Alex's This and That

 Description: This is a challenge to make fifty posts about fandom things. They can be whatever kind of posts you’d like - movie reviews, recs, a story about meeting a fellow fan, cosplaying … anything!

Fandoms – do we choose them or do they choose us?

This is my first post for Fandom 50 for 2024. Last year, in Fannish Fifty, I failed miserably. So, I decided to host a similar challenge this year. I did so with the permission of the person who hosted it last year.

The question is do WE choose our fandoms?

No. Yeah, we have types and such but for me, my fandoms chose me. I love many television shows, books and movies but I only write in some of them and I only engage in some of the fandoms. There are fandoms that are considered toxic – Star Trek and Star Wars come to mind. I love both franchises and have written a few stories in them but I am not part of the fandoms, by choice.

There are others that chose me. Lord of the Rings. When I read the books as a teen, I was lost in the world of Middle Earth. But many years later when the movies came along, I suddenly found myself hunting information on the actors and that led to finding fanfiction and other people who were as entranced as I was. Boom! I was in the middle of fandom.

Not ever content to just lurk, I noticed there was a gulf between Real person writers and fictional character writers in the fandom, a rather ugly and bitter one. I didn’t like that so I came up with LOTR Adult Fiction, a Yahoo group that allowed ALL LOTR related fiction and did not allow judginess. Like minded folks joined in and Of Elves and Men was born.

Years later, I’d always liked superheroes, but never got into the fandoms. UNTIL I went to see Captain America, The First Avenger. And it chose me. I could say it was Cheris Evans that did it, but that isn’t quite it. It was thatthat story. I watched the movies I’d missed and every one since. The characters have become like family, just as Legolas and Gandalf did before them.

If I try to explain it, I really can’t. Sometimes I think to myself, I need a new fandom and I’ll choose ______, but I never really fall in love with one I try to choose.

I think that what happens is that a particular fandom meets your need at the time it finds you. We all have gaps and holes in our lives, minds and hearts. We fill them with something. Religion, alcohol, sex, charity work, crafts, fandom…. Something.

I am glad that my fandoms chose me. The relationships have enriched my life and all those heroes have kept me sane in a crazy world.

What do YOU think?