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The Splintering of Fandom
Nov. 13th, 2006 10:02 pmI have noticed over the past 10 years or so that sf fandom seems to be splintering into more and smaller groups. People no longer identify as "fannish" but they are a gamer, a filker, into Trek/StarWars/Whedonverse/comic books/fanfic/anime/LOTR etc. My theory is that as the internet is making it increasingly easy to find and form communities around such specific interests that people are choosing to associate more and more with their own particular subset rather than as "just a fan". You get Star Wars fans who won't attend the same panels as Star Trek fans, or even the same conventions and they LIKE it that way.
Controversial statement here - I wonder if it is the same sociological or psychological basis that I have noticed among racial or ethnic groups to in effect self-segregate? At what point does positive pride become negative? Another relating factor might be that fen in general already view themselves as socially marginalized - does self-segregating in smaller and smaller groups mean that less general interaction on other subjects is required of them? Limiting conversation and activities to a small range of topics - is it empowering or just lazy?
For example, the local costuming community has been trying to expand our focus and interest base, in search of "more people to play with". We successfully exchanged ambassadors with the local Star Wars group (the 501st) and were looking to do the same with the local cosplayers.
I mentioned this in my bunnyowners post about taking Pepper to Windycon and was immediately ht with two people who said "oh no - cosplaying isn't just anime, it's just dressing up in costume", and others who agreed. Barbara got a book called "Beginning Cosplay" which features anime girls on the cover and www.cosplay.com also has a very specific anime slant. So now we have not only self-segregation but a language barrier as well!
What are people's experiences that might shed light on this topic? (BESIDES![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jfc013 - I KNOW what you think!)
Controversial statement here - I wonder if it is the same sociological or psychological basis that I have noticed among racial or ethnic groups to in effect self-segregate? At what point does positive pride become negative? Another relating factor might be that fen in general already view themselves as socially marginalized - does self-segregating in smaller and smaller groups mean that less general interaction on other subjects is required of them? Limiting conversation and activities to a small range of topics - is it empowering or just lazy?
For example, the local costuming community has been trying to expand our focus and interest base, in search of "more people to play with". We successfully exchanged ambassadors with the local Star Wars group (the 501st) and were looking to do the same with the local cosplayers.
I mentioned this in my bunnyowners post about taking Pepper to Windycon and was immediately ht with two people who said "oh no - cosplaying isn't just anime, it's just dressing up in costume", and others who agreed. Barbara got a book called "Beginning Cosplay" which features anime girls on the cover and www.cosplay.com also has a very specific anime slant. So now we have not only self-segregation but a language barrier as well!
What are people's experiences that might shed light on this topic? (BESIDES
jfc013 - I KNOW what you think!)