Legend of the Seeker: My Opposite Fandom!

[jaybee65]

I think Legend of the Seeker has broken my fannish brain. It's turned me into Opposite!Jaybee65!

Normally, I don't care for fantasy. But I love this show! (I think it's because it doesn't take itself very seriously.) And normally, when I'm into a fandom, I'm allllllll about the fanfic. I've never been able to "get" vids. (I think my main issue with vids is that I don't usually pay attention to lyrics when I listen to songs, and most vids REALLY DEPEND on the lyrics for anything to make sense.) But in LOTS, I love vids! I still don't listen to the lyrics (oops!), but I don't care! As long as the rhythm works with the visuals, I'm happy. And yet I find that I can't read LOTS fanfic! I start, but then my mind wanders.

This show has apparently tapped into a totally different part of my brain than any other fandom in my ten-odd years as a fan. The frustrating thing is that there is NO WAY that I can be a creator of fannish product in this fandom, as I don't have the faintest idea about vidding or icons. (Maybe I can write meta? Or humorous reviews? But several people already do that so well, there's really no need for more!) I feel like I'm only half a fan, so to speak, if I'm just a consumer and not a producer, but there you have it. (Parody fic? Maybe. I'll have to give it some thought.)

Comments

[lo_rez]

ME TOO OMG. The we're-not-actually-all-that-serious thing turns me off, usually; I don't like the feeling that the story is sort of winking at me ironically. But somehow the way it's done on LotS feels, I don't know, balanced or something; it both laughs at us and itself and at the same time doesn't ridicule itself--or us--for enjoying.

I have no idea whether that makes any sense at all. But I'm with you on the fanfic thing, as well: I haven't read much, nothing's really grabbed me, and I don't even go looking for it at this point. Perhaps that'll change, but it's a relief to love a show for which the dominant fannish voices aren't writers. I have nothing against writers, and I used to be one myself, but somehow the repeating fannish social structures that grow up around fic have started feeling stale to me.

I also am ungifted at multimedia, but hey, they also serve who only show up and squee!

[jaybee65]

But somehow the way it's done on LotS feels, I don't know, balanced or something; it both laughs at us and itself and at the same time doesn't ridicule itself--or us--for enjoying.

Yes! The show is poking fun (at itself, at the genre, at the audience), but it's done out of fondness and not contempt.

the repeating fannish social structures that grow up around fic have started feeling stale to me.

Oh, now that's an interesting observation! I have things that I've grown really tired of about fic (mostly about how everything seems to revolve around pairings, thus creating pretty rigid categories that I think might warp what gets written and what doesn't), but I'd be curious to know what you are thinking of. If you want to elaborate, that is!

but hey, they also serve who only show up and squee!

This is true! I need to remind myself of that and get out there squeeing some more. Because there are a lot of things that deserve squee!

[lo_rez]

>>creating pretty rigid categories that I think might warp what gets written and what doesn't

Exactly, and the effect's not limited to fic, imo. Big fandoms, at least as I experience them via my flist and network, cause me to throw a rash, usually, anyway, because the stratification of fannish preferences/production/attention/approval seems to happen ever more quickly and predictably and comprehensively.

It's a perception very much shaped by how I'm situated, exposure-wise; I'm not good-old-days-ing or anything. Just, I got to feeling either really alienated (SPN/BSG) or as though my fannish loves weren't shared by a large or cohesive enough group [with some connection to my flist/network] to make them really, you know, fannish (TSCC, A2A).

LotS is generous and funny and clever and DOESN'T CARE WHO YOU SHIP as long as Cara and Kahlan can slay each other's enemies with extreme prejudice there's lots of slo-mo knife-fighting involved. And hair streaming wildly, and, you know, general woobieness.

::adores LotS fandom omg::

PS

[lo_rez]

Hey, I just noticed! Happy birthday!

Re: PS

[jaybee65]

Thank you! I even still have a little bit of cake left in the fridge! Not after tonight, though. ;-)

[jaybee65]

I got to feeling either really alienated (SPN/BSG) or as though my fannish loves weren't shared by a large or cohesive enough group [with some connection to my flist/network] to make them really, you know, fannish (TSCC, A2A).

I know that feeling!

BSG left a bitter taste in my mouth. And by the time I got around to TSCC, it didn't seem like there was a fandom left! What little seems to be going on there is largely shippy, too, which doesn't appeal to me much -- what I want to read is stuff about all the mind-bending complications of time-travel in that universe!

House, M.D. is the largest fandom I've participated in, and I've always just hung around the edges -- the shipwars, character bashing, etc. *really* get over-the-top there. Otherwise, I've mostly dealt with very small fandoms. Because of that, and because I'm only sometimes interested in pairings, I've felt really disconnected to fandom for the past year or so. Sometimes I wonder if I'm a "proper" fan! But LOTS is so fun and goofy and creative, it's sparked a renewed sense of excitement for me.