Fandom and home

[tangofiction]

One of the eternal mysteries of fandom life...

When is a fandom a home?

When is a fandom a home?



When I first found other Xena/Ares shippers years ago, it was as though I was home - there was an immediate sense of belonging, understanding and being understood. I still remember the joy I felt at realising that I could now share all my dubious ideas on the show with others who were on the same wavelength. It's not just the pairing, it's a whole collection of views that depend on several basic axioms -- and here were people who accepted the same axioms! It was heaven.



And yet, I have never found anything remotely like it in the "Phantom" fandom, with the notable exception of three wonderful people (one of whom is a fellow Xena/Ares fan to boot, and yep, Lyndal, you're one of the other two). There is nothing wrong with the fandom itself, the people are lovely. Some even like my fics. It's just that I don't seem to belong, in the sense of communal feeling and being on the same fan wavelength. I wondered for a while if it was because I was a newbie... But no. I just seem to have completely different priorities to almost everyone else, and it makes being a fan... well, lonely.



And thus ends the self-pity session. In my excuse I will cite physical and mental exhaustion.

Comments

[XenaAmber]

Sorry to hear you don't really feel comfortable in the "Phantom" fandom... but I'm really pleased that you still love the Xenaverse. feel the same way about it -- it's often very quirky, but it's home. :-)



Btw, totally changing the subject for a second -- I'm 95% certain I'm going to be taking an intro Russian course next semester, so prepare yourself for me constantly begging for help and/or attempting to practice on you.

[tangofiction]

Be my guest, Jessica -- though I warn you that my attempts to teach friends Russian have so far gone no further than teaching them to read. But I can definitely do that.



Re Xenaverse -- I actually always felt slightly out of place until I found the shipperverse. I tried going to message boards before Illy's and there were always boring sub/ship battles that made me want to go elsewhere. My difficulty in the Phandom is more difficult to pin down, since the pairing groups are not as hard-core as in the Xenaverse.

[Lyndal]

Woo! Testify!!!! <waves arms in the air>



I will cite my unerring ability to fall ill over any and all holidays/days-off as reasons for my inability to write a reasonable response to anything.

[tangofiction]

Ouch, I hope it's nothing serious! Get well soon, please. (I just discovered that my video store has a copy of The Game Of Their Lives, btw, so if you're interested, maybe your store has it too. Planning to watch it on Tuesday myself. Obsession is a terrible thing.)