Speaking of fan intertextuality…
February 14th, 2008 by DianaThis may be completely off-topic, but I just thought of this nice Star Trek Original Series and Lord of the Rings connection, which shows really well how much fans assume other fans are familiar with Fandom in general…
This is from an album released by Leonard Nimoy called “The Two Sides of Leonard Nimoy,” (sorry about the dubious link) exploring both Nimoy’s in-character, and highly folk-inflected out-of-character self.
This second one is part of a much larger oeuvre by Legendary Frog called “One Ring To Rule Them All 2.”
What kinds of assumptions are Leonard Nimoy and Legendary Frog making by using “The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins?” Would you consider Nimoy’s recording of this song as a commercial strategy, or as an expression of his own fan tendencies? Is Legendary Frog trying to gain more knowledge cred by using a very specific Nimoy reference in an otherwise tangentially related video, or is he also just expressing membership in two fandoms?
What are some uses for intertextuality in fandom that we haven’t discussed yet?
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It could also, of course, be because the song is both silly and horrifying and Legendary Frog felt that it was a good addition to the work. THE ONE SONG! TO RULE THEM ALL!….
That said, I don’t think that he’s trying to place himself in 2 fandoms. I doubt the folk-songy fandom is well represented at Legendary Frog. It seems much more of a ridicule sense of fandom, where the presenter shows something silly for people to laugh at. It’s mocking but also makes people feel better about themselves. “I know a lot about LotR but at least I didn’t compose a song about Hobbits!” or even “Even Spock is doing it, we’re cool!” By presenting something this silly, there exists an insulator against feelings of “otherness” while at the same time being able to be a fan of something niche.