Fandom and Deathly Hallows

[thescarletwoman]

While sitting on the couch today, resting my hand (it is MUCH better, at long last. Not picking up the violin any time soon -- but it's better!) I started thinking about the release of DH only 100 some odd days away, what will happen to fandom.

So -- a little poll. And please, pass it around. I'd love to get a huge response!

Poll Fandom and DH

Comments

[froda_baggins]

Fandom will, of course, explode in a giant fiery ball of wank.

[ragdoll]

I think things will slow down as they inevitably due when a story comes to an end. We'll lost a bunch of people but others will continue to hang around. It's been 40 years since Star Trek first aired. There are still ST:TOS fans. It's been 10 years since Buffy first aired. There are still Buffy fans. There are still Babylon 5 fans and Lord of the Rings fans and old school Battlestar Galactica fans and Robin of Sherwood fans etc. Plus there are new fans out there who have never read the books or seen the films, regardless of their age, and they'll suddenly find it, get the bug and want to talk to other people about it.

It won't be as bright and shiny and filled with speculation but people will still want to draw pretty pictures and write stories and play in the sandbox, even if it's now a smaller and less exciting one.

[r_grayjoy]

This fandom is huge. I don't think it'll die off. There likely will be a gradual decline, but it won't die completely. I hope.

Here's my prediction for a rough order of events:
1. DH release
2. tidal wave of wank, in which a lot of people threaten to leave the fandom
3. almost everyone gets over it
4. fic and art happen again
5. people become more open to AU and 'canon-tinkering' (I sincerely hope)
6. the fandom diminishes somewhat as people wander off to other fandoms, but a lot of us will continue to read/write/draw/etc. in this one as well
7. I don't want to think beyond that ;P

Normally I would say that new canon = new possibilities for fic, but with this book... probably not so much. But I AM sincerely hoping people will be seriously motivated to write 'alternate endings'!

Anyway, I'm not going anywhere. ::pitches a tent and prepares for the long haul::

[fernwithy]

I think AU will be more possible when the series ends, because we know what all of those little details mean (or don't mean)--we'll know that if we pull on X string, the consequences are going to reverberate along Y line... we'll know the logic of the thing for sure.

[fernwithy]

The first thing that will happen is a huge rush of discussion, followed by a huge rush of fic.

After that, things will slow down, but not die out--it will most likely, imho, go to the level of other "perpetual" fandoms, like Tolkien or Douglas Adams or Star Trek or whatever--a major factor in the fan world, but the people who have to be on the latest bandwagon will move on to whatever comes next.

For myself, whether I drift out or stay in the "permanent fandom" will probably have a lot to do with how it works itself out. Are there lots of interesting things to talk about.

[niko_hime]

Yeah, no I don't think that fandom will die out, not completely. I think that, with the series over, there will be a lot of... I don't want to call them AUs, but PUs - possible universe - fics. Because we'll know (thanks to her closing chapter) what happens to most of the characters. But we won't - I'm guessing - know *how* it happened. Or what will happen beyond that in the world of Magic. This of course following the explosion of fandom that always happens after the releae of a new book and will probably simmer for another year yet.
As for myself, I think that this series will always be a part of my life. I fully plan on passing it along to my offspring, along with Tolkein and L'Engle and a hundred others. And some day, if we're lucky, maybe fandom will be rekindled in our kids. I mean, hell, I only just found out that my mom slashed Kirk/Spock when she was my age, I'm sure my kids and I will have a similar revelation regarding Remus/Sirius :P