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Viva
la Fandom!
I
love Eddie
Izzard. He's a comedian that focuses on really
intelligent humor -- he doesn't tell jokes so much
as he just says funny things about history, politics,
movies, and other topics. I'll buy any of his comedy
videos, hunt down his book (already did, actually),
and go to see him in concert when possible. I check
his websites fairly often. In short, I like everything
he does.
Modern
society, however, tells us that because of this, I
am to be the subject of scorn and derision. Why? Because
I've just described myself as a "fanboy."
(Actually, that's just my guess at the definition
of the word "fanboy.") It's a word only
slightly better defined than "munchkin."
Fanboys
(or fangirls), we're told, are mindless drones who
love everything about a person or thing, and thus
their opinions cannot be trusted. They are foolish
and immature, unlike us mature cynics who know that
everything is actually crap. (Yes, that's sarcasm.)
When
I was younger, and I learned of sci-fi fandom, I was
skeptical. In fact, I was downright cynical and mean.
I thought, a whole collection of people who simply
gather to be fans of something? And what's worse,
they're pretentious and obnoxious about their fannishness?
That's pathetic, I said. Rather than spend their energy
being experts on something they didn't create, why
not focus on something productive?
How
wrong I was. Being a fan of something is productive.
Without someone to appreciate it, art has no meaning.
Without someone to listen, music is pointless.
And
being a fan can be hard work. Fans are dedicated,
knowledgeable, and devoted. And this work is valuable
-- and in many cases admirable. For example, my friend
John is a genuine J.R.R. Tolkien scholar. He's working
on a scholarly book about Tolkien, has read practically
every other scholarly work already out there on the
subject, and attends a lot of conferences and things
that I don't totally understand. He is, no doubt about
it, a Tolkien fanboy. Just ask him. In John's mind,
Tolkien can do no wrong.
Now,
does that make his opinions about Tolkien and his
works wrong? On the contrary, if I wanted to know
anything about Tolkien, whether it be fact or opinion,
I'd go to John first. He's devoted a good many years
to the subject -- it would be foolish of me to look
elsewhere.
Fans
provide the fuel for every creative endeavor. When
someone creates something, whether it's a game, a
TV show, a book, music, or whatever, it's nice that
people enjoy it. Real hardcore fans, though, provide
the life and energy of the work. They inspire the
creator's next work, and the one after that.
Fans
can make a difference. Look at Star Trek. The
show was going to get cancelled in 1968, and fans
rallied to get another season. They rallied again
in the seventies and got a space shuttle named after
the Enterprise. And yet again, in the eighties,
and got a whole new series. Now you can't swing a
dead TV remote without hitting Star Trek on
some channel somewhere.
And
what do fans get? Fans develop a feeling of ownership.
They become a part of whatever (or whoever) they like.
They enjoy its successes and look for the good side
of its failures. Look at fans of the Dune series,
for example. They proudly hold up the first few books
of the series as some of the best SF books that exist.
They look for the best in the rest of the books, and
defend them against all comers (and if you took offense
at my suggestion that there might be something wrong
with the later books, then you're exactly the fan
I'm talking about). Fans are a part of something larger
than themselves, and develop a kinship with each other.
Two comic book fans could meet for the first time
and talk for hours -- oh, who am I kidding, days --
about their favorite topics. That's really cool.
Look
around. Become a fan of something. If you think about
it, chances are you probably already are one, even
if you didn't realize it.
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