JE fandom creeps me out....
I think I need to state a few things before I start with this post.
- First off, don't be offended! While there will be a few insults they aren't directed at anyone personal, neither groups nor communities nor members or anything! It's simply my opinion but I'm not writing this because I'm bored and want to bash you - keep that in mind!
- This post is ( Read more... )
I generally behave according to the "don't like it, don't watch it, no comment" rule. But there are things I cannot unsee. The more it goes the more I find the fandom creepy, for all the reasons you and I have mentioned. As a consequence, for the first time in 2 years I've started to seriously think of leaving the fandom. Yes, I said it, "leaving the fandom".
To answer your questions...
Yes, I can pause things I like. I pause my hobbies and pleasant but not necessary things (like drawing, making cakes, whatever...) when I need time for more important things (work, studies...).
But no, I'm not someone who posts about "being on hiatus". My internet life isn't as important as to have to notify my status to the whole virtual world. I value real life more.
I don't thing there's anything weird about pausing your hobbies sometimes, I'm more settled by people who annouce their hiatus from the web. Some people are just being polite by telling their online friends and followers they'll be away for a while, which I think is nice, but some rather sound like their main life is online and it's kind of worrying.
No, I don't need something like a fandom to like or be a fan. But when something looking like a fan community exists, with its particularities and its (implicit or explicit) rules, I call it a fandom. And when I actively follow it and interact with said fandom, I say I'm part of it. You can deduct from what I said previously that I don't limit myself to one only fandom at a time.
As for the notion of leaving a fandom, for me it doesn't equal to stop liking something. It can occur because you are no longer interested in something, or for many other reasons. Leaving a fandom is just quiting being active and staying away from the places that constitute the community.
No, I don't think JE made anyone stupid. JE fans who are stupid were already stupid before "entering the fandom". And many fans who are not stupid act stupid when it comes to JE because its a light topic an they consider the fandom as a place where they don't need to be serious.
Yes, I think the JE fandom is immature and yes, I think the JE fandom can be really stupid. I don't know if it's because the fans are very young (you and I are nearly the same age, and I know there are older fans, but I bet there are way more teenagers), or because Johnny's primary target is silly girls... but we must salute the efforts some fans do to make the fandom a better place. For example kattunlove. The first time I visited the LJ comm, I was pleasantly surprised by how sensible the rules were and how clean the place was (I didn't expect that in a boy band fandom).
I just wish the annoying and creepy things won't take over the good things of this fandom.
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Have you joined a forum with rules which are more about imposing you to display maximum fangirlism than ensuring the forum works well? I have.
No never have for the sole reason you just mentioned. Well how do I know it would be like this? Jade warned me, more or less. She kinda experienced this with another band so we're both a bit cautious when it comes to this and your comment just proves our point further (sadly!)
Yes, I can pause things I like. I pause my hobbies and pleasant but not necessary things (like drawing, making cakes, whatever...) when I need time for more important things (work, studies...).
I may have chosen the wrong word there, but I'm sure you still like your hobbies even when you don't have time for them. What I meant was more along the lines of "oh I don't like BandX or w/e hobby now and I do as I'd never heard of it! But 4 weeks later I'm totally into it again!"
I may be mistaken but all those "leaving/hiatus fandom" posts sound a bit like this to me, so I was irritated. Simply seeing it as a "I'm not following the fan community" makes more sense and I hope they mean it like that and I just got it wrong ^^
(and btw ♥ for 'making cakes' ♥ )
And many fans who are not stupid act stupid when it comes to JE because its a light topic an they consider the fandom as a place where they don't need to be serious.
Sure, that's true, but then again we're talking about the internet and if we put serious things (like actual business contacts or stuff like that) aside a lot of people act like that as soon as they're online. But it seems to me that the JE fandom put this at a whole new level !
but we must salute the efforts some fans do to make the fandom a better place. For example kattunlove. The first time I visited the LJ comm, I was pleasantly surprised by how sensible the rules were and how clean the place was
Completely agreed there, nothing to add! =3
Reading your comment again I get the feeling I may haven't been prepared for the batshit crazy fangirls!
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I wish someone warned me (u__u). As the forum was mostly member-locked, I didn't get to see enough of it to realize the fangirl chaos may have been imposed by the forum rules. And I didn't experience such nonsense before.
Do you know a band called UVERworld? You reference for fandom comparison is m.o.v.e, mine is UVERworld. I discovered them when they debuted and immediately became a fan. I joined their 1st and the 2nd English-speaking fan forum, and even if it soon turned fangirlish, rules were still sensible and people had common sense! Well actually the 1st forum didn't even have rules, people just used common sense and the forum worked smoothly (until it got really too big and some rules became necessary).
To think that I lost interest in their music (they improved a lot technically over years, but their music no longer have the same taste... sob sob) to fall for KAT-TUN XD
I may be mistaken but all those "leaving/hiatus fandom" posts sound a bit like this to me, so I was irritated. Simply seeing it as a "I'm not following the fan community" makes more sense and I hope they mean it like that and I just got it wrong ^^
So do I. Even though we don't know how they mean it, I can understand you get irritated. Saying things like that makes one sound like a kid who got bored of his toy and throws it away.
But it seems to me that the JE fandom put this at a whole new level !
In France there's a blog platform that's been hugely popular among teens for a decade, Skyblog, now called Skyrock blog (and now available internationally OMG!). While there are a few exceptions, Skyblog (people my age like to continue calling it that way even if it has been renamed) is well-known for being full of shit (shit = stupid egocentric teens, gangsta wannabes, attention whores, stupid fans, walking failures, constant mispelling, language supposed to be French but no matter how I look at it it CANNOT be French etc.).
When I was a teenager, I used to have a lot of fun checking out random skyblogs with friends and laugh at them (skyblogs are sad for mankind, but they can also be funny). The worst things I've seen on the internet, I saw them on Skyblog that may also be because I don't go on 4chan and so. You see, I was prepared for the batshit crazy fangirl stuff way before I got into KAT-TUN and Johnny's, so I wasn't as shocked as you. But I just cannot get used to all this shit, and I'm starting to find the fandom TOO creepy. The only difference is that it took you only 2 months to post openly about it, while I haven't (so far).
If Skyblog had existed in Austria, maybe you would have been more prepared and you would have suffered less... or maybe you wouldn't have joined the Johnny's fest at all!! LOL
Let's learn a lesson from all this: joining a boy band-related fandom requires intensive psychological preparation. Really.
PS: sorry I wrote a lot again. But I'm happy to have someone to talk about fandom shit matters seriously.
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I guess it was an utopia after all, since the forum closed after a few years (if I remember well the owner closed the 1st one and opened a new one, instead of trying to change the 1st one, that was a smart move lol)
that really scares me
I want to believe we only have the IMPRESSION those grown up girls are totally immature and into Johnny's because they just don't want to talk about their real life on the interwebz. Please let me believe. Otherwise, this is too scary (>.<)
Hey, I just got an idea: why not make a horror movie about Johnny's fandom? Since it's so thrilling and scary?
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Oh I do! I never thought they had such 'crazy' fangirls too though since they're more on the rock-side. But then again if I think of Alice Nine, Gazette and all those bands and their fangirls *cough*Riririr*cough* (sorry insider^^;;) it really shouldn't surprise me after all!
The only difference is that it took you only 2 months to post openly about it,
Well that's really all thanks to m.o.v.e lol. It's kinda like a sleeping feeling, you know it's there you know it's strange somehow but you just ignore it 'till something happens. For me m.o.v.e's new album happened; to see 2 fandoms side by side like this got me thinking^^
Let's learn a lesson from all this: joining a boy band-related fandom requires intensive psychological preparation. Really.
I love this sentence!! I think I'll even put it into my quotes entry if you don't mind?
PS: sorry I wrote a lot again.
Oh don't worry I don't mind reading (in fact I totally like it) and my own posts always get longer than I expected anyway, so really np!
but you can't just black out the other side of the coin because of that.
well you can kinda, I'm more into it for the information and not so much for the social aspect, thus I'll just try to 'filter them out'
What has to be going on in their thoughts so that something like that actually works on them?
It reminds me of all the people who follow various cults. It's very stereotypical because I for sure don't have enough information to judge them all, but aren't they aiming at mentally weak persons? You know the ones who maybe have a really hard phase in life or just lost a loved person etc. As I already said JE Bands are special. The whole image is just so nice, so beautiful, so refreshing, so happy-happy-fairy-wonderland; I can imagine you can lose yourself there pretty easily if you have a shitty life or something? But dunno, you're the one studying psychology, not me xD
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It keeps me wondering too. It seems both you and Kyra got to read the entry of that girl who was tricked into believing she was in a relationship with Jin. I failed to see it before it was deleted but I vaguely remember the intro on kattunlove, it sounded pretty unbelievable. Would you mind explaining me what happened exactly?
I never thought they had such 'crazy' fangirls too though since they're more on the rock-side
Hahahaha! They may be a rock band, but they have such a pretty-looking singer. Takuya looks better than most Johnny's, so the band naturally appealed to a lot of fangirls (as soon as said Takuya started showing his face in PVs) (^_^);
UVERworld (at least when I was an active fan) did have fangirls, who loved joking and squealing and lalalah, but none of us was crazy like JE fans. Even the JE fans in the UVERworld fandom were cool. Even the UVERworld fans who would write fics, ship pairings (for fun) or debate about Akira's hair color were SANE.
The contrast between the image JE want's to display (nice, beautiful, refreshing, happy-happy-fairy-wonderland) and the reality (the harshness of the agency on the one side and the creepiness of the fandom on the other side) is striking, isn't it?
I love this sentence!! I think I'll even put it into my quotes entry if you don't mind?
Go ahead!
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[...] But yeah, that pretty much sums it up I think ^^;;
the strange thing here is why the post got deleted? because officially the girl stated that she's writing a book about her "adventures in life" and that she's publishing the first chapter for free to a) get opinions on it and b) warn other girls in the fandom. The very strange nature of her story set aside, wouldn't this be a 'legal' post? It doesn't break any rules if I remember correctly? So why did it get deleted?
Oh and to add to Jade's summary, if I remember right this was just an introduction post, since she said something similiar to "I haven't posted the story yet, so why are you confused?" in the comments (because the whole comm. was like "wtf are you talking girl? o_O" )
The contrast between the image JE want's to display (nice, beautiful, refreshing, happy-happy-fairy-wonderland) and the reality (the harshness of the agency on the one side and the creepiness of the fandom on the other side) is striking, isn't it?
This reminds me of holidays! ^^ You know like you yourself have fun and a good time, but the people at the hotel/clubs etc have to work hard (more or less) for it. But you don't want to see or know about those working people because it would ruin your mood, you only want your refreshing holiday.
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Oh and no, the one writing a book about japanese artists was another person. one that could actually write coherent sentences *cough*
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Oh yeah, I forgot about that detail.
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