had many people tweeting her that they want Marian to die. And I saw a tweet of Lana's circulating that agreed with a fan saying she wanted Marian to die. So, there you go.

Are. you. kidding?? OMG. I'm choosing to erase this from my memory now.

I think Lana's worst comments about Graham were from S2, actually. The "fun and flirty" thing was in an interview promoting "Welcome To Storybrooke".

[maryle]

I Wondering if Regina is so loved like everyone make her. Not so long ago I was the definition of the GA. But I saw some clip from Colin and Jen and I was won over ( like the friendship) so I become a little more involve into the fandom.

But before that I like Regina well enough ( more the Evil Queen, actually) but she was more a small dose character for me (3a).

I saw many people not happy with the last episode on tumblr too, I really think that the villain popularity is overplay, not saying they're not popular I know  Regina and Rumple are very popular but I think Emma popularity is big too. They should be louder at least Cs are big and most of them like both Emma and Hook not just one of them.  ( so much heathier than SQ)

[regularlyleaded]

I've gotten the impression that Lana dislikes Emma's character and what she stands for in the Show. She pushed and pushed to make the Regina/Henry relationship as important as the one between Emma/Henry, because apparently, Emma protecting Henry from an abusive situation was anti-adoption and a biological mother "taking the child away" from its adopted mother. In interviews, she never has flattering things to say about Emma. She's lost all perspective when it comes to the character she plays and sees everything through Regina's lens. But I still think her worst comments were about Graham, and that was in S1. So, I guess she internalized Regina's PoV right from the start or something.

ETA: Re: Marian. The poor actress has had many people tweeting her that they want Marian to die. And I saw a tweet of Lana's circulating that agreed with a fan saying she wanted Marian to die. So, there you go.

Woah. Okay, now it's getting really, really hard not to pass judgment. I'm hanging on to benefit of the doubt by sheer force of will.

[Rumsy4]

Are. you. kidding?? OMG. I'm choosing to erase this from my memory now.

I think Lana's worst comments about Graham were from S2, actually. The "fun and flirty" thing was in an interview promoting "Welcome To Storybrooke".

 

 

Oops... I thought it was S1. My mistake.

 

And here's the offending tweet and Lana's response.

[Alex]

I don't read many SQ tumblr and I stopped to go to the SQ forums, but from what I see the CSers is that they're less aggressive and more polite. And in this (become) twisted world, those who win are those who shout more and louder. Perhaps CS fans should start harrassing Adam?!!

 

Nonononono Rumsy!!! I shouldn't have gone on that link!!! Now I totally understand the desire of flipping tables!!

Edited October 29, 2014 by Alex

[legaleagle53]

No kidding. I did like the fact that half the reactions to that were basically, "WTF, Lana?  What the hell is WRONG with you, woman?"

[sharky]

I don't read many SQ tumblr and I stopped to go to the SQ forums, but from what I see the CSers is that they're less aggressive and more polite. And in this (become) twisted world, those who win are those who shout more and louder. Perhaps CS fans should start harrassing Adam?!!

To be fair, it is also easier to be a fan of a pairing that is canon. I'm sure there may have been Captain Swan fans in season 2 being a little more militant then than now. Still doesn't make it right on either side though.

Also, maybe because it's the way I'm viewing it, but the response to that tweet linked above are mainly ”Lana, answer me!" and "I luv uuuuuu!" Now I remember why I never know what you guys are talking about when you mention responses to actors' tweets -- it's because I don't have the patience to read that nonsense.

And can I just say that I'm loving this board more than TWoP because 1) this would all be considered boards on boards but needs to be discussed and 2) there are no limits to likes because I've liked at least 75% of the posts in this thread today.

Edited October 29, 2014 by sharky

[Serena]

To be fair, it is also easier to be a fan of a pairing that is canon. I'm sure there may have been Captain Swan fans in season 2 being a little more militant then than now. Still doesn't make it right on either side though.

Well, it's easier to be a fan of a pairing that is well-treated canon. It's hard being a Rumbeller right now. But I agree. 60% of the "well-behavedness" of the CS fandom is that it's been getting incredible goodies every episode this season.

[Rumsy4]

CSers are riding high now, that's for sure, but I don't think CSers have ever sent "hate" to the actors or Adam. But some of the CSers do exhibit petty and/or controlling behavior when it comes to fellow fans/non CS-shippers. At least all CSers who interact with the actors seem to love JMo, and like Colin a lot. So, there's that.

[InsertWordHere]

CSers are riding high now, that's for sure, but I don't think CSers have ever sent "hate" to the actors or Adam. But some of the CSers do exhibit petty and/or controlling behavior when it comes to fellow fans/non CS-shippers. At least all CSers who interact with the actors seem to love JMo, and like Colin a lot. So, there's that.

I definitely agree with this. And they do it to their fellow shippers too, IMO. I've seen people get lambasted for not agreeing with the current theory or with the popular interpretation of a scene. It's part of the reason why I don't really feel like I'm in the main CS fandom on tumblr.

[Serena]

Maybe I notice it in the CS fandom because I know it more, but I feel like there are a few BNF and they have a certain interpretation of the show. If you don't agree with that interpretation (a silly example: Emma and Hook should totally get married!) then you are kind of on the "outside".

[patchwork]

I avoid the CS tumblr tag because someone always used to be freaking out about something and I haven't got the patience to deal with that. ITA that CS has more than it's share of controlling posters, and it's not even exclusive to the BNFs, but it does mean that even back in the early days when some serious mud flinging was going on CS had people being the voice of reason and that seems to be something SQ lacks. 

Edited October 29, 2014 by patchwork

[Rumsy4]

I've seen people get lambasted for not agreeing with the current theory or with the popular interpretation of a scene. It's part of the reason why I don't really feel like I'm in the main CS fandom on tumblr.

 

Maybe I notice it in the CS fandom because I know it more, but I feel like there are a few BNF and they have a certain interpretation of the show. If you don't agree with that interpretation (a silly example: Emma and Hook should totally get married!) then you are kind of on the "outside".

 

I'm only on the fringes of the CS fandom. I don't have that many followers (although a couple of the so-called popular bloggers follow me. haha). I got so tired of this "hive-mentality". There are always people who act snooty and tell others why their interpretations/theories are wrong, and how people are supposed to fandom. I am particularly tired of the word "hater" being thrown around so easily, even if someone is only just expressing a negative critical opinion. And some of these people seem to have lost sight of the fact that these characters are not real. However, I don't think this kind of behavior is confined to the CS fandom. I've seen this popping up even in very small fandoms. 

[RadioGirl27]

There's a lot of drama in the CS fandom too, but it's usually confined to the own fandom and it doesn't transforms in harassment to the actors and writers. But, yeah, sometimes I find things in my Tumblr dash that are quite absurd, like people complaining because other people criticizes the writting or a particular character (there's a group of Emma's fans that are quite rude at the slightest complaint about something related to her). I just try to stay away all that and just reblog pretty pics of Colin, or post things unrelated to OUAT, like some of the pics I've taken in my travels, or thing about art and art history.

Edited October 29, 2014 by RadioGirl27

[Minneapple]

Oops... I thought it was S1. My mistake.

 

And here's the offending tweet and Lana's response.

Well now. Fans acting like that is old hat. For the actors it's a whole different and bizarre kettle of fish.

[KAOS Agent]

 

I did like the fact that half the reactions to that were basically, "WTF, Lana?  What the hell is WRONG with you, woman?"

 

Yes, it is very nice to see people responding with "That's gross and not at all funny." It's also good that these aren't hate filled tweets, just responses that maybe, maybe give Lana a little reality check. Whether that registers with her, I don't know, but if it hits rational Evil Regal fans that wishing death on a romantic rival who also happens to be the mother of a very young child (and a job loss on a coworker) is not appropriate and highlights some of Regina's delusion, that's a win in my book. Divorce is a thing people. Death is not the only answer.

[KingOfHearts]

 

 

Oops... I thought it was S1. My mistake.

And here's the offending tweet and Lana's response.

There's been lots of characters on many shows that I've wanted to die, but usually it's because they're annoying or I hate watching them. Evil Regals wouldn't care less about Marian if she didn't impede on Regina's happiness. They don't think about Robin or Roland or anyone else that could be hurt in the process. I know this is just a TV show, but the morality of some folks causes me to cringe.

 

I find it unprofessional for an actor to take sides on issues like that. It doesn't reflect well on them. That's just my personal opinion, though.

Edited October 29, 2014 by KingOfHearts

[Souris]

[small voice]What's a BNF?[/small voice] My mind is guessing Big Name Fan, but I don't know!

[Mari]

[small voice]What's a BNF?[/small voice] My mind is guessing Big Name Fan, but I don't know!

Usually it means just what you thought--Big Name Fan.  In the times I've seen it used, it usually refers to very well known/influential people inside the fandom community, whether it's for fanfic, essays, organizing things . . . .

[KingOfHearts]

The official Facebook page posted a clip of last week's episode with the caption "#SwanQueen <3". Why are they publicizing a ship that doesn't even exist in the show? I've never heard of a TV show do that before.... ever. It makes me mad to see so much turning over to please a minority. It boggles my mind, really.

Edited October 30, 2014 by KingOfHearts

[Souris]

Queerbaiting and pacifying the bullies, that's why.

[Rumsy4]

Just like Emma was pacifying Regina. Very meta.

[KAOS Agent]

Encouraging people's belief in a ship that is never going to happen is going to backfire in a huge way - particularly once the show really starts pushing Outlaw Queen and Lana can no longer play the I ship Swan Queen card. She's going to have to go all in on Outlaw Queen. And any protestations by ABC/Once that they mean Swan Queen in a purely platonic, but loving friendship does not fly. 

[Minneapple]

The official Facebook page posted a clip of last week's episode with the caption "#SwanQueen <3". Why are they publicizing a ship that doesn't even exist in the show? I've never heard of a TV show do that before.... ever.

Teen Wolf's social media platforms do it all the time. On Supernatural they referred to Jsquared and Sam/Dean ON THE SHOW, which gave me SO MUCH SECONDHAND EMBARRASSMENT. Maybe they do it for fans of fanon ships to give them something, since all they have is fanwanking and crazy readings of the subtext.

[Ravenya003]

I've just finished reading this thread from start to finish, and wow it's depressing. One of the things I initially loved about Once Upon a Time was how woman-centric it was. The three leads were Emma, Snow White and Regina, no question. With the absence of a white male bromance at the show's core, it seemed too good to be true that a fandom could avoid all the frothing hostility that usually ensues whenever an attractive female character is deemed a threat to the major slash pairing. Fandom's adoration of Ruby, whose clothing and attitude would have no doubt seen her dismissed as an attention-seeking slut on any other show, seemed proof of this.

 

Alas, it seems that fandom can never enjoy anything unless it's shitting on a woman. That the abuse is targeted at Emma, whose biggest crime is saving the life of an innocent woman, and Jen, who commits the heinous act of not kotowing to the demands of shippers, is genuinely frightening to me. (What do they even want from her anyway? I'll never understand why fans are so desperate for validation from the actors when it comes to shipping).

 

I was on board for Regina's redemption, but even before that I initially enjoyed the fact that Regina was given the "Draco in Leather Pants" treatment, something that's only ever been afforded to the likes of broody white men (Snape, Loki, Spike, Sylar, Moriarty, Guy of Gisborne, the Phantom of the Opera, etc). But as with most subjects of Draco in Leather Pants, some people just can't help turning them into the eternal victims who are never held responsible for any of the suffering they inflict on themselves or others. What's that great quote from Brooklyn Nine-Nine? "Great motive, still murder."  

 

Oddly enough, they did the redemption arc MUCH better with the Red Queen over on "Once Upon a Time in Wonderland". Anastasia was vain and greedy and broke a good man's heart, but she never once partook in mass murder (I think the worst thing she did was hold a family hostage). She was hated at first, but by the end of the show she was one of the most popular characters - largely thanks to a) her genuine remorse, b) her repeated attempts at atonement, c) the good guys not taking any of her shit.

[HoodlumSheep]

Emma has definitely always been the most shippable character. If JMo pisses off one of her ships, like two thirds of her fans ship something else and would be laughing about it.

This is why I think JMo gets so much meanness on twitter, same with the character Hook. (I don't know if Colin gets a lot of hate on twitter or not, but I know his character does). Emma's at the center of a lot of the main ships that have been on this show: CS, SF, SQ, the smaller ships, etc. Hook stands in the way of all of them. So there's going to be a lot more meanness thrown in their general direction, which makes me sad.

I feel bad for ABC/Once because they're stuck between a rock and a hard place. If they don't include SQ they get yelled at, if they do, they're accused of baiting. they just can't win.

[Curio]

On Supernatural they referred to Jsquared and Sam/Dean ON THE SHOW, which gave me SO MUCH SECONDHAND EMBARRASSMENT.

 

The difference there is that the Supernatural writers acknowledged that pairing as a total joke. It's been a while since I've seen the episode, but I think Dean was incredibly confused about the Sam/Dean concept and he asked Sam if those fans knew that they're brothers. Sam said "yeah" and shuts the laptop screen in disgust.

 

Maybe the better SwanQueen comparison is Dean/Castiel, but even then, I think the Supernatural writers could actually potentially go there if they really wanted to (I'm not a crack shipper or anything, but even I can see the canon hints on-screen for that pairing). But (IMO) the Once writers have made it very clear in-canon that Emma likes Hook romantically and Regina (for some fairy dust reason) romantically likes Robin.

Edited October 30, 2014 by Curio

[pezgirl7]

Could SwanQueen ever be used to refer to the pairing in a non-romantic way? I know some people just like they way the characters play off each other (maybe not of late), and would like to see them as friends (not me), so I wonder if any of the official postings could be taken in that way? I really like CharmingHook in a bromance type of way, so I might (but wouldn't) type CharmingHook ❤! and mean it in a non-romantic way. That's probably not what is going on with a lot of the posts about SwanQueen, but thought I might mention it.

[legaleagle53]

Not the way SwanQueen has been promoted, it can't.  Remember that the biggest and loudest factions of SwanQueendom come from the gay and lesbian community who constantly complain about the show's lack of representation and who insist that they see some sort of unresolved sexual tension between Emma and Regina.  The show has clearly decided to pander to that by deliberately setting it up as a romantic, not a platonic, relationship.  If it were now to suddenly suggest that they only meant Emma and Regina as a platonic friendship (the female equivalent of a "bromance," in other words), the backlash and accusations of homophobia from the SwanQueen shippers would be off the charts because those shippers would feel extremely cheated by the show's not having the balls to go where the shippers think it should really go.

Edited October 30, 2014 by legaleagle53

[Rumsy4]

It's the use of the "❤" that makes it clear they are not talking in a non-romantic sense. Besides, the term SwanQueen has been exclusively used as the romantic 'ship name for Emma/Regina. I haven't seen anyone using it any other way. I saw the other day that Savior Queen is the non-romantic or "brotp" name for Emma/Regina, but it doesn't seem in vogue. 

Edited October 30, 2014 by Rumsy4

[Serena]

I've never heard of Savior Queen before.

 

To be fair, other "slash" couples' names I've seen used as both an OTP and Brotp. Captain Charming and Frozen Swan for example. But if they wanted to promote a SQ friendship, there were ways to do that without queerbaiting, even by using the SQ name. Instead of simply "Swan Queen" and the heart, they could have had "Are Swan Queen becoming friends?" or something like that.

[tennisgurl]

Yeah, I always feel like when the people behind a show(or the people doing its publicity) start to cater to the loudest parts of fandom too much, or get a little too shippy, things can quickly turn bad. Not just on this show, I know tons of shows where the entire romance arc was changed because of what the fans wanted, or they tried to get shippers attention by playing up the romance stuff in the advertising to draw more interest. Usually, that doesn't bother me that much (some shows, like Veronica Mars and Arrow were actually improved when they went with the fan favorite couple, IMO), and the CW is constantly playing up love triangles in their advertising, which is annoying, but isn't usually too offensive. The problem here is that the writers are both listening to that loud part of fandom and changing the show (and NOT in a good way), and manipulating that audience for ratings. Regina and Emma as a couple isn't a matter of not wanting two women to fall in love, its that Regina is a horrible person who ruined Emma's life, as well as the lives of just about all her friends and family. And she really doesn't seem to be sorry. Sorry shippers, I can forgive characters doing some pretty lousy crap to their perspective partners, but Regina has crossed the line about 30000 times. Shippers do tend to be the loudest voice in the room, and while maybe you can use them to see what is and isn't working on a show, keep it in perspective writers! Especially on this freaking show. The SwanQueen publicity is just more of the show runners catering to the fans who support their "All Hall Saint Regina" agenda.  

 

And I don't use the word Queerbaiting all that much, because I think it gets overused a bit, but teasing the one possible LGBT pairing (now that Mulan has disappeared), that they have already said will never happen, just to get people to stop complaining about the lack of representation? That's not representation, its Queerbaiting and making excuses and its not ok!

[unbrokensavior]

I know I'm late to the party, but I finally mustered up the courage to venture in here.  I just can't even believe what happens in this fandom sometimes.  I think back to S1, and it was so magical (pun not intended).  I've been sent a lot of hate on Tumblr for making a post about how I admire Emma so much.  I've seen people state canon facts about Regina and receive death threats for it.  The amount of hate Jen gets for doing her job is insane and honestly, it makes me sick to my stomach.  I had no idea that Lana tweeted what she did, but come on... if someone I knew (not even someone I worked with) was getting hate and death threats for the same thing I was getting love and praise for, I would speak up and do something about it.  Just... wow.

 

As far as the SQ issue, I agree that ABC/A&E are stuck between a rock and a hard place.  They can't make a ship canon just to please fans because they clearly have a vision for their show, but if they don't, they get hate and accused of being homophobic.    I also don't get why people have to make a mountain out of a mole hill.  I get that representation and homophobia can be an issue, but why should a show/show runner be forced to change their story in order to please people?  They should be able to tell the story they want without being harassed.  

[Rumsy4]

 

They can't make a ship canon just to please fans because they clearly have a vision for their show, but if they don't, they get hate and accused of being homophobic.

 

A&E have a couple of choices though. They can stand by what they wrote/intend to write, and not add any LGBT pairings in the Show. If they care that much to be considered non-homophobic, they should actually include an LGBT pairing in the Show. It doesn't have to be with the main cast, but it can be one of the many minor characters they bring in for one or two episodes per half-season. Or, kill of Phillip and make Sleeping Warrior canon (Jamie Chung and the actress who plays Aurora are both available, as far as I know).

 

Trying to please the bullies by pretending there are romantic undertones to the Regina/Emma pairing, even if it is only in social media, is Queerbaiting, plain and simple. We can augue whether or not some lines within the episode were Qb, but what next? Will they make SQ canon if those same fans yell 10 times louder than they already have been doing?  

Edited October 31, 2014 by Rumsy4

[Souris]

I have to say, this godawful past ep REALLY whacked my enjoyment of this show in the kneecaps. I was enjoying this season a lot, but now I kind of don't really care if I see another episode or not. Instead of watching live, I'll probably DVR the eps and see the reactions before I decide whether to watch or what scenes I should skip. I just can't deal with the show's kowtowing to Regina and her fans anymore. It's gotten too unpleasant to watch and too hard to ignore. I mean, it was clear before, but this ep crystallized it in such an in-your-face fuck-you, fuck-Emma way that it overshadowed everything else, even stuff I liked. The more I think about it, the more disgusting I think the ep was. Hearing that the ep was so popular in other circles is just downright depressing.

[unbrokensavior]

Rumsy4:

 

If they care that much to be considered non-homophobic, they should actually include an LGBT pairing in the Show. It doesn't have to be with the main cast, but it can be one of the many minor characters they bring in for one or two episodes per half-season. Or, kill of Phillip and make Sleeping Warrior canon (Jamie Chung and the actress who plays Aurora are both available, as far as I know).

I agree, that would be a way better solution.  But didn't that already happen in the show?  I read an interview with Jamie Chung, and she confirmed that Mulan was going to tell Aurora that she loves her.  I think I've been traumatized by a better part of the post S1 episodes, so my memory might not serve correctly, but I thought it was addressed in the show?  And even if it wasn't, Sleeping Warrior was still the intention, and Mulan was still lesbian/bisexual, so wouldn't they count that as representation?  Or does it only count if it's specifically Regina/Emma?  Because when other minorities have been demanded and given, Rapunzel didn't "count" because she was a minor character, and Sydney doesn't "count" because he's evil.

 

I'm honestly getting a tiny bit scared that they might just kill Hook and make SQ canon.  (I'd predict that Regina would rip out Emma's heart and make her into Graham 2.0, but Emma's heart can't be ripped out).

[KAOS Agent]

There is a section of the fandom that is looking for more representation and would be happy with a new gay or lesbian couple being introduced in show. Most people are all for that. The more representation the better. However, a subsection of those demanding representation will only be appeased by Swan Queen. When they demand representation, it is all a smoke screen for their need for Swan Queen.  If A&E introduced a gay couple, they would still face all kinds of criticism because it isn't Emma and Regina. It's Swan Queen or bust. It's unfortunate that this is the case too because it truly does harm to the legitimate criticism with regards to lack of representation on the show. 

Edited October 31, 2014 by KAOS Agent

[Rumsy4]

Mulan/Aurora was left as subtext--it was never made clear in the show and Mulan left heartbroken. That is not representation. That's throwing crumbs. But, I think that if A&E now made Sleeping Warrior canon, it may not be a good idea. I feel like they kinda really missed the boat on representation of LGBT characters in the show, and anything they do now will look like pandering, or look like they were trying to deflect from making SQ happen.  

[Souris]

I'm honestly getting a tiny bit scared that they might just kill Hook and make SQ canon.  (I'd predict that Regina would rip out Emma's heart and make her into Graham 2.0, but Emma's heart can't be ripped out).

 

I would put nothing past them at this point in their Vichy government for the Reginazis.

 

Yeah, I know, over-the-top and unlikely, but I'm just that jaded.