On Fandoms

[Mich]

This is pretty stupid, but it's something I've been pondering for a while, ever since Satya first wrote "welcome to the herd" to me, in regards to those dreadful, colorful ponies.

My first reaction was an eye-roll (not that I don't love you Satya, or that I don't enjoy watching the antics of those same miniature horses) because, well, I may be watching My Little Pony at the moment, but I'm just watching it. I don't consider myself a part of the fandom or anything. And then I realized that I don't consider myself a part of any fandom, not even the Ender's Game one. I mean, I stick around here for the overall community, not for the actual Ender stuff, although I do enjoy the news of it because I still consider myself a fan, just not a member of the fandom.

I started asking my meatspace friends about it. What do they consider being "a part of a fandom"?

My coworker defined it as being a "fanboy" or "-girl", where you defend something no matter what. You justify any negative qualities and insist that it is better than anything else.
My supervisor stated that it was something you are part of less and less as you age, probably, but it was at least something you go out of your way to celebrate, like going to a convention or such.
My high school friend said that, if you go out of your way to seek out more information, you're a part of the fandom. He considers himself a part of the fandoms of all of the TV shows he keeps up with, for instance.

The most interesting thing the last one said was "there's a difference between being a part of the fandom and feeling like that fandom is a part of what defines you," which I guess was pretty close to the definition that I at first assumed. I at first said that I wasn't a part of the Ender's Game fandom because, if EG stopped existing, either because it was banner or all books were burned or something, I would still, for instance, come here for other reasons. My life would continue on as if nothing had really changed. Whereas I imagined a real fandom as something that would be a hole in your life if it left.

So I guess my question is this: what fandoms do you feel you are a part of, if any? How do you define a fandom? Would you consider it a bad thing to be a part of, a good thing to be a part of, or just a thing that's there, like living in a specific building or preferring Mexican food over Chinese?

I really have no idea why this has been running through my head lately. Yeah philosophical quandaries over nothing!

[Satya]

Eh.. it's early so I might have just skimmed this..

So, to me it's just any community you find yourself involved in. I guess that means you could consider your "actual" real life community/neighborhood a "fandom" then. Or a politician you actively support, or a favorite sports team, or whatever. Like with EG, I mean I liked the books and such but I don't come here for any of that, at least not anymore. And like with the MLP thing, there are members of our 'community' in certain sites that don't even watch the show, or who just watched a bit and didn't like it much, but enjoy talking to the other fans. It's a broad and user-defined concept. And there are always going to be levels of involvement in any given thing that attracts fans/viewers/communities; the hardcore super fans who dress up, go to conventions, buy a ton of merchandise, write stories, draw pictures, and in general drive the fandom, and there are going to be moderate fans who watch/read/enjoy whatever it is a lot, buy some stuff, read the stories, save the pictures, etc, and there are going to be fringe members who maybe watch/read/enjoy it a little (or not at all), never buy anything, don't care for any fan stuff, and just happen to be friends and members of the community of fans anyways.

[Mich]

I guess that's a good point. The fandom can encompass anyone at all who considers themselves a fan, from the lowliest of the "just barely watches/reads it" to "HURR DURR I HAVE PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN THEMED ROOMS". So it really doesn't matter and/or apply to anything that I was thinking about, at all. I don't even really know why it seemed so important.

[zeroguy]

This is pretty stupid, but it's something I've been pondering for a while, ever since Satya first wrote "welcome to the herd" to me, in regards to those dreadful, colorful ponies.

I've always interpreted this more in a "now you're addicted, you'll never leave bwahaha" kind of way.

And then I realized that I don't consider myself a part of any fandom, not even the Ender's Game one.

Aside from treating a "fandom" like any other community... there isn't much of an EG fandom to me. For me, I see fandoms as largely being created and maintained by fan works (or possibly official merchandise or stuff for fans to obsess over). Like, you need a "thing" to do related to thing you're fans of. And OSC being who he is, there's not a lot of that for EG, so there's not exactly a lot of people that, say, spend all of their waking free time on EG-related things.

That's just what I think of it as, though. It's a bit narrow, and each group has their own definition for it; that's just what comes to mind for me when I see the word.

I at first said that I wasn't a part of the Ender's Game fandom because, if EG stopped existing, either because it was banner or all books were burned or something, I would still, for instance, come here for other reasons. My life would continue on as if nothing had really changed. Whereas I imagined a real fandom as something that would be a hole in your life if it left.

One more thing on this. With MLP specifically, I'm a little intrigued by what's going to happen to the community after the show stops (which some have been theorizing it will after season 3, though that's based on a lot of guesswork). I think MLP fan works stand up pretty damn well on their own, and removing the show from the equation won't really change a whole lot, at least at first (just look at the "gap" between s1 and s2). There's definitely a fandom there, but removing the show itself from the equation may actually not affect a whole lot.