On being “too old” for fandom:
Imagine describing fandom to someone with no prior knowledge of it at all. What’s the need-to-know?
You’d tell them it consists largely of online communities who organize via blogging sites (and formerly message boards or mailing lists); fiction and art that’s often erotic in nature, and is sometimes commissioned or sold via self-promotional sites like etsy and society6; conventions that people travel internationally to attend; cosplay that takes so much skill to assemble that some people do it professionally; analysis of the source material backed by fans’ knowledge of subjects that range from medicine to weapons operation to feminist social theory to stage design.
I can imagine a lot of reactions, depending on the person, but I’m having trouble figuring out who could hear that and then conclude most of the participants are kids.
I will be moderating a panel on Fangirling Over 30 next month, and I was looking up this post so I could quote it at at the panel, and I just wanted to throw in, additionally, something that is implied above but not stated outright:
Who do the young’ins think are performing the executive functions of fandom? Who’s paying for a domain name and server space so they can host a fanfic archive? Who’s establishing and moderating message boards and mailing lists? Who’s throwing a ‘zine-assembling party at their house? Who’s forming an LLC and liaising with a hotel for the convention they’re organizing? Who’s doing the research on intellectual property to determine what constitutes fair use so that fan artists know what they can sell and where?
Hint: not kids.
The fandom playgrounds we’ve been frolicking in for 50 years did not materialize out of thin air. They were built by the people who are “too old to be in fandom.” Respect them.
This applies not only to fandom, but to the source material that fandom develops around as well. If you say that adults aren’t allowed in fandom, then all of a sudden, everything that you’re a fan of just poofs and disappears. Who do you think makes your shows, books, comics, whatever? People usually twice your age or older, who are far removed from school and have careers and families of their own who work tirelessly to bring your favorite thing to life. Even if it’s a show or book aimed at children, I can guarantee an adult wrote it, and a lot of these adults also participate with the fans of their creations.
Without adults making things happen, your fandoms wouldn’t exist.
