Comments | fishpatrol: On the Subject of "Fanthropology"

fishpatrol

On the Subject of "Fanthropology"

Apr 05, 2008 00:32

What does it mean to "be in a fandom"? To my BFF who does not read fanfic, look at fanart, slash (she does do the whole het-shipping though), to be in a fandom means trawling through communities and forums for photos and video clips and the newest songs by her favourite bands. Being in a particular fandom simply means to be a fan of that particular ( Read more... )

discussion, super junior, youtube eats brains, questions

Comments 7

ex_trolleys April 5 2008, 07:57:27 UTC

Yay meta! This is interesting - I definitely think there is a difference between a 'fan' and 'fandomer and pretty much agree with your points in the first couple of paragraphs. To be more specific, I define a fan as someone who is content to appreciate canon at face value (more or less) and have watercooler discussions over it, whereas a fandomer seeks to create a separate identity for him/herself within a larger or more established fannish community. But of course, there are gradients between the two terms - like lurkers for example. Do they lurk because they have nothing to contribute or do they have strong opinions of their own but are too shy to express them? Is the correct terminology "lurking" to begin with? sflkj not sure where I'm going with this. Complexity of semantics: 1, me: 0... XD;

What about the people who read only half the books, watched half the movies, and read/write a disgusting amount of Mary Sue-in-Hogwarts fic -- are they in the fandom?Well there are those desperate for attention for its own sake, heh. ( ... )

ex_trolleys April 5 2008, 08:03:49 UTC

P.S. THAT GIRL WHO SINGS RYEOWOOK'S PART TOTALLY LOOKS LIKE HIM. DYING.

fishpatrol April 8 2008, 21:09:24 UTC

Haha, yessss -- she's got the hair down perfectly. XD And the girl who does Heechul looks a lot like him in several of the shots! I just watched the making-of video yesterday and I'm now even more impressed at the accuracy of the hair and the clothes and everything.

fishpatrol April 8 2008, 21:03:26 UTC

whereas a fandomer seeks to create a separate identity for him/herself within a larger or more established fannish community

Identity! Yes, that's exactly it! That's the point that I was missing when I was mulling this over.

1-D and 2-D fandoms don't work nearly as well with AUs because it feels like cheating, in a way?

Hmm, that's an interesting point -- I guess since 1D and 2D fandoms already have their own story and part of "fanning" over these sources is because of the pre-existing story that AUs seem...more purposeless (for a lack of a better term). AUs are very common in bandom, it seems! Which totally makes sense since AUs are about playing with the characters and bandom is all about the people, really, and now I've lost my train of thought ( ... )

trixie_chick April 5 2008, 11:12:28 UTC

The easiest way for me to conceptualize canon and fanon is simply: canon is the way I interpret the original source; fanon is everyone else's interpretation. XD

hee, ain't that the truth? ^_^

there's a huge continuum there, but you've describes well the polar ends of it. there's a certain minimal involvement that defines a fan, but there's a world of difference between someone who watches a show once a week to someone who devotes so much energy and time and thought to something. it ends up being a total different experience, so it's easy to think (for the fan, anyway) that one is a "true fan" or something, but, well. you get out of something what you put into it? obsession can change the source of the obsession for the obsessee?

but yeah, interesting thoughts...

fishpatrol April 8 2008, 20:51:52 UTC

obsession can change the source of the obsession for the obsessee?

That's a very good point! That describes the situation where someone might end up becoming more immersed in the fandom than the original source, someone who says that they like the fandom better than the show/the book/etc.

I guess I was also wondering when people determine the threshold between being a "fandomer" and simply a "fan"? For instance, there's this band that I like; I love their music, I occasionally watch clips of them and even more occasionally, I read fic about them. But I wouldn't consider myself in the fandom though. The line between being a "fan" and a "fan-fandomer" is a very blurred one. XD

disutansu April 9 2008, 03:26:40 UTC

Now this is something really interesting to think about. I think everyone else can say it better than I can. For me being in the fandom... just means immersing myself in a world that fans have created (the good, the bad, and the horrid and all those in between). Of course, we have to know the canon well enough at least. XD;; And we all drift into that corner of the fandom that feels most comfortable to us (i.e. a certain pairing or school or character or whatnot).

I think anyway. ^-^;;