You seem to be using a somewhat peculiar definition of "fan." I don't think that what makes someone a "fan" is an uncritical adoration or acceptance of the foundations of the original material. What makes someone a fan is their participation in fan culture, a culture which has always been characterized by resistant reading practice and acts of subversion -- the writing of fanfic, for example, which is inherently subversive of authorial hegemony.
Material which accrues a fandom is usually material that inspires strong ambivalence in its audience. Fannish engagement is by its very nature active, not passive. Material which is simply enjoyed or approved does not tend to inspire fannish interaction; material which both appeals and disturbs does.
Disapproving of such views (not just disagreeing with them, but actually disapproving of and/or mocking them) is "pissing on Rowling's books" and, why join the books'/author's fanbase, which by definition is supposed to be a large group of ardent, devoted enthusiasts who admire the series, and by extension these particular viewpoints? (Supposed to be, not IS.)
Where on earth did you come by this definition of what fandom is "supposed to be?" I suppose that it does adhere to a strict etymological derivation of the word "fan," but it doesn't have very much at all to do with fandom as it actually exists, fandom as a real world social phenomenon.
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Date: 2004-12-08 07:15 pm (UTC)Material which accrues a fandom is usually material that inspires strong ambivalence in its audience. Fannish engagement is by its very nature active, not passive. Material which is simply enjoyed or approved does not tend to inspire fannish interaction; material which both appeals and disturbs does.
Disapproving of such views (not just disagreeing with them, but actually disapproving of and/or mocking them) is "pissing on Rowling's books" and, why join the books'/author's fanbase, which by definition is supposed to be a large group of ardent, devoted enthusiasts who admire the series, and by extension these particular viewpoints? (Supposed to be, not IS.)
Where on earth did you come by this definition of what fandom is "supposed to be?" I suppose that it does adhere to a strict etymological derivation of the word "fan," but it doesn't have very much at all to do with fandom as it actually exists, fandom as a real world social phenomenon.