Thoughts on Fandom

Fandom is an interesting thing. I’ve recently been contemplating what “fandom” actually means and what it means to be a part of one. I always thought to the belong to a fandom meant that you had to be out there, waving your fangirl flag high, interacting with other fans, travelling all over to catch a glimpse of the objects of your obsession or to commune with other like-minded fans. Indeed, those are some of the best parts of fandom, but there are also the quiet times you spend at home alone either watching the movies, reading the books, listening to the music, whatever the case maybe. There are the times when your ears perk up in public when a stranger mentions something and you DON’T say anything but feel that little rush of pride or kinship. Or perhaps extreme defensiveness on behalf of your fandom, depending on what was overheard. There is the aspect of spending (too much) money to collect the merchandise or spending hours poring over magazines and Google searching for every picture or article. My point being, you can be part of a fandom without much interaction with other fans.

This also changed my view of myself. Until recently, I thought of myself as a one-fandom kind of girl. It’s true that the whole Twilight thing took over my life in a way nothing else has ever come close to doing. But I also have separate chunks of my heart belonging to other fandoms. Things have come and gone (I was a huge NKOTB devotee when I was a young girl), and others will probably stick with me in some way or another for my whole life (like my obsession with the TV show Friends).

The only thing that rivals Twilight in my life, at this point, is the band Weezer.  I have been a fan since “the beginning” and it has only intensified over the twenty-year span of their career.
Coming up later today, after PurpleBrina's Music Monday (all about MY favourite band), check out my story (part 1 & 2) about how I recently went to a free concert and ended up winning a guitar signed by the members of Weezer.