Surely,
you or someone you know is as of this moment into a fandom of some sorts. Most
fandoms are perceived as subjects of interest for overly obsessed fans by people
who aren’t familiar with said subject.
When
encountered by a person who belongs to a certain fandom which you are not entirely
familiar with, you feel:
1) You´re trapped in a
conversation that not only you’re not interested in, but you’re thinking of
nice ways
to change the subject or simply leave.
2) You’ve realized you’ve
spent too much time listening to this person, so they think you’re actually
interested, and you can’t get out of the conversation because you have the
slight suspicion that the other
person might be mentally deranged and not react
well.
3) All this time, you have
no idea what this person has been talking about, really.
4) Assume fan is probably
on crack because such excitement over one person, place, show or whatever
floats their boat is completely bonkers.
On
the other hand, when you are into a fandom yourself and you want to talk about
it to other people, you feel:
1) MUST SHARE EVRYTHING I
KNOW ABOUT THIS SO THERE WILL BE MORE OF US!
And
that’s about it.
Well,
at least for me.
But
in all fairness I want to come in defense of fandoms out there, because if anything they
can bring people together who, based on their common interest can build friendships and relationships even if they might find themselves on opposite
sides of the world. And not only that, some groups of fans realize that their
high number of members could be a tool to do something far more meaningful.
Such
is the case of a friend’s fandom and the group she helped found, called the
Hiddlestoners, which basically means that they are Tom Hiddlestone fans. She
recently told me of a really good cause in which they started a
drive in support of UNICEF, and by using the Hiddlestoners contacts they plan
on completing their endeavor. Tom Hiddlestone found out about it and twitted
his appreciation towards his fans, and how awesome is that? (If you're interested, please support as well!)
I’ve
experienced different fandoms throughout my entire life, most of them centered
on celebrities and TV shows, may they be of the sit-com variety or the guilty
pleasures offered by Reality TV.
These
days my fandom has spread from being a music genre fandom to fangirling over a
whole country. I’m not even sure that
counts as fandom. Being a fan of a foreign country. Is there such a thing?
Well, I’m writing this aren’t I? So there’s at least one. If anything, this has
been my most educational fascination, by far.
Let’s
see, I learned the choreography to ‘Everybody’ by The Backstreet Boys and I
don’t think even they actually dance it anymore. Counting abs is not really a
talent. And I don't really want to talk about what I've learned from watching VH1 reality shows, so let's just leave it at that.
So,
me learning about South Korea, besides being a great improvement as far as fixations go, is the greatest thing that has happened to me in
a while. Maybe it sounds boring, but trust me, it is not. Reading, watching,
listening and even eating what a country has to offer is immensely interesting
and gratifying. I’ve been learning Korean for about 3 weeks now (which totally
explains my posting hiatus), and every day I love it more. Maybe it’s because
it is a beautiful language, or the fact that I’m doing it on my own through an
internet course, the point is it feels like AMAZEBALLS!! every time I learn
something new about it.
In
conclusion, don’t judge a person by their interest, no matter how much a
portion of their lives are invested in a certain subject (not to mention
emotions, so many emotions), because what may seem like an obsession to you, it
is an education and a lifestyle to others. That is, if you don’t bump in the
grocery section into a girl holding close a package of dried noodles to her
chest that come all the way from Gangnam, South Korea. Yeah, that Gangnam.
