The Splintering of Fandom

[wendyzski]

I 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 jfc013 - I KNOW what you think!)

Comments

[petronivs.livejournal.com]

I've actually moved from being solely a gamer to getting more into fandom. I've moved from wanting to be in the game room the whole weekend to wanting to have some more spare time to hit panels on writing and such.

[seamstrix.livejournal.com]

From my perspective, it almost seems more like anime/cosplay folks don't see themselves as part of the greater SF/F communitee rather than the SF/F folks rejecting Anime folks.....but there could certainly be other view points on that. It seems like the Anime folks don't just get into the Anime, they become intrigued by Japanese culture as a whole and they move off in that direction rather than identiifying with the SF/F elements in the stories and going further in that direction.

When I was first getting involved in Fandom back when dirt was clean, I quickly figured out that costumers don't filk and filkers don't wear costumes so I was sort of forced to decide which area I was going to concentrate on- clearly costuming won out. I think that fandom has been fissured if not fractured for a long time.

[jcw-da-dmg.livejournal.com]

I do think that there is a reasonable amount of crossover; although, clearly, some people are "specializing" more than they used to. I must admit that I don't see costumes in filks very often, but that may have to do with scheduling. I used to think gamers didn't filk either, but clearly some do.

[rileybear67.livejournal.com]

You have another 501st contact, you know, and you've known her for years (though I haven't been in the 501st for years)!

Anyway, I do think that people are getting more and more closed within thier little groups. It's part of why I am having a hard time going to conventions these days because the level of socialization is so specialized I never feel like I have anything to say that won't be (at times vehimently) rejected as "wrong".

[goddessjustice.livejournal.com]

What is filk? I'm a gamer, but a pretty casual one. I love dressing up. I like anime. I like comic books. I've only ever been to one con, but it was a trade show more than anything else. But I don't know what a filk is.

~Mir

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

filk is "folk music by/for/about SF fandom". The word started as a typo in a con program and has been part of the lexicon ever since. It can encompass adventure tales, spaceport bar drinking songs, and long sticky songs about unicorns.

I don't usually go because filk has much in common with other amateur music - the quality is highly variable. I really enjoy the better performers, and will go to concerts and buy CDs, but since I have relative pitch I find some song circles acutely painful - wandering tempo from imprecise voices on badly tuned instruments makes me twitchy. But it can be funny, profound, profane, boring, tear-wrenching - in short it's just like any other kind of music.

[jcw-da-dmg.livejournal.com]

Eloise assures me that filkers on the whole have gotten better about this in recent years; my recent experiences lead me to believe that the tuning/pitch problem is about the equivalent of a halfway decent Irish seisiun. I'm not saying there isn't the occasional "Ow!" but it's not chronic.

[starstraf.livejournal.com]

I remember when Minicon exploded (My rant on their proposal) back in 1997 so the discussion on the splintering of fandom has been going on for at least that long.