On Fandom Diehards

[lazypadawan]

Over the weekend, I got a whiff of some kerfluffle involving you guessed it, Twilight fandom.

Let me unpack it for you. Someone who likes the Twilight books but clearly doesn't like the hordes of RPatz-lovin' fangirls the movies brought aboard the bus wrote a blog post on an upcoming convention put on by Creation in heavily sarcastic terms and declared that "Twilight continues to sell out." This annoyed the Twilight columnist for Examiner.com, who is darn sick and tired of the media ragging on her fandom. I don't think she realized it wasn't an "outsider" per se but a book fan who dislikes the movie fans, but it was a catalyst for her soap box on the media nonetheless. Other sites started weighing in.

I really do empathize with these fans who feel on the defensive. It's one thing for people to poke gentle fun at the source material and its fans, quite another for people outside to use "humor" as a disguise to trash something and the people who unjustifiably love it. There are bashers, if you will, who have referred to the fans as retarded, scary, and stupid, or even having psychosexual problems. They say these fans shouldn't be welcome at Comic Con, though at a con that size, you can pretty much avoid anybody you want. I've always said the post-TPM bashing almost killed any sense of humor I might have had about SW, though I guess it's coming back. After all, I thought both SW Robot Chicken specials were funny. Family Guy had its moments. It's also easy to divorce yourself emotionally from something goofy like cheesy merchandise or silly books, not so much when you can see someone has been unfairly maligned to the point livelihoods/careers are affected. These fans are, like it or not, emotionally invested in the fandom and I'm not going to judge them as "retards" because I may not share their enthusiasm. I'm still emotionally invested in SW. Why would I waste my money and time on it if I weren't?

Sometimes the fans who go over the line are not the ones overflowing with love for the source material. Bashers tend to expend a lot more energy and time going on about how much they hate something, something I know first hand. Some SW fan upset with Chewbacca's demise in the NJO sent the author a death threat. I'm also willing to bet Lucas and some of the folks associated with the PT got far more threats than the critics did.

Still, I would advise the Twihards on one thing…you're just going to have to accept that the virtues of your fandom aren't going to be self-evident to everybody. It is what it is. You have every right to stick up for your fandom--I do it all of the time--but emotional ketchup explosions with typos and all-capped run-ons don’t help your case. Keep 'em among yourselves ;).

Comments

[ladyaeryn.livejournal.com]

I found Twilight as a movie extremely dull and which left me with absolutely no desire to explore the series further, but I don't begrudge those who do love it. I look at people like anakinsluv who go on tours of Twilight locales with their friends and I smile because it looks like they're having the absolute time of their life, and I think how much I'd love to go on tours of Lake Como and Tunisia with other SW/A&P geeks. They clearly derive a lot of enjoyment from it, and it doesn't impinge on mine, so why should I let it bother me? Sure, I joke about getting a "Buffy staked Edward" t-shirt and wearing it to a Twilight movie premiere, but I don't have any intent of actually doing it. (I do still want the shirt, though, because I think it's hilarious and exactly the sort of thing Buffy would do on meeting him.) At least they're spending time on something they love.

I find it pretty easy to sympathize with Twifans too: like the PT, it's considered "kewl" in many fanboy circles to bash the hell out of Twilight and label all who love it as cognitively-deficient, and Edward/Bella shippers frequently have to hear their OTP derided for being wooden/psychopathic/creepy etc. Nope, A/P shippers certainly haven't had to hear anything like that. ;)

Some of the over-the-top fans who even venture as far as obsessing over the minutest details of Pattinson's and Stewart's sex lives do unnerve me, but just like with PT fans, it's hardly fair or accurate to paint all Twilight fans with the same "psycho/sellout/etc." brush.

You have every right to stick up for your fandom--I do it all of the time--but emotional ketchup explosions with typos and all-capped run-ons don’t help your case.

Good advice for anyone. :)

[may-child.livejournal.com]

I didn't care for Twilight as a movie either. I have the book, which I purchased out of nothing more than sheer curiosity (i.e., wanting to find out what all the fuss is about) a year ago, but I haven't read it yet. If it's as uninteresting as the movie, then I guess I'll officially be a non-fan.

But what's the harm in being a Twifan? Indeed, they do seem to be having the time of their lives, and who am I to rain on their collective parade? I've always hated it when people have asked me: "How can you like (fill in the blank)?" It's a stupid question, and also more than a little rude.

There are many super-popular and/or critically-acclaimed books, movies, TV shows, etc. that I do not get the appeal of. But unless the fans are getting in my face and demanding that I justify liking the PT, I just leave them be. In the end, it's just entertainment. Even if one hates the book/movie/TV show in question with a fiery passion, how is said book/movie/TV show hurting them? All they have to do is ignore it.

[lazypadawan.livejournal.com]

Well, you know what I thought of the movie too, heh heh. But it's no turkey off my plate that other people loved it.

What I don't get is why are Bella/Edward shippers wrong somehow if I see nary a complaint about True Blood, which is basically the Southern-fried R-rated version of Twilight. Are people who love the Sookie/Bill ship crazy too? What about fans of the Buffy/Spike or Buffy/Angel ship?

While we're at it, how come A/P are creepy but alternate ships with Anakin (slash or otherwise) are not?

[may-child.livejournal.com]

Ah yes...fanboyz and other self-appointed arbiters of taste and kewlness specialize in not just double standards, but triple and quadruple standards.

[ladyaeryn.livejournal.com]

Oh, I've seen plenty of nasty assessments made of Buffy/Angel and Buffy/Spike - usually from each other's shippers. ;) But then, neither of those couples ended up being Eternally Ever After With Supernaturally-Speedy-Growing Spawn like Bella/Edward. I think another thing that helps B/A and B/S in the mocking department is that at least with them the melodrama was punctuated by moments of wry self-mocking, whereas I get the impression that doesn't really occur with E/B: it's always Big Serious Twu Wub. I've never seen True Blood so I can't speculate at all there.

A/P gets labeled creepy because the mutual obsession is right out in the open for everyone to interpret, whereas the non-canon ships you can write as being creepy or non-creepy as you want. Although I've yet to see a non-crackfic scenario where, say, Anakin/Ahsoka is not at least somewhat creepy. (Fixating on a slightly older woman who clearly wants him his creepy, yet lusting for his jailbait, hero-worshipping pupil is not? Okay.)

[lazypadawan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, nothing wrong with Anakin taking advantage of his minor padawan *eyeroll.*

[ladyaeryn.livejournal.com]

Of course there's nothing skeevy about an older, more powerful, married man getting it on with his young impressionable student! Just ask those "To Catch A Predator" guys. ;)

Even in the fics where Ahsoka's of age, it still weirds me out, because it still has shades (to me) of Anakin taking undue advantage of his more powerful position in their relationship, plus of course the whole incest vibe.

[lazypadawan.livejournal.com]

Yeah. What's it with people finding the Master/Padawan relationship a hot one?

Actually, I think I kinda have some idea. The relationship is a close, intense one fraught with Jedi angst. That's what the fangirls like, I suppose.