Surfing in from iisaw's journal. Hope you don't mind. I see a lot of the parallels between the fandom involvement, and the re-enactor hobby. The exits from either seem very similar. In the Re-enactment hobby, it's often a hobby for the young, but there is a problem in that it's a very expensive hobby compared to the fandom, so re-enactors have to have a serious comitment to it to play. 19 -25 year olds tend not to have enough income other than to support one or two impressions. When they reach their early thirties they are usually at their peak of involvemnt,but as fitness declines, or other factors impinge such as kids, involvement tapers off, and declines. So for older re-enactors that do WW2, they either buy or crew a vehicle, so they no longer have to walk, or they sell of their combat gear, and keep one or two "Dress Uniforms" for holiday parties or ceremonies, until they finally don't come out any more. However when visited, they still have their huge libraries, their Movie Collections, and often their photo albums. They still have their interest, but their situation or priorities changed.
For me I always held most of furry fandom at a bit of a distance, because I did not like the people in charge at the time, nor the themes they promoted. Before they arrrived there was a brief time, whern the fandom was optomistic, and looking outward, with early Albedo, Michroney's "Space Ark", and before Mike Kazaleh turned into the bitterest pill in the universe,, that I loved the stuff, and found the fandom fascinating, but then the fandom turned inward, and pessimistic and fearful, a den of victims, that it became. The stories ceased to be about exploration and logic, and became about relationships and emotion. It wasn't "fun", though some of the folks I met were. Though now the demographics are changing, and it's slightly more interesting, though the exploratory, and outward look is long gone.
The only reason I go to cons is to have good coversation with a few cool folks at the con, either in rooms or over meals, and very rarely buy items I could not obtain elsewhere, though that is rarer and rarer these days.
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Date: 2004-12-14 06:43 am (UTC)For me I always held most of furry fandom at a bit of a distance, because I did not like the people in charge at the time, nor the themes they promoted. Before they arrrived there was a brief time, whern the fandom was optomistic, and looking outward, with early Albedo, Michroney's "Space Ark", and before Mike Kazaleh turned into the bitterest pill in the universe,, that I loved the stuff, and found the fandom fascinating, but then the fandom turned inward, and pessimistic and fearful, a den of victims, that it became. The stories ceased to be about exploration and logic, and became about relationships and emotion. It wasn't "fun", though some of the folks I met were. Though now the demographics are changing, and it's slightly more interesting, though the exploratory, and outward look is long gone.
The only reason I go to cons is to have good coversation with a few cool folks at the con, either in rooms or over meals, and very rarely buy items I could not obtain elsewhere, though that is rarer and rarer these days.
Scott