fishpatrol | On the Subject of "Fanthropology"

What does it mean to "be in a fandom"? To my BFF who does not read fanfic, look at fanart, slash (she does do the whole het-shipping though), to be in a fandom means trawling through communities and forums for photos and video clips and the newest songs by her favourite bands. Being in a particular fandom simply means to be a fan of that particular something. To me, an avid reader of fanfic, an ardent slasher (of the boy-on-boy variety and none of that saw and hacking stuff), and a dabbler of fanart, being involved in a fandom means going above and beyond the available canon. The way I see it, while being a fan and being a fandomer are not mutually exclusive concepts, they are also not the same thing.

The non-fandom fan squees over the latest episode of an anime, the newest album of a band, the last Harry Potter book. The fan-fandomer squees over the latest episode, and then proceeds to trawl through the Internet, searching for fanfic that depicts their favourite characters or pairing interacting based on the most recent canon development. The non-fan fandomer disregards the latest episode, and probably the whole of the latest arc, and thinks that "sometimes life is pretty awesome" when stumbling upon fanart that shows two characters who may have exchanged all of two lines throughout the anime in a compromising position.

Even using these categories, it's still hard to pinpoint what being in a fandom is all about. The fanficcer is a participant of the fandom. But what about the fanartist that only draws portraits based on the pre-existing photographs? What about the icon makers and the layout makers and the people who keep everyone else on top of the latest news?

Perhaps my BFF has the better definition of fandom: being in a fandom means being a fan of a certain source who interacts with other fans of the same source. That explanation doesn't quite sit well with me though. Several years ago, back in my Harry Potter days, I wondered, as a fan, what was the difference between me and my friends who could not care less about the multitude of fan-created works, but would jumping with glee at the announcement of the release of the next HP book. I loved the books, I loved the world and the characters that JK Rowling had created. But what I loved more were the fanfics and the different possibilities that fandom and fanon made available. HP fans who talked to other HP fans about the books and analyzed them to the last detail -- are these people participating in the wider HP fandom? What about the people who read only half the books, watched half the movies, and read/write a disgusting amount of Mary Sue-in-Hogwarts fic -- are they in the fandom?

(Now I've taken myself in a full circle and can no longer conceptualize what I was trying to argue in the first place. Whoops.)

On a similar topic, I find with non-story based sources, it's trickier to define canon. With TV shows and anime and books, there is a clear-cut story: these events happened, these events did not. This character hates this one, but loves another. With real people, it's hard to say what precisely is canon; people's behaviours are fluid, and it's harder to predict what a real person would do in any given situation. The easiest way for me to conceptualize canon and fanon is simply: canon is the way I interpret the original source; fanon is everyone else's interpretation. XD

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And for the obligatory Suju part of this entry:

I've noticed a general tendency that the LJ Suju fans and the Soompi Suju fans have opposing views on the issue of E.L.F. Many comments I see on the LJ comms seem to portray "elves" as rabid fangirls whom you would not want to approach with a ten-~~foot~~metre pole. Given some of their actions (and reactions), I can see why this claim is widely spread among non-"elves". Now, on Soompi, every Suju fan is an E.L.F. "Elves" are wonderful fans who will support the boys (but only13) to the end of the world and will protect them from everything and anything (but who will protect the boys when the rabid fangirls attack?). I was going to make a comment comparing ~~the intelligence~~ ~~the level of rabidness~~ LJ fans and Soompi fans, but I shall refrain because this is a public entry. ^0^; (I suspect that I have something against fan-bases on forums)

Note, though, that I'm not entirely familiar with the ELF vs non-ELF issue and may be making an over-generalizing statement; I apologize in advance if anyone is offended by my comments.

Now that I've bashed a certain subsection of the Suju fans, I'd like to point out some very pretty awesome fanworks done by some pretty awesome fans:
Chinese fans perform Happiness -- The clothes, the hairstyles, the actions, the backdrops, the camera slices and angles! *__* The whole thing is an amazing imitation of the original Happiness MV. *boggles*
Korean fans perform U -- Again, fantastic imitation of the original U MV. I think this was meant to be more of a parody than a pure imitation...? But either way, the dancing and the clothes? PRETTY AWESOME.

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I totally just ate nine fried spring rolls in one afternoon/night. I'm sure they are awful for my health, but damn, those things are yummy. :9

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eta: Is it really awful of me to be looking forward to AST1's debut? :D;; I thought the strategy for their promotional video wasn't such a bad one. It certainly garnered them plenty of publicity (though, admittedly, a good chunk of it was negative publicity -- but hey, isn't it also true that any publicity is good publicity?). When I saw this I thought of all the potential AST1+Suju crossovers, haha, oh, self. *facepalm*

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yay meta! This is interesting - I definitely think there is a difference between a 'fan' and 'fandomer and pretty much agree with your points in the first couple of paragraphs. To be more specific, I define a fan as someone who is content to appreciate canon at face value (more or less) and have watercooler discussions over it, whereas a fandomer seeks to create a separate identity for him/herself within a larger or more established fannish community. But of course, there are gradients between the two terms - like lurkers for example. Do they lurk because they have nothing to contribute or do they have strong opinions of their own but are too shy to express them? Is the correct terminology "lurking" to begin with? sflkj not sure where I'm going with this. Complexity of semantics: 1, me: 0... XD;

What about the people who read only half the books, watched half the movies, and read/write a disgusting amount of Mary Sue-in-Hogwarts fic -- are they in the fandom?

Well there are those desperate for attention for its own sake, heh. Personally I don't get why anyone would attempt to be a fandomer without being a fan of the source first.

with non-story based sources, it's trickier to define canon

This is true, but you know what's awesome about 3-D fandoms? <--(borrowing your phrase) THE POSSIBILITY OF AUs. sdlfkjlkajkl bandom especially. Like once I read an AU where members of Fall Out Boy were cast into the role of Private Eye and undercover!hooker and somehow somebody owned a strip club along the way that featured a booth where members of OTHER bands could make out with each other, and all I could think was "OMG LIFE DOESN'T GET BETTER THAN THIS. T__T". Uh, getting back to my point... 1-D and 2-D fandoms don't work nearly as well with AUs because it feels like cheating, in a way? and there are so many other aspects to love about 3-D fandoms like fanservice... and fanservice. \o/

Re: ELFs. I think it's mostly the KOREAN fanbase that gives it a bad name... because honestly? Their antisocial tactics do nothing but further their reputation as an army of brats. On the other hand, I've noticed there are many more sane ELFs outside of Korea (or maybe LJ just weeds out the crazies, who knows) who don't necessarily like the idea of SJM but don;t go out of their way to bash them, either.

gfosoflld that Chinese fanmade Haengbok vid = metric tonne of AMAZING.

P.S. THAT GIRL WHO SINGS RYEOWOOK'S PART TOTALLY LOOKS LIKE HIM. DYING.

Haha, yessss -- she's got the hair down perfectly. XD And the girl who does Heechul looks a lot like him in several of the shots! I just watched the making-of video yesterday and I'm now even more impressed at the accuracy of the hair and the clothes and everything.

whereas a fandomer seeks to create a separate identity for him/herself within a larger or more established fannish community

Identity! Yes, that's exactly it! That's the point that I was missing when I was mulling this over.

1-D and 2-D fandoms don't work nearly as well with AUs because it feels like cheating, in a way?

Hmm, that's an interesting point -- I guess since 1D and 2D fandoms already have their own story and part of "fanning" over these sources is because of the pre-existing story that AUs seem...more purposeless (for a lack of a better term). AUs are very common in bandom, it seems! Which totally makes sense since AUs are about playing with the characters and bandom is all about the people, really, and now I've lost my train of thought. ;;;

Anyway. I've read some English-bandom AU fics when my friend was pimping them out like crazy. XD I did find some of them enjoyable even though I had no clue who was who, haha. Surprisingly though, I find that even though there are good AU fic for Suju and DBSK and whatnot, the ones I like the most are non-AU. I guess I like them more when they're in their...natural habitat? (I have yet to figure out this)

(or maybe LJ just weeds out the crazies, who knows)

Haha, self-selection perhaps? Blogs take too much cognitive effort to set up and maintain, while forums require less effort, therefore, we see this group difference. ;) Though, given some of the current events and discussions, I wouldn't say that all LJ Suju fans are "sane", per se. X3

The easiest way for me to conceptualize canon and fanon is simply: canon is the way I interpret the original source; fanon is everyone else's interpretation. XD

hee, ain't that the truth? ^_^

there's a huge continuum there, but you've describes well the polar ends of it. there's a certain minimal involvement that defines a fan, but there's a world of difference between someone who watches a show once a week to someone who devotes so much energy and time and thought to something. it ends up being a total different experience, so it's easy to think (for the fan, anyway) that one is a "true fan" or something, but, well. you get out of something what you put into it? obsession can change the source of the obsession for the obsessee?

but yeah, interesting thoughts...

obsession can change the source of the obsession for the obsessee?

That's a very good point! That describes the situation where someone might end up becoming more immersed in the fandom than the original source, someone who says that they like the fandom better than the show/the book/etc.

I guess I was also wondering when people determine the threshold between being a "fandomer" and simply a "fan"? For instance, there's this band that I like; I love their music, I occasionally watch clips of them and even more occasionally, I read fic about them. But I wouldn't consider myself in the fandom though. The line between being a "fan" and a "fan-fandomer" is a very blurred one. XD

Now this is something really interesting to think about. I think everyone else can say it better than I can. For me being in the fandom... just means immersing myself in a world that fans have created (the good, the bad, and the horrid and all those in between). Of course, we have to know the canon well enough at least. XD;; And we all drift into that corner of the fandom that feels most comfortable to us (i.e. a certain pairing or school or character or whatnot).

I think anyway. ^-^;;

On the Subject of "Fanthropology"

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