4 Things I really dislike about fanning

[kriadydragon]

1. Ironically enough what I dislike about fanning is also something I like, and that's other fans. When you're able to find like-minded fans then it's the awesome of all sauces. But when you don't... good gravy it's such a headache :S And after a while it makes you want to do nothing more than to crawl into your little corner of fandom and never come out. Except you can't, because where the good stuff is, the obnoxious fans are there also, and if you want a share of the good stuff then you have to put up with the obnoxious fans (and their gutter-minded inability to realize that their dang RP-ship isn't going to happen so will you give it up already!).

2. Exaggeration, which kind of goes along with number one. Fans exaggerate, spread rumors, don't pay attention, have hopes and dreams concerning the ones they fan over that can sometimes reach these epic proportions in which dream becomes reality to that fan and said dream-reality will not be denied no matter how much it's been contradicted by actual reality. And it's irritating as all heck, especially when you have no idea what to believe (like with Colin M. It was believed for a long time - and is still believed - that he was allergic to tomatoes. Except it's confirmed in an interview in which Colin himself said that he's not. And yet people are still under the belief that he's allergic to tomatoes. It hasn't even been changed on all the bios that can be found about him. People also can't decide if he's vegan or just vegetarian).

3. Obsession. I think even the most reasonable fan can get obsessed from time to time. I mean, let's face it. As right as it is to be happy for a fave actor/actress for having landed a role because it's better than nothing, sometimes it can be hard to actually feel that happiness when you also feel they could do so much better, and want them to do better. You like them, you want the best for them, you want to see them in good things and not settle for what you consider to be less or boring. You get a little nervous about what roles they will star in in the future, what saying yes to those roles might say about them, and what it might do to their careers. So, yeah, you get a little obsessed about it, a little selfish, and even if you don't freak out because said actor got a crappy role, you still quietly lament.

4. Real Life. It's not just what fave actor/actress does in their career, but sometimes also what they do in real life. I'm not talking about the hard core fanning in which we must know every little tiny aspect of the actor/tress's life and then get all bent out of shape because they happen to like a brand of soda you despise. I mean worrying if a favorite actor/tress goes down a path that eventually leads them to drunk driving or drugs or sex-tape scandals. It's sad to see anyone you like go down such a steep hill in life. Then there are little things that, although not big and life-altering as being arrested for drugs, still make you squirm and wonder why actor/actress felt the need to do that "thing."

I'm sure there's other annoyances I forgot to mention. These were the ones that stood out the most in my mind.

Comments

[ninja007.livejournal.com]

I've been trying to stay away from fandoms lately. I've met so many people that are bonkers. I am a fan of several fandoms...Farscape (primary fandom), Stargate, etc. I was in line at a con, waiting for the doors to open for the desert party, when a couple started talking to me. We were having a great conversation when they started talking crap about the Farscape fans..."they're too intense", "they're too loud"...blah blah blah. I realized my little ID thing had turned around and they couldn't see I was there for the Farscape AND Stargate cons. I subtly turned it around and they stopped talking to me. I thought that was just weird.

There have been all kinds of loons at the cons, so I can guess what it's like when they CAN'T see you and probably never will! All the crazy just slips out without supervision...

Note: I've also met terrific people in fandoms and count them as friends. But, there are some that are just...whew!

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I've pretty much made it a goal not to get into any more fandoms. My current fandom I'm not even that heavily into but I still manage to run into things that make me want to headdesk repeatedly (such as today, in which a fan expressed hoping to see a favorite actor do a sex scene, which really irked me on a lot of levels - not just because I'm not a fan of sex scenes but also because sex scenes, depending on how they are done and who's doing them (and what kind of show/movie it is), have been known to ruin an actor's popularity as well as put a dent in their career).

I do love the interactions, writing fic and talking with fellow fans. But I have so many do-not-wants, and what with the majority of those do-not-wants being what's popular in pretty much any fandom, things often end up being more unpleasant than pleasant.

[aim2misbhave.livejournal.com]

I encounter #1 and #2 more often... and don't get me into RP shipping. Although I personally find it borderline disrespectful to the actors and often outright disrespectful to their SO's, what really bothers me is that many of them seem to have seriously blurred the lines between reality and fiction/headcanon.

The made-up stuff I totally, totally don't get. There's a mini-scandal going around Tumblr in which someone is taking images of Tom Hiddleston at interviews and events and captioning them with things he didn't say :-/

And then there's the way that they'll all latch onto a single meme and write fic of it and reblog it and keep beating it well after it's dead. And if it's something obnoxious, I get so homicidal I start considering joining the Hannibal fandom. (oh god the images with comic sans over them and I CAN'T TUMBLR SAVIOR THEM)

And the ship wars. Do not get me started on the ship wars. I will drop anyone who's involved in actual ship warring like a hot pocket. I mean, there's room in the fandom ocean for each of us to have a whole armada of ships!

And the minor thing that annoys me is fandom in general's tendency to focus on one slash pairing and that's it. Like, where's the Avengers fic that isn't Tony/Steve? Where's the Supernatural fic that's not Sam/Dean or Dean/Cas? It's like The Collective Slash OTP takes over everything, and there's moderate amounts of het and gen and other slash ships, and then femslash is a rare and precious gem.

lol this was more like a rant butI need to vent too.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Heh, it's fandom and fanning. You need to rant now and then to keep your head from exploding ;)

Prevalence is something that really bugs me in fandoms. Some trope or idea or genre or pairing becomes popular and then it feels like that's all there is. For example, in my current fandom, death!fic and gender-bending is pretty dang popular (and romance, but that's a given in any fandom), as is this one particular trope that - while enjoyable at times - is not only done so much but tends to be done in the exact same (seriously, same plots, just different executions of those plots). And it's tempting to beg people to just, please, do something different!

[wraithfodder.livejournal.com]

Ah, obsession. Yes, that's a bugaboo. Nothing worse than when a fan obsesses over a show or actor, and feels that they should share (or, actually, overshare) that with you. At one con eons ago, a fan insisted on showing nothing but one series she LOVED in the con suite. Put me off attending that con again. And a fan friend, love her dearly, but if she mentions her favorite actor one more time.... or gets ticked off if someone else doesn't love him....

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

I find fan-obsession rather scary, both in other fans as well as as a fan. It involves so much emotional investment, and it always seems to be a very fragile investment at that (I went through a stint in which I had a very unusual bit of a fan obsession that drove me crazy, because it was such a trivial thing but was something that would not leave me alone. Turns out it was actually the bi-product of a whole other issue and eventually went away, but at the time I was getting really worried because I could not (literally could not) let this piddly little obsession go, and now it's made me nervous about fanning on anything in case it happens again).

At one con eons ago, a fan insisted on showing nothing but one series she LOVED in the con suite. Put me off attending that con again. And a fan friend, love her dearly, but if she mentions her favorite actor one more time.... or gets ticked off if someone else doesn't love him....

Yeah, this is why I try to keep my fanning to a minimum and keep it mostly to myself unless I want to talk with like-minded fans. Especially since I know how annoying it is when someone goes on and on about something you have absolutely no interest in. I have one nephew really into Legos and Pokemon and another into Battlestar Galactica (mostly their warships) and it's gotten so that they're actually forbidden to bring either up in a conversation, because once they start, they won't stop, and after a while it makes you want to pull your hair out.

[black-raven135.livejournal.com]

((((((((((NODS))))))))))
e.g. #3
Sad thing is it so often happens
Ideas are conjured up in a mind and when it does not all fall into place, and reality sets in, there is a real nasty fall.

Part of real life is tied into obsession though
Once again some place them on a pedestal that cannot sustain itself.......

and finally there are some who cannot differentiate between the character a personality portrays and the real person...
behind that character.....

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

It's why I tend to feel a tad uncomfortable whenever someone begins gushing without restraint about a particular actor. It's not that I don't think they should be allowed to gush, but I do believe that when any of us fan there should be a certain amount of restraint, and that we need to remember that these are real human beings living their own lives and doing their own thing outside their career. They will do what they want, date who they want, like or dislike what they want, and they're going to make mistakes - whether it's something huge or something small (like, say, getting a little impatient with an overzealous fan who has no concept of personal space, for example). Because when a fa puts someone on too high of a pedestal it's the fan who falls.

[black-raven135.livejournal.com]

((NODS)) indeed..........
I have received feedback and have witnessed it in person e.g. when I accompanied the Blue Angels at air shows when I was public affairs officer in the Navy.
The pilots agreed that the 'fans' were scary at times....
Here were fighter pilots and they considered some of the 'fans' kind of scary
I thought it a bit humorous when I first heard them, but realized when one told me in particular e.g.:
"While aircraft are dependable, most of the time, in how they operate, they aren't," that they were really put off.
I noted when we would have a sort of gathering before flight
demo that their body language and expressions were reflective but some of the fans were oblivious
I heard Joe had some encounters with same element and I heard about two who stalk him regularly, ie follow him con to con....
I CANNOT even imagine what that would be like
As an observer and a person who does not do in your face well it leaves me feeling UGH!!
When my personal space is violated it is a real problem
for me.