Fandom Primer Musing

[queer_scribbling]

From @somanywips:

I hate that planned obsolescence is starting to reach fandoms. I hate that fandoms are starting to die after two, three years, I hate that whenever you stop getting content that means the fandom will die and be gone.

That post inspired some more musing on whether I should bother with putting together any fandom primers for some tv shows that aired in autumn 2022 or spring 2023. While I'm aware that meta and various fannish activity are not solely about loving a source material, I'm deeply ambivalent about putting forward fannish effort like this when I'm more 'Eh' about these shows than anything.

Tags from @ao3commentoftheday on a separate post than above:

#I think a lot about the changes in fandom #and this one feels intricately tied to the nature of streaming #binge watching a show means getting it all at once #with no time between episodes for the theories #the camaraderie #the post-ep fics #the speculation #without the breathing space that we used to have #we're all just running full tilt #headfirst and headlong from one fandom to the next #and we miss out on the slow meandering contemplation we used to have #and the opportunities for community are so much smaller #when the cracks between episodes are the length of the credits

Again, the above quote and these tags aren't in relation to one another, but I can't help but feel like they're sitting next to each other in my brain. The last time I tried my hand at making a fandom primer, there was a small but extant fandom for the show on Reddit, and I wasn't just explaining characters or making sure character and relationship tags were spelled correctly for Tag Wranglers to canonize. I could gesture, however vaguely, towards a community for someone to actually interact with, so it wouldn't feel like they were a fandom of one.


Original Pillowfort post can be found here.

Comments

[queer_scribbling]

Keeping hold of this from the comments section on the PF post:

Having a regular schedule seems to provide a sort of unifying force to fannish activity, as interest ramps up before a planned release, peaks during a release, and trails off afterward.

I've seen evidence of this when browsing older activity in a Discord server for a show that was cancelled after two seasons. There are channels for discussing each season (as each episode aired weekly), people planned out at least one zine and a collaborative "third season" via a series on AO3 during the summers in between, and the big push to try to get a streaming service to save the show was the end of a lot of the original activity. Now, unless someone were to plan an intentional rewatch schedule, the newer people are trickling in as Netflix picks up the show for other countries.

I don't really know how to address this in terms of being a fan or wanting to create that fandom community

Yeah. I'm sure I've written about this elsewhere, but I'm not exactly leading the charge on this. Some fandoms from earlier in my life had enough interest and a larger initial size that I definitely feel like I've been struggling (at this point in fannish life) with the process of finding people for smaller fandoms - or just trying to create a small fandom for a new show. (I know it can be done, and I know some people are fandoms of one. It just feels like this area involves a skillset that I don't have much knowledge of or practice with just by being in previous fandoms before.)

[queer_scribbling]

Please imagine this reply from ~pahein is circled a few times for emphasis:

It definitely can be done; take the recent explosion of Dracula interest that came primarily from Dracula Daily. So, I guess, hosting/sharing something accessibly on a shared schedule seems like a pretty simple way to start. A weekly newsletter sharing fanart/headcanons/etc? A weekly stream of episodes? A once-a-day blog highlighting one piece of fandom content?

I think the key for smaller fandoms is that creating community requires a lot of dedication and good timing, oftentimes without initial results, which isn't something everyone is able to give.

[queer_scribbling]

This got reblogged into a PF community, so there's been some more comments. Another archival link (and for those who just want a direct Pillowfort link for any future updates).

On the one hand, yeah, planned obsolescence is a specific term for what we usually see with physical objects (cell phones, laptops, etc.), and the general concept of Fandom or a specific fandom isn't really designed to become obsolete or nonfunctional. On the other hand, I can see how some fans might feel like their fandom is planned to be temporary when the canon is treated as an 'easy to move on from' thing.

(It's still associated to a certain extent with streaming shows in my mind. Like The Powers That Be making plans to drop all Good Omens season one episodes at once, and if enough people didn't watch enough episodes quickly enough, there was a lot of concern that the show wouldn't be renewed for a second season. Or: Why Netflix Keeps Canceling Shows After Just 2 Seasons.)

Edited on 2 Jan 2024 to update with another archival link. So many more comments and replies from that one community reblog.