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puppetmakerI swear sometimes people hold up a fandom that they are not part of and point at the crazies within the fandom to make themselves feel better about their fandom and their crazies within their fandom.
It’s like when you see pictures in the News Media (or what is left of it) of DragonCon and what do you see? People in outrageous costumes. There are over 30,000 people attending the convention and only a small percentage of the group garb up for the convention but those are the pictures that the general population sees. And that is how they form their opinion about what goes on at these conventions.
I can remember that Ariel wanted to bring one of her friends to a local convention and I had about an hour long talk with this girl’s mother about the convention and try to get rid of her preconceived notions of what the convention was. It took a while but the mother trusted me enough that she let her daughter go. Her daughter had a great time and did not give up on her religion or join a cult or get caught up in that goth-devil stuff that the mother informed me that she had read about.
From the outside looking in, fandom can look pretty wacky but inside the group, it can be very different. I have been in various forms of fandom over 30 years now. Some fandom I go in when it just started and others a little later but when they caught my interest. And not all of it is Media based. I belong to doll fandom and muppet fandom and various other forms of fandom although they don’t call themselves fans, that is basically what they are.
Overall I have found fandom to be a good group of people. They have each others backs when needed. They are a sympathetic ear when you need it especially when others just don’t get your fandom. There are in-jokes and bad puns that only the others get. There is shorthand that makes perfect sense to you but you have to translate for anyone else. For some it becomes family and that is not a bad thing. Fandom has helped me through some rather troubled times and I appreciate that a lot.
It is, however, the few out and out crazies and con artists that can just ruin it for the rest of us. There are some people in fandom that are mentally not all there. There are some that are power tripping on the Fandom and trying to make themselves a Big Name Fan (BNF) within the small group so they can feel empowered with something in their lives. And then there are the compulsive liars and out and out cheats who would be (or are) doing the exact same thing outside of fandom as they do within fandom. Those are the people I have the biggest problem with. And the fact that they “re-invent” themselves and have a go at another form of fandom just makes me angrier at their behavior. Those are the people who are pointed out as to why that form of fandom is bad. And I have to say that some pros are just as bad as the fans in this regard.
Yes, this is coming from something that I have been alerted to. You either know of what I am talking about or be glad that you’re clueless in this matter. I think I am angry with this because any good will that a fandom has created with those outside the fandom can be wrecked pretty quickly with those sorts of shenanigans And the people within the fandom who were rather giving become total cynics about anything and everything and I find that sad.
I am grateful for the sane and giving people in fandom. Y’all make it worth it.
It’s like when you see pictures in the News Media (or what is left of it) of DragonCon and what do you see? People in outrageous costumes. There are over 30,000 people attending the convention and only a small percentage of the group garb up for the convention but those are the pictures that the general population sees. And that is how they form their opinion about what goes on at these conventions.
I can remember that Ariel wanted to bring one of her friends to a local convention and I had about an hour long talk with this girl’s mother about the convention and try to get rid of her preconceived notions of what the convention was. It took a while but the mother trusted me enough that she let her daughter go. Her daughter had a great time and did not give up on her religion or join a cult or get caught up in that goth-devil stuff that the mother informed me that she had read about.
From the outside looking in, fandom can look pretty wacky but inside the group, it can be very different. I have been in various forms of fandom over 30 years now. Some fandom I go in when it just started and others a little later but when they caught my interest. And not all of it is Media based. I belong to doll fandom and muppet fandom and various other forms of fandom although they don’t call themselves fans, that is basically what they are.
Overall I have found fandom to be a good group of people. They have each others backs when needed. They are a sympathetic ear when you need it especially when others just don’t get your fandom. There are in-jokes and bad puns that only the others get. There is shorthand that makes perfect sense to you but you have to translate for anyone else. For some it becomes family and that is not a bad thing. Fandom has helped me through some rather troubled times and I appreciate that a lot.
It is, however, the few out and out crazies and con artists that can just ruin it for the rest of us. There are some people in fandom that are mentally not all there. There are some that are power tripping on the Fandom and trying to make themselves a Big Name Fan (BNF) within the small group so they can feel empowered with something in their lives. And then there are the compulsive liars and out and out cheats who would be (or are) doing the exact same thing outside of fandom as they do within fandom. Those are the people I have the biggest problem with. And the fact that they “re-invent” themselves and have a go at another form of fandom just makes me angrier at their behavior. Those are the people who are pointed out as to why that form of fandom is bad. And I have to say that some pros are just as bad as the fans in this regard.
Yes, this is coming from something that I have been alerted to. You either know of what I am talking about or be glad that you’re clueless in this matter. I think I am angry with this because any good will that a fandom has created with those outside the fandom can be wrecked pretty quickly with those sorts of shenanigans And the people within the fandom who were rather giving become total cynics about anything and everything and I find that sad.
I am grateful for the sane and giving people in fandom. Y’all make it worth it.
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no subject
Date: 2009-12-12 04:06 pm (UTC)Please permit me one nitpick?
Dragon*Con, from what I've seen at the two I've been to (I realize some might still call me a newbie!), is primarily a costuming con. It's the rare person I see who's not in some costume or homage to a fictional (or fictionalized) character.
Your point about costuming at a convention might be better made with San Diego as an example, where costumed attendees are prevalent, but not the overwhelming majority.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-12 04:45 pm (UTC)I think that the costumes get more play at DragonCon because of all the contests but there are a lot of people not dressed up which tends to get overwhelmed by all the costumes in the halls. But I can be a little costume blind due to my involvement with judging various contests.
D'Con does very much encourage costuming which is a good thing but it's not the only thing going on but if you look at the news media it is the only thing you see.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-12 04:48 pm (UTC)I go to D*C to costume and look at costumes, so it's certainly most of what I've seen there. (By which I mean that's my POV and experience, your mileage may certainly vary.)
no subject
Date: 2009-12-12 05:00 pm (UTC)You going again this year?
no subject
Date: 2009-12-12 05:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-12 04:55 pm (UTC)I've been thinking a fair bit about fandom due to my recent trip to Philcon, and have been having the re-realization that, for the most part, I *still* feel excluded by fandom-as-a-whole, even after being involved with it for decades. I've had less experience with the "looks wacky from the outside" nature of fandom and more experience with the "it's our clubhouse and you can't play" nature of fandom.
I'm very grateful, though, for the many individual fans I've met over time who've met me halfway, one on one, to share their interests and their joys.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-12 05:03 pm (UTC)I find myself on the outside on occasion because I am considered a pro and the wife of a known writer of stuff. Which is why I don't make a big deal on the Internet about my connections or my pro friends.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-12 07:39 pm (UTC)I find myself on the outside mostly when people find I'm a retailer. Somehow the notion that a retailer could possibly be a fan is irreconcilable in many minds. And don't even get me started on the literary-fandom-versus-media-fandom wars that I've witnessed. I straddle both worlds with ease and am not really sure why there's such an ongoing flap.
I should clarify that Philcon's a rare exception to the outsiderness, in my world. Philcon is homey to me, and I'm accepted for being who I am, warts and all, likes and dislikes.
But I've been out of comics fandom for a long time, and the Patty-verse exists in a pre-1994 bubble, kind of like Earth-C. DOCTOR WHO fandom is a different animal now than before the revival and before TORCHWOOD. The world that had Shirley M.'s Welcommittee for Roddenberry's STAR TREK is a different world than the world that now includes the Internet and J.J. Abrams' STAR TREK.
I just hate when fandom turns on itself. That's what makes me feel like an outsider the most.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-14 02:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-12 05:53 pm (UTC)I think I know exactly who you're talking about. But put it this way--word is out now and it's going to be harder for that person to pull the same stunts as before.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-12 10:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-12 05:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-12 10:40 pm (UTC)I have had to deal with others opinions about conventions based on their exposure to them through the media and it can be hard to convince that there is more than that.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-14 02:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-13 02:11 am (UTC)OTOH, as far as fandom goes, it's an odd world in some ways, and I have (as both a participant in some, and on the fringes of others) found it both welcoming and shunning on occasion. The shunning times hurt very badly, and I never did try to go back into it as deeply as I was, after. That said, the new fandom worlds I've found since have always looked nice, from the vantagepoint I have now.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-15 03:06 am (UTC)It's that sense of meeting someone and saying, "You too? I thought I was the only one." It was much harder back in the pre-Internet days. I think I've been to D*Con for 14 years now (or so?) and I'd never dream of missing it.
There is so much more to D*Con than just costuming. It's a family. And if your family is anything like mine, you know that there are great family members you can't wait to see that you have tons in common with. And there are asshats, too, just like anywhere else.