Random Poll

[paraka]

So, there has been some talk on the Numb3rs part of my flist about fandom in general, how it works and how it impacts us (or how it should impact us).
(Links if anyone is interested)

I'm not really going to talk about it right now but I'm curious. It was mentioned in munchkinofdoom's post that fandom can be split into two groups, those who think fandom is a way of life, and those who think it's just a hobby. Out of curiosity, where does my flist sit on that idea?

[Poll #1218832]

Comments

[anoel.livejournal.com]

Fandom IS a way of life. I am a fangirl, always have been, always will be. Back when I was a kid, I didn't know it. I didn't know that drawing fanart, writing fiction based on books, creating stories based on characters was doing fannish things. But it was irresistible to me and I love it and I loved connecting with other people who were fans. No I don't spend all my life and all day being in fandom, I have other interest but being a fan is who I am. I believe in the creativity, openmindedness, obsessing over your current fannish interests with others and the generosity of fandom.

And to those who think there's something weird or bad or unhealthy about that? Whatever. Fans have many times been thought of as freaks but it's amazing when you find people who see the world like you do even if it's as simple as loving a show or ship up to and including people who are similar in personality and/or see life the way you do.

[paraka]

*Word*

What I find most interesting about this poll, and I'm going to do another post to talk about all this, is how people are interpreting the phrase "fandom as a way of life". I think there's still that negative conentation, even amoung fans of "taking it too seriously". I think because the outside world still doesn't know that much about us (and what they do know about us seems to come from sci fi conventions from the 80s and the HP craze) and they think we're weird, other fans try and distance themselves be saying "I may be a fan, but *I* know where to draw the line" so they don't even think of what else the phrase could mean.

Certainly there are a lot of people in fandom who *do* find it's just a hobby, but I think if more people were to stop and think about it in our terms, there would be more in the "way of life" votes (although we were even for a while there, so I think that's promising).