Science fiction, conventions, and the 21st century.

[kishiriadgr]

Recently there was a controversy about SF conventions and if they were doomed because so many younger fans are brought in by gasp! MEDIA. This trend probably got it start when Star Trek's original series made its debut. But in true "Get out of my yard, you damn kids!" fashion, some elder literary fans have been predicting the death of SF

Comments

[helenkacan]

Illogical (IMO) assumption, thinking that SF cons would die out. No matter what the catalyst (lit, tv series, film, webisodes), I don't think a SF fan exists who doesn't like to share perceptions/opinions/whatever about their fave characters, etc. Even introverts can get into a spirited discussion with like-minded folk (something I'd like to see studied by psychologists).

I still feel the call of the "weird" even if it's been at least 20 years since I attended a con.

[selenite]

Eh. My local literary conventions have video rooms and panels talking about TV shows. The big comic cons get posts from authors talking about how many books they sold at their booth. There's a lot of overlap.

[kallisti]

I've been working on conventions since the early 80s, and every 10 years or so, there is a "Conventions are going to die out because there are no younger fans" type editorials in fanzines, and now on-line. The reality is that as many fans start coming to SF cons as adults as they do as teenagers, if not more so

[wombat_socho]

I think your second paragraph hits the nail squarely on the head. If someone comes to a convention without their friends and finds themselves shut out socially because they came to SF through the "wrong door", then they won't be back.

Not too surprised Comic Cons and Creation Cons are complaining about socializing; they've always been for-profit, all about separating fans from their money, and any time fans spend making friends and talking is time they're not spending giving money to dealers or actors (for autographs).

I think most people in geek culture these days have multiple interests - media fans into comics and steampunk, literary fans into TV and movies, etc. Most of the whining and complaining seems to come from a hard core of older fans who think SF books and magazines are the Best and that nobody who doesn't know them should be called Real Fans. I went on about the long history of this kind of asshat behavior here, if you're interested, but avoid the comments - a lot of people with poor reading comprehension skills

[kallisti]

Fandom is a *community*, and when you try to separate the community from the event, things go badly. That's what make Creation Cons bad, and is slowly doing the same to Comic Cons as they continue to grow and loose the people element. I have been vilified by Mediafen for being too "literary", and vice versa. There is a well know Toronto Trufan that refused to acknowledge my contributions because she doesn't consider me a true "lit" fan, despite starting and running one of the longest "lit" SF conventions in Canada, CAN-CON, and founding one of Canada's longest running APAs

[wombat_socho]

We seem to agree on a fair amount of things regarding fandom. Have you considered joining the N3F? A lot of what they do goes on online or via e-mail these days, and they're looking for SF/fantasy fans regardless of the medium.