![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
angel_janeThe Nature of Fandom – Or What makes a Fan a Fan
I have been involved in fandom I suppose, since I was 16. That was when I began to take the reality given by the writers of my favourite shows, and substituted it with my own. I wasn't alone in that endeavour, there were quite a few of us Star Trek: Voyager fans doing the same, some of us pairing Torres and Paris together – a pairing the powers that be did actually bring forward – and some of pairing Chakotay and Janeway, and a few of us pairing (or what became known as shipping) the both of them.
At this point in time, fan fiction - and to a greater or lesser degree - fan sites were not much appreciated by the networks and the copyright holders. The internet was a really new and, to a degree, clunky little invention, we were all on bad dial up and graphics were the bane of our lives. Networks and copyright holders often sent out Cease and Desist notices on fan endeavours, the internet was such a new force that the marketing gold that can be fans hadn't even been recognised.
In those days, fans would rally round, sites would pass ownership at the blink of an eye, fan fiction, fan art and the like would be posted, removed and reposted elsewhere at the drop of a hat, with only fans telling each other where such things were; so as not to be forgotten. A lot of the time we would write letters to the Networks and copyright holders expressing why we thought a C&D was a bad move. Within a few years these guys listened and recognised it all as the truth. Now we exist in a don't mention it and I don't know limbo, not officially accepted, but not officially denied our fun either.
In all the time I have participated in fandom the over-riding and most appreciable aspect has been the unique sense of family that I have found. I landed in the Stargate family some 7 or 8 years ago (yes that long, impressive isn't it!) I began writing and within a year I was being nominated within the fandom for my works of fiction. Take a look sometime a fanfiction.net's numbers of Stargate fictions, that is a lot of competition out there. To be nominated, to be even noticed, to even get a comment was a HUGE deal to me considering what I was up against.
Did I always agree to what the official writers wrote? Not in the slightest. I certainly didn't agree with Divide and Conquer, in season three. But that said these guys are the ones that are being paid, and I operate on the two world concept. It goes like this; I will watch, enjoy and argue the crap out of characters and story, and I will keep coming back for more. However, I reserve the right to take your reality and substitute it for my own. I can honestly say SG-1 fan fictions are still being written, so much for the if it is cancelled it is dead theory.
SG-1 was a hugely popular and greatly satisfying work of fiction on the television, the books currently being written are also brilliant. SG-1 gave way to Stargate Atlantis (SGA). We met and fell in love with a new bunch of characters. Well, some of us did, see SGA, I remember, had a slight schism in the fans, not everyone liked it. It was different, it wasn't as militaristic, it didn't have the edge that SG-1 had.
I love both. I have a mad thing about Rodney McKay, and an even bigger passion for Dr. Carson Beckett. I liked some of the story telling, I even loved the characters you are supposed to hate, because there was more story behind them. What I remember of the schism is, that it never really hit on my radar, I was already involved in social networking media, even then, so it really would have hit my dradis (BSG reference here) screen.
The reason it never truly hit, never made an impact was they were respectful. They never derided anyone, never said this person couldn't act. I held what reservations I had in check personally, and figured things in the first season would get better. Why? Because the first season has the nickname of the shakedown season for a a very good reason.
This is the season where crew form the working relationship that will get them through the next however long, they begin gaining a good idea of what a director, director of photography and the lighting crew are going to need out of a set. And everyone gets to knowing the new guys on set, also known as the actors. So whilst I can honestly say the front of of season 1 sucked for me, the back half is looking tight and if season 2 continues in this vein, there will be an epic love affair going on between me and a television show
This is what, for me being a fan is about. Giving it a shot, I even watched the first episode of SGU the night it was aired in the US/Canada (Not bad considering I am in London!) Did I not mention I have patience equal to that of the life span of a gnat? Yes I participate in SGARewind project, originally it was to show the makers that I was still interested in SGA over SGU. I was mightily aggrieved that SGA had be cancelled for financial reasons, but then a new show commissioned very literally the next day, with what I saw as huge overheads that could be mitigated by keeping the old show going.
Did I ever, for a second, contemplate or even entertain the idea of attacking the writers outright. NO, I thought that the first half story telling was slow, could I do a better job, with the concepts they were putting forward was the question I continually posed to myself. Not really, all I did think was there was something missing, something that would get the heart racing a little bit. The second half has more than adeptly answered that call, which is why I now find myself relaxing into it.
But, during the front half of the season, did I ever contemplate or even entertain the notion of attacking the acting or the direction or the crew. Gods forbid it! As a fan the last thing I or anyone else I know, in the past 12 years would have ever done such a callous and self-entitled thing. And yet, on the 17th of May 2010 it came to my screeching notice that people were doing such a sickening thing. It isn't hard to find the site, I looked, I read and then mentally – as in, in my mind – I both died a little and threw up.
What I saw in these people was the very worst that humanity has to offer, my mothers terminology for their actions would have been; “Man's inhumanity to Man.” And she would have absolutely been on the money. These are people who haven't learnt the greatest lesson life, acceptance of what we can not change. Nor have they learnt how to move on. You hate something enough to make a site about how much you hate something, it should be the best sign to walk away; or else suffer the consuming of hate.
The biggest divider in a fandom is usually in a franchise fandom. I saw this most vividly quite a few years back, with Enterprise (latterly Star Trek: Enterprise) A lot of fans disliked it, it was obvious who was at the helm, it was obvious that it was throwing away a lot of canonical back story. I had a sorta like for it, in that I liked the relationships between the crew, but in later seasons that was downplayed to the point that I just couldn't watch it any more, a year later it was scrapped. I am sure that I could have taken whatever invectives I cared to share to the world. I could have made my own website (I knew by then how to develop a site). I never did.
As a fan, I knew that being a true fan, and being one that was supportive of the endeavour put forward by Berman&Braga at the time, the best would be to walk away, quietly mumble into my Barcardi and Coke and sit it out until either a new show (and pray that the franchise wasn't as burnt out as I feared) or wait for the next movie. We got a fabulous reboot. Can't help but be proud of it!
I know other fandoms have issues, great glaring ones if you look at Smallville or Supernatural – I have noticed the way the wives of the Supernatural actors have been treated because fans believe there is a better story laying elsewhere. I know Amanda Tapping herself has had some fandom attacks, as have others. It is truly the worst thing television bring out in us, a sense of entitlement that due to the fact we watch and we don't get our hearts immediate desires we feel we can outright attack personally an individual.
I personally have disliked the way a show has gone, but never have I been so delusional as to think an actor is the character or has any kind of control over the show There is an unspoken line in the sand in moderate fandom (we are the fans that you see on the street, who you don't know are fans, but we are, we are passionate about it voraciously devouring all information and new material like locusts at an all you can eat corn buffet) This line is the one between reality and fiction, and between knowing who has the power to give us our desires and who are mere actors in a play.
That line extends all the way to behaviour, and how to behave like a fan and a human at the same time, which includes being civil, recognising tact and diplomacy, being respectful and recognising when to walk away and wait for something else. The only thing I can think of to the behaviour exhibited, is that once you step over that line, you cease being a fan. You enter a much murkier place, where really you are jumping on a bandwagon of dislike, brewing to hate, this vat of seething emotion leads to dark acts and hateful words, and damages not only emotions but the fandom in general.
So what is a fan? Well we have in the last couple of days seen exactly what it isn't so let me make a definitive definition of what a fan is. A fan is someone who has a deep passion for the area of which they are a fan, be that sports, be that a specific genre, be that a specific franchise or specific television show. A fan is often not a singular entity, but one who reaches out to others, including those they are fans of, in a calm, respectful manner. We develop friendships, that on some levels and with some people become that of near family.
As people who we consider near family (if not actual substitutes) we find that we don't always agree, sometimes after a period of time we realise we may not even like the person that much, but usually we have mutual fan-ish friends in common, so we muster on a little longer. The biggest aspect of being a fan is acceptance, of others and ourselves. The first rule of fandom thus, must always be; agree to disagree. The biggest act of being a fan is to never ever denigrate oneself to treating someone in any manner appallingly.
My experiences with fandom have been some of the happiest. As a part of a fan collective I have supported and will continue to support David Hewlett. I started with his A Dogs Breakfast Movie site in the summer of 2006, we worked tirelessly on getting that movie noticed, so much so that it was picked up for distributive rights by MGM. I am also a huge Amanda Tapping fan, I have supported her work since the end of her character on SG-1. I bought the web-isodes for Sanctuary, which inevitably got eaten by the first season of Sanctuary, when it was picked up by Sci-Fi (SyFy as it is now), I supported her inclusion on SGA as well, and continue the association with her work here after.
This is typical fan behaviour, we get together and have dvd-fests devoted to our actor, we auction or writing services to each other, with the proceeds going to charity. In fact Doctors without Borders or Medicin Sans Frontiers, have made a chunk of change purely from David Hewlett having fans. The fans I am privileged to know and associate with and call my family, have been there for me, supportive of me and have been cheerleaders for me when I felt I couldn't carry on. We meet each other for picnics and for fun, we seek each other out at conventions. We aren't just fans of the actors, or the shows, we become fans of each other.
Fandom therefore is not just fans of a show, franchise, actor , etc. It is becoming fans of each other, irrespective of our differences, our opinions on a show in a franchise or even a specific character/actor, which why I can not stand to see ridiculous rivalries setting themselves up all of a sudden over who can do whatever the best, or who can set up a site hating on a show and thinly veiled on a specific person or their family, or even tweeting them the hatred. Therefore the only rational thing I can propose is abandoning those who set themselves up as people who can not contain or control their vitriol an excising them from our fandom, lest the poison spread itself deeper than it already is. Fandom, is just another word for family!
I have been involved in fandom I suppose, since I was 16. That was when I began to take the reality given by the writers of my favourite shows, and substituted it with my own. I wasn't alone in that endeavour, there were quite a few of us Star Trek: Voyager fans doing the same, some of us pairing Torres and Paris together – a pairing the powers that be did actually bring forward – and some of pairing Chakotay and Janeway, and a few of us pairing (or what became known as shipping) the both of them.
At this point in time, fan fiction - and to a greater or lesser degree - fan sites were not much appreciated by the networks and the copyright holders. The internet was a really new and, to a degree, clunky little invention, we were all on bad dial up and graphics were the bane of our lives. Networks and copyright holders often sent out Cease and Desist notices on fan endeavours, the internet was such a new force that the marketing gold that can be fans hadn't even been recognised.
In those days, fans would rally round, sites would pass ownership at the blink of an eye, fan fiction, fan art and the like would be posted, removed and reposted elsewhere at the drop of a hat, with only fans telling each other where such things were; so as not to be forgotten. A lot of the time we would write letters to the Networks and copyright holders expressing why we thought a C&D was a bad move. Within a few years these guys listened and recognised it all as the truth. Now we exist in a don't mention it and I don't know limbo, not officially accepted, but not officially denied our fun either.
In all the time I have participated in fandom the over-riding and most appreciable aspect has been the unique sense of family that I have found. I landed in the Stargate family some 7 or 8 years ago (yes that long, impressive isn't it!) I began writing and within a year I was being nominated within the fandom for my works of fiction. Take a look sometime a fanfiction.net's numbers of Stargate fictions, that is a lot of competition out there. To be nominated, to be even noticed, to even get a comment was a HUGE deal to me considering what I was up against.
Did I always agree to what the official writers wrote? Not in the slightest. I certainly didn't agree with Divide and Conquer, in season three. But that said these guys are the ones that are being paid, and I operate on the two world concept. It goes like this; I will watch, enjoy and argue the crap out of characters and story, and I will keep coming back for more. However, I reserve the right to take your reality and substitute it for my own. I can honestly say SG-1 fan fictions are still being written, so much for the if it is cancelled it is dead theory.
SG-1 was a hugely popular and greatly satisfying work of fiction on the television, the books currently being written are also brilliant. SG-1 gave way to Stargate Atlantis (SGA). We met and fell in love with a new bunch of characters. Well, some of us did, see SGA, I remember, had a slight schism in the fans, not everyone liked it. It was different, it wasn't as militaristic, it didn't have the edge that SG-1 had.
I love both. I have a mad thing about Rodney McKay, and an even bigger passion for Dr. Carson Beckett. I liked some of the story telling, I even loved the characters you are supposed to hate, because there was more story behind them. What I remember of the schism is, that it never really hit on my radar, I was already involved in social networking media, even then, so it really would have hit my dradis (BSG reference here) screen.
The reason it never truly hit, never made an impact was they were respectful. They never derided anyone, never said this person couldn't act. I held what reservations I had in check personally, and figured things in the first season would get better. Why? Because the first season has the nickname of the shakedown season for a a very good reason.
This is the season where crew form the working relationship that will get them through the next however long, they begin gaining a good idea of what a director, director of photography and the lighting crew are going to need out of a set. And everyone gets to knowing the new guys on set, also known as the actors. So whilst I can honestly say the front of of season 1 sucked for me, the back half is looking tight and if season 2 continues in this vein, there will be an epic love affair going on between me and a television show
This is what, for me being a fan is about. Giving it a shot, I even watched the first episode of SGU the night it was aired in the US/Canada (Not bad considering I am in London!) Did I not mention I have patience equal to that of the life span of a gnat? Yes I participate in SGARewind project, originally it was to show the makers that I was still interested in SGA over SGU. I was mightily aggrieved that SGA had be cancelled for financial reasons, but then a new show commissioned very literally the next day, with what I saw as huge overheads that could be mitigated by keeping the old show going.
Did I ever, for a second, contemplate or even entertain the idea of attacking the writers outright. NO, I thought that the first half story telling was slow, could I do a better job, with the concepts they were putting forward was the question I continually posed to myself. Not really, all I did think was there was something missing, something that would get the heart racing a little bit. The second half has more than adeptly answered that call, which is why I now find myself relaxing into it.
But, during the front half of the season, did I ever contemplate or even entertain the notion of attacking the acting or the direction or the crew. Gods forbid it! As a fan the last thing I or anyone else I know, in the past 12 years would have ever done such a callous and self-entitled thing. And yet, on the 17th of May 2010 it came to my screeching notice that people were doing such a sickening thing. It isn't hard to find the site, I looked, I read and then mentally – as in, in my mind – I both died a little and threw up.
What I saw in these people was the very worst that humanity has to offer, my mothers terminology for their actions would have been; “Man's inhumanity to Man.” And she would have absolutely been on the money. These are people who haven't learnt the greatest lesson life, acceptance of what we can not change. Nor have they learnt how to move on. You hate something enough to make a site about how much you hate something, it should be the best sign to walk away; or else suffer the consuming of hate.
The biggest divider in a fandom is usually in a franchise fandom. I saw this most vividly quite a few years back, with Enterprise (latterly Star Trek: Enterprise) A lot of fans disliked it, it was obvious who was at the helm, it was obvious that it was throwing away a lot of canonical back story. I had a sorta like for it, in that I liked the relationships between the crew, but in later seasons that was downplayed to the point that I just couldn't watch it any more, a year later it was scrapped. I am sure that I could have taken whatever invectives I cared to share to the world. I could have made my own website (I knew by then how to develop a site). I never did.
As a fan, I knew that being a true fan, and being one that was supportive of the endeavour put forward by Berman&Braga at the time, the best would be to walk away, quietly mumble into my Barcardi and Coke and sit it out until either a new show (and pray that the franchise wasn't as burnt out as I feared) or wait for the next movie. We got a fabulous reboot. Can't help but be proud of it!
I know other fandoms have issues, great glaring ones if you look at Smallville or Supernatural – I have noticed the way the wives of the Supernatural actors have been treated because fans believe there is a better story laying elsewhere. I know Amanda Tapping herself has had some fandom attacks, as have others. It is truly the worst thing television bring out in us, a sense of entitlement that due to the fact we watch and we don't get our hearts immediate desires we feel we can outright attack personally an individual.
I personally have disliked the way a show has gone, but never have I been so delusional as to think an actor is the character or has any kind of control over the show There is an unspoken line in the sand in moderate fandom (we are the fans that you see on the street, who you don't know are fans, but we are, we are passionate about it voraciously devouring all information and new material like locusts at an all you can eat corn buffet) This line is the one between reality and fiction, and between knowing who has the power to give us our desires and who are mere actors in a play.
That line extends all the way to behaviour, and how to behave like a fan and a human at the same time, which includes being civil, recognising tact and diplomacy, being respectful and recognising when to walk away and wait for something else. The only thing I can think of to the behaviour exhibited, is that once you step over that line, you cease being a fan. You enter a much murkier place, where really you are jumping on a bandwagon of dislike, brewing to hate, this vat of seething emotion leads to dark acts and hateful words, and damages not only emotions but the fandom in general.
So what is a fan? Well we have in the last couple of days seen exactly what it isn't so let me make a definitive definition of what a fan is. A fan is someone who has a deep passion for the area of which they are a fan, be that sports, be that a specific genre, be that a specific franchise or specific television show. A fan is often not a singular entity, but one who reaches out to others, including those they are fans of, in a calm, respectful manner. We develop friendships, that on some levels and with some people become that of near family.
As people who we consider near family (if not actual substitutes) we find that we don't always agree, sometimes after a period of time we realise we may not even like the person that much, but usually we have mutual fan-ish friends in common, so we muster on a little longer. The biggest aspect of being a fan is acceptance, of others and ourselves. The first rule of fandom thus, must always be; agree to disagree. The biggest act of being a fan is to never ever denigrate oneself to treating someone in any manner appallingly.
My experiences with fandom have been some of the happiest. As a part of a fan collective I have supported and will continue to support David Hewlett. I started with his A Dogs Breakfast Movie site in the summer of 2006, we worked tirelessly on getting that movie noticed, so much so that it was picked up for distributive rights by MGM. I am also a huge Amanda Tapping fan, I have supported her work since the end of her character on SG-1. I bought the web-isodes for Sanctuary, which inevitably got eaten by the first season of Sanctuary, when it was picked up by Sci-Fi (SyFy as it is now), I supported her inclusion on SGA as well, and continue the association with her work here after.
This is typical fan behaviour, we get together and have dvd-fests devoted to our actor, we auction or writing services to each other, with the proceeds going to charity. In fact Doctors without Borders or Medicin Sans Frontiers, have made a chunk of change purely from David Hewlett having fans. The fans I am privileged to know and associate with and call my family, have been there for me, supportive of me and have been cheerleaders for me when I felt I couldn't carry on. We meet each other for picnics and for fun, we seek each other out at conventions. We aren't just fans of the actors, or the shows, we become fans of each other.
Fandom therefore is not just fans of a show, franchise, actor , etc. It is becoming fans of each other, irrespective of our differences, our opinions on a show in a franchise or even a specific character/actor, which why I can not stand to see ridiculous rivalries setting themselves up all of a sudden over who can do whatever the best, or who can set up a site hating on a show and thinly veiled on a specific person or their family, or even tweeting them the hatred. Therefore the only rational thing I can propose is abandoning those who set themselves up as people who can not contain or control their vitriol an excising them from our fandom, lest the poison spread itself deeper than it already is. Fandom, is just another word for family!