so then does that mean that fandom in itself is irrelevent? Hahah, trust you to come up with a better insult than me ;)) ...But yeah, insofar as it's a sheer wish-fulfillment reaction rather than some meaningful dialogue/commentary on the text, I would say it's irrelevant to anyone but the person whose opinion it is-- unless by accident the other person also shares that opinion and they can bond over that. I suppose for a popular preference/opinion, the audience is just that much wider. Doesn't make it relevant, precisely, just... um, well-received, maybe.
I don't mean to tar -all- HP fandom and other fandoms with this brush, naturally-- I mean, I've read enough well-done fanfics and brilliant meta essays and seen enough spon-on vids to feel that fandom can produce brilliant, relevant and innovative stuff. I think I just differentiate between stuff that's got real fannish significance/appeal and stuff that I consider to be... well, wanky, you know, completely personal rather than fannish in focus. There isn't that vital link to the text at the forefront but rather a vital link to the person's own fantasy space-- which is fine and dandy, but irrelevant to -me- as a fan of something -other- than their fantasy space.
Honestly speaking, of course, for -me-, fandom does lead back into solitude, yeah, once I've gotten what I came for, but I have to say for most other fans I see it leads back to another fandom, because fannishness is a part of our nature more than any one fandom. I say 'our' because yeah, it's mine too, it's just that my socialness in general isn't necessarily tied to my fannishness, and also the level of my involvement always depends on whether I can respect what the people around me are doing. And while I understand the need for wish-fulfillment and indulge in a lot of it myself, in some ways, at the same time I take writing v. seriously and can't abide by fanfic being -only- that.
It's true what you say about the slow progression of annoyance, though, ahahah :D
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Date: 2005-11-09 09:03 pm (UTC)Hahah, trust you to come up with a better insult than me ;)) ...But yeah, insofar as it's a sheer wish-fulfillment reaction rather than some meaningful dialogue/commentary on the text, I would say it's irrelevant to anyone but the person whose opinion it is-- unless by accident the other person also shares that opinion and they can bond over that. I suppose for a popular preference/opinion, the audience is just that much wider. Doesn't make it relevant, precisely, just... um, well-received, maybe.
I don't mean to tar -all- HP fandom and other fandoms with this brush, naturally-- I mean, I've read enough well-done fanfics and brilliant meta essays and seen enough spon-on vids to feel that fandom can produce brilliant, relevant and innovative stuff. I think I just differentiate between stuff that's got real fannish significance/appeal and stuff that I consider to be... well, wanky, you know, completely personal rather than fannish in focus. There isn't that vital link to the text at the forefront but rather a vital link to the person's own fantasy space-- which is fine and dandy, but irrelevant to -me- as a fan of something -other- than their fantasy space.
Honestly speaking, of course, for -me-, fandom does lead back into solitude, yeah, once I've gotten what I came for, but I have to say for most other fans I see it leads back to another fandom, because fannishness is a part of our nature more than any one fandom. I say 'our' because yeah, it's mine too, it's just that my socialness in general isn't necessarily tied to my fannishness, and also the level of my involvement always depends on whether I can respect what the people around me are doing. And while I understand the need for wish-fulfillment and indulge in a lot of it myself, in some ways, at the same time I take writing v. seriously and can't abide by fanfic being -only- that.
It's true what you say about the slow progression of annoyance, though, ahahah :D