![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I mentioned earlier that my Rose squee appears to be coming back after seeing the promo for Turn Left so I'm gonna blather a bit about that, and hanging on to it today.
What was surprising to me is that after all these months of being mostly ambivalent with a side of cautious optimism leading up to Rose's return, all it took was a few bits of scenes in that promo to pretty much knock my cynicism overboard and induce actual proper clappy glee hands. But it shouldn't have surprised me. Thing is, canon Rose has never been the thing to set my teeth gnashing and my head ready to bash into the nearest surface. I love canon Rose, and I always have. She may not be my favorite companion, but she was my first and a major reason I kept watching in the beginning, since it took me awhile to warm up to Nine. In a big way she is responsible for introducing me to my favorite companions, and, hell, the Doctor himself...how can I not love her for that? She was flawed, yes and her relationship with the Doctor often dysfunctional...but what she never was to me in canon was the end all, be all of companions and New Who for good or ill. That's fanon Rose. On both sides of the fence. We are the ones who make everything about her, who make her characterization and relationship with the Doctor the center of the entire universe, the thing the entire show hinges on. It's not.
And seeing new scenes, scenes that haven't yet been analyzed and picked over and used as blunt objects to beat other fans over the head with yet reminded me of what it was like to watch the first two seasons in my little bubble of one, when the fandom and all it's nitpicking and arguing just wasn't part of it. Of course there wil be moments that will make me roll my eyes, or choices I don't agree with, or whatever coming up. What they won't be is the thing that brings down everything else I love about this universe. They can't be, because it's so much bigger than that. And watching the promo and feeling that freed me up to just...be glad to see an old friend. She is a companion, and therefore important to the Doctor, and important to me. End of story. I am not required to interpret scenes in a certain way, or to give two craps about how other people might. My Rose, the Rose who went out and explored the universe and was sometimes very young in ways that made me shake my head or sigh in frustration, but also had a hell of a lot going for her and did some amazing things, she's just fine. I don't have to worry about watching a story I hate, because that was never the story I was watching in the first place. And the show itself is not contradicting the story I want to see. Parts of fandom might, but then we were never watching the same show in the first place, that's not going to change if she's there or not.
I love fandom. I do. Where else can I find people to share this kind of obsessive love? Who else can I pick things apart and analyze with and express frustration or pure joy with? If I want amazing stories and gorgeous art and vids that knock my socks off, fandom is where I'm gonna get it. There is no substitute. What it can't do, and what I won't let it do is make up my mind for me...or convince me that there is some sort of right or wrong when it comes to the way I'm supposed to watch. Rose is just one character in a whole big lovely cast of characters I adore, in a massive story that has been around longer than I've been alive. So welcome back Rose, it's lovely to see you, and I'm looking forward to catching up and seeing you help save the universe with all the other amazing companions who share your world, and the love we all, companions and fans alike, have for this Doctor fellow. Good on ya.
What was surprising to me is that after all these months of being mostly ambivalent with a side of cautious optimism leading up to Rose's return, all it took was a few bits of scenes in that promo to pretty much knock my cynicism overboard and induce actual proper clappy glee hands. But it shouldn't have surprised me. Thing is, canon Rose has never been the thing to set my teeth gnashing and my head ready to bash into the nearest surface. I love canon Rose, and I always have. She may not be my favorite companion, but she was my first and a major reason I kept watching in the beginning, since it took me awhile to warm up to Nine. In a big way she is responsible for introducing me to my favorite companions, and, hell, the Doctor himself...how can I not love her for that? She was flawed, yes and her relationship with the Doctor often dysfunctional...but what she never was to me in canon was the end all, be all of companions and New Who for good or ill. That's fanon Rose. On both sides of the fence. We are the ones who make everything about her, who make her characterization and relationship with the Doctor the center of the entire universe, the thing the entire show hinges on. It's not.
And seeing new scenes, scenes that haven't yet been analyzed and picked over and used as blunt objects to beat other fans over the head with yet reminded me of what it was like to watch the first two seasons in my little bubble of one, when the fandom and all it's nitpicking and arguing just wasn't part of it. Of course there wil be moments that will make me roll my eyes, or choices I don't agree with, or whatever coming up. What they won't be is the thing that brings down everything else I love about this universe. They can't be, because it's so much bigger than that. And watching the promo and feeling that freed me up to just...be glad to see an old friend. She is a companion, and therefore important to the Doctor, and important to me. End of story. I am not required to interpret scenes in a certain way, or to give two craps about how other people might. My Rose, the Rose who went out and explored the universe and was sometimes very young in ways that made me shake my head or sigh in frustration, but also had a hell of a lot going for her and did some amazing things, she's just fine. I don't have to worry about watching a story I hate, because that was never the story I was watching in the first place. And the show itself is not contradicting the story I want to see. Parts of fandom might, but then we were never watching the same show in the first place, that's not going to change if she's there or not.
I love fandom. I do. Where else can I find people to share this kind of obsessive love? Who else can I pick things apart and analyze with and express frustration or pure joy with? If I want amazing stories and gorgeous art and vids that knock my socks off, fandom is where I'm gonna get it. There is no substitute. What it can't do, and what I won't let it do is make up my mind for me...or convince me that there is some sort of right or wrong when it comes to the way I'm supposed to watch. Rose is just one character in a whole big lovely cast of characters I adore, in a massive story that has been around longer than I've been alive. So welcome back Rose, it's lovely to see you, and I'm looking forward to catching up and seeing you help save the universe with all the other amazing companions who share your world, and the love we all, companions and fans alike, have for this Doctor fellow. Good on ya.