Most Obnoxious Fandoms

[Drtooth]

So, in otherwords... almost all fans today are obnoxious then? Because, quite honestly, I see people as old as their 40s cosplaying and attending fan cons, and y'know... the stuff the teenagers and twentysomethings do is creepy and freaky enough, but it's just downright disturbing to think that people who should be old enough to start looking into life insurance options are getting involved in that stuff. *Shudders*

And yet, no one condemns sports fans for the exact same thing, only worse since they actually can get violent towards the other manchildish fans of other teams. I don't get the whole deal about how normal adult growing up is letting all the things you like die, taking your unfulfilled dreams to the back of the barn to put them down, and living a life devoted to existing and then whining about others who don't and ragging on the young for essentially not being them yet. That's the acceptance phase of dealing with grief. it's preferable to lose interest in things because you no longer have time to bother with them with all the responsibility you're supposed to have. But then there are those who get stuck in awful jobs that pay less than what they're worth who have no bright spots in life and need something fun and light to get them out of serious depression that comes with growing up sucking. Yeah, if you're in your 40's and going to these things in costume unironically it's kind of off putting. It also says, "gee, the rest of my life sucks and things didn't go as planned no matter how hard I tried. Just let me have this."

Sportsfans are more like "DUDE! I played something once in high school then I got all fat and want to see what I could have been, so I dress up like a giant kumquat and shout racial slurs at the opposing team while saying it's dreadfully important that we don't change any sports teams named after racial slurs for Native Americans, by the way I'm not racist."

 

[CensoredAlso]

That's entirely my interpretation of the film. That's also why I don't think a sequel will work. And it's also a scathing critique of fan fiction before it became a big thing.

I mean it's also fair to mention that Sarah has reasons for being such a jerk at the beginning. Her mother is clearly gone, her step mom is a big nag who doesn't understand her, her father is likely preoccupied with his new family, and Toby is probably getting all the attention because he's a needy baby. It's understandable that she wants to retreat into fantasy. And I'm sure that reflects reality for a lot of hardcore fandoms. People just want some escape from the crap in their life.

(Btw, as much as I love Labyrinth, some of this isn't adequately explained at the beginning. Their exposition needed a couple of rewrites.)

I actually like that the movie doesn't end with Sarah in a tearful reunion with her father and step mother. Instead, it's pretty normal. Her father seems genuinely concerned with whether she's home and alright, and she casually tells him everything's fine. Bottom line, she stops acting like a victim of her circumstances and attempts to accept her new reality, for better or worse.

It's basically the ending of Wizard of Oz. Your home life may not be perfect, but as long as people love you, it's still home.

 

[CensoredAlso]

And yet, no one condemns sports fans for the exact same thing

Oh you're totally right, absolutely. Jocks who try to recapture their High School glory days are pretty funny. I guess it's an American thing (?), but we're much more tolerant of sports fans than of, um, A&E fans. Our culture is just more geared toward celebrating the "macho." Nothing wrong with that in itself, but it does stink if you're not in the club.

But to be fair, I've also known a few drama club geeks who couldn't move on from High School either. Man, I could tell you stories!

 

[D'Snowth]

I actually like that the movie doesn't end with Sarah in a tearful reunion with her father and step mother. Instead, it's pretty normal. Her father seems genuinely concerned with whether she's home and alright, and she casually tells him everything's fine. Bottom line, she stops acting like a victim of her circumstances and attempts to accept her new reality, for better or worse.

My only quibble, as with others out there, is at the same time, Sarah really experiences no character development otherwise... yeah, everything's all normal and fine as if nothing happened, but she's otherwise exactly the same from beginning to end.

 

[Drtooth]

Oh you're totally right, absolutely. Jocks who try to recapture their High School glory days are pretty funny. I guess it's an American thing (?), but we're much more tolerant of sports fans than of, um, A&E fans. Our culture is just more geared toward celebrating the "macho." Nothing wrong with that in itself, but it does stink if you're not in the club.

That's part of it indeed. But the whole "sports is life" culture sportsfans have... when you get to the part where you refuse to change a team name that's no longer seen as tolerable and it's met with some world shaking panic that it would somehow dilute the integrity of the sport, you know you've got an immature fanbase. Heck, the Star Wars base wasn't that obnoxious when Lucas screwed around with the original movies. And they kinda had more of a right to complain too.

Seriously... I HATE sports fans, especially ones that destroy a town because their team won. Not even lost... won. An army of 50 year olds dressed up as Naruto are more well adjusted and mature than them.

Even the more sane ones like to dress their dogs up in team gear, like they even comprehend the concept.

 

[CensoredAlso]

My only quibble, as with others out there, is at the same time, Sarah really experiences no character development otherwise... yeah, everything's all normal and fine as if nothing happened, but she's otherwise exactly the same from beginning to end.

Oh I disagree, I've always identified with Sarah's journey of learning to balance childhood and adulthood. And it makes even more sense as I get older. She's not the same at all at the end. She stops being the drama queen victim and starts to accept her life, as imperfect as it is. Her hope that the Goblin King would rescue her, was actually keeping her down. She's achieves maturity when she declares he has no power anymore.

 

[CensoredAlso]

That's part of it indeed. But the whole "sports is life" culture sportsfans have... when you get to the part where you refuse to change a team name that's no longer seen as tolerable and it's met with some world shaking panic that it would somehow dilute the integrity of the sport, you know you've got an immature fanbase. Heck, the Star Wars base wasn't that obnoxious when Lucas screwed around with the original movies. And they kinda had more of a right to complain too.

Honestly, I'm torn about the team name change. On one hand, if the team was named The Guidos, I might want them to change it too.

But on the other hand, it's the epitome of a First World problem.

 

[beatnikchick300]

So, in otherwords... almost all fans today are obnoxious then? Because, quite honestly, I see people as old as their 40s cosplaying and attending fan cons, and y'know... the stuff the teenagers and twentysomethings do is creepy and freaky enough, but it's just downright disturbing to think that people who should be old enough to start looking into life insurance options are getting involved in that stuff. *Shudders*

But, I've noticed a lot of people like that offer a counter argument: they say that the reason so many people who attend those conventions and cosplay and what have you who seem to deranged and crazy apparently act that way because it's their way of breaking away from the grind of their lives (school, work, personal drama and matters and such), so they take what little time they have to basically let loose and enjoy themselves.

That's what I've been told. I still say some of the behavior that goes on at those things is disturbing.

I really respect adults who cosplay (one part of me enthuses at anyone who doesn't live in abject fear of other people thinking badly of them, since even nowadays, that's a pretty rare trait, the rest of me just admires their sewing/crafting skills). I don't think there's anything creepy about it (especially since, as DrTooth pointed out, no one thinks badly of sports fans who, when their favorite team is playing, pretty much do the exact same thing. I wish people would not partake in what is essentially the whole "jocks rule, nerds blow" mentality we all should have outgrown after high school). I do like the basic "stress relief" counter-argument; we all have to be silly once in a while (I mean, that's why all of us are Muppet fans, right?).

 

[Harleena]

I really respect adults who cosplay (one part of me enthuses at anyone who doesn't live in abject fear of other people thinking badly of them, since even nowadays, that's a pretty rare trait, the rest of me just admires their sewing/crafting skills). I don't think there's anything creepy about it (especially since, as DrTooth pointed out, no one thinks badly of sports fans who, when their favorite team is playing, pretty much do the exact same thing. I wish people would not partake in what is essentially the whole "jocks rule, nerds blow" mentality we all should have outgrown after high school). I do like the basic "stress relief" counter-argument; we all have to be silly once in a while (I mean, that's why all of us are Muppet fans, right?).

I agree. I went to ComicCon, and there were lots of adults cosplaying. One costume that stood out to me was a man dressed as Cosmo and his daughter, who was probably only 3 years old and was absolutely adorable. I tried to get my dad to be Batman (I would have been Batgirl), but he said absolutely not. So I was Gamora from Guardians of the Galaxy…I also saw some other adults in cosplay (I saw a man in a schoolgirl outfit…and he had a beard…and didn't shave his legs…) OKAY LET'S STOP IMAGINING THAT AND LOOK AT THIS PICTURE OF BATMAN AND BATGIRL

 

[Slackbot]

If the man had a rainbow dyed beard, that was Lar DeSouza dressed as Sailor Bacon. It was the payoff for a fundraiser that raised over $12,000 to fight Muscular Dystrophy. He and his wife do it every year. So, three cheers for the fat hairy guy in the magical girl costume!

As for the argument that you should stop cosplaying as soon as you pass a certain age...forget that. My middle-aged self will cosplay and have a ball. If you have a problem with that, then that's your problem.