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"I don't know why everyone loves this show so much, the characters are so sick!"
Hideaki Anno, on Neon Genesis Evangelion

The writer has a vision. They've created a character who represents everything they loathe, and have placed him in a world that satirizes everything they hate about modern society. Bring on the Moral Guardians and Media Watchdogs; he's not afraid of the controversy his work is going to bring on!

Only… it doesn't quite work like that. Instead of seeing a loathsome, hateful figure, the audience sees a Woobie who only is the way he is because of his daddy issues, and feel sorry for him instead of hating him… or even find him cute. They take the satire the author painstakingly created at face-value. The Crapsack World the writer has created is somewhere they think is pretty awesome. They have, In the writer's view, completely missed the point and avoided the subtext that the writer had thought was obvious, only to see the text-text — and they like the text-text.

They’ve become a Misaimed Fandom. It’s around this point that the writer learns exactly how different they are from their fans… and, often, actively begins to hate them.

There are many paths leading to a Misaimed Fandom, but many of them originate from the idea of the 'Death Of The Author' theory; the idea that the author's position as creator of the text does not mean that the only interpretations of the text with merit are those the author agrees with. No matter how many times Word Of God states their case, there's always going to be a large perspective of the readers who will have their own interpretations which are quite different. And they're always going to be able to find something in the text to help their case, whether the author intended it to be there or not.

In some cases, the fans may genuinely be seeing something that isn't there, or not reading the text close enough. After all, everyone’s got a reading of the text, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they've read the text closely; some people just read things at face-value and don’t take on board deeper meanings, or don't realize when they're being mocked. Or, conversely, the reader looks too closely and bases an erroneous interpretation on that; after all, there's no guarantee that the author is going to be aware of all the symbolism that someone is finding, especially if it’s based on something very obscure. Unfortunately, in these cases those involved can stumble a bit too closely to Fan Dumb, especially if they're loudly and stubbornly clinging to an interpretation that just blatantly isn't there.

Often, however, the fans know full well that their interpretation of the text isn't that of the author's, but choose their own interpretation anyway; they may be aware that the author is satirizing them and their views, but they're good sports and can appreciate a well-done jab in the ribs, especially if it's not without affection. Maybe they know that the character is supposed to be evil, but his villainy is is done with such flair that it's impossible not to be impressed. Furthermore, authors, at times, may unwittingly create a character or write a story at odds with their original intention, or include a subtext in the work that they didn’t consciously intend to provide, but their subconscious provided for them; it's not unheard of.

And sometimes the Misaimed Fandom stems from the fact that the author's simply not that good a writer; if no one gets an intended aesop, then the author may simply have communicated that aesop poorly. The audience may have missed the satire because the author didn't clearly establish that it was supposed to be a satire. They may have set up their opponents as a Strawman Political, only to mess it up and make the Strawman’s arguments more logical and valid than their hero's. In these cases, the fandom is misaimed because the author's botched the sights on the rifle. Conversely, even a well-written work can form a Misaimed Fandom unintentionally by making the satire or intended aesop too subtle; many is the writer who met a stumbling block by being a bit too clever-clever or subtle when they could have perhaps been a bit more obvious if they wanted to get their point across more clearly, since despite what some authors seem to think, being Anvilicious is not always a bad thing, especially if the intended aesop is a point that badly needs to be made.

See also Draco In Leather Pants, Ensemble Darkhorse, Finagles Law, Truffaut Was Right and The Strawman Strikes Back. Compare Isnt It Ironic for more musical examples. Misaimed Fandom is also a frequent cause of Creator Backlash and result of Alternate Character Interpretation. Often, the writer can try and force their interpretation by making the character jump off the Moral Event Horizon. Dis Continuity is a weapon frequently used by the Misaimed Fans to keep their preferred interpretation alive and well. And while its certainly not always the case it can be what happens when the idea of Viewers Are Morons is actually true. Contrast with Rooting For The Empire, where the fandom knows that these are bad guys they're rooting for, and still support them anyway.


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