And that makes us mighty
So I mentioned that we've been watching Castle, right? And last night we watched the episode that's set at a sci-fi convention, and you guys. YOU GUYS. I LOVED IT SO MUCH. I mean, I expected it would be pretty good, for no other reason than that Nathan Fillion seems to have a pretty healthy relationship with fandom (by which I mean he seems to engage enthusiastically and thoughtfully where appropriate, and draw very firm boundaries where appropriate), but wow. Like, there were the expected (THOROUGHLY DELIGHTFUL) Firefly references, and various inside jokes (Jonathan Frakes directed the episode, for extra geeky points), and all of that. But this show was better ABOUT FANS than just about anything I can recall in recent memory. I mean, there was some gentle mocking, and stereotypical ogling of female cosplayers (though that gets turned on its head a bit, in a way that I liked a lot), and all that kind of thing.
BUT THEN THIS HAPPENED. (Sorry for the weird cuts, I'm trying to be enthusiastic and grab your hands and jump up and down and beg you to watch this while remaining respectful of the spoiler-phobic.) Note that this clip DOES contain some minor spoilers for the episode and an implied spoiler for a pretty major event in the series, but if you skip to :52, you can skip all that. (You will also miss Nathan Fillion's hilarious Patrick Stewart impression, though. ♥ ) Even if you've never watched Castle, I highly encourage you to watch this clip, because it gets it, IMO, and is awesome about fandom in a way that popular media so rarely is, and it made me cry.
Just. Okay. THIS GETS IT, right? I mean, this is not the WHOLE fannish experience-more on that in a second-and it's not everyone's experience, but I think this is where it starts for a lot of people, watching or reading something and being inspired by it. I love love LOVE that this seems to understand that fandom is not just about the source, it's about what it means to people, and what they choose to do with that. (Actually I felt like this episode came down harder on actors who are really precious about separating themselves from sci-fi work than it did on fans of that work-like it's the actors who are taking this too seriously in the bad way. I LOVE that.) And to have this coming out of Beckett's mouth, about a female character (and this episode was written by a woman)-THAT was what made me cry most of all, because there are a fair number of touchpoints out there now for geeky boys, but SO FEW for geeky women, and I did not fully realize how much I wanted to see that until I did. And of course it's extra-delicious because Beckett is ALSO an aspirational character, she's ALSO a scientist and a warrior and not completely defined by her physical appearance (though of course she's gorgeous, but her character is not ABOUT her being gorgeous), and so it goes around and around in a circle of awesome and I was ALREADY in love with Beckett and now I LOVE HER SO MUCH I DON'T REALLY KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH MYSELF. ♥_______________♥
So yeah. The episode was 5x06, "The Final Frontier," and if you don't care about being spoiled for Castle (again, the spoilers are pretty self-contained except for one big one for the overall series trajectory), I'd absolutely recommend watching it.
It's interesting timing for this, too, because I watched the Firefly 10th anniversary special a few weeks ago and this thing that Jewel Staite said really stuck with me: she was talking about cons, and she said something to the effect that "people who love the show come together from all over the world to see each other." To see each other. YES. THAT. I've heard the Farscape cast talk about cons similarly, and again, it really strikes me that those are people who GET fandom. Who get that it's about the source but it's also completely NOT; the source may inspire it, but the community that forms around it makes its own magic, which is often a lot more enduring. (And of course actors don't need to get fandom-it's not their job-but I think it's probably nicer for them when they do, because it probably makes fans' obsession seem a lot less weird and intrusive. Heh. [I mean, obviously there will always be genuinely creepy fans, but. In general.] And I think the Firefly and Farscape casts get it at least in part because they love their shows as much as we do. Which, again, not a requirement, but handy for everyone when it happens.)
I know that online fandom is becoming more dispersed these days, and a lot of people (myself included!) drop in and out as the other aspects of their lives demand. But whatever happens down the line, whatever fandom looks like in five years or ten, I love knowing that fandom will always exist, that there will always be people who love something so much that they need to share that love with other people, and that amazing things will grow from that. I mean, at the Sci-Fi Museum in Seattle, there are records from sci-fi cons going back to the 1920s. That blew my mind, the first time I saw it. We are part of a glorious (and flawed, and ever-evolving) tradition. And I am so, SO proud to be a part of this community, and so grateful to all of you for making my life so much richer. So thank you. ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
This post is also at Dreamwidth! http://brynnmck.dreamwidth.org/290381.html Comments at Dreamwidth:
BUT THEN THIS HAPPENED. (Sorry for the weird cuts, I'm trying to be enthusiastic and grab your hands and jump up and down and beg you to watch this while remaining respectful of the spoiler-phobic.) Note that this clip DOES contain some minor spoilers for the episode and an implied spoiler for a pretty major event in the series, but if you skip to :52, you can skip all that. (You will also miss Nathan Fillion's hilarious Patrick Stewart impression, though. ♥ ) Even if you've never watched Castle, I highly encourage you to watch this clip, because it gets it, IMO, and is awesome about fandom in a way that popular media so rarely is, and it made me cry.
Click to viewJust. Okay. THIS GETS IT, right? I mean, this is not the WHOLE fannish experience-more on that in a second-and it's not everyone's experience, but I think this is where it starts for a lot of people, watching or reading something and being inspired by it. I love love LOVE that this seems to understand that fandom is not just about the source, it's about what it means to people, and what they choose to do with that. (Actually I felt like this episode came down harder on actors who are really precious about separating themselves from sci-fi work than it did on fans of that work-like it's the actors who are taking this too seriously in the bad way. I LOVE that.) And to have this coming out of Beckett's mouth, about a female character (and this episode was written by a woman)-THAT was what made me cry most of all, because there are a fair number of touchpoints out there now for geeky boys, but SO FEW for geeky women, and I did not fully realize how much I wanted to see that until I did. And of course it's extra-delicious because Beckett is ALSO an aspirational character, she's ALSO a scientist and a warrior and not completely defined by her physical appearance (though of course she's gorgeous, but her character is not ABOUT her being gorgeous), and so it goes around and around in a circle of awesome and I was ALREADY in love with Beckett and now I LOVE HER SO MUCH I DON'T REALLY KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH MYSELF. ♥_______________♥
So yeah. The episode was 5x06, "The Final Frontier," and if you don't care about being spoiled for Castle (again, the spoilers are pretty self-contained except for one big one for the overall series trajectory), I'd absolutely recommend watching it.
It's interesting timing for this, too, because I watched the Firefly 10th anniversary special a few weeks ago and this thing that Jewel Staite said really stuck with me: she was talking about cons, and she said something to the effect that "people who love the show come together from all over the world to see each other." To see each other. YES. THAT. I've heard the Farscape cast talk about cons similarly, and again, it really strikes me that those are people who GET fandom. Who get that it's about the source but it's also completely NOT; the source may inspire it, but the community that forms around it makes its own magic, which is often a lot more enduring. (And of course actors don't need to get fandom-it's not their job-but I think it's probably nicer for them when they do, because it probably makes fans' obsession seem a lot less weird and intrusive. Heh. [I mean, obviously there will always be genuinely creepy fans, but. In general.] And I think the Firefly and Farscape casts get it at least in part because they love their shows as much as we do. Which, again, not a requirement, but handy for everyone when it happens.)
I know that online fandom is becoming more dispersed these days, and a lot of people (myself included!) drop in and out as the other aspects of their lives demand. But whatever happens down the line, whatever fandom looks like in five years or ten, I love knowing that fandom will always exist, that there will always be people who love something so much that they need to share that love with other people, and that amazing things will grow from that. I mean, at the Sci-Fi Museum in Seattle, there are records from sci-fi cons going back to the 1920s. That blew my mind, the first time I saw it. We are part of a glorious (and flawed, and ever-evolving) tradition. And I am so, SO proud to be a part of this community, and so grateful to all of you for making my life so much richer. So thank you. ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
This post is also at Dreamwidth! http://brynnmck.dreamwidth.org/290381.html Comments at Dreamwidth: