On the Subject of "Fanthropology"
Apr. 5th, 2008 12:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fishpatrolWhat 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
--
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-footmetre 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.
--
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
--
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*
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
--
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-
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.
--
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
--
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*
