How I Choose My Fandoms

[holdouttrout]

There's been a lot of discussion lately about Merlin, and whether or not this is a good fandom for people to start loving. From what I can tell, this is largely about the same issues that most fandoms have some amount of trouble with: racism and misogyny. Oddly enough, Arthurian legend has never pinged me as much as everyone, including myself, would think. Mostly I read because the women interested me and wore long, pretty dresses. (Note: My involvement with fandoms hasn't gotten much deeper over time.)



The question that I find interesting is if we choose our fandoms, and how we choose them, and why we choose them, and if we can un-choose them.

Personally, I've been coerced into watching many shows by well-meaning people. Here's a short list: Alias, Firefly, West Wing (recently--I'm 8 eps in), Law & Order: SVU, Supernatural, Young & the Restless (by my mom), CSI, 24, Pokemon, Power Rangers (okay, I'm getting silly), Iron Man.

Here are the shows I picked up because of advertising, that is, they looked like something I'd like: Pretender, Stargate, Leverage, Weeds (although many people liked this, I picked it up mainly because people on blogs I had no personal connection to said it was good), Battlestar Galactica (I think), X-Files, Farscape (kinda, and I know this one is hard to believe, but trust me, I got into this from a re-run. Mostly.)

The first list is much easier to write, and the second list has items that could probably be put on the first one. There are some shows that I have watched purely because I came across them and loved them (like Pretender). Something about the show captured my imagination and set me off, making me so obsessed I made it a priority to see another episode. Others, like Supernatural, I attempted to like and just didn't get caught up in.

Getting into a show's fandom is even more specific. There are only a few shows I've been involved in fandom for: Pretender, Star Wars, SG-1. There are plenty of other shows I like and talk about and many shows I've ficced for besides those three, but fandom, to me, isn't just occassionally talking about an ep I particularly liked or writing one fic--it's knowing the canon, and discussing the canon, it's knowing the fic, the authors, the fanon, it's discussing each episode, or re-watching episodes together, or something more than watching and enjoying.

So...how do I choose fandoms?

I have no idea.

Really. I mean, okay, I like the source material. The source material is usually flawed in some way that doesn't drive me off but makes me crazy to fix it. There's usually something lacking from the source material, whether that's a pairing, a depth of character, a resolution, that makes me want to talk about it. Pretender had the bonus of lacking resolve in the pairing department AND not having any sort of internal continuity after season 2. Star Wars...well. Let's just say I'm one of those fans that LOVES Star Wars...and consequently hates it. SG-1 had the ship, the team, the sheer unexplored universe and multiverse going for it.

All three of these also have kick-ass female characters who I love unconditionally and will defend unto my dying breath, going to great lengths to make their canon make sense, whether it does or not.

Can I choose to dissociate myself from a show/fandom? I know I can, because I just did it with CSI, which finally was taking away my happiness whenever I watched it. I watched one season of Supernatural and no more because I just felt very meh about it. I gave up Heroes because they trashed my faith in every. single. character. So yes. My liking a show isn't totally dependent on other people's opinions of the show. But could I give up SG-1 fandom? I'm not sure.

SG-1, after all, isn't perfect. The source material encompasses misogyny, racism, bad characterization, is repetative, derivative. I kept watching it at first not because I loved it, but because it was "likeable." However, I love it so much now, these people, this universe, that I'm not sure I could sever my association with it. I would definitely not sever myself from the friendships I've made inside that fandom.

I think the idea that we choose our fandoms based on our friends is true. I think asking people to acknowledge their fandom isn't perfect is good. I am just not sure that it makes any difference to the people who already love a new show, for good or ill.

Comments

[ziparumpazoo]

I don't think you choose a fandom. It chooses you. ;D
Over the years I've actively participated in only a small handful of fandoms: Sliders, ST:Voyager, Sports Night, Stargate (but not SGA for some reason - I don't think the show just ever clicked for me as much as I'd hoped it would). Farscape I missed by a couple of years (I kind of feel like that kids who missed the bus only to be there waiting when everyone else comes back from the field trip to the chocolate factory).

SG is the only one that sucked me back in after a significant hiatus for RL. For me, it was finding other people who are still having FUN with it. The characterizations and missing pieces that tripped my imagination are what drew me here in the first place, but it's the people and the continued enthusiasm and love for the franchise that made me realized how much I missed it when I came back.

[holdouttrout.livejournal.com]

I am trying to figure out what made me take the initial leap into fandom instead of just reading fic. That's harder to put my finger on.

[ziparumpazoo]

I got to wondering that too once I started reading the other replies. I think, for me anyhow, episode summaries are my gateway. That's usually what I go looking for first bece. Of course, by that time I'm already enamoured with the characters and the plot potential.

[ziparumpazoo]

aargh! really having issues with this keyboard and it's sticky Enter key. Sorry about the broken post.

Anyhoo. Episode summaries. Usually I'm late finding a show and I want to see what I've missed, even before I get to the fic. There's a progression to my obsession. After episode summaries, usually I'll look for character guides and episode discussion because I'm curious about what other people love/hate/ about a particular episode. If the discussion I find is nothing more that "oooh. I so loved this. he/she's just so hot." or "the writeres don't know what they're doing. they're wrecking the show", I'll usually turn tail and just enjoy the show on my own. If there's clever meta and intelligent opinion, I'll stick around and lurk. Sometimes I'll come out to play if I think I've got something to add, other times (like with X-files) I'll drift through if something catches my interest. By the time I get to the fic, I'm finding myself well committed to the fandom. So, I guess you could say it's a combination of factors just clicking together at the right moment that'll suck me into a fandom. Or not. Thinky thoughts are not my specialty. :D

[holdouttrout.livejournal.com]

I usually get into older fandoms, so episode summaries are right up there. But if I don't read the fic, I'm not relaly involved. *g*

[beanpot.livejournal.com]

I agree with the fandom choosing you. I admit if I had known there was such a thing as fandom when I was obsessed with Alias. But I doubt I'd have been active in one during West Wing - and that is still my favorite show ever. Yes, even more the SG-1.

So why the SG-1 fandom? The people seemed bright and lovely and funny as hell. And someone talked me into going to Dragon Con. That someone who I will be picking up at the train station in an hour!!!

[holdouttrout.livejournal.com]

Aw. I was so glad to meet you at D*Con, and lucky to have you stick around since.

(I'm really loving West Wing, btw)

[surreallis.livejournal.com]

You know, I don't think I'd have been as into the SG-1 fandom if it wasn't for the people IN fandom. So, in a way, yes, I was subject (in a good way, I feel) to peer pressure.

I find myself in an interesting position now, because the shows I want to write and read and talk about don't really have much of a fandom. Or at least not a readily available one on LJ. So if I were purely influenced by friends, I'd still be partying it up in SG-1. But... my interests have been swayed by the source material of SVU and CI, and I'm desperately searching out a fandom for them. It's... difficult. In order to get my fill of fannish desires, I sort of need to diversify now, rather than allow all my eggs to sit in one basket. Like I did with SG-1.

I've come to realize that I need several things to become ravenously fannish about a show. A kick-ass female character that I can admire and love; a hot male character that I can genuinely crush on (and normally a bit older and age appropriate for me); and enough angsty friendship for me to subvert into ship.

I've been following these conversations about Merlin too. Interesting. And I thought the one that metafandom linked to today asked a lot of smart, excellent questions.

[holdouttrout.livejournal.com]

I really appreciate when people ask difficult questions of fandom. Sometimes it's annoying as heck, but it's good to examine why we do what we do, especially if we do end up latching onto the easy answer sometimes.

You should be influenced by your SG-1 friends! write more sg-1 *snerk*

[gabolange.livejournal.com]

I wandered over here to say something like, "I think your fandom chooses you!" only to find that others share this opinion. So I will echo that belief: a great deal of becoming part of a fandom is finding a mixture of things that clicks for you. The source material must be compelling, of course, but the fannish material must also hook you in some way.

I've been in fandom in some way since 1995 and made a more formal entry in 1997. In that time I've watched many more shows than I've been fannish about, and while I've certainly gone looking for fic for The X-Files or The West Wing, those fandoms never clicked for me even though I loved the shows. Conversely, when I wandered into Stargate: SG-1 or Battlestar Galactica (to name a more recent few), participation in and adoration of fandom became an integral part of enjoying the show.

I think a lot of it was that the stories I was reading were answering the questions I wanted answered, whether about 'ships or meta or whatnot, whereas in the other fandoms I might have played in, I didn't find whatever thing it was I sought. I don't think I chose to play in these particular places, but they reached up and grabbed me and held on. They're not letting go, but I can't say that I mind.

[holdouttrout.livejournal.com]

the stories I was reading were answering the questions I wanted answered

Yes. I wouldn't have been so sucked into SG-1 if I wasn't getting what I wanted out of the fic and the fandom. Sad, but true. After I blitzed through reams of fic, I found that I honestly liked the people who wrote it and read it and discussed it. I had stumbled into fandom accidentally. And then I went to Dragon*Con, which pretty much just sealed the deal.

[splash-the-cat.livejournal.com]

I am apparently an anomaly (or just Enabler Zero :). In all three of the fandoms I have been in some manner involved in (by which I mean writing fic, interacting with other fans, fannish service, etc), I found the source independent of any interaction with fandom and later found the fandom.

I'd been a Trekker since childhood, and started watching SG-1 because it was on after Farscape. I had no clue anything like fandom, either old school zine or internet fandom existed. I knew fic existed, but fandom as I now know it? The source led me to fic, the fic led me to fandom.

And Iron Man? I had heard nothing about it in fannish circles. I went to see the movie because I have a thing for comic book movies. Only after that did I go looking for the fic, and again, that led me to the burgeoning fandom.

I have yet to actually be pimped into any active fannish involvement for any source.

And one of the things that keeps coming up in the "we choose our fandoms based on other people's pressure/pimping/whatever" discussions (not yours, but it's a point I've been seeing in other discussions of the topic) that bugs me is that it's very fic-centric. Fic is not the be all and end all of fannish interaction or motivation to move to or be engaged by a new source. People aren't always following their favorite writer wherever, or being pressured by their friends to write for a new shiny source, because fic is not their primary interaction with the source.

[holdouttrout.livejournal.com]

I forgot about Star Trek! I can't believe that wasn't on my list.

It's funny, but I can't imagine my life without SG-1 fandom now. Everyone here has become important to me, and our conversations go way beyond "Ooooh! Isn't he hot?" I mean, some of the time, anyway. :-)

I admit that I'm more willing to try fandoms that say, you or jenn or most of "my" other SG-1 writers like, partly because if they write fic I can understand it better, and partly because I trust their judgment. However, it's clear that fannish output isn't my only motivator for getting into a fandom. If that was the case, I'd be into everything, just because I know there are good people writing fics in just about every fandom.

[caladria.livejournal.com]

There's usually something lacking from the source material

I think, for me, that's essential. There has to be questions that I take from the source material that I'm interested in the answer to. And then there has to be a fandom that's looking for the answers and has new questions.

Which is why the West Wing probably doesn't work as a fandom for me, despite me adoring the source. Partly because it's a closed canon, so all the questions have been talked to death, partly because my attachment point to canon is a character (CJ) rather than a pairing. And I think the same can be said for due South. They're both fandoms I've dabbled with, but they just never took.

Whereas the two fandoms that did take (SG-1 and Torchwood) are very similar (and ST: Voyager which I probably would have been fannish about if I'd had the internet then); there's a pairing that I love in each of them, canon is basically plot holes strung together with flashing lights so there's lots of questions. And I want to write fic for them, and there's people out there discussing the characters, and the plots and everything about it/them. And oddly enough, I started out in both of them from scratch; I don't think anyone on my flist was fannish about Torchwood.

[holdouttrout.livejournal.com]

In pretty much all the fandoms I've joined, I have had a wealth of source material to start out with, but also new canon, or at least new interpretations of canon (as with SW).

I am not a good person to watch the first seasons of shows when they air (normally; Sanctuary appears to be an exception, as does Leverage, for some unknown and mysterious reason.) I like there to be some stability to the questions, if that makes sense.

[caladria.livejournal.com]

I am not a good person to watch the first seasons of shows when they air

First seasons seem to wibble as everyone tries to figure out what everything is about and what the characters are and what the style of show is going to be, with very few exceptions (the West Wing's first season was awesome, but Aaron Sorkin seems to wibble in entirely his own way). Sanctuary may be the exception because it had the webisodes to wibble around in and by the time it got to the screen they were much more settled as a crew?

[crazedturkey.livejournal.com]

It's got to be the people doesn't it?

In terms of shows I think I can say that my love for the Simpsons, FUturama, BSG and Firefly as shows is actually greater than I have for SG-1. But I have only ever been involved in three fandoms as such SG-1 , Isobelle Carmody and Survivor.

I stayed longest in SG-1 and Isobelle carmody because of the people. And I really think that'
s what it comes down to. If it wasn't for people I enjoyed interacting with I'd have moved on a while ago. And as for those other shows, well I may love them, but the fandoms....not so much. So yeah. For better or worse SG-1 this silly show I adore unreasonably because whenever I watch it my experience is tinged by a group of people I really enjoy.

[holdouttrout.livejournal.com]

Right. There are shows I love better than SG-1, if I just look at the episodes and canonical interaction in them, but the fandom is separate from that love, in a way. I mean, obviously I wouldn't be here if I didn't love the show, but I love the people more.

(Also, I think loving a show too much kills the fic in me, and, despite not believing that fic=fandom, it's a large part of my fannish experience. And by loving too much, I mean, "but they're already doing what I WANT and I just want to see more!")

[mrspollifax.livejournal.com]

I'm late and there's already so much thinky stuff here. So I'm just going to say HEY! You're watching The West Wing?!? *bounces* I would be very interested to hear your reactions if you feel moved to post about them at some point. =)

[holdouttrout.livejournal.com]

So far I'm just soaking it in. I usually get filled up with awesome and then have to spew it onto my lj. *g* (So far, I really like...everything!)