Comments | maychorian: You're harshing my squee, man.

maychorian

You're harshing my squee, man.

Jul 21, 2008 08:52

So I woke up this morning to find a really bizarre comment on my xangablog, which I'm still keeping up despite writing more here because I still have RL friends there, mostly college buddies. It was in response to my ramblings about The Dark Knight yesterday. Relevant text below:

( What I said yesterday )

batman&robin, fandom

Comments 9

persephone_kore July 21 2008, 15:49:02 UTC

He doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I sort of think if he was hurt by your previous post (huh?) then he'll probably be upset about your response, but considering the apparent lack of reading comprehension and/or totally sideways thought process that resulted in his initial comment, I'm not actually sure if there's a reliable way to guess his likely reaction to anything. :P

maychorian July 21 2008, 16:06:05 UTC

My guess is that he will back off and be all, "Okay, okay, as long as you didn't mean it..." Which is not the point, but whatever. Knowing this guy, he won't push when he sees that I'm more annoyed than he is. (Not exactly the bravest monkey in the barrel.) He's more attention-seeking than anything else. I'm kind of irritated at myself for giving him the time and energy at all. (Isn't it sort of a male thing, to think that it's all about them when it really, really isn't?)

I'm just still weirded out that it happened at all, and of course it got me started thinking about fandom in general. Why do people DO this?

samantilles July 21 2008, 23:45:23 UTC

as to the male thing, I am more than inclined to agree--my sister's boyfriend loves to make fun of me whenever I wear one of my *gasp* SG1 shirts, despite the fact that he then asks to borrow my seasons! WTF!? If I'm going to be stupid in my fandoms, the last thing my stupidity will be measuring my fandomness... in the end some of the most extreme cases *scare* me (and I should know, part of my proposed (if never written) master's thesis is on science-fiction fandom and archiving from WorldCons) I gravitate towards other *slightly more sane* fans, but definately stay away from the ones like you described above.

On a second note, Batman was definately different, though I would have enjoyed it if my allergy medication hadn't worn off *During the previews* and I sat for three hours in agony unable to breathe through my nose. I love the term "geekgasm" and if you don't copywright it, I may have to borrow it at some random point in the future!

maychorian July 22 2008, 20:13:13 UTC

Dag, that sucks about the allergies. :( And I can't claim ownership for "geekgasm"--feel free to use it whenever you like!

That would be an awesome thesis and I'd love to read it.

redbyrd_sgfic July 22 2008, 01:44:54 UTC

I would say that he's a good example of the poorly-socialized fan. And if you think that subtle wouldn't have got through to him, then you're probably right. I have a couple of friends who fit in this category, and generally I figure that I have a right to fight idiocy in my own space (on a comment on my blog, for example), but anyone being an idiot in their own space is Not My Problem, and the best thing I can do is refrain from commenting there.

And generally speaking, guy-culture is hierarchical, so yeah, being the biggest fan is a competitive thing. Like some guys have the biggest truck, some geeks know the most computer languages, some history buffs know the most obscure trivia... It's mostly (though not exclusively) guys...

maychorian July 22 2008, 20:14:52 UTC

Good point about whose space it is... I'm not going to go to a stupid person's blog and point out their stupidity, but if they come to ME... Yeah, I have a right to defend my territory.

Guy-culture is weird.

limegreenjillo July 22 2008, 13:26:25 UTC

Well, in that specific case, fighting never seems to do any good. In fact, even telling it to shut up and go away ususally leads to nothing but pouting (and being accused of being a hacker, but whatever, I'm bitter). I don't think it's a guy thing, but with girls it tends to be about who's more in love with the characters which is a little weirder really. In general, I try to fight the stupid, but if someone just isn't responding you have to give up. I'd say do what I did in this case, but I'm pretty sure you won't cut him off. And I wouldn't say you were too harsh at all, but he might think so. If his little feelings do get hurt, I wonder how long it takes to become my fault.

Anyway, I love you and I think you're awesome and I have a t-shirt about it and I'M YOUR BIGGEST FAN!!!!!1!!!! OMG!!111!!!!

samantilles July 22 2008, 13:58:11 UTC

yeah, going stalkerish for particular characters definitely seems to be more of a female thing... and its totally on the wierd side.

maychorian July 22 2008, 20:11:21 UTC

Heh, that's a good point about the pouting and the accusation and all. Usually I can just ignore him because he's mostly harmless and all (except for the whole hacker thing, which was dumb on a stick and I don't blame you for being bitter), but really. I didn't ask for this.

True about the fangurl SO IN LOVE thing. Gah, annoying. I mean, I love hot guys. I do. As long they're wrapped around a fabulous character. But that... I guess I don't come across that as often as the fanboi pissing matches, though, so it didn't occur to me. The people I hang out with (including you, my Padfoot), tend to be more squeeful than dumb. Oh, and intelligent and interesting, like our Monday buddies.

And you're allowed to stalk me anytime.