8 Reasons Why Casual Fandom is the Best

18 Monday Feb 2019

Posted by Jessica Wood in Blog, fandom, musings, story

Tags

casual fan, fan culture, fandom, nerd, nerd culture

I’m happy to call myself a nerd and a fangirl, and it makes up a large part of my leisure time, and even my work. But fandom is a double-edged sword, and there will always be bad sides to it. A small portion of fans can easily ruin the entire fandom for everyone involved. This is why I often find that being a casual fan is better than being a hardcore fan. Here are a few reasons why:

Avoiding fandom drama

Fandom is something that participants are supposed to enjoy together, yet fans seem fit to fill it with shipping wars, arguments, and overall drama over what is supposed to be fun entertainment. Casual fandom means you can continue to enjoy the work but let all this drama go on in the background.

2. No disappointment

Let’s face it, sometimes even our favourite ongoing stories take a turn for the worse. Characters fail to grow, the plot doesn’t go the way you hoped, or the network executives stick their noses in and ruin everything. This can cause rage amongst the hardcore fans for ruining something which means so much to them. But if you’re only a casual fan, you can simply say ‘that sucks’ and move onto a better story.

3. Not looking crazy

There are always a few fans whose actions make the entire fanbase as a whole look bad by association. For instance, the chaos of the mishandled Rick and Morty Szechuan sauce promotion was really only the work of a few crazy fans. Yet their actions were so insane and received so much bad publicity that it made every Rick and Morty look bad, which they definitely didn’t deserve. If you can say ‘I like that show’ and not ‘I’m a huge fan’, you will come across a little easier and avoid this bad reputation.

4. Stay away from the fandom police

Some fans care so much about their favourite work that they become almost militaristic in their devotion to it and police the rest of the fandom in the ‘right’ way to do things. They will jump down your throat for forgetting an obscure piece of trivia or call you out for a headcanon they don’t agree with. It’s hard to avoid these fans entirely, but remaining a casual fan does mean you can generally stay off their radar, and avoid their wrath.

5. Accept the good with the bad

No story is entirely perfect. They all have strengths and weaknesses. But tell an obsessive fan that and you will open up a can of worms. Some fans can become so obsessed with their favourite work that they outright refuse to acknowledge any of its legitimate flaws, often turning into the militaristic fan to deny them. By remaining a casual fan and looking at the work objectively, you can accept these flaws along with the strengths, and use them to improve your own writing or find more works that you enjoy.

6. Avoid spoilers

There’s nothing worse as a hardcore fan than accidently reading a major spoiler, or even having some dick spoil it for you. Yet while you are spending weeks, or even months, getting through a longer series, it can be tempting to peek into the social media tags or check out the TV Tropes page and accidently see a spoiler without meaning to. Casual fandom helps you to avoid this temptation and enjoy the big twists as the author indented.

7. Save your money

You’d be surprised how expensive fandom can be. When your favourite characters are plastered on t-shirts, toys, and posters, it’s difficult to avoid the temptation, even when you look into your empty wallet and weep. As a casual fan, you may buy the occasional shirt or mug, but otherwise your wallet will remain healthy.

8. Enjoy a range of interests

There’s nothing wrong with being passionate about your favourite story, yet some people seem to become so obsessed with a singular work that it almost consumes their entire identity. For me, fandom is a big part of my life, but it’s still only one thing I do. Staying in several different fandoms also allows me to enjoy a wide range of different stories, genres, and mediums. One day I might be binge watching an old cartoon and the next I’ll be riffing on a dumb movie. It gives me a wide range of interests and lots of inspiration for my own stories.

I Just Don’t Like Star Wars – What Happens When You’re Not Into the Latest Big Thing

12 Tuesday Feb 2019

Posted by Jessica Wood in culture, film, musings

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Tags

fan culture, fandom, nerd, nerd culture, pop culture, star wars

I’m just going to come out and say it – I don’t like Star Wars.

Just saying that is already going to piss off a lot of die-hard fans.

To clarify, I don’t actually hate Star Wars. I’ve seen some of the films and there are some parts I like. I think that Princess Leia is an awesome feminist icon, I love that John Boyega is from the same home town as my dad, and I love telling people that my dad once worked at a hospital with the actor who played Chewbacca. And I appreciate what the franchise did for popularising the sci-fi genre and nerd culture in general.

But even after watching the films, I still haven’t gotten personally invested into the series. In fact, I’m not really into a lot of things which dominate pop culture right now like superheroes or video games. I’ll go and see the latest superhero film if someone in my family wants to see it, but I don’t go out of my way to watch every single film which comes out, regardless of its popularity.

I do know the reasons why I don’t particularly like Star Wars. I was born a generation too late to watch and appreciate the original trilogy when it hit theatres, and now the sci-fi tropes which made Star Wars unique back then have been so overused that they have turned into cliches.

In a way it’s good that nerd culture has pushed into the mainstream and the same people who were picked on when I was at school are now at the top of the high school hierarchy. Yet it does mean that those same people who were the victims of bullying have become the bullies, and not just at school. Fans will jump down your throat and accuse you of being a ‘hater’ if you express an opinion different than their own, or will view you as strange if you don’t have in-depth knowledge of whatever is big in pop culture at the present moment.

When I was at school, being a nerd still meant being a part of the counter-culture and enjoying things outside of the mainstream. That’s why I was writing shitty anime fanfiction while everyone at my school was obsessing over some show called Big Brother. I just couldn’t understand the hype and join in with everyone else, so it made me feel incredibly isolated when I was younger.

But now that the tables have turned, I still feel isolated and locked out of the mainstream. For instance, I have fond memories of visiting the Disney theme parks with my family, but now that my favourite attractions are closing down or being altered to become Star Wars or Marvel themed, I wouldn’t enjoy a Disney trip as much as I once would. I’m feeling isolated from my own childhood nostalgia.

Yet despite what this article implies, I’m still glad to be a nerd and part of the counter culture. I’ve been this way since I was a teenager and I’m not going to change anytime soon. Yes, it’s a little disappointing that I don’t enjoy Disneyland as much as I once did or I have no idea what all the parody videos on Dorkly are talking about. But I still get to enjoy the fanart, fanfics, and discussions for my niche fandoms, and that’s good enough for me.