The fanaticism of fans

Tuesday, February 14, 2006 4:19 AM

I was talking with one of my film profs about STAR WARS and George Lucas and all that, and it got me to thinking about fandom in general and what I like and don't like about it.

I enjoy being a geek. I like being part of an internet community that helps champion a vastly underrated sci-fi story. And I enjoy being a part of other fandoms and such. But one thing about these fam groups that I don't really like is the fanaticism involved with it. Now I know this might sound hypocritical coming from someone who not only saw SERENITY five times on it's opening weekend, but went dressed as Wash all five times. But hear me out.

The reaction to the film has been highly positive from everyone whose seen it. But occassionally, I see a thread here talking about how SERENITY was inferior to FIREFLY and a list talking about all the things they didn't like about it. Whinings like "Kaylee wasn't in the movie too long. Inara was just a cameo. Simon was too assertive. The film lacked the complexity of the series." Just a list of bitching and complaining from people who should have been incredibly grateful for the fact that there even was a movie to begin with.

Which brings up my main point. At times, a lot of fans, not just Browncoats but the internet community in general, act like a spoiled child on Xmas morning. The kind of kid who gets the dollhouse they wanted, but makes a big stink over the fact that it's homemade with exquisite craftsmanship and not the one they saw in a catalogue. Rather than being grateful that there is a movie follow up to an unjustly cancelled TV show, or that there are going to be three more additions to the Holy Trilogy that are going to explain how it all began, they whine and mope and complain about the tiniest insignificant details, when they should be looking at the big picture. Rather than realizing the overall arch and connecting threads through all of the six films, they crucify them for their choice in window dressing.

I love STAR WARS. I can't wait for like a 30th anniversary, 10 disc box set of the whole series to be released in 2007. But I'm not one of those "George Lucas raped my childhood" idiots. I'm not so wrapped up in my pre-conceived notions of what the Holy Trilogy should be that I whine when Lucas decides to try a different approach. The prequels , in my opinion, had the exact same amount of wonder and enchantment that the originals had. I have no objections to them at all.

What I do object to is the collective mass of whiny, jaded geeks who are not able to look beyond their narcissism to realize what they have in front of them. If they want Han Solo to be a cold blooded killer, go ahead, take it. If they prefer a trilogy of films about cold, emotionless philosophers in leather fighting a computer system whose programs have more personality than the humans fighting it, so be it.

I'm sticking with the fans that are grateful for what they get.

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