Fans and the People Who Love Them

[fangirljen]

I was confronted by something kind of random today. My co-worker, Matt, drew me into a conversation about Fandom. It was he who brought it up, which simply astounded me. He started the conversation by saying, "Hey, Jen. I think you should write a book about fandom." This is an idea that I've tossled about with for a while, but at the moment I'

Comments

[foreverseenstar]

When it comes to fandom there is a very thin line between uber obsession, buying things, loving actors, characters, ships, whatever, and losing that reality grip. I don't look down on the folks in the former category because I think I'm one of them. Being so involved in something isn't just fun, but sometimes when the rest of life is beyond stressful, it's a nice escape to just fully enjoy and surround yourself with fandom stuff.

Speaking of the latter though. *sigh* I'm very biased right now because I got a vague "Guess what happened at the con" report that made me go, 'for cryin out loud.' Be as extreme as you want to be, but do not by any means, make other people (ie: actors) uncomfortable. I think that sometimes these extreme fans without a filter make the rest of the extreme fans get grouped into one pot of "some sort of crazy" and so in that respect I get annoyed sometimes at extremists. Does that even make sense?

Also, shipping, I am totally open to whatever. I like my ships, you like yours and that's fine. I don't understand why people get die hard serious about it and start fights. That bit of fandom is very beyond me. Don't look down on it exactly, just don't see why arguing is necessary I guess.

Your study of fandom is admirable and courageous. Kudos. :-)