Loving Your Fandom: And Why It’s Time to Stand Up Against Clickbait Haters!

What do I mean when I say, “Love Your Fandom”? In the simplest terms, it means just that, love the things you are a fan of. But on a deeper level, it means understanding that not everything you are a fan of will be the greatest version of itself, which is OK. Loving something means you understand its flaws, and love it anyway.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and aren’t necessarily shared by The Geekiary as a whole.

Let’s look at the definition of fandom. A quick Google search gives you:

• the state or condition of being a fan of someone or something.
• the fans of a particular person, team, fictional series, etc. regarded collectively as a community or subculture.

Oxfordreference.com gives this very in-depth explanation.

fandom:

1. An interpretive community consisting of dedicated followers of any cultural phenomenon, such as a television series or serial or a particular film genre or film star.
2. An interconnected social network of such subcultural communities.
3. A form of consumer activity in which ardent enthusiasts, referred to by Jenkins as ‘textual poachers’, subversively appropriate their favorite mass-media texts for their own purposes, sometimes actively rewriting them. See also textual poaching; compare participatory culture.
4. The process of becoming a fan.
5. Any or all of these as a field of academic study.

Neither of these definitions explains what we fans feel when we see our favorite characters die on the screen or on the pages of a book. Nor does it explain why we spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to have a small piece of our favorite movie to hang on our wall. It also doesn’t explain the long nights spent playing for “Just 5 more minutes…” until 3 o’clock in the morning when a new video game comes out.

Fandom is something that is in each of us, maybe not to the “3 am” level, but I know you the reader understand the feeling you have when you fall in love with a franchise.

Being in love with a fandom is no different than being in love with someone else. Sure, your partner isn’t perfect. Maybe they snore when they sleep or don’t throw their clothes in the clothes hamper. But, in the middle of the day, when they are not around, you smile when you think about them.

This happens to each of us when we are fans of something. For me, it is Star Wars. I also like Doctor Who, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and a few others, but Star Wars is my number one fandom. It makes me smile when I see something Star Wars when I’m out in the world. I think about the stories of how the rebellion overcame the Empire when times are tough. I get excited when I buy the latest toy or comic book or shirt…

I love Star Wars. And I’m not sorry about it. Not even a little. And I don’t hide it from the world.

However, there are times when I shy away from telling people how much I love the Galaxy Far, Far Away because people have monetized hating it. You know who they are. They make thumbnails on their YouTube channels with someone with red eyes, or a title saying something along the lines of “Disney Has Killed Star Wars!” They spend hours in front of a camera telling their audience that Star Wars has gone “woke” (whatever woke means) and often spew their vitriol towards women or people of color who star in the latest show or movie. They are the ones who have hate-filled rants about how “Kathleen Kennedy Has Ruined Star Wars!”

Many of these “creators” have become famous and quite financially stable leading with hate. They take control of the conversation long before a show or movie even comes out, negatively review-bombing Rotten Tomatoes or IMDb. It makes me sick!

The current person in charge of our nation has made a career leading with hate and it has helped him fail upwards. For the last 10 years on the internet, this philosophy of being hurtful to others for their personal betterment has made it difficult for most fans to completely enjoy the things they love.

I’m not saying that having debates with your friends is wrong, that’s part of the fun of being a fan of something. And I’m not saying that everything that happens in your fandom you have to love. Each fandom has a giant buffet of different ways of enjoying it. Something may be for you but it didn’t connect with someone else and vice versa. However, when these vermin attack something or someone in our fandom they make more money because everyone wants to see what the fuss is all about. Then we in the fandom want to defend against these unfair attacks, which leads to more clicks for them, and their version of the conversations becomes trending on social media, leading to more and more clicks.

I know I’m not the only one who got bullied when I was in school for being a bit different. What were we told back then? “You have to stand up to the bully.” That’s what this article is about. I’m tired of seeing people bullied, harassed, and talked down for liking something or for being a bit different.

Love Your Fandom! With your full chest. Stop letting others tell you that something is terrible. It’s OK if something is good but not great. There are tons of different types of stories out there now, and spoilers, not every one of them is going to be as great as others. This isn’t a new concept.

It’s time for us as fans to change the way we talk about our fandoms. It’s time we talk about what we liked or even loved about these stories we care so much about. It’s time we stop reacting to those who wish to profit from hate.

I know we have all done it. We’ve talked about something and spent more time talking about how the story “should have gone” or talked about the things we didn’t like.

I know we have all said these same things around the water cooler to a friend or co-worker

Random person. “How was the movie”

You. “There’s no perfect movie but I liked it.”

Or we all have said something like:

Random person. “Did you have a good time at the convention?”

You. “It wasn’t as good as last year. ”

Or…

Random person. “Did you see (so in so) was going to be in an upcoming movie/show?’

You. “That’s not who I would have picked.”

We’ve led with something we didn’t like. It is human nature and we have to stop doing it. Leading with things that we like or even love about the newest thing in our fandom makes it much more approachable for someone new coming to it.

When we as a community of fans start to change how we talk about our fandoms, i.e. leading with positivity, more people will want to hear what we have to say. They will see how excited you are about the fandom and will want to see why you love it so much. It might not be for them, and that’s OK too. When you start with negativity though, most people tune out. They put their walls up because they don’t want that in their lives, which is also a part of human nature.

I think it’s time to stand up against the B.S. these bullies spew out to make a quick buck. It is time for us as fans to stop clicking on “clickbait” thumbnails or article titles. When I write a title for an article, I know I have to get you interested enough to click on the article. But I refuse to use titles and language that could be negative in any way. If I don’t like something, I’m probably not going to write about it because why would I want to waste my precious time talking about something that wasn’t for me? I would much rather spend that time with stories and fandoms that make me excited and if I get lucky, I’ll pull you into that fandom with me.

I’m sure that if you have made it this far into this article you share much of the same thoughts as I do. But if you are reading this to see if there are others out there who are done with the hateful B.S. being spread across the world by people who care for no one other than themselves, you are not alone. We are out here. It’s time we stand up against these bullies and smack them in the pocketbook.

Don’t click on the thumbnail.

Don’t read that article.

Come hang out with us.

Come hang with fans who actually love our fandoms. And when you post about your fandom consider using #loveyourfandom and maybe we can find more people like us to connect with.

Author: Sean Miley

I’d rather find the things that I like about a story, movie, or tv show, than lead with negativity. I love Star Wars, Doctor Who, MCU, comic book and conventions.

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