Observing

[erastes]

I've finally got around to reading the Observer review of Lumos and I found it brilliant, actually. I can understand completely that the woman found the entire thing completely baffling and not a little amusing. I would too, if I hadn't been aware of Slash and/or the phenomenom of HP4Grown ups.

I loved this : And, even in Vegas, one of the oddest places on earth, the barmen in the hotel casino shake their heads at me when they see my name tag. "You're with the convention?"

"I am," I say. They give me a long, hard look. "You've heard of Star Trek conventions", I say. "It's not so different."

"Nuh-huh," says one. "There it's all about the merchandising and maybe, you know, you get to meet William Shatner. It's not about wearing a cape and going to lectures."

And those lectures - OMG. I'm so glad I didn't go. 'Muggles and Mental Health: Rites of Transformation and A Psychoanalytical Perspective on the Inner World of Harry Potter'......'Comrade Potter: A Marxist Reading' in which the speaker claims that a Nimbus 2000 broomstick is 'coveted not because of its usefulness but because of the value assigned to it by society'. .... And then 'Disney does Derrida', which is subtitled 'Joanne Rowling as a Writer of Our Times'

What ? I mean. WHAT??? I'm not even intelligent enough to understand the fucking TITLES. And I really would NOT want to travel 6000 miles or however far it is, just to have British Food cooked by Americans. I feel sorry for her.

I don't think the fact that she's not a "fan" matters. If I had no knowledge of fandom, I'd want to read this type of review, written by someone who is seeing it for the first time and is amazed by what she sees. She mentions Beatlemania, and she's not far out, I guess. Except of course the fans could actually SEE their idols back then. If I were dropped back on the tarmac when Beatlemania hit, I'd probably just as bemused as this reporter was about Potterdom.

But as usual, the rabid in our midst are horrified by this review. OH NO! Someone doesn't GET that we take kiddie books and write porn! Let's get her!!!

Really. *rolls eyes* Mr Opinion? Meet Mr Someone Else's Opinion.

Comments

[rosie-red73.livejournal.com]

I really don't understand how people can think that the outside world would see this as normal behaviour, I mean seriously, what did they expect? A reporter to come to the conference and instantly realise what he/she has been missing and sign up to fully fledged fandom?

Personally, I would die of shame if half the people I know in RL found out about all the fandom stuff that I do. There are maybe five people who know about it. Maybe another five who know I write but not what I write about. I don't mind telling them I've read the books and I'm a fan of them, but telling them I've written hardcore gay porn featuring characters from a children's book? Oh yeah, I can see that going down really well with my family and clients. I wouldn't expect them to understand it any more than I understand people who write Teletubby porn. It's sad, and I applaud people who are prepared to stand up and say it out loud without caring what people think as long as they live in the real world about it. Not caring if people think they're idiots is one thing, not recognising that people think they're idiots is entirely different.

That's not to say I wouldn't rather like to go to a conference one day so I can talk freely to people without being hysterically laughed at and pointed at for the rest of my life, I mean I recently spent a couple of hours in Snape's pub with rosesanguina and pitchblackrose and it was wonderfully liberating to be able to say things like 'oh, remember that story about Sirius and James fucking on the underground?' out loud without having to explain who Sirius and James are or having to justify why I would say suc a thing in the first place, but I wouldn't exactly be allowing myself to be interviewed for the British press about it.

And also, I think the reason they give the lectures such ridiculously pretentious names is because it makes them feel less like idiots for taking it so seriously.

Yeah. So. Rant over. I think the problem is that I type really fast, so I don't realise how much I've written until I'm done :D

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Becaause they are rabid. It's like the H/Hr vs the H/G shippers. There is only one right way, and that's THEIR way.

I'd had loved to get together with other fans at some point, but it was not to be, hopefully I'll get the chance to meet you or rwday or gehayi and others at some point.

I do worry about not understanding the acedemic stuff though