Quote:
Originally Posted by Infinite Zenith
applying an academic approach wasn't ever going to work if one had intended to use it to tear down, mock or denigrate. Guardian Enzo and Sheba raise excellent points: writing for these reasons is unproductive, and attempts to define objectivity and shoehorning academic methods into blogging is inherently challenging. Conversely, bloggers who wrote much more casually, with the intent of, as you say, being positive, had a lot more fun with the pursuit and found themselves engaging with the community in a more meaningful way, enough to sustain their hobby over a longer timeframe.
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Honestly, it seems to me that a lot of the people who wrote these kinds of essays (whether on blogs like that one or even on this forum) did it because they found fulfillment in the process of writing about, analyzing, and critiquing anime in this way/style. Obviously it's gratifying to be part of a community of like-minded people, but that isn't necessarily why people start a blog in the first place or what keeps them motivated to keep on writing.
If your goal is to build a large, diverse audience, then I do agree there's a benefit in remaining somewhat non-judgmental and being more open to different experiences (while still obviously having a clear opinion/voice). But not everyone is seeking to build large, diverse audiences with their blog; some people just want to write in a way that is authentic to how they feel, even if it means limiting their reach and excluding some people. Perhaps this makes you more "niche" in what is already a niche community, but it's certainly feasible to do that.
Just because you're a good writer doesn't mean you have the talent for community-building or any real interest in it. If the writer started losing their interest in writing about anime, perhaps they felt no further obligation to the community that built up around it and thought it was time for everyone to move on. Building something that survives the founder is not easy, especially when that founder has very strong characteristics (like, in this case, strong opinions and a specific, articulate writing style).
Also, I suspect your perception of the negativity of this blog was specifically because you personally felt targeted by it as a fan of slice-of-life shows (which, as others in this thread mentioned, were sort of "cool to hate" back in that time due to being a bit over-represented). But I'm not sure that most people would have defined that blog as really being all that "negative" on the whole. I'm still not convinced the real issue was being either positive or negative in particular. I suspect it's more likely that the site had a very specific "voice," it was a hard act to follow when the founder lost interest (and there was no real "succession plan" or support for that process), and the site wasn't able to transition into its next act. It's a common problem that extends far beyond the anime blogging world and really can apply to any group or organization that's very "founder-centric."
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A sort of related point here, but I had many discussions in the past with people, including these kinds of critics, about the importance of "tone." Academic writing teaches people to be as clinical as possible and to try to eliminate opinion or the "self" from the essay -- it's just about making assertions and justifying it with evidence/facts. But I am still not convinced that this alone is really the best way/format to discuss media in most cases. I still believe in being more open/upfront about the "self" and the role your own experiences and preferences play in forming your perceptions. Ultimately, I think writing about how you experience media is, in no small part, writing about yourself. (And this is why when you use strongly-objective-sounding language to describe something subjective, it can come across as a slight to others with a different perspective.) So that was really my frustration with people who liked to write in that style (and wanted others to debate them in the same style), and in that sense I do agree with some of the concerns raised to some degree.
There have certainly been cases on this forum over the years where certain posters had a skill of using
extremely flowery and grandiose words to tell people "anyone who likes this show is a complete idiot." Sometimes I had to moderate those sorts of posts, and even ban repeat offenders, but there was a group of people who seemed to never understand or catch it at all. The personal attack was couched between very well-written prose that seemed, on one level, to be kind of reasonable -- it didn't have any "bad words" and didn't say straight-out that someone's an idiot. But you can't just be here to lord your opinion over others either; this site is about facilitating a discussion between peers from many different backgrounds/perspectives. So again, I do think I agree with several of the underlying thoughts, just not entirely with the way all this was framed.