Your post is amazing! Is it OK to make a link to it in a separate post?
Yes, of course fandom is a social tool - I do not contend that it is not - or if I do, it is more to separate the false assumptions from sound arguments.
But so are Midrashim - a way to deal with an unthinkable notion that the G-d we believe in allowed _that_ to happen. It is a way of self-assertion, of recognising the problem, of dealing with it in a way that diminishes the amount of pain in the world (rather than not recognising or insisting it is as it should be).
But the social context did not preclude Midrashim becoming an inspiration and a model for literature: for stories of I.L.Perets, M.M Seforim, G. Meyrink and M.Chabon. So I have a hope for fanfic still :) Of course, same as happens with SF/F, when it is good enough, universal enough, it is no longer SF/F (there is a nice article about the difference: http://zhurnal.lib.ru/c/chigirinskaja_o_a/chronotop.shtml).
no subject
Yes, of course fandom is a social tool - I do not contend that it is not - or if I do, it is more to separate the false assumptions from sound arguments.
But so are Midrashim - a way to deal with an unthinkable notion that the G-d we believe in allowed _that_ to happen. It is a way of self-assertion, of recognising the problem, of dealing with it in a way that diminishes the amount of pain in the world (rather than not recognising or insisting it is as it should be).
But the social context did not preclude Midrashim becoming an inspiration and a model for literature: for stories of I.L.Perets, M.M Seforim, G. Meyrink and M.Chabon. So I have a hope for fanfic still :) Of course, same as happens with SF/F, when it is good enough, universal enough, it is no longer SF/F (there is a nice article about the difference: http://zhurnal.lib.ru/c/chigirinskaja_o_a/chronotop.shtml).