On fandom(s)

Via.

Last night I was out walking around my college campus, killing time until I had to be at rehearsal, when I scrolled down to an old playlist on my iPod labelled "Dasey."

"Dasey," for those of you who don't know, is the shipping name for Derek Venturi and Casey McDonald, the main characters in the Canadian TV series Life with Derek. Throughout elementary,  middle, and later high school I was a huge fan of the show (I still am, but my input into the LWD fandom has decreased significantly in past years.). I don't know if it's really important to tell you guys that, but when I pressed "shuffle" on that playlist, it was kind of like a time capsule, and Past!Maddie was talking to me and communicating with me the importance of these characters, this show, this relationship. And when one sone came on, I nearly started crying because I simultaneously felt like I was coming home, like I was crawling into a warm bed... and like I was never going to be able to go back to that point in time, that I had changed too much.

I've been thinking about this kind of nostalgia for old fandoms today, and so I want to take a stab at talking about it before I forget or lose my nerve or both. This is my blog, after all, so I can say what I want.

I am a firm believer in the power of fandoms/"fandom."

I believe that fandom (general fandom, fandom-at-large) can create a tremendous feeling of community and security - both creatively and personally. I believe that fandom empowers people, fans, what have you, into taking the show/book/series in question into their own hands and making it their own. Fanart, fanfiction... both are excellent at conducting these kinds of feelings, and with blogging that community is amplified with blog posts and discussions. It creates a kind of social network, and while that can be incredibly rewarding for some people, others are not so lucky.

Because sometimes fantoms - while starting off on good intentions - can leave others feeling like victims. I'm not going to lie, some real nasty shit goes down sometimes in fandoms, and while debate and criticism is good within a community, it can "other" a group of people who have a set of legitimate concerns and critique for not going with the status quo. You see this a lot in discussing LGBTQIA+ issues in Harry Potter and Heroes of Olympus, or quest baiting/queer coding in Supernatural and Sherlock, and sexism in Doctor Who and racism/representation all around. So, yeah, I feel like in creating really wonderful communities fans sometimes/usually have the tendency of stepping on people's toes within the fandom... Or, you know, acting absolutely atrocious because The Honor of the fandom is at stake, and God Forbid any critique of the fandom go Too Far, because that would be Too Much.

Via.

I'm lucky in the regards that I haven't had any real negative experiences in the fandoms I've been super involved and invested in. While I'd like to say it's because I pick my communities well, it's more likely because I don't engage in serious discussion about shows or things that I like enough to encounter that sort of criticism. (Either that, or the show/series's incompetency was widely known throughout the fandom. I remember a "WTF" rating for Life with Derek show recaps) So I guess this post is kinda nostalgic about the things I used to do, I think it's also an example of why I need to push myself to be mindful of the communities I take part in and fandoms I join because complacency =/= fandom perfection.

I'm going to keep this post as-is for now, and hopefully in the future I'll be able to blog some more about this subject. (As a fangirl, I feel like this is an area I can actually discuss with any minor authority.)

What do you guys think? Do you feel the same way about fandom, or do you have a different opinion?