Hi everyone!
While I am working on my next big mirror!versions piece (and avoid replying to the comments because I never learned how to focus fjsdfsd), I decided to talk about some stuff here, because I like talking and because I am also in a serious mood for once. Maybe I've watched too much Youtube recently ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Anyways, I wanted to put my two cents about some creative problems. Recently one of my friends told me about how back in their days they saw 'not being related to a canon character or being in romantic relationship with a canon character' as a requirement for a 'good OC' in one of the groups. I just wanted to say my opinion here. I personally think that relating your character to the canon like this, in fact, makes your character /better/! I mean, wasn't there the point of making your character for this fandom instead of just making them fandomless original? Fanmade characters that play a role in the canon, interact with canon characters, help shaping their backstory etc are actually really great and in my eyes they will always make more sense than just characters who are completely in their world with their own relations and don't interact with the canon universe. Here, I just really needed to say this.
However, I am not trying to say that latter case doesn't have a right to exist. All in all, characters people make because of the x franchize's setting were the results of people's inspiration as well. You know what else is results of people's inspiration? Well... actually, a LOT of things.
I don't know what the definition of the word 'plagiarism' in USA is, but over here it's basically just 'claiming someone else's work as your own or publishing someone else's work under your name' and.. tbh, I think it basically needs to stop around here. Not exactly AT here, but AROUND here. Over my time in the internet, I've seen a lot of people getting mad at someone for 'stealing their ideas', and honestly some of these accusations were really lacking substance. What I am trying to say is, the line between inspiration and plagiarism is pretty blurry and honestly, someone being inspired by how you draw something, or someone being inspired by your portrayal of a certain character doesn't deserve getting mad at them. ESPECIALLY if your original work you decided has been 'copied off' was a fan creativity to /begin/ with. Because in this case, you were inspired by someone else as well, so what really is the point of throwing accusations? Let's say, you portrayed a character with little to no canonical portrayal in a certain way and someone sorta uses your way as a reference now. Stuff like that. I mean, must it actually be taken as something bad, especially if your portrayal works very well all things concidered? In fact, people in the fandom NOT getting mad at each other for 'plagiarism' and instead working together is how best things and commonly accepted headcanons happen!
Also, if literal kids *cough* steal your ideas - don't send your friends after them or attack them yourself, especially if you are an adult. Like, I can't believe that it needs to be said, but, just don't.
But some artists will do this stuff, apparently. In fact, artists can do a lot of stuff wrong. For example, they can slip transphobia/racism/sexism/etc in their art or writing (normally by accident). The thing here is, laughing at them behind their back will NOT make the world a less transphobic/racist/sexist/etc place at all. I mean if you are okay with the world staying the same as it was - sure, just say it's not your job to educate someone and roll with it. But if you're not - it's probably to the better if you confront the artist about what they did wrong.
However, this also reminded me about that one time when an artist refused to reconcider blantant transphobia in their works, but they were still getting a huge amount of support 'because their art is so goooood :U'. Here is a take: the creator and their creation........ are different things! Like. You can hate the artist but respect their work. There are like, 0 reasons to overlook or sugarcoat problems about a creator just because their art looks good, or because their game is fun, or because their movie is great! If you consciously decide to not hold it against the creator - fine, but I think your reason for making a decision like this should NOT be based on the quality of their work. Because good art is not a good artist.
(Alternatively, not liking the creator doesn't mean you now have to pick out /nonexistent/ flaws about their work, or judge them for x thing in their work whereas you would not judge a good/neutral person for the literally same thing. It's just another side of how bad people can make good stuff.)
Speaking of bad people! Like I said, they can do good art, but there is more. Bad people are not how media portrays them, they are not Sat AM villains with no good qualities who are out to destroy everything. Bad people can love their family, be good students, feed homeless animals, comfort their crying friends, be nice to strangers, defend children from danger and donate money for good stuff (and yes I just said it like on my Twitter but who follows anyways..). When you have the evidence that someone is a bad person, your reaction could be a wish to disregard that just because this person was nice to you or you've seen them being nice to others or other stuff. The thing is... basically, don't.
Charity acts, good personality traits or even showing basic empathy is NOT what defines a 'person that can't be bad'. Bad people are just like neutral/good people. With the exception of being bad. They can do almost everything good people can.
What they CAN'T do though, is to own up for what they did, to change, to make amends and to bear the consequences of their actions. Like, /this/ is what you gotta be looking for. Whether they are showing the understanding and remorse (note that I say 'remorse', not 'crying and pitying oneself') for what they did, whether they did what situation required them to (which varies from making an apology to going to jail, a really wide field..), stuff like this.
However, not even this means they're suddenly good. Some people screwed up so bad they will at /best/ become morally grey after working hard, some people are just irredeemable (like child molesters), some people have their fundamental issues going down so deep they simply can't escape the state of being potentially dangerous for others (therefore they rather enter a long remission/learn self-control than change totally). Sure, you can choose to forgive them because they were nice to you, but think of this thing someone once said: 'people are generally very forgiving towards stuff that doesn't effect them directly'. It probably sounds unsettling because well, it should. But overall, don't feel any obligations because of your personal experience, you are allowed to get mad at someone else's behalf. It's good and sympathetic.
Speaking of getting mad! This is not an inherently bad thing. I think there is basically nothing wrong with people feeling anger, resentment, grudge, sadness, hatred, fear etc. These are just normal human emotions. Emotions on their own don't have moral alignment. And they should be especially respected if they are for a worthy case.
Like, I remember someone accusing another anti-MAP blog's mods for 'having too much anger for their age'. I am basically not kidding. It's literally the easiest thing to just let people be angry at those who could potentially hurt or already did hurt others (or themselves), but apparently at some extent society still holds bias against certain feelings? Maybe it came from tales about 'mean and close-minded unforgiving Tumblr people' (which are not substanceless, but are somewhat exagerrated in my opinion), maybe it's always been here. Probably the latter, because even before the internet, people tended to threat forgiving and/or peaceful attitude as 'morally superior' one. Which is I think fundamentally wrong. There are situations where you /gotta/ be forgiving, such as raising a child for example, but talking about most relationships in the society - this attitude is not morally superior, it just exists, as well as alternatives to it.
Alright, this journal has gotten long enough and.. I really need to drop the habit of changing the tone rapidly, eh; I just needed to talk about some stuff that's been on my mind recently, and to rather do it into the emptines 'for whoever wants to read this' than loading someone concrete with all my thoughts. Sorry for a journal that's gotten onto some existencial matters, but well, it still has that part about art and stuff, so technically it /can/ be on art-related site?.