Muggles. Gotta live with 'em.

[amanuensis1]

Whoa, are we all really that upset over that article in The Guardian about Lumos? I didn't find it negative, really; the article's written by someone who is not only NOT a fan but admits she hasn't even read the books or seen the films ("Well...some of them"). She's not a fannish type at all. She's gone into it frankly baffled by the whole concept of fans who sink into their medium so deeply. She is, to belabor the obvious, a classic mundane (which is what we called 'em before Rowling got Muggle into the OED). And she observes, and there's an air of "okay, this remains distant and odd to me," but, gosh, me, I don't expect anything else from mundanes. I thought the piece was presented with a reasonably neutral "not for me, and some of it's definitely strange to me, but, wow, there's a lot of devotion and variety here" air.

Given that the article didn't purport to be a detached record of the event, I think we got lucky that she didn't shriek "weirdoes weirdoes weirdoes!" all through it. Maybe some of you feel she did? Because she doesn't think Snape/Hermione is so much about empowering women as it is titillation? Because she thought some of the discussions/topics were lame or unfounded? Because the idea of HP bestiality got to her? Shoot, I think we got off light. And she does end on this positive note:

It's all amazing. And seeing anybody, let alone 1,200 people enthused with joy about anything is really quite uplifting. And not just anything. Books! It makes my girlish, swotty heart swell with pride.

Maybe that wasn't enough for fan readers. Perhaps a lot of you feel you've had enough of this kind of "not for me, but, whatever floats your boat" editorializing. Maybe in the same way I don't exactly want to see more films like Brokeback Mountain but rather am waiting for the gay James Bond to unapologetically flaunt the queer all over the screen.

Comments

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

it didn't seem like she tried very hard to understand why people were such fans.

And starting from the position of someone who's read "well, some" of the books, it doesn't make one anticipate that this is the sort of person who will try to do that. Hey, and maybe her department sent her because she'd had more exposure to the books than anyone else in her department; isn't that sad to think?

[melonaise.livejournal.com]

I think she herself must not be a fan of anything (books, movies, TV shows, sparkly shoes, antique china, history trivia), or else she'd be able to sympathize more.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Mundanes tend not to get the idea of being a fan of things with plots, I kind of think. They may collect cookie jars or follow football with a passion, but to them that's DIFFERENT, see.

[scribbulus-ink.livejournal.com]

My best friend's husband is a sports fanatic. He can rattle off stats, he holds season tickets to a certain team's games, he collects sports memorabilia, and he dresses up for home games - and yet he derides her for being a fan and attending Trek conventions, because that's just "weird". Any attempts to draw the parallels between his behavior and hers is met with complete stonewalling. He absolutely refuses to see it, because hey, at least sports are real, not silly stuff with aliens.

So yeah, there's some kind of wall that prevents a lot of them from seeing that being fanatical about whatever it is they're fanatical about makes them no different from us.

[melonaise.livejournal.com]

People are so odd.

[ellid.livejournal.com]

I also wonder if there's a sexist element to it. After all, sports fans are largely male, and media fen in particular tend to be female.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

at least sports are real,

*stomps around in "ARRRRRGH" frustration*