Don't Tease the Mundanes

[puppetmaker]

I can remember that I first saw that phrase about half way through the list of rules for a science fiction convention. I knew what a Mundane was because I was pretty well versed in sci-fi fan short hand. I found it strange that they put that in the list but found out later that it had to do with something that had happened at a previous convention to a wedding reception group and a group of fans both of which had a bit too much to drink. The hotel almost paid the kill fee on the contract and kicked the convention out.

That phrase came back to me this weekend since school was in session while the convention was going on. Usually the convention is on the spring break weekend of the college and most of the kids are off campus. Now a number of the students participate in the convention either as attendees or as staff and they have a blast. There are also a number of high school students from the area who do that same. It is a good mix of younger and older fans.

Stony Brook has a weapons policy and they do enforce it. Just because one is cosplaying doesn't mean that you can swing your keyblade around with abandonment. It will be confiscated by the campus police. I heard the cops tell you where and when you could get it back too after the convention. Threatening the campus under your breath to your buddies will win you no friends from the local constabulary and believe me they heard you too.

Either this year there was a rule I didn't see about wings or no one was wearing them because of all the problems they caused last year with just trying to move through the dealers' room. Which was a blessing indeed especially for someone like Caroline who is right at the height to get poked in the eye by the tip of a wing. However, I do understand the use of props as part of your costume to complete the look but if you are going to carry around something that extends past you and can be very hazardous to other people who are just trying to walk from point A to point B, think twice and leave the prop at home. I'm talking to the individuals who were carrying either the giant striped hammers or the over sized foam core swords that when you prop it on your shoulder and swing around everyone has to jump back a foot to avoid being hit.

I'm glad that (insert character here) is your favorite character in the universe and you want to dress up like them. May I politely ask if you looked in a mirror after putting on your costume? Dance belts are our friends and I really don't care to see the outline of your dangly bits mashed up into the spandex without support. To another costumer who really needs a mirror, the reason everyone was talking pictures is that none of them thought their friends would believe what they saw standing in front of them. If you wanted to wear that costume, there were ways of doing it that would not make it such a spectacle. I would bet that you have had that costume for a while and have put on a little weight since the first time you put it on.

To the Idiots who were still partying and running up and down the halls after midnight at the hotel. You were not young kids. Some of you were my age and older. People are trying to sleep. The hotel has not rented out the entire hotel to the convention therefore the areas where the guest rooms are is the place where some people are trying to get some sleep. And there are a number of people who are attending the convention who went to bed at a reasonable hour so they could get up early for what they wanted to do at the convention. You are not helping fandom in the least by arguing loudly and probably drunkly about various aspects of a certain scifi TV show.

Maybe I'm getting old or maybe just getting sensitive about how my fandom is perceived from the outside. But these sorts of things I do see and wince about. No, my behavior was not perfect when I was a young fan and I know that. But a majority of the people I am talking about were my age or older. Also complaining about the Mundanes in the bar in a loud voice while the locals are there to drink is really bad form. I'm just saying....

I am grateful to all the fans there who took the time to explain to the Mundanes what was going on and giving them useful information. A couple of people came to the convention who had never been there because of what you said.

Comments

[amarafox.livejournal.com]

Augh!

People who wear spandex costumes without cups. My eyes were seared out of their sockets by a spiderman at Dragon*con.

Augh!

THE PAIN.

[geekgrl64.livejournal.com]

Spot on! Especially about the costuming and the dance belt. Have a great Tuesday!

[jeff-morris.livejournal.com]

You need to post this on ICG's list or send it to the newsletter.

[spydielives.livejournal.com]

I often wish the a hotel room will offer better mirrors in which to view my full appearance before stepping out to present myself to the world.

But that does not explain the rest of the Con.

*carries eye bleach for emergencies*

[prairie-dweller.livejournal.com]

Ahh the many joys of weekend among the CON-Nation. Back in the 80s there seemed to be a fascination with barbarian queen costumes that involved plastic wrap. For some people, there was no amount of plastic wrap that could hold back the ... ewwwwwww ... factor.

If the hotels offered a special set of CON rooms for the weekend, I always made sure to request one many floors away. As I was primarily a gamer it never failed that someone wanted to move a game up to the hotel room at 0100 and I could always says "Nope, my room is in the quiet area of the hotel."

It must feel really good to spend a weekend dressed oddly, behaving oddly, and believing the whole world forgives your inconsiderate behavior because ... you know ... you're at a fantasy convention.

[popfiend.livejournal.com]

You are correct.

So so correct.

Especially about the costuming.

Whoa.

[beldar.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking of printing this out for use at our next con-comm meeting.

Yes, cameltoe has no place in cosplay -- yet it happens.

[wonderbink.livejournal.com]

I think it's a function of the Geek Social Fallacies (http://www.plausiblydeniable.com/opinion/gsf.html)--calling people on their bad behavior has a strange kind of taboo on it.

[vysion-of-books.livejournal.com]

Getting old? Nah. No more than anyone else. Bad behavior is always bad behavior but we aren't aware of it when we're younger.

[rosepurr.livejournal.com]

I hate the term mundane. It is inherently pejorative and adds to the "us" v. "them" mentality that pervades fandom.

There's a game some fen play called, "Freak the Mundanes" where they do dumb stuff so they can get a reaction from people who don't (outwardly) look like fen. Yeah. Way to make us look like complete asshats.

It seems like a lot of people stumble into fandom, not because they love some aspect of it, but because no one else will take them. Those people make me bugfuck.

[caitriona27.livejournal.com]

The same can be said for faire. Including the dance belt and tights.

I can't wait for WWE.. :shudder:

Eta- Spandex is a priveledge not a right.

[wherdafux-d-cat.livejournal.com]

The costume bits are right on the money for faires, too. I know, showing off what you've got (or not) is part of the fun but good lord people, use some common sense. And a mirror. Not to mention please notice what the corset is doing to your figure below it as well as above. *is considering adding a pair of sporks to her faire kit for emergency self-blinding*

[e-cunningham.livejournal.com]

Agreed. Conversely, the general populace should leave the con-goers in peace.

At one GenCon, I was coming back from the out-lying site of King Azoun's funeral, a Forgotten Realms event. Participants were encouraged to come in costumes. (There was a lovely battalion of Purple Dragons in attendance, very well done.) So I went in full Renaissance drag--red and gold, very noticeable attire, especially when it's on a nearly-six-foot-tall woman. These two guys in khakis and polo shirts came up to engage me in conversation. Little guys, very shiny and suburban and earnest. They wanted to know what I thought I was. I explained that this was a costume, as I was attending a fantasy convention. "What do you do there?" they wanted to know. I told them I was a fantasy writer, and that attending the occasional fantasy convention came with the package. "Oh. What do you write?" Mind you, having grown up in a fundamentalist church, I can scent faux interest--prepping the ground for application of Truth--from sixty paces, and I was quickly losing patience with these guys. "Sword and sorcery novels," I replied shortly. One of the guys blinked and asked, "Do you BELIEVE in that?" I did an e-lock and said coolly, "I've seen a lot of swords. It's hard NOT to believe in them." Sarcasm coupled with a cold-eyed stare from a nearly-six-foot person is usually an effective deterent. They backed off and handed me a card--Promise Keepers--and scuttled off.

But I saw other Promise Keepers, as well as a couple of street corner hellfire-and-brimstone preacher, harranging con-goers over the weekend. Sure, some of the attendees might have needled them. And yes, conventions do not have, or at least do not enforce, a No Assholes rule. But flip that coin over for a moment. For certain people, events outside the pale offer a chance to Witness, to stand for what is Right and Decent, to Protest the Dissolution of Society, to show the heathen the Errors of Their Ways. Some of these folk do so in a non-intrusive fashion. But some of them need to consider at which point Freedom of Speech might conflict with someone else's Freedom of Assembly. These folk would not be amused if people stood outside a Baptist church every Sunday morning to proclaim, "The Singularity is Near!" or pass out pamphets explaining how church-goers can be cleansed of their thetons. They would not be pleased if Jehovah's Witnesses or Seventh-day Adventists stood up during the homily to explain via "proof texts" how their theology is in error. They don't want atheists or square-dancers or environmentalists showing up to push their particular agendas or hobbies. I don't think it's too much to ask that they show similar respect and restraint.

[thetripper]

For years at DragonCon, we stayed in the Hyatt. It was where my staff wanted to stay and it was where the action was. For a photographer, it's a target-rich environment.

Fast forward to last year and I decided to burn some Marriott points and get a room at the Marquis. Boy, was I NOT disappointed. Concierge floor, quick and attentive staff, and one of the finest restaurants at a hotel I've been to outside of New Orleans or New York. And quiet. There's something about being 42 stories up from the mayhem that kills noise.