Monday Update
came back to dust this off and see LJ has finally decided to launch a facelift in my absence. Seems minimal and non disruptive, we'll see how this goes...
so, a little fandom nibblet.
My Little Pony had a guest voice of John DeLancie, aka "Q" from Startrek, perform a role, and was quickly forgotten by him until the production finished and the episode aired 4 months later, he started getting fanmail from one of the 2 major demographics of the show. and it wasn't the little girls, it was the bronies.
Now; he had the initial knee-jerk reaction to learning about brony culture (specifically gender/age) but he worked past it and found fascination with the creativity of the fanbase. He went on to voice another episode, and to help produce an independant documentary on brony culture.
A neat thought that distinguishes him from other 'stars' treatment of their respective fandom, to be sure. However, despite not being brony myself, i like the show because i like watching animation. All animation is of interest, though my taste still gravitates to anime. I don't see the perception of bronys to be any different from mass social perception of fandom as a whole.
No matter what kind, range, or type of fandom, the pleas to not be ostracised by others has echoed for a long time from fandom circles because people don't "get us."
And after looking at stuff in my life and stuff predating me, it is my view that any "voice of reason" on such matters of fandom has fallen on deaf ears for 40 years now. For whatever reason, fandom is a 'safe' group to denigrate, to mock, and to lay blame at the feet of when something in the headlines stinks of social ills that the rest would rather not actually face. And its safe for those people to shovel that nastiness and vitriol, and face little-to-no price/risk/social retribution for doing so; no accountability or cost for doing so.
There is obviously some other social problem at work, because if the voice of reason was at all effective in dissuading such stereotypes, I'm sure SOMEONE would have come along in the last 40 years with a good enough voice of reason to at least make head-way against such preconeived notions being the norm. (ie we've had no MLK of fandom, or even a MalcomX, by any account.) But you can look at news coverage, tv entertainment, and now the internet as see
that nope, in fact, making fun of fandom is still a widely acceptable activity (unless its for sports) and has persisted as such without much change.
In the case of bronies, its made even worse because of gender male stereotyping, which is far more socially destructive to men. A woman who exhibits boyish behavior traits doesn't pay the same social price exchange rate than a man who exhibits perceived girlish behavior traits. Example; while a woman who cuts her hair very short and is interested in working on cars may receive some residual judgement on their sexual role and/or identity in society, a man grooming his fingernails beyond a clipping will received far more severe judgement, even though the woman was gone much deeper into 'boyish' behavior than the man has into 'girlish.'
Men suffer a much greater gender slander in society for daring to not conform to someone else's ideal of an appropriately masculine OR maturity archetype.
Even if it is safe to say I have more authority than average because of my involvement with fandom events, I'm certainly no huge authority on fandom at large. Something that is my analysis is probably WAYYY off from someone elses within fandom, or in a different fandom circle.
however, I think one will be hard pressed to find anyone from any fandom circle who will disagree with the idea that they feel a chasm of divide (or have felt) by others for no other reason beyond their being a fan of something, and the others not. It is exacerbated in those with weak self-identity, social skills, or self esteem and made worse by people who link those dysfunctions with actually being a fan as though they are mutually inclusive things.
so, a little fandom nibblet.
My Little Pony had a guest voice of John DeLancie, aka "Q" from Startrek, perform a role, and was quickly forgotten by him until the production finished and the episode aired 4 months later, he started getting fanmail from one of the 2 major demographics of the show. and it wasn't the little girls, it was the bronies.
Now; he had the initial knee-jerk reaction to learning about brony culture (specifically gender/age) but he worked past it and found fascination with the creativity of the fanbase. He went on to voice another episode, and to help produce an independant documentary on brony culture.
A neat thought that distinguishes him from other 'stars' treatment of their respective fandom, to be sure. However, despite not being brony myself, i like the show because i like watching animation. All animation is of interest, though my taste still gravitates to anime. I don't see the perception of bronys to be any different from mass social perception of fandom as a whole.
No matter what kind, range, or type of fandom, the pleas to not be ostracised by others has echoed for a long time from fandom circles because people don't "get us."
And after looking at stuff in my life and stuff predating me, it is my view that any "voice of reason" on such matters of fandom has fallen on deaf ears for 40 years now. For whatever reason, fandom is a 'safe' group to denigrate, to mock, and to lay blame at the feet of when something in the headlines stinks of social ills that the rest would rather not actually face. And its safe for those people to shovel that nastiness and vitriol, and face little-to-no price/risk/social retribution for doing so; no accountability or cost for doing so.
There is obviously some other social problem at work, because if the voice of reason was at all effective in dissuading such stereotypes, I'm sure SOMEONE would have come along in the last 40 years with a good enough voice of reason to at least make head-way against such preconeived notions being the norm. (ie we've had no MLK of fandom, or even a MalcomX, by any account.) But you can look at news coverage, tv entertainment, and now the internet as see
that nope, in fact, making fun of fandom is still a widely acceptable activity (unless its for sports) and has persisted as such without much change.
In the case of bronies, its made even worse because of gender male stereotyping, which is far more socially destructive to men. A woman who exhibits boyish behavior traits doesn't pay the same social price exchange rate than a man who exhibits perceived girlish behavior traits. Example; while a woman who cuts her hair very short and is interested in working on cars may receive some residual judgement on their sexual role and/or identity in society, a man grooming his fingernails beyond a clipping will received far more severe judgement, even though the woman was gone much deeper into 'boyish' behavior than the man has into 'girlish.'
Men suffer a much greater gender slander in society for daring to not conform to someone else's ideal of an appropriately masculine OR maturity archetype.
Even if it is safe to say I have more authority than average because of my involvement with fandom events, I'm certainly no huge authority on fandom at large. Something that is my analysis is probably WAYYY off from someone elses within fandom, or in a different fandom circle.
however, I think one will be hard pressed to find anyone from any fandom circle who will disagree with the idea that they feel a chasm of divide (or have felt) by others for no other reason beyond their being a fan of something, and the others not. It is exacerbated in those with weak self-identity, social skills, or self esteem and made worse by people who link those dysfunctions with actually being a fan as though they are mutually inclusive things.