When I was new to the internet, and shiny like a newly minted penny, I fell happily into anime fandom -- for a particular 90s show. I was full on, both arms out and legs skipping beneath me, singing; 'la la la la' as I threw myself headfirst into this little anime community.
Little did I know.
Yes, little did I know that the amount of angst, drama, and perpetual turbulence created by fandom would slowly crush my soul, to the detriment of the very show I adored at the time. It was enough to completely ruin my experience of the show and swear me off fandom ever again-- even now I cannot watch or bear to have anything to do with the show in question.
I learnt a valuable lesson, one: People were assholes, and two: People were stupid. I then swore two things. Firstly, to never, ever moderate for anything ever again and secondly, to never get so emotionally invested in a fandom to the point I had been... ever again. Then I turned my back on my responsibilities regarding the place and that was that.
So I mean, what brings this on? Well, I think it goes without saying that ten years later I've still dabbled in some fandoms. Computer games, MMORPGs, Doll Collecting, Anime, Sci Fi, TV... I mean I used to be part of a shipper (that's relationshipper) forum for Enterprise, a long time ago. And I mean, everything has been pretty hunky dory, you know. Fandoms unrelated to anime have all been pretty spectacular.
And then I started reading Bleach.
You know what? Anime fans are nuts. Naysayers would say to me right now that's because anime fandom is full of weeaboos and japanophiles. But that's because naysayers are emo hypocrites who weren't hugged enough as children, and feel the overwhelming need to make others feel bad simply because they feel inferior to others and are insecure in themselves. So they'll make trolling argumentative generalizations about people in order to not cut themselves tonight. Yeah I hate self-righteous assholes who throw the world 'weeaboo' around like the way they like something is superior to the way you like something. Fuck off.
Anyway. That's not the issue with anime fandom today. Like I said, it's more that anime fans, are fucking nuts. Oh most of them are pretty decent. But scattered amongst that you'll find the halfway insane.
Like I said, Bleach-- I've been frequenting a couple of communities. No where in my life have I seen a bigger shit storm, (except possibly the Naruto forums?) And I thought I was immune to internet DRAMAH being an old hand to the internet by now.
Nope. DRAMAH seems to have hit a whole new high since I left anime fandom in 2003.
I don't really understand people. I was reading comments today (that was my first mistake) and a woman was talking about a cat she adopted that she... named after the main character in Bleach. That's not so bad. But this isn't a 13 year old girl. This is a grown woman with grown children. You're that infatuated by an anime as to name your cat after someone in it? You're seriously willing to make that kind of commitment to a animated show? Enough to say, 'I love Bleach so much I'm going to love it for 14-20 years!' (Basically the span of this cat's life). Really?
Because I don't love anything that much. I mean I liked the Superman movies but I'm not going to name my cat Kalel... and I think Captain Kirk is the bomb, but I'm not going to name my cat Kirk. (Actually that would be fucking awesome, I renege that last statement. Kirk is a timeless name).
It's just a little perplexing to me. People should do what they want, yeah. I don't begrudge her the right to enjoy it how she wants, but the sheer obsession of some of these people really surprises me. I don't see how anyone can be THAT into anything. Hanging on Kubo's (the creators) every word, writing about Bleach every day, naming their pets after characters from it, reading spoilers, commenting on spoilers, replying to spoilers, basically leading your life around your hobby. To the point that an offhand remark by someone regarding her favourite character resulted in the biggest out-of-proportion-to-comment-said smack down I have ever seen.
I've been there, and that's not healthy. It's not just me saying 'oh everyone is crazy but me,' and being judgmental. It's not that. Because this person isn't just taking in the good-- the enjoyment it gives her to read, the enjoyment it gives her to discuss it, write about it, and think about her fave chars, she's also taking in all of the bad. The obsession, the stress, the angst, the flaming, the drama. (At one point she even says she can't sleep because the fandom is stressing her out, or some such, and that her bad week hinges on the behavior/comments of people in the fandom.) Really? Your week's enjoyment is based on the behavior of hundreds of people you don't know? I mean, I feel like I'm this person's mother I guess, even though I'm probably slightly younger than her. But I can just see it. The obsession. The denial. The absurdity. The tendency to over-think things, as well as the tendency to fly off the handle and lose perspective.
My advice to people really really into something is to take the good; the things that make you happy-- and discard the bad. Because why obsess about something that has the potential to make you unhappy? Why even take that stress on board if you don't have to? Why fight with someone about how your favourite character really is the nicest character on the planet and how they are totally misunderstood? Does it make you feel any better to get worked up about your fave show? And it's easy to get into this mindset. I know; I've been there, as I said. And when you're in there it's hard to look at your own fandom objectively. You get tunnel vision. And it can burn you out on a show, burn you out on fandom. So by all means, enjoy what you like about something, but don't go out of your way to create your own drama and sabotage your own enjoyment of something.
And my last bit of advice: never, ever name your cat 'Ichigo'; ever.
Unless it's really cute. And you love Strawberries.
P.S. Sadly, she got a reply to this by someone who named her cat 'Ishida' and mentioned her 'cat had very quincy-like tendencies.' Lolwhut? Is that even a thing? What's a quincy-like-tendency? Shooting a metaphysical bow? Being a self-righteous asshole? Wanting-to-give-it-a-wedgie-ness? Who knows.
No comments:
Post a Comment