'Fandom' has become somewhat of a toxic term these days. It was the 'Fandom' of Ghostbusters that tried to make a movie fail before it even came out. It was the 'Fandom' of Beyonce that doxxed a man's home address simply because he made a joke about her baby. It was the 'Fandom' of Steven Universe that drove a person to depression from the harassment she received simply because she did some fan art where she made a fat character skinny. I mean I guess we shouldn't be surprised, fan is short for fanatic, and boy do some of these people really want to live up to that name...
Now obviously the first thing to address is that not obviously everyone who likes a certain product with an aggressive fanbase is a bad person. Hell, I myself are a fan of plenty of products that have not had the best reputation recently. DC, Video Games and the previously mentioned Ghostbusters and Steven Universe. I'm sure the worst of these fandoms are the vocal minority, but here's the thing, when even 1% of a product with literally millions of fans around the world focus in on harrassing one person, that is still going to feel like an infinite amount of people hating on them. Especially when it's for an incredibly stupid reason like "They did fan art and I don't like it". I think what made it even worse is when we started naming said fandoms. "SuperWhoLockers" "Bronies" "One Directioners". I'm sure the intentions behind them was innocent, trying to give a sense of community of these people brought together by similar interests, but like most things, once it gets too big to control, things get out of hand real quickly.
Eventually we reached a stage where people didn't just appreciate these creations, but started to make it a part of their identity. Started to get so involved that an attack on the work was an attack on them personally. A guy on YouTube made a joke about Beyonce's baby? WE MUST END HIM! When really if they just took a second to think about it and realise...does it really matter? Do you think Beyonce is offended some random guy made a joke at the expense of her baby? She's famous, she knows how to deal with trolls, besides, that kid is already living a better life than any of us, I don't think this'll sway her much.
It goes as far as people to get offended over "shipping". Yeah, we're at the point where people get offended is someone doesn't like their fanfic version of characters. I literally saw someone on Tumblr get upset because someone said it was ridiculous to draw Rey and Kylo from The Force Awakens as a couple...Oh my god who the hell cares!? You're upset that some stranger on the internet things your fictionalised version of a fictional film is stupid!? Really, just for one second think about that. Yes it's rude of them but that doesn't actually mean it's something worth getting upset over. For one thing shipping itself is inherently a dumb concept to take seriously, it's supposed to just be a what if scenario, a fun little "Oh wouldn't it be cute if these two ended up together?" But people get seriously offended if the people who work on the actual series don't make it canon. Oh you want Bucky and Steve to be a couple but they would never do that in the movies? Hey good news, they're not real people! If you want them to be together then write your own story! Of course this goes into the idea of canonical storytelling in multiply adapted stories, so that's a topic i'll save for another time.
Point is people really need to learn to grow the fuck up. Art is an important part of our culture, it always has been, and it makes perfect sense that if something that you're connected to and means something to you is attacked that you'll be offended. But like everything, there needs to be a line drawn. Meaning no doxxing people's personal information, no making stupid petitions because a bunch of critics have opinions you don't agree with, and absolutely no harassing people. Even if someone misrepresents a character or has a different interpretation from the norm, you never have the right to be an asshole to someone. Especially over a fucking piece of fiction.
So okay, that's all of what being a fan shouldn't be. So what should a fan be? Well that's harder to describe. You often hear people online debate about what makes a "true fan". "Oh? You haven't seen every single episode of every single Star Trek series? Then you're not a true fan!" "You didn't play the original Pokemon games? Then you're not a true fan" "You found this band through a different way that i did and at a later date? Then you're not a true fan". So let's just put this to rest. There is no such thing as a true fan. There is no one way to appreciate a product. There is no certain time or criteria you have to meet in order to consider yourself a fan of something. For my personal interpretation, being a fan just means you have a huge liking for something, understand the basic meanings behind it, wish to explore more and like talking about it. It doesn't mean blind love of everything it does even when it's bad, it doesn't mean nitpicking every slight difference or continuity error in a new adaptation. It means liking it, knowing why you like it, and being interested in talking about it, not shouting your opinions at people until they agree with you and assuming everyone different is wrong.
TL;DR: Enjoy what you like but don't be a dick about it.
-Danny
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