Today I am going to talk to you about Fandoms. I was inspired by my friend, who vents all of her book-related anger to me, to which I shake my head and laugh lightly. I really don’t know what to do, to be honest.
Fandoms. Let me define that, since I might have people who don’t know what they are. (Good for you, really.)
Fandoms are what came to be when a group of people with shared interests went on the internet and created a large fanbase, and that fanbase now does everything together, which includes crying hysterically, yelling hysterically, and really anything; hysterically.
There are now over five fandoms in the world, unfortunately. I could have handled five.
Now there are some fans in fandoms who will always deny the fact that they get hysterical, they would define themselves as more “chill.” Yeah, yeah, whatever you say.
People in fandoms devote a large time to their interests. You should never insult their fandom, unless you want a long lecture of something you’re not interested in.
Writing this, I realize people may presume I’m a seventy year old woman with zero fandoms on their radar, and you’re only half wrong.
I do have zero fandoms on my radar, but I’m not (nearly) seventy.
The reason I’ve never joined the depths of a fandom is because none of it really interests me at all. I don’t have the attention span to watch a show that is six seasons already. And the illegal websites have too much lag.
Now for the book-related fandoms. I like reading, I do.
I’ve never really felt as much for a book as people do in fandoms, like, I can’t find myself physically crying or tweeting the author a review. I read a book, stay in my room for two hours reflecting on life, and then I’m out. Moving on. Finding new adventures. Hiking.
(I went hiking once and fell on a large twig and got a bloody elbow. Just putting that out there.)
There was this one book, though. It was called The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster. I always saw it on the shelf, but I never picked it up.
Then one day, I did.
It was amazing. It was utter genius. I could not get over it. I recommended it. I reread it. I scoured the internet for an online copy when it was unaccessible.
I’d probably be in the Phantom Tollbooth fandom.
EXCEPT MAYBE, IT DOESN’T EXIST.
I have a specified interest, and pretty much everything I like does not have a fandom. It’s quite disheartening, but I’ve become quite accustomed to shocked looks and, “I AM GOING TO FORCE YOU TO READ THIS,” countless amounts of times.
All in all, fandoms are a crazy thing that are not for the faint of heart. There’s constant drama; it’s really just a test for the real world. Can you handle the fandom? Yes? Great, good luck in life. Can you handle the fandom? No? Not so great, here’s a life vest to get you through life.
