i am mentally divergent

Dowager Empresses Of All Fatassia

  • 23rd January
    2012
  • 23

On coalitiongirl, there is kind of an amusing (to me) “debate” about fandom vs. popular culture

quantumstarlight:

xlivvielockex:

And it reminded me of something that happened last semester.

I wore my Fluffy the Vampire Slayer t-shirt to class one day and most people in the class commented, had seen Buffy, etc. We talked a bit about BTVS but it was causal fan type discussions. 

A few weeks later I wrote a paper on the commodification of gay bodies and in particular, the commodification of gay bodies and ascribing heteronormative gender roles to those bodies in slash fiction. 

Nobody in my class knew what slash fiction was. Or at the very least, nobody fessed up to it. The whole idea of fandom was completely new to a few of my classmates and they seemed completely bewildered by it.

I think often we just assume that because we’re in fandom, everyone who ever watched a show/movie or read a book, knows about fandom and how it operates. What happens in fandom isn’t necessarily what happens in popular culture and vice versa. 

I remember the first time I tried to describe fandom to my husband, to my mom, to my friend. I got the same kind of bewilderment from them that I got from my class. I think critics are learning as time passes about fandom but I still think that causal fan and their perceptions will always win out. Why? It’s a numbers game, like so much in life. There are millions more causal fans than hardcore fandom people. 

I’ve tried to explain fandom to people before, and it’s REALLY difficult. Unless you’ve experienced it for yourself, it’s really hard to understand. People get liking a certain movie or TV show, and maybe wearing a licensed t-shirt if you REALLY like it, but they don’t understand things like fanfic, fan art, fanvids, graphics, cosplay, conventions, meta discussions, ships, roleplaying, collecting, or any of that. Even if you explain what those things are, they don’t understand WHY you like them or what you get out of it (“So you dress up like the character.. and do what? Just walk around?”). It seems so natural to us but it’s not like that for most people that consume media.. which to me is the weird thing, haha. I can’t imagine “just” watching something. But yeah. I’m not saying some of it doesn’t leak over into mainstream a little (mostly with franchises that straddle mainstream/cult like Harry Potter, Twilight, LOST, etc.), but they don’t understand how it pervades our very LIVES.

I think you’re right on the money with this. I remember in junior high school/high school (in the days before the internet, yes I am that old) I had a friend who wrote Han/Leia fanfiction in these spiral green notebooks. And it kind of blew my mind because here was this girl who had this blonde hair, green eyed, all American cheerleader and she did something so…strange. I just couldn’t wrap my head around it. And when I started getting online more, fanfiction was this thing to be mocked and ridiculed. I freely admit that a friend and I used to play a game where the person who would find the worst fanfiction won bragging rights. I just thought fandom was for weirdos.

So imagine how much my perception and opinion changed once I met someone who was ready to take my hand and walk me through fandom, to show me all these wonderful things, to help me to understand. I’m forever thankful for that but when I’ve tried to explain it to other people, I haven’t been so successful. My friend is a hardcore Spuffy shipper. She has figurines, posters, etc. She loves BTVS and Spuffy. But when I mentioned fanfiction and fanart, I wish I had a picture of her face. She looked at me like I had three heads.

I think that when creators or actors mention fandom, that is when it bleeds over into the causal realm. I think of Tom Felton in his Conan interview and the Drarry wallpaper. But again, it was met with that same strange disdain and detachment. I honestly am not sure if fandom will ever be mainstream. Just look at the coverage in the media of Comic Con. The attendees are seen as freaks of nature or worst yet, they paint them as “oh look! this guy is an investment banker!” as if someone who is successful and interested in fandom is anomaly. (And this is one of the major reasons my professional life is so far divorced from my fandom life)

Maybe that is part of the reason why fandom is so insular and why we feel like we are the only voices that matter. Because the people in fandom want to be here, they understand that they view media differently. When you’re surrounded by people supporting your ideas, it is hard to remember there is a world outside (and this really can be applied to any ingroup/outgroup dynamic). 

Sorry for the rambling. I just have a lot of feelings.

  1. rena-librarian reblogged this from eostrecalliope
  2. angearia reblogged this from xlivvielockex and added:
    This is very interesting...think it might be true for the immediate future. It really...
  3. eostrecalliope reblogged this from xlivvielockex
  4. xlivvielockex reblogged this from quantumstarlight and added:
    I think you’re right on the money with this. I remember in junior high school/high school (in the days before the...
  5. arrytheorphanboy reblogged this from coalitiongirl
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  7. quantumstarlight reblogged this from coalitiongirl and added:
    I’ve tried to explain fandom to people before, and it’s REALLY difficult. Unless you’ve experienced it for yourself,...
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