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

Reposted because I screwed up the first time

[gmth.livejournal.com]

I didn't care so much what the reporter herself had to say, though I did find the overall tone of the article bordering on mysogynistic. I did mind, very much, the attitude of the fans who said they weren't "freaky" fans because they aren't slashers. As I said in [info]emmagrant01's journal, we're ALL geeks to those outside fandom, so I think it sucks when people inside fandom try to draw lines between who's a "freak" and who isn't.

Re: Reposted because I screwed up the first time

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Oh, THEM, yeah, they annoyed me no end. They're IN the fandom and they should know better. She's not to blame for quoting them in all their immature glory. Go find a nice non-freaky sports bar and get your emotional fulfillment that way, then. See how much fun you have. Byeeeee.

Re: Reposted because I screwed up the first time

[dancing-moon.livejournal.com]

though I did find the overall tone of the article bordering on mysogynistic.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought so! That was actually what bothered me most, because, bestiality is taboo so of course it will freak her. People dressed strangely are always considered odd.

But the wording in many places the (in my eyes) unfavorable comparsion to a Stark Trek con which she included and the whole "since it's mostly girls the con is like this and there can be no other reason at all, nope" tone just bugged me

Re: Reposted because I screwed up the first time

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Well, I will say that it is something to ponder, because it is the first fandom I've been in where females swelled the ranks. So I do wonder why that would be.

Re: Reposted because I screwed up the first time

[dancing-moon.livejournal.com]

I can't go to US cons, for obvious reasons. But I've been to a couple of swedish anime conventions and we don't have panels. About anything really.

Then I read a timeplan for a couple of US cons (to figure out what to do on our own con hehe) and it's filled with panels. About making cosplay wigs, about mechas, about fanfics, about characters and archetypes etc etc. And I think anime fandom as a whole is pretty gender-balanced

Otoh I know I read on fandom_wank about an argument involving yaoi fanart. A guy complains that there's less busty babes and more guy/guy all the time. Several artists state that it's because fanboys look but fangirls buy.

So I don't think it's as simple as she makes it out to be. And what irks me is that she does not ponder it, she does not investigate (which isn't scope of the article either) she just turns things around a bit until she finds an angle that matches her gender stereotypes and bingo, let's present that as a fact.

Here, one example:

It's the first time that women have ever dominated fandom in this way, and so of course it's all about doing extra homework and making sure your uniform is nicely pressed.

Is she somehow implying that the sci-fi nerds who have encyclopedical knowledge of anti-matter theory as propsed by author A, or can ramble specs for the Enterprise for hours have "not done their homework"? Is it different because the people at Lumos have focused on other things? I mean, being obsessed and discussing everything to death is part of being both a fan and a nerd yet she turns it into "girls doing their homework". Blah

Re: Reposted because I screwed up the first time

[ellid.livejournal.com]

That statement about this being the first fandom dominated by women is simply not true. Early Trek fandom was so dominated by women that mainline SF fen were at a loss as to why their formerly 85% male conventions were being flooded by women, and that was the case well into the late 70s/early 80s (my first Trek con was in 1979, and over half the attendees were female). Trek fandom didn't become the province of male geeks until after the first or second movie.

Re: Reposted because I screwed up the first time

[dancing-moon.livejournal.com]

Yes, true about the female domination, I think I saw someone else mention it on another post too.

What an interesting glimpse of Trek history :) I wasn't around then, but it's always fun to learn more

Re: Reposted because I screwed up the first time

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you posted this perspective, because I would not have known this. I always believed SF fandom to be male-dominated in general.

Re: Reposted because I screwed up the first time

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I mean, being obsessed and discussing everything to death is part of being both a fan and a nerd yet she turns it into "girls doing their homework". Blah

Yeah, I can definitely feel how that rubs my sexism sensors the wrong way.

Re: Reposted because I screwed up the first time

[melonaise.livejournal.com]

When I dabbled in Pern fandom, that was also dominated by women. In role-playing games I usually played male characters, because there weren't enough men to keep the game balanced. The Pern track at Dragoncon has a lot of cosplay, and a lot of focus on the culture of Pern. But it's really not much different from the male-dominated (at least it was before the new movies) Star Wars track with its Stormtrooper Legion.

The main difference I see between the Pern and the Star Wars fans is that the Pern fans tend to see their fandom as a living entity-- a real culture that they can adapt and play with. Star Wars fans tend to see their world as more static, well-defined. Even many Star Wars role-players aren't so much trying to make their own characters as trying to recreate "historic" Star Wars events. This difference could be because of the dearth of approved Pern role-playing materials compared to Star Wars source books. Or it could be because women tend to be more creative, men more analytical, if we want to focus on gender.

Re: Reposted because I screwed up the first time

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

OH! It's like...guys and baseball statistics! Okay, that's oversimplified, but, YEAH!

Re: Reposted because I screwed up the first time

[sirjimmy.livejournal.com]

It was a tad on the mysogynistic side. I honestly can't comprehend what people have against slash. If it's not their thing, then they should just leave it alone. We don't bother them, just because we don't like het.