| Ever since I got involved with SW fandom, I
have asked myself many
questions.
I'm sure many of you have as well. Do you ever wonder why cons that purport to be fun have all
the
frivolity
of a Puritan church service? Have you noticed the dour-faced fans
at some
of these cons, the ones who bear an uncanny resemblance to Patty and
Selma
from The Simpsons (Marge's chain-smoking, grimacing
sisters)? Why
do I see in other zines detailed, vehement laundry lists of every
stupid
little "transgression" made in every new novel or comic? How come
after
12 years or so, people still criticize dumb little points in the
trilogy
itself?
My conclusion?
It isn't so much that some fans take SW itself too seriously...the
problem is taking the concept of being a fan too seriously. There
are
folks out there who spend so much time picking and whining and
complaining
and criticizing everything, they miss out on the true joys of being a
fan.
This doesn't occur in just SW fandom--it happens in every fandom you
can
think of. Just check out Starlog's letter pages. Some of
the comments
are so negative, I think, "Geez, I'd hate to see what someone who
actually
loathes ST would write." Admittedly, I get extremely annoyed with such cynical, jaded
people.
If they allegedly like whatever it is, how come they expend so energy
ragging
on it?! It's not as if they're going to re-shoot the entire
trilogy at
this point just to satisfy one malcontent in Jerkwater City. Come
on! Then there are the fans that cannot, will not take a
joke.
You can't
chuckle at Luke's infamous whine, "But I was gonna go pick up some
power
converters!" You don't dare make fun of Han in a story. And
you never,
ever can under any circumstances poke fun at fandom itself! These
are
the people who took moral offense to Spaceballs.
What about letting loose, suspending disbelief, and having FUN with
it? Has the concept of having fun gone out of style in the 1990s?
I wonder how SW could even appeal to such grumpy fans in the first
place. Even in TESB, there was always that glimmer of hope and
humor there
to balance out the serious drama. The saga basically has a
wide-eyed,
wondrous view of life. I'm thankful that a wretched adolescence
and everything
that has come after it has not dimmed the thrill of picking up a new
novel
or the new issue of Dark Lords of the Sith, or getting a new zine in
the
mail, or even just seeing those Bend-Ems in the store. I still
smile blissfully
to myself whenever I'm watching the films. But perhaps the problem with the fans who can't enjoy life's
simple
pleasures is that they are so unhappy with their own lives--can't get
dates,
hate their jobs, hate school, etc.--they take their psychological
baggage
with them into even their fantasy lives. They cannot deal with
the concept
of a world, even a fictitious world, where the good guys always win,
the
heroes are attractive, and the villains are far cooler than anyone
could
hope to be. So they pick it apart with their cynicism. On
the other hand,
being a fan may mean so much to these people, it becomes a serious
thing
to them, and they lose sight of the fact that whatever it is was
primarily
designed to entertain. Or, maybe they're just drips and flakes with all the
personality
of
a turnip. Yes, I know we all kvetch over things like continuity, and
we can
talk
for hours about what would be Luke's favorite band if he lived on our
planet.
In a way, that is part of the fun. To be honest, though, I cannot
figure
out the more extreme aspects fanboy/fangirl mentality sometimes.
Maybe
that's a good thing.
©1994 Blue Harvest |
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