My love/hate relationship with fandom (what passes for a rant)

[jchrisobrien]

I love fandom.  Anime and TV series enthusiasts, sci-fi geeks, gaming nerds, what have you.  I love seeing people that are passionate about what they enjoy.  People who like something fanciful, or complex, or removed from the ordinary.  You just know that a lot of these people are misfits, outcasts, and were held head down in the toiled for the majority of their years in grade school and high school.  And you know what?  They survived.  They didn't stop doing what they loved because it wasn't cool.  They embraced what they like and are all the richer for it.  That middle aged guy in the club, wearing just a G string?  He knows you're all laughing at him, but he keeps wearing what he wants.  It's a big "fuck you" to everyone who thinks they are cooler than him.  That guy with the beard and the stretched out sailor moon shirt?  He's happy.  He's doing his thing, so get over yourself and let him do his. 

I hate fandom.  Anime and TV series enthusiasts, sci-fi geeks, gaming nerds, what have you.  I hate seeing people who so fall in love with something they can't let go of it.  I loathe it when a big change is made, and people fall to pieces and start hating the thing they loved without any regard for what has gone on before.  It saddens me to see LOTR geeks sneer at the "normal" people who come to see the movies and haven't read the books.  There is a reverse elitism that goes on, which occurs in any scene and subculture and perhaps I should give them a break about it.  Come on, people.  You know what it's like to be put down, why spend so much time putting down others?  Get over it.  Sadly, extreme degrees of fandom make me uncomfortable.  I feel a little silly watching people dress up as comic book characters when I go to a convention.  Perhaps it's not silliness, perhaps its envy.  Part of me would like to embrace my passions as whole-heartedly as they do, to give the finger to the Hip Police and Sheep-like Masses.  Thing is, not everyone is a big ol' extrovert.  Some people love to appreciate things, but don't wear a neon sign on their head with glowing arrows pointing down at themselves.  Live and let live.  Do your own thing.  Do it passionately.  Love it. 

I would just make two suggestions.  If you're dressing up as a character from a movie or a book, try to be age specific.  A grown man dressing up as a boy is a little creepy.  Also, shower regularly.  That is all.

Comments

tangentially

[http://users.livejournal.com/_perihelion_/]

back in '92 or '93 there was a major demonstration in DC for gay rights. my girlfriend of the time and I drove down there for that. to march, show support and listen to the speeches. she, being a bigwig in the BiGALA chapter at her school, also scored a couple of tickets to a conference on bisexuality going on down there at the same time. during the weekend we were there we attended a lot of speeches, panels and discussion groups at the conference and a bunch of speeches at the demonstrations.

most all of the speakers had something worthwhile to say but . . . after a while I started to notice one consistent underlying theme to almost all of the speeches. pretty much every one said some variation on "we are the downtrodden" "we are misunderstood" "we aren't given a fair shot because of that" because we aren't like the majority. and because of that we have had to be stronger and we are better than the rest.

I've never been much of a joiner (just don't have the mindset or stomach for it) but over the years I've associated with an awful lot of fringe groups of different sorts. and all of them seem to go for this same sort of rhetoric. we are different. the different are oppressed. this makes us stronger. therefore we are really better.

not really sure where I'm going with this. people are herd animals and they need the support of the herd to feel safe. even to feel worthwhile. I can understand that (though I can't really say I can relate) but the people I find most admirable are the ones that don't follow the herd (or follow the herd but purposely acting out counter to it). they seem to have much more of a handle on who and what they are.

Re: tangentially

[cris.livejournal.com]

and all of them seem to go for this same sort of rhetoric. we are different. the different are oppressed. this makes us stronger. therefore we are really better.

One of the best descriptions that I've read of Barack Obama's speech at the DNC last year was that he was the first black politician to ditch the language of guilt for the language of seduction. That probably applies to your tangent and the main post.

There's strength in "us v. them", but there's a subtler, deeper power in getting "them" to become "us".