You know, this was something I was trying to explain in the paper (which went in two totally different directions, one of which is much more fandom-y than the other). But I realized for myself that I'm much more likely to be interested in fandom activities for texts (including shows or whatever, too) that I'm ambivalent about, or that frequently frustrate me, than for things I have relatively uncomplicated affection for. I know fanfiction exists for, say, His Dark Materials, or Jane Austen, or Alice in Wonderland, and I'm just not particularly interested in reading it--I'd rather go back to the original books. My interest in Harry Potter fandom is *all* because I found myself increasingly uncomfortable with the books--either because questions that were important to me weren't being addressed (or seemed to be actively ignored), and because I found the themes and the moral structure to be increasinly bewildering to me. For me, fandom interest usually comes out of a feeling of lack--a sense that the creator hasn't given me enough of something I really, really want.
Maybe part of this is growing up in a family with some snobbishness about TV, so I always had this concept of "it's so bad, it's good" or "love-to-hate-it" texts. Like I said before, we all bond over making fun of 7th Heaven. And I do go read the WB official boards sometimes, or the fanfiction of that show, because I'm fascinated by how other people read it (and how angry they get at anyone who criticizes it). My first introduction to Internet fandom was by the show Dawson's Creek, and I was also fascinated by how people interpreted the actions of the main characters so radically differently, and drew such opposite messages about what the show "meant."
I do find it frustrating when people either insist that one is "reading wrong," or that only bullying brats could be interested in Draco Malfoy, or whatever. But then, I've never really believed in "reading wrong." I'm also always confused when people seem to expect that because an author seems to be obviously making a cue that's the only correct response. I don't get visceral satisfaction out of the house points scene at the end of PS, or either of the train scenes in the last two books. Maybe I'm just not a revenge minded personality (this has been an issue in recent political discussions I've been in), but aside from that, to me just because JKR is trying to elicit a certain response doesn't mean I owe it to her. And I don't think that's simple postmodern English major talk--I always read subversively if that's what felt, well, emotionally authentic to me.
Maybe that's what's really key to my fan or anti-fan interests--I'm more likely to be intrigued in discussing a text that somehow doesn't have that complete emotional authenticity for me--the texts that do, for me, are usually enough in themselves.
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being an anti-fan
Date: 2005-05-29 12:20 pm (UTC)Maybe part of this is growing up in a family with some snobbishness about TV, so I always had this concept of "it's so bad, it's good" or "love-to-hate-it" texts. Like I said before, we all bond over making fun of 7th Heaven. And I do go read the WB official boards sometimes, or the fanfiction of that show, because I'm fascinated by how other people read it (and how angry they get at anyone who criticizes it). My first introduction to Internet fandom was by the show Dawson's Creek, and I was also fascinated by how people interpreted the actions of the main characters so radically differently, and drew such opposite messages about what the show "meant."
I do find it frustrating when people either insist that one is "reading wrong," or that only bullying brats could be interested in Draco Malfoy, or whatever. But then, I've never really believed in "reading wrong." I'm also always confused when people seem to expect that because an author seems to be obviously making a cue that's the only correct response. I don't get visceral satisfaction out of the house points scene at the end of PS, or either of the train scenes in the last two books. Maybe I'm just not a revenge minded personality (this has been an issue in recent political discussions I've been in), but aside from that, to me just because JKR is trying to elicit a certain response doesn't mean I owe it to her. And I don't think that's simple postmodern English major talk--I always read subversively if that's what felt, well, emotionally authentic to me.
Maybe that's what's really key to my fan or anti-fan interests--I'm more likely to be intrigued in discussing a text that somehow doesn't have that complete emotional authenticity for me--the texts that do, for me, are usually enough in themselves.