Prompts for Week 2: Fanifesto reactions
January 31st, 2008 by BobBefore we leave the fanifestos behind us, I’d like to invite you to share your perceptions of the larger patterns organizing the responses. In other words, while I asked in class about your feelings on writing/reading the fanifestos, I’m wondering if now we can draw out some of the common threads and key differences in content.
For example, I was struck by the number of times that parents and siblings (as well as friends) were invoked as “initiators” or “gatekeepers” of fandom: giving you particular books or movies, taking you to concerts or sports events, or sharing their own fan identities (e.g. coming out as a closet Trekkie). This phenomenon, it seems to me, moves us from text to (cultural) context, highlighting the ways in which fandoms are passed on between generations, or among peer groups. And it emphasizes the social aspect of fan activity.
Do you have any thoughts on this or other meaningful patterns in the fanifestos?
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This is really interesting to me because it made me realize that I did not even mention my dad in my fanifesto. My dad has had such a large and interesting impact on my fandom. He is an old hippie but also a comic book geek and sports fanatic, which I guess is not much different then myself. But what I find most interesting is that he never ever tried to push any of his “styles” on me. He rarely even said “Dylan, you have to listen to this song.” Yet I end finding myself into the same things he is into. And since then whenever I ask him about any of it he always has great stories for me and loves talking about it. So I guess it is weird how he influenced me even indirectly.
I was wondering if anyone else has had a similar experience. Or maybe the opposite; parent or guardian tried to get you into something but being us rebellious children we deliberately didn’t. I agree both situations are really very interesting. I think most aspects of fandom are social, and this is certainly one of them. Either way, I hope my kids end up liking the same things I do. And I don’t have to force it on them haha.
I’ve had all three of the sorts of experiences you describe, Dylan. A large part of my childhood was spent doing exactly what my brother did without his urging (and occasionally counter his explicit orders to leave him and his comic books alone), a lot of my musical taste comes straight from my mother, without her ever having tried to explain to me just how good R.E.M. are, and my dad really tried to get me into jazz before resigning himself to failure.
One of the things about fandom being social, I find, is that it goes both ways. I’ve made (RL) friends through mostly HP fandom, who I’ve been really close to outside of fandom. Nonetheless, when we started being into different fandoms from one another, we just…drifted apart. Insofar as my most intense period of interest in any given fandom is of limited length, I find that friendships I make based on that fandom have limited length as well, which seems a little sad.
I intentionally avoided reading anyone else’s before I wrote mine, so reading them afterwards and gauging everyone’s understanding of fandom relative to my own perceptions was definitely eye-opening.
What reading the fanifestos has encouraged me to do is reevaluate my expectations of this class. Seeing as my professional interest have steered me towards aspirations of television and film creative executiveship, I originally assumed that it would be more of a sociological approach replete with case studies, surveys and the like. While there is some of that, I have been intimidated by the fact that people’s understanding of their own fandoms directly informs their involvement in the class, as I am admittedly less “in touch” with my own fandoms, therefore less obstinate in my views and opinions of fandom. Now, even without the case studies, I have begun to find a new utility and have drawn unexpected (but nevertheless useful) lessons in this course, first evidenced by the fanifestos.
For one thing, after reading the fanifestos, the one thing that was immediately clear was that I left A LOT out. My naïveté concerning the vast territories that fandom consumes was almost embarrassing. Nevertheless, that’s what the class is for, right? So learn I shall.
As I learn the extent of fandom, and the worlds it encompasses, I can’t help but push the envelope and wonder. My girlfriend has an affinity for things that smell good [to her]. She has a collection of candles, potpourri, and even scratch and sniff stickers (who makes those anymore?). I can’t trust her to go grocery shopping without spending an inordinate amount of time in the laundry detergent aisle, smelling the one’s she loves most (she’s memorized their names). People can be fans of something visual [e.g., a person, a film, a show] and they can be a fan of music that they hear, but by this evaluation, does this make my girlfriend a fan of pink hibiscus candles and lavender vanilla laundry detergent? Just a thought…
Also, one thing that I noticed in a lot of the fanifestos- including mine- is that many of them are written in a voice of admission and confession. That may have just been the way that I read them, I admit, but I think that apart from the people in class who have a more advanced knowledge of the topic of fandom, many still think of their fandoms as a departure from normalcy, to widely varying degrees. This understanding of fandom is essentially what made it so difficult for me to write a fanifesto to begin with. I saw it as a bare-all admission of one’s secret interests. After reading the rest of the fanifestos, I realized it was much more inclusive.
So if I could go back and amend my own fanisfesto, after reading the others, I would mention my obsession for the Dallas Cowboys, celebrity gossip and fashion magazines, and hip-hop dance videos on YouTube. Yeah…