![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Aug. 16th, 2006 09:03 amWho knew that there was an alternative Buffy theme? hee hee hee
Aug. 16th, 2006
more fandom thoughts
Aug. 16th, 2006 09:26 amI started this post in a conversation in ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cindywrites journal and then decided it was drifting too far and to put in my own lj.
We were discussing Kristen Bell's comments in interviews about VM and her watching/not watching the show and expressing opinions that run counter to a lot of fan opinion.
Over the past few years I've just really started to have some mixed feelings about fandoms, which I think is part of what was driving my defense of KB in my friend's journal. Fans are so invested and sometimes seem to take comments from those involved so personally. It troubles me sometimes. On a personal level it can interfere with my own enjoyment of a show. (I've commented before that I swore that I would never get involved in fandoms again because it's such a double-edged sword. Of course I keep dipping my toe in anyway.)
So, yes, fandom. It's been my observation in the past couple of years or more that fandom itself is something of a double-edged sword for the shows that they support. They're obsessed, they love fiercely, they bring energy and buzz and even sometimes keep a show alive. Every show needs and wants a rabid audience. But fans can have a crippling effect too. And I'm not sure that that self awareness is present as much as it should be. I love Veronica Mars but I kinda stay away from the fans--except for the people I already know--because they kinda scare me. And I worry sometimes that they have the opposite affect from the one that is intended when it comes to bringing new fans to the show.
It's a fine line between enthusiasm and off-putting obnoxiousness. To draw an example from a different setting on the television dial: I watched Farscape occassionally when it was on the air. Didn't love it, didn't hate it. I tended not to make time to watch it, but maybe would have gotten into it eventually. My feelings were basically neutral. However. Over the years, there's a segment of the fandom that has struck me as so obnoxious, smug, so "this is the best show ever, ever, ever, and all else is crap, and if you don't like this you're obviously stupid, you have no taste, and how can you like "X" and not like this, there's something wrong with you." (I'm paraphrasing a little. Maybe a lot. But the attitude is there.) It's a huge turn off for me. I don't think I will ever watch Farscape now. Petty of me? Yes. Am I missing out on something really good? Probably. But it has these associations for me now. And I can't get past them. Sorry to all of my Farscape friends out there. Nothing personal against any of you. I love you all and I'm not thinking of you in the context of this paragraph.
The above has been an eye-opening personal revelation for me. I don't proselytize very aggressively for "my" shows anymore. I don't want to be the one that turns a potential fan into an annoyed "get away from me with this show"-type of person. I watch a little bit of what goes on in the VM universe and I worry that as hard as they're working to bring in new fans, they may be sending a lot of people running in the other direction too. It's why as a fan of various shows, I have to keep things a little lighter in my public fannishness. I obsess from my living room. (Boy, do I ever.) But "out there," I have to keep a little bit of emotional distance, or the fun goes away and the angst and the stress replaces it. I have enough of that in my real life. I finally realized that I don't need it in my fan life too.
Standard disclaimer: All of the above is not to say people who "do" fandom differently are wrong or that anyone has to agree with me. It's just how my own thinking and interactions have evolved over the years.
cindywrites journal and then decided it was drifting too far and to put in my own lj.We were discussing Kristen Bell's comments in interviews about VM and her watching/not watching the show and expressing opinions that run counter to a lot of fan opinion.
Over the past few years I've just really started to have some mixed feelings about fandoms, which I think is part of what was driving my defense of KB in my friend's journal. Fans are so invested and sometimes seem to take comments from those involved so personally. It troubles me sometimes. On a personal level it can interfere with my own enjoyment of a show. (I've commented before that I swore that I would never get involved in fandoms again because it's such a double-edged sword. Of course I keep dipping my toe in anyway.)
So, yes, fandom. It's been my observation in the past couple of years or more that fandom itself is something of a double-edged sword for the shows that they support. They're obsessed, they love fiercely, they bring energy and buzz and even sometimes keep a show alive. Every show needs and wants a rabid audience. But fans can have a crippling effect too. And I'm not sure that that self awareness is present as much as it should be. I love Veronica Mars but I kinda stay away from the fans--except for the people I already know--because they kinda scare me. And I worry sometimes that they have the opposite affect from the one that is intended when it comes to bringing new fans to the show.
It's a fine line between enthusiasm and off-putting obnoxiousness. To draw an example from a different setting on the television dial: I watched Farscape occassionally when it was on the air. Didn't love it, didn't hate it. I tended not to make time to watch it, but maybe would have gotten into it eventually. My feelings were basically neutral. However. Over the years, there's a segment of the fandom that has struck me as so obnoxious, smug, so "this is the best show ever, ever, ever, and all else is crap, and if you don't like this you're obviously stupid, you have no taste, and how can you like "X" and not like this, there's something wrong with you." (I'm paraphrasing a little. Maybe a lot. But the attitude is there.) It's a huge turn off for me. I don't think I will ever watch Farscape now. Petty of me? Yes. Am I missing out on something really good? Probably. But it has these associations for me now. And I can't get past them. Sorry to all of my Farscape friends out there. Nothing personal against any of you. I love you all and I'm not thinking of you in the context of this paragraph.
The above has been an eye-opening personal revelation for me. I don't proselytize very aggressively for "my" shows anymore. I don't want to be the one that turns a potential fan into an annoyed "get away from me with this show"-type of person. I watch a little bit of what goes on in the VM universe and I worry that as hard as they're working to bring in new fans, they may be sending a lot of people running in the other direction too. It's why as a fan of various shows, I have to keep things a little lighter in my public fannishness. I obsess from my living room. (Boy, do I ever.) But "out there," I have to keep a little bit of emotional distance, or the fun goes away and the angst and the stress replaces it. I have enough of that in my real life. I finally realized that I don't need it in my fan life too.
Standard disclaimer: All of the above is not to say people who "do" fandom differently are wrong or that anyone has to agree with me. It's just how my own thinking and interactions have evolved over the years.
(no subject)
Aug. 16th, 2006 10:46 pmI just finished listening to Tim's podcast for Project Runway. Boy does he really not like Vincent. Like, at all.