(no subject)

[gabbydwg]

carthia has asked some questions about fandom and what attracts us to it, and I thought I'd put my response here. It gets a little confusing, referring to fandom alternately as an interest and a community. Hopefully it's understandable.

I had intended to post this as a response to carthia's post, but it exceeded character length and wouldn't post, so I'm posting this shorter saved draft here instead.

What is fandom to you? An interesting diversion? A temporary insanity? An addiction? A way of life? A way to meet interesting people? An escape from reality?

I think I fall somewhere between "interesting diversion" and "temporary insanity" at the moment.

How would you describe your fannish behaviour? Are you a faithful fan, in a life-long relationship with your one and only fandom? Or are you a fandom serial monogamist, going from one fandom to another? Or maybe multifandom is your thing and you love being in several fandoms at the same time? Or was your fandom experience a one-off for you, never to be repeated again?

Multifandom. My obsessions fade, but my general interest and like usually doesn't. Sometimes I lose interest altogether, sometimes I change my mind as to an obsession's worth, but usually once I'm a fan, I'm always a fan. I might become less active in a specific fandom, but that doesn't mean I like the subject any less. And just because I find something else to totally obsess over doesn't mean I like the old obsession any less.

What are you in fandom for? The people? Fanfiction? Discussions?Just fun? Are you a reader? A writer? A beta reader? A vidder? Reccer, reviewer?

Discussion, sort of. News. Trivia. Commisseration. ;) I used to read Les Miserables fanfiction (almost uniformly bad), then I started reading Jane Austen fanfiction (never just P&P for me, which is why the exclusiveness of other fans bothers me). I have stopped joining new fandoms, so to speak, at the moment, though. I think it's because of the prevalence and domination of fanfic as the way to "fan." In a way, it's really weird that I'm so into and attached to the Austen fandom, because it's not my usual MO.

What's your favourite genre of fanfiction? Do you have OTPs and if so, how important are they for you? Are there some things in fanfic that completely put you off? How important is canon for you?

I don't like stories that are only about the relationship between OTP's. I guess that means I like gen, but JA fanfic is so different from other fanfic, and since I don't like other fanfic, it's really hard for me to talk about this subject. I do think, though, that canon isn't that important for me, unless it's based on a book that doesn't usually get a lot of attention. And even then, it depends on how it's handled. With P&P stories, I'm more interested in subverting fanon than upholding canon. Though if a story can do both, then it's really fantastic. ;)

Comments

[carthia.livejournal.com]

Thanks for answering my questions, G!

My obsessions fade, but my general interest and like usually doesn't. Sometimes I lose interest altogether, sometimes I change my mind as to an obsession's worth, but usually once I'm a fan, I'm always a fan.

I'm the same most of the time. And even if I stop being a fan of something, I never lose a kind of fondness for it.

I think it's because of the prevalence and domination of fanfic as the way to "fan." In a way, it's really weird that I'm so into and attached to the Austen fandom, because it's not my usual MO.

That's an interesting observation and you're completely right about the fanfiction thing. Most of the fannish activity and fandom community is centred around fanfic reading, writing, betaing, reccing, reviewing, etc. I admit I'm in fandom for fanfic first of all and discussion secondly. It's just something I need to feed the obsession, otherwise I'm in withdrawal ;)

With P&P stories, I'm more interested in subverting fanon than upholding canon.

With P&P fic I'm the same. It's annoying how stereotypical some stories can be. But with my new fandom I like fanon. But it's still early days for me, in a year or two I might grow sick of it.

[katharhino.livejournal.com]

Interesting thoughts. So... can I ask... Are you saying that in most non-Austen fandoms you prefer discussion/meta over fanfic? And what sort of fandoms? I'm not really sure what your other interests are, and I'm plain curious.

[greenislove.livejournal.com]

Most of my other fandoms have had to do with music and/or personalities. Besides JA, the other big ones have been the musical Les Miserables (which came to include the book, as well as musical theater in general, for a short time) and Clay Aiken (one of those I referred to above about changing my mind). I've had countless other obsessions, but haven't really pursued anything fandom-related, per se.

I like analysis. When I'm obsessed with something, I like to pick it apart and look at its parts (er, metaphorically speaking, of course). I squee, of course, naturally, but I like to have different things to squee about other than "OMG I loved this movie/book/TV show/actor/character/whatever!"

I like JA fanfiction because it (occasionally) explores different facets of the books. Er, I should probably say I liked JA fanfiction, because I haven't read anything in such a long time. But when I read it all the time, that's what I liked about it. It's not just about the relationships.

Fanfiction for other things, in my experience, has been all about the relationships, to the point that people take sides as to which ships they prefer, and their stories either proselytize or cater to those ships. It's very disappointing when you're looking for, say, Pirates of the Carribbean fanfiction that maybe spells out what could have happened to bring about the mutiny, or various what-ifs that sprang to mind after the first movie, and all you find is different stories elucidating why Jack and Elizabeth is the correct pairing, and not Will and Elizabeth. Or any of the other pairings abundant in that fandom.

And that's why I don't read other fanfiction. I'm sure there are stories like the ones I described looking for, but I just don't want to wade through all the shipping stories to find them. :)