Fandom: The Real Philosopher's Stone
I finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Saturday by 4:30 pm, and I have been processing since then. Overall, I loved it. I've read many reviews and I don't think I can do better, so mainly I feel like discussing fandom. Currently, the fandom close to my heart is the new and relatively small fandom for “Blades of Glory,” and it has the most wonderful fans in the world. So that is my little plug, come say hi to us at
blades_of_glory.
It has taken a while to come to terms with the close of the source material for something that has been such a huge part of my life, in such a wonderful way. Honestly, my relationship with the HP fandom has been that of donning an invisibility cloak and apparating into various journals and story sites, then reluctantly taking off the cloak and re-entering the 'real world.' Which is a nice way of saying I am a lurker, and I haven't contributed any fic of my own...but my life has been much happier for reading it. I don't know anyone in my real life that appreciates fandom, or reads fanfic...which is sad. I feel a bit like a member of a secret society, wondering if the people I see on the street are really fanfic readers or writers as well. I have rather slid out of the HP community, but with the final book out I feel a pull to re-enter and discover what amazing new worlds fanfic writers will create.
Really, I think I would have enjoyed DH more if I was strictly a fan of the books and not also of the amazing worlds stemming from them. Unfortunately for JKR, too many amazing fic writers reached the end before she did and I’m already enthralled with several dozen alternate endings. But it’s a mild disappointment, because I love fanfic too much to be upset with it preventing an unfettered enjoyment of cannon.
It seems that the HP fandom is split into camps at this point. Some people are angry that their particular ships were invalidated by the book, to the point of cursing JKR. Some are upset that the novel is so 'heteronormative,' and doesn't acknowledge alternate lifestyles. Some are displeased with the way not all of the loose ends were tied up, and the Remus/Tonks issue that okay, really did seem to come out of nowhere and slip headlong into nothingness. And other people are completely happy with how things turned out, but that seems to be in the minority. And each camp makes such good points it’s difficult not to agree; I feel surrounded by many Big Brothers. Although love cannon or hate it, the fact that this many people actually give a shit about one thing is amazing, so yay Jo!
It surprises me, really, how members of this fandom seem to take up a crusade banner for their particular ship or belief, and defend it like they are on some sort of holy war. It makes me want to promote the concept from "Dogma," that it is better to have ideas than beliefs because beliefs are so difficult to change and people will kill or die for them, whereas ideas can change more freely. Because, aren't we all together in this thing, fandom? It's a whole world of possibilities and no one has the 'right' slash pairing since this is all fiction based on fiction, and it seems like we should all be supporting each other in every imaginative foray into the many possibilities of fanfic. Whoever we ship, whether we are readers or writers, we are all basically saying the same thing: this is my happiness. This is a way to read or write my version of a perfect world, my bit of heaven on earth…whether it be fluffy, angsty, humorous, dark, het, or slash. And that is what I love so much about fandom.
And now, everyone can go off and write his or her own versions of how the story could have gone, and it will be exciting and new and there are a thousand thousand stories waiting to be discovered, and whatever you think about cannon I think its capacity for opening doors to new worlds and stories is amazing. Fandom is a force that unites people across age, gender, race, geographic location, sexual orientation, religion, etc. And that, my friends, is pretty freaking amazing.
blades_of_glory.
It has taken a while to come to terms with the close of the source material for something that has been such a huge part of my life, in such a wonderful way. Honestly, my relationship with the HP fandom has been that of donning an invisibility cloak and apparating into various journals and story sites, then reluctantly taking off the cloak and re-entering the 'real world.' Which is a nice way of saying I am a lurker, and I haven't contributed any fic of my own...but my life has been much happier for reading it. I don't know anyone in my real life that appreciates fandom, or reads fanfic...which is sad. I feel a bit like a member of a secret society, wondering if the people I see on the street are really fanfic readers or writers as well. I have rather slid out of the HP community, but with the final book out I feel a pull to re-enter and discover what amazing new worlds fanfic writers will create.
Really, I think I would have enjoyed DH more if I was strictly a fan of the books and not also of the amazing worlds stemming from them. Unfortunately for JKR, too many amazing fic writers reached the end before she did and I’m already enthralled with several dozen alternate endings. But it’s a mild disappointment, because I love fanfic too much to be upset with it preventing an unfettered enjoyment of cannon.
It seems that the HP fandom is split into camps at this point. Some people are angry that their particular ships were invalidated by the book, to the point of cursing JKR. Some are upset that the novel is so 'heteronormative,' and doesn't acknowledge alternate lifestyles. Some are displeased with the way not all of the loose ends were tied up, and the Remus/Tonks issue that okay, really did seem to come out of nowhere and slip headlong into nothingness. And other people are completely happy with how things turned out, but that seems to be in the minority. And each camp makes such good points it’s difficult not to agree; I feel surrounded by many Big Brothers. Although love cannon or hate it, the fact that this many people actually give a shit about one thing is amazing, so yay Jo!
It surprises me, really, how members of this fandom seem to take up a crusade banner for their particular ship or belief, and defend it like they are on some sort of holy war. It makes me want to promote the concept from "Dogma," that it is better to have ideas than beliefs because beliefs are so difficult to change and people will kill or die for them, whereas ideas can change more freely. Because, aren't we all together in this thing, fandom? It's a whole world of possibilities and no one has the 'right' slash pairing since this is all fiction based on fiction, and it seems like we should all be supporting each other in every imaginative foray into the many possibilities of fanfic. Whoever we ship, whether we are readers or writers, we are all basically saying the same thing: this is my happiness. This is a way to read or write my version of a perfect world, my bit of heaven on earth…whether it be fluffy, angsty, humorous, dark, het, or slash. And that is what I love so much about fandom.
And now, everyone can go off and write his or her own versions of how the story could have gone, and it will be exciting and new and there are a thousand thousand stories waiting to be discovered, and whatever you think about cannon I think its capacity for opening doors to new worlds and stories is amazing. Fandom is a force that unites people across age, gender, race, geographic location, sexual orientation, religion, etc. And that, my friends, is pretty freaking amazing.