Random, rather rambling post about me and fandom
Today, I was reading back entries in metafandom, and there was some post from a while ago about at what point a fandom becomes 'dead', and another about how FanLib isn't doing anything for older fandoms. Now, my opinions on FanLib and dead fandoms belong in a different post, but I noticed that, in those discussions, they kept bringing up movies and television shows from about thirty or forty years ago as examples of old fandoms. And, well, that just seemed ridiculous to me.
Because, well, the fandom that I consider to be my main fandom is over a hundred years old. Another one of my fandoms is well over two thousand.
And I kept reading through more metafandom posts, and they kept making references to all these much larger fandoms, normally television ones, that I had hardly even heard of, but that seem to be universally known among all the rest of fandom. And that left me feeling a little marginalized for a second.
And then I stopped and thought about it, and decided that that was utterly ridiculous. I like being a part of small fandoms. I like having academic discourse on my fandom get brought into the discussions, I like being able to write pairings and scenarios that no one else has thought of, because there are maybe three other people writing fan fiction in that fandom at all.
And, most of all, I love the crazy little groups of people make up these tiny, almost nonexistent fandoms.
I love all the people who play Arthurian legend characters on desperatefans, who have taken the time to sort through centuries of canon to creative believable, human characterizations for the characters, and who then write amazing fic with those characterizations.
I love all the Shakespeare fans, whether they're in universities writing essays that should be crackfic, or online writing carefully thought out fan fiction that tells you more about a character than an essay ever could, or both.
I love the Greek mythology fandom, who takes Artemis/Callisto as canon.
I love the musicals fandom, which would flood Fandom Wank if they knew we existed.
I love the Les Miserables and Hunchback of Notre Dame fandoms, vastly different but all with a healthy love of the beauty of Victor Hugo's writing.
I love the Vampire Chronicles fandom: the only fandom where we all admit to hating the original canon.
I love the Alice in Wonderland fandom which, I believe, is waiting like a desert for a fresh rain, and will flourish if given one.
I love the Woman in White fandom, and the fact that none of us seem to ever aknowledge our favorite musical's negative reviews.
I love Phantom of the Opera fandom, huge in comparison to all these others, but not even large enough to warrant being put on lists of the active categories at Fanfiction.net; we all suffer from delusions of grandeur there.
I even love the Ibsen and Norse mythology fandoms I've created inside my head.
And, of course, I love all the random Dracula fans who seem completely scattered accross the internet, and which I'm slowly attempting bring together; especially, of course, eremon_lass, who does crazy things like moderates communities with me, and who writes absolutely astounding Dracula fan fiction.
And, you know, I've done a lot for my small, humble fandoms. whitby-library exists, and I still do direct people there, and even if people don't post there very often, it doesn't matter because at least it's there. I'm not a marginalized member of fandom in the least. I've had just as many wonderful experiences in it, and talked to just as many wonderful people, and I'm happy with that.
Because, well, the fandom that I consider to be my main fandom is over a hundred years old. Another one of my fandoms is well over two thousand.
And I kept reading through more metafandom posts, and they kept making references to all these much larger fandoms, normally television ones, that I had hardly even heard of, but that seem to be universally known among all the rest of fandom. And that left me feeling a little marginalized for a second.
And then I stopped and thought about it, and decided that that was utterly ridiculous. I like being a part of small fandoms. I like having academic discourse on my fandom get brought into the discussions, I like being able to write pairings and scenarios that no one else has thought of, because there are maybe three other people writing fan fiction in that fandom at all.
And, most of all, I love the crazy little groups of people make up these tiny, almost nonexistent fandoms.
I love all the people who play Arthurian legend characters on desperatefans, who have taken the time to sort through centuries of canon to creative believable, human characterizations for the characters, and who then write amazing fic with those characterizations.
I love all the Shakespeare fans, whether they're in universities writing essays that should be crackfic, or online writing carefully thought out fan fiction that tells you more about a character than an essay ever could, or both.
I love the Greek mythology fandom, who takes Artemis/Callisto as canon.
I love the musicals fandom, which would flood Fandom Wank if they knew we existed.
I love the Les Miserables and Hunchback of Notre Dame fandoms, vastly different but all with a healthy love of the beauty of Victor Hugo's writing.
I love the Vampire Chronicles fandom: the only fandom where we all admit to hating the original canon.
I love the Alice in Wonderland fandom which, I believe, is waiting like a desert for a fresh rain, and will flourish if given one.
I love the Woman in White fandom, and the fact that none of us seem to ever aknowledge our favorite musical's negative reviews.
I love Phantom of the Opera fandom, huge in comparison to all these others, but not even large enough to warrant being put on lists of the active categories at Fanfiction.net; we all suffer from delusions of grandeur there.
I even love the Ibsen and Norse mythology fandoms I've created inside my head.
And, of course, I love all the random Dracula fans who seem completely scattered accross the internet, and which I'm slowly attempting bring together; especially, of course, eremon_lass, who does crazy things like moderates communities with me, and who writes absolutely astounding Dracula fan fiction.
And, you know, I've done a lot for my small, humble fandoms. whitby-library exists, and I still do direct people there, and even if people don't post there very often, it doesn't matter because at least it's there. I'm not a marginalized member of fandom in the least. I've had just as many wonderful experiences in it, and talked to just as many wonderful people, and I'm happy with that.