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I am, I have discovered, a total fangirl.
Okay, I've always been a fan. I get carried away with the stuff I like. Hang out at conventions, read and write fanfic, tape and watch the things I'm interested in obsessively, join mailing groups and LJ communities that talk about what I like, and basically act like a geek.
This has never bothered me. I am, when it comes right down to it, very comfortable with who and what I am. What I find amusing is that I'm drifting around in fandoms that have become popular enough to annoy people. The other day I was reading a journal (not sure where mind you, just surfing around) and I ran across an entry that basically said that they wanted to have the head of Harry Potter on a stick because they didn't like the books and were massively tired of everyone who was endless talking and posting about it. This was followed by many "Me Too" posts until someone said that LOTR was the bane of their existence and that they wanted to have Gandalf's head on a stick to set next to Harry's. More "Me Too" posts until someone said they wanted to replace "LOTR" and "Harry Potter" with "Wolverine" and they would be happy. It was generally decided that, because of their popularity, these fandoms were devoid of any value and were merely repositories for brainless, tasteless sheep.
At which point I realized that I annoy a great many people just by existing. I love LOTR, HP and Wolverine. The fact that they are popular doesn't change the fact that I love them. Yes, those fandoms are full of newbes and plebes, and people who are more interested the actors than the characters, but so what? Those fandoms are also ripe with wonderful themes, motifs, characterizations and dramatic possibilities.
Granted there are times when I feel the urge to proclaim that I've been a fan of LOTR almost longer than Orlando Bloom has been alive... and times when I wish people understood that there is a difference between the actor and the characters... and times when I want to point out that writing and reading porn that stars the actors' bodies is not the same as being a fan of the story or even the characters...
But somehow that feels like I'm defending or justifing my liking of the fandom, and that gives the complaints a weight that they don't deserve.
The people who were complaining about HP, LotR and Wolverine weren't doing it based on the merits -- or lack there of -- of each book/movie/comic/fandom. They just were whining that others were enjoying something they didn't like. And while I understand the irritation of having a lot of people like something that you couldn't care less about, the elitism that is inherent in choosing your likes and dislikes based only on how many others like them bothers me. It's just as stupid to dislike something because "everyone else likes it" as it is to like something because "everyone else does". In either case, you letting others dictate what you do.
And if you're so arrogant to believe that simply because you don't like something, it shouldn't exist-- well, there's very little chance that you will ever be happy.
And I will, usually, be glad to be the one that irritates you.
Okay, I've always been a fan. I get carried away with the stuff I like. Hang out at conventions, read and write fanfic, tape and watch the things I'm interested in obsessively, join mailing groups and LJ communities that talk about what I like, and basically act like a geek.
This has never bothered me. I am, when it comes right down to it, very comfortable with who and what I am. What I find amusing is that I'm drifting around in fandoms that have become popular enough to annoy people. The other day I was reading a journal (not sure where mind you, just surfing around) and I ran across an entry that basically said that they wanted to have the head of Harry Potter on a stick because they didn't like the books and were massively tired of everyone who was endless talking and posting about it. This was followed by many "Me Too" posts until someone said that LOTR was the bane of their existence and that they wanted to have Gandalf's head on a stick to set next to Harry's. More "Me Too" posts until someone said they wanted to replace "LOTR" and "Harry Potter" with "Wolverine" and they would be happy. It was generally decided that, because of their popularity, these fandoms were devoid of any value and were merely repositories for brainless, tasteless sheep.
At which point I realized that I annoy a great many people just by existing. I love LOTR, HP and Wolverine. The fact that they are popular doesn't change the fact that I love them. Yes, those fandoms are full of newbes and plebes, and people who are more interested the actors than the characters, but so what? Those fandoms are also ripe with wonderful themes, motifs, characterizations and dramatic possibilities.
Granted there are times when I feel the urge to proclaim that I've been a fan of LOTR almost longer than Orlando Bloom has been alive... and times when I wish people understood that there is a difference between the actor and the characters... and times when I want to point out that writing and reading porn that stars the actors' bodies is not the same as being a fan of the story or even the characters...
But somehow that feels like I'm defending or justifing my liking of the fandom, and that gives the complaints a weight that they don't deserve.
The people who were complaining about HP, LotR and Wolverine weren't doing it based on the merits -- or lack there of -- of each book/movie/comic/fandom. They just were whining that others were enjoying something they didn't like. And while I understand the irritation of having a lot of people like something that you couldn't care less about, the elitism that is inherent in choosing your likes and dislikes based only on how many others like them bothers me. It's just as stupid to dislike something because "everyone else likes it" as it is to like something because "everyone else does". In either case, you letting others dictate what you do.
And if you're so arrogant to believe that simply because you don't like something, it shouldn't exist-- well, there's very little chance that you will ever be happy.
And I will, usually, be glad to be the one that irritates you.
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no subject
Date: 2003-07-17 09:53 am (UTC)From:The rest of it...I'm with ya on!!
I still find it weird that LOTR and Wolverine fandom aren't five social outcasts sitting in a corner geeking out while everyone else reads V.C. Andrews or something. At least HP was popular when I read it, but I did feel like I was doing something wrong by reading a popular set of books. Totally against my inner identity, that. It does help to realize that there ARE chunks of people who find each of them annoying, of course. There's shades of that "normal" outcastedness to that.
no subject
Date: 2003-07-17 08:39 pm (UTC)From:Or so my personalities keep telling me.
I still find it weird that LOTR and Wolverine fandom aren't five social outcasts sitting in a corner geeking out
This is a very good point as neither seem to be really fan-friendly. I read HP long after they were popular but I had you to lead the way so I knew they had to have some geeky value.
You outcast, you.
no subject
Date: 2003-07-17 09:45 pm (UTC)From:*sings a rousing chorus of "God Help the Outcasts"*
Yay!