- The Sydney Morning-Herald, in Oz Comic-Con puts the power of the geeks on show, reports on “the obsessive, every-so-slightly bonkers and very influential world of 21st-century pop-culture geekery,” including one fan who identifies as a Disney geek and has been to Disneyland 27 times. “You just revel in what you love,” says Carissa Avenhouse. “You shop, you meet the fans, you hang out, you watch things, you enjoy the panels, you dress up in your favourite costume or you just wear the T-shirt from your favourite TV show or movie or comic. You’re just at one with your people.”
- A podcast on Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, Discussing Fandom from Down Under, features a conversation between the host and an Australian fan over the fun of fandom (including being bitten on the neck by James Marsters!). Guest Nikki says, “I’ve never met a fandom I haven’t liked. I love that whole concept of … that you can find your tribe of something so obscure, and just be you, and love what you love, and be okay.” About people who don’t understand her fandom, she adds, “They don’t get it, and it’s really sad not to be passionate about something for you, like, you can be passionate about your kids, but you still need something for you.” They also cover the lure of fanfiction and book recommendations for young readers. (No transcript available.)
- City A.M. reports on Amazon’s purchase of Twitch, a platform that allows users to create their own content, as part the new age of “creative consumption,” noting that “the plummeting cost of making and distributing your own work means amateur has started to regain its original meaning: not a second-rate imitation of professional work, but the mark of passionate involvement.” The article goes on to cover fanfiction, including Archive of Our Own‘s inclusion of a million works, a recent achievement. While this shift “challenges traditional business models,” the article continues, “[p]latforms win out when they build and nurture communities that blend writing and reading.”
What parts of fandom have sparked your imagination? Write about them in Fanlore! Contributions are welcome from all fans.
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