2012 fannish year in review

[heresluck]

Past years: 2011 | 2010 | 2008-09 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004

Comments

[jarrow]

I have to say, it still amuses and confounds me that Glee, of all things, became your big fandom. (As I know it surprised you!) And you know I'm obviously in it, so you know where I'm coming from when I say this -- but, like -- you're one of the most delightful and smartest people I know! And our show is QUITE TERRIBLE AND STUPID much of the time. WHAT ARE WE DOING. We are sucked in, because of gays and their feelings. Damn them.

Anyway. I'm glad you were able to find your way through the jungle that is Glee fandom and enjoy the parts you enjoy without letting all the sludge wear you down. I've been reading a lot of fic lately, too, and I'm finding it a fantastic alternative to not just a hiatus, but often the show itself, ahem. Yay for fic.

I look forward to whatever vids you may produce next year! We should race each other to see who can complete one of their FNL vids first. (Spoiler: We might both die first.)

[sdwolfpup]

We should race each other to see who can complete one of their FNL vids first. (Spoiler: We might both die first.)

Not if I have to drag you both to your computers and give you CPR while you finish them. IJS.

[heresluck]

The Glee thing continues to bewilder me. IDEK. WHAT ARE WE DOING. It is SUCH a flawed show! And yet I find that I am just not that interested in cataloging its flaws, because it would take months and be so fucking exhausting. Which means, basically, no meta for me! The meta that praises the show makes me roll my eyes, the meta that criticizes the show makes me tired... I would rather handwave and move on. Which is so completely NOT my normal fannish m.o. I'm beginning to think Glee is my fannish midlife crisis or something.

But I've found two wonderful people on Tumblr who post frequently and cheerfully and who tag for spoilers (worth their weight in gold, omg), and that is pretty much meeting my day-to-day Glee fandom needs.

And I will do anything that ups the likelihood of your finishing an FNL vid! GIMME! *makes grabby hands*

[amnisias]

So many of the fans I encounter, especially on Tumblr, are the same age as my students or even younger, which is just... deeply weird for me.

Ditto! Luckily the internets neutralize age differences quite a bit in the sense that you are not confronted with a person's age the way you are in a face--to-face conversation unless you go looking for it. But the language, conversation style and approach to fandom still gives away the age by proxy. And while I do not necessarily 'mind' - sweet lord, it makes me feel like being at work. That's why I don't really go outside of LJ, since it appears that it's set-up attracts the more emotionally mature fans interested in conversation and discourse compared to something like tumblr. Due to the nature of my interests (Whedonverse, FNL, Homeland, Vidding) my flist circles are naturally biased to the older age group, I wouldn't even know how to start navigating a fondom like Glee. Kudos to you for braving the hormones!

[heresluck]

You're quite right; there are plenty of very bright, very mature college-aged kids in Glee whose age wasn't immediately apparent to me. And then there are the rest of them. Heh. And yes, exactly, it's like work. I mean, I love my job, and I love working with kids that age, but not 24/7, please! (Though I will say that reading my students' writing has largely inured me to some of the errors I routinely see in fic - errors that are, alas, not limited to that age demographic.)

Like yours, my usual fandom circles generally skew older; there were a lot of shrieky teenagers in Buffy fandom when I first got into it, but 1) I was much younger then myself, and 2) even then, we mostly didn't hang out in the same places. Glee is definitely an anomaly for me! But I'm still having fun, and that's what matters. :D